Grading our season

[SilverBull]

10 minutes ago, Rocky Style said:

rue but I think we can't jump from the horrific CJS era to instantly beating everyone in one off-season.  I think some of this criticism makes more sense beginning next year.

We shouldn't be getting torched by any decent team which is a fair expectation at some point.

Edited 9 minutes ago by Rocky Style

OK, I'm not expecting to beat everybody in this first season but c'mon.  UAB and FAU were both 4-8 and hung 56 points on us respectively; more than they scored on anybody else, including FCS teams.  That should not have happened.

[Bryson W]

2 hours ago, SilverBull said:

OK, I'm not expecting to beat everybody in this first season but c'mon.  UAB and FAU were both 4-8 and hung 56 points on us respectively; more than they scored on anybody else, including FCS teams.  That should not have happened.

Golesh had practically inherited an FCS-level defense... kinda hard to see huge changes with that in one year, but we definitely saw some growth.

[belgianbull]

4 minutes ago, Bryson W said:

Golesh had practically inherited an FCS-level defense... kinda hard to see huge changes with that in one year, but we definitely saw some growth.

Recruiting defense will be key. Need to hit the transfer portal hard.  There will be no excuses regarding the defense next year since there would have been plenty of time to have brought in his own players

[Chardizard]

On 11/26/2023 at 11:08 AM, Outlaw said:

Golesh B+: He took a bunch of misfits, castaways, and players that didn't know how to compete or how to win and built their confidence up. We went from the bottom of the AAC to the upper half. We had some bumps and a few bad losses along the way, like getting blown out and embarrassed by losing record conference mates UAB and FAU. The team didn't quit or fold after those games and came out every week to compete for a win. The recruiting is trending up, but we will really only find out once the recruits sign and get on campus. Golesh has some improvements and blemishes in his play-calling and design runs, but a lack of talent in the trenches could be a reason for the predictable run calls. The defense still needs work, but it did have some improvements and bright spots this year.

Quarterbacks A- : Brown delivered and is in the history books for USF football. We didn't play QB musical chairs this year, and the coaching staff coached this boy into the history books. I still don't think he is done growing and could be really special.

Running backs C+: The running backs are very inconsistent as a pack and have ups and downs. Powell looks the worst of the group, and I hope he takes a step forward. I hope we can give at least two of Wright, Dukes, and Joiner a way to find another year with the portal and COVID loopholes.

Receivers B: Atkins had a great year and is in the books. Simmons, Brown, and Alexis are produced but are very inconsistent. I think they outperformed the group with Weaver and Horn in it. Not bad for a bunch of transfers and walk-ons.

Offensive Line D+/C- : The group needs to improve drastically if we want to win a championship in the AAC or FBS football, but they were put together and did the best with the talent they had. Skinner looks like he can be a great lineman in the future. Kid is getting nasty out there as a true freshman. Thank you, Jennings, for coming back and leading this group of inexperienced players and transfers to a bowl season. You could have transferred out like the others, but you decided to stay a Bull and make a difference on the field.

Defense D+/C-  : The defense is still bad and needs a lot of work. Todd Orlando will need to show major improvement next year if he wants to keep his job for year three. The defense did look good against Bama, Navy, Temple, and Charlotte. The defense won the game for USF against Temple when the offense struggled in the second half, which is something I hadn't seen in a while. There are lots of things to improve on here, especially the pass rush, tackling, and defensiveback coverage. The defense never quits but will need to improve moving forward. We are still in the bottom quartile of FBS football.

Special Teams  Outside of the blocked punted special teams, this has not been good. We haven't returned any kicks or punts this year for a TD. The kicking game will need to improve; hopefully Cannon and Gramatica can fix that.

Overall B+ for Bulls: Golesh and the Bulls surpassed expectations and are going bowling. The Bulls have extra practices now and hopefully will take the momentum to land some better recruits and transfers to fill in the gaps. I assume there will be a lot of roster turnover again, but I hope Golesh has a plan to keep Byrum Brown at all costs. I have a suspicion that some Power 5 teams will be trying to get him to transfer there. We improved and are moving forward, not backwards, which is a great change. We have erased the curse of Jeff Scott and now need to move on to erasing the curse of Judy by continuing to heavily invest in athletics. Let's go win our first championship next year after we win our bowl game.

Stats to compare the growth of the offense.

2023

2022

Golesh: A+, nothing short of outstanding

QBs: A, Byrum played great, had some lapses here and there and costly turnovers, but guy has a bright future

RBs: B, Wright was a great pick up and played well, but no one else separated themselves, was a mature group and provided good stability

WRs: C+, some drops were tough to watch, and no explosive playmaker ability.  Atkins alone brings group from C to C+

OL: C-, The group Struggled, but thought they provided solid coverage against the weaker teams

Defense: D-, this was really rough to watch, the front line was solid as stopped the run mostly, outside of that it needs a lot of work 

ST: C, kicking was up and down all year, punting was solid, not much of a return game with punts or kickoffs

Overall: B, regardless of the above grades, units and players made plays when they needed to, got us to 6-6, pretty incredible stuff

excited for the future for the first time in a while.... 

 

[BDYZR]

Golesh - A - Got USF to 6 wins. Gets a little hung up on running up the middle. Especially after a chunk play.

QB - A - To many turn overs. But is improving.

RB - C  -  Nobody stood out for me.

OL - C  -  We won 6 games. Needs a lot of improvement.

DL - D -  Slow and weak.

LB - D -  Ok in the middle. Caught out of position to many times on the outside.

DB - D -  We won six games in spite of them. Terribly slow, poor tackling, bad angles to the ball, not aggressive.

ST - C -  We'll have a good kicker next year. Overall team speed hurts ST's. Inconsistent punter.

Excited for December 3rd to find what bowl game we're going to. December 4th to see the signing class.

I think the future is bright.  GO BULLS!

[Rocky Style]

On 11/27/2023 at 2:30 PM, Bryson W said:

Golesh had practically inherited an FCS-level defense... kinda hard to see huge changes with that in one year, but we definitely saw some growth.

Yeah we should be grading THIS season, which I think exceeded expectations.

Next year and the year after, some of these expectations would ramp up.  This was a bit of a trash fire when he came in.

[MaltLiquorBull]

Season grade:  I

(incomplete).

Waiting for bowl game and results.

[Rocky Style]

1 minute ago, MaltLiquorBull said:

Season grade:  I

(incomplete).

Waiting for bowl game and results.

Ah ha inclusive of post-season?

[MaltLiquorBull]

1 minute ago, Rocky Style said:

Ah ha inclusive of post-season?

oh, i see what you did there.  but yes, I consider the season to be not over yet.  I don't think the grade I have in mind would be negatively affected the bowl game result (unless we get 56 hung on us again), but it could help the grade on the positive side...kind of like "extra credit".

[Rocky Style]

Just now, MaltLiquorBull said:

oh, i see what you did there.  but yes, I consider the season to be not over yet.  I don't think the grade I have in mind would be negatively affected the bowl game result (unless we get 56 hung on us again), but it could help the grade on the positive side...kind of like "extra credit".

Right like if JMU curb stomps us, then that might put a thin layer of muck.