Schnauzer
Pretty Sure You are Wrong
- Joined
- Jun 4, 2009
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The optimism has been flowing on these boards ever since the back to back victories over Wisconsin and Georgia Tech. There is a lot to be optimistic about: Lots of returning players, another year of maturity for a lot of these young players, returning stars, returning coordinators, etc. But, there is always the potential of another shoe dropping. The injury bug. College kids being college kids. Ball bouncing the wrong way in close games. And certainly more. Even if the team is improved, there is reason to believe it will be a wide open race between the old guard (Wisconsin, Iowa, and Nebraska) and the new (Minnesota, Northwestern, and even Purdue), leaving 50/50 games nearly every week.
What is your biggest worry for the upcoming season?
For me, it is the defense. There has been a simplistic thought that many of have had that the change in coordinators "fixed" this problem last year so we can all assume things will continue on the path we saw at the end of the year last year. But for me, we have a relatively new coordinator now faced with a gauntlet of top coaches looking to expose his defense. There is film on schemes and players. Everything needs to progress up a notch.
And for Fleck, although overall my confidence has grown regarding his coaching abilities, his original selection for D coordinator was flat out bad and begs the question: If people were questioning the track record at Arkansas when he was hired, what was Fleck thinking in terms of what that guy could accomplish here and is it a sign he could have additional blind spots on the D side of the ball? That is my worry. Defense.
There is a track record of success on the other side of the ball and the improvement we have seen seems like a perfect fit to the history that was built at Western Michigan. I expect big things out of the offense this season as there are playmakers about to burst out and the potential to have an O line like we haven't seen since the Mason years.
What is your biggest worry for the upcoming season?
For me, it is the defense. There has been a simplistic thought that many of have had that the change in coordinators "fixed" this problem last year so we can all assume things will continue on the path we saw at the end of the year last year. But for me, we have a relatively new coordinator now faced with a gauntlet of top coaches looking to expose his defense. There is film on schemes and players. Everything needs to progress up a notch.
And for Fleck, although overall my confidence has grown regarding his coaching abilities, his original selection for D coordinator was flat out bad and begs the question: If people were questioning the track record at Arkansas when he was hired, what was Fleck thinking in terms of what that guy could accomplish here and is it a sign he could have additional blind spots on the D side of the ball? That is my worry. Defense.
There is a track record of success on the other side of the ball and the improvement we have seen seems like a perfect fit to the history that was built at Western Michigan. I expect big things out of the offense this season as there are playmakers about to burst out and the potential to have an O line like we haven't seen since the Mason years.