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Post by jim68 on Apr 9, 2018 11:49:55 GMT -5
Now that we've seen the spring game, does anyone else want to give it a try at predicting wins and losses, or does anyone want to revise their already made prediction? Last season WCU’s Offensive Stats were at the top of the SoCon in every Offensive Category. However, the defensive stats showed the Cats finished the season in the bottom half of the Conference in almost every Defensive Stats. With the very good Offensive Team, they could do no better than 4th place finish in the final standings. Last season proved that a Good Defensive Team normally beats a good Offensive Team. Using the Spread Offense year after year and not Winning a Conference Championship but expecting a different results year after year is insanity. With the 2018 Road Game Schedule & the number of players graduating on the defensive side of the ball last season and the increased Administrative Support for Football Programs in other Schools in the SoCon could result in a 6th place finish in the SoCon. The Defense will be the Achilles Heel again & will determine the final W/L Record. Defense wins championships & Offense sales tickets. We finished #1 in the SoCon Home Game Attendance & 4th place in the final standings. Coach Speir did not sound very optimistic in his post Spring Game Remarks & I agree with him. However, I sure hope I’m wrong.
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Post by wcugrad95 on Apr 9, 2018 16:44:52 GMT -5
I took Coach Speir's comments about inexperienced players getting lots of reps to be much more about the number of guys we had sitting out. He was talking about the benefits of the inexperienced guys helping us long-term - I watched the clip several times after people seemed to think (and post) that he was down on the team or thought they performed poorly. And check Smack's post about the guys who were out, Tyrie playing exclusively with the 2nd team, etc. I trust Smack is closer to what is going on with the team above just about anybody on the board, and he thinks (and I think) the offense will be very good again. No doubt defense will determine if we will be worse, as good, or better than last year's 7-5 record. We lost a bunch of guys over there, but if we are being honest we lost a lot of undersized guys who were still statistics-wise one of the worst squads in the SoCon. So I would hope we can be just as good if not better on that side of the ball.
Will we equal or eclipse 7 wins? I don't know. But if you look back at this board and everybody's projections for last season you will see lots of guys on here predicting a 1 or 2 or no more than 3 wins for 2017. Then we win 7 and many of those same guys shift to saying we aren't good enough to make the playoffs or the coaches or schemes are bad (even though we exceeded expectations). Just saying we should all want and expect the best from our coaches and teams, but this board is very much a doom-and-gloom place most of the time. Criticism should be welcome and differing points of view listened to, but I prefer to at least hope for the best.
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Post by Old Catamount on Apr 9, 2018 18:12:37 GMT -5
Don't be surprised if our QB early next season is Will Jones. He threw the ball Saturday better than any WCU QB I've seen in a very long time...his throwing motion, accuracy and velocity reminds me of Jeff Gilbert from the mid-80s. Plus, he has size and quickness. I can see Tyrie as a wide or slot receiver...got to have him on the field. Just my observation.
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Post by smack1212 on Apr 9, 2018 18:45:47 GMT -5
#15 impressed me too. It’s Tyrie job to lose though. Way too early for any predictions record wise till I see more in the fall. We will live or die with our D and I have way more optimism going into this year then I did last.
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Post by CharlotteCat on Apr 9, 2018 18:55:54 GMT -5
Don't be surprised if our QB early next season is Will Jones. He threw the ball Saturday better than any WCU QB I've seen in a very long time...his throwing motion, accuracy and velocity reminds me of Jeff Gilbert from the mid-80s. Plus, he has size and quickness. I can see Tyrie as a wide or slot receiver...got to have him on the field. Just my observation. The $64 thousand dollar question is can he scramble as well Tyrie? If he can't scramble as well as Adams, the job remains safely in Adams' hands.
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Post by jim68 on Apr 9, 2018 20:03:24 GMT -5
Don't be surprised if our QB early next season is Will Jones. He threw the ball Saturday better than any WCU QB I've seen in a very long time...his throwing motion, accuracy and velocity reminds me of Jeff Gilbert from the mid-80s. Plus, he has size and quickness. I can see Tyrie as a wide or slot receiver...got to have him on the field. Just my observation. I totally agree with you on Will Jones. However, Coach is fully committed to Tyrie.
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Post by wcugrad95 on Apr 9, 2018 20:18:32 GMT -5
Coach even said the reason those other guys were getting snaps with the first team is to get a read on who will be the back-up. Seems pretty clear that is Jones, and we will be in very good hands if we need him to play either to spell Tyrie, as a change-of-pace guy or (hopefully not) we see another injury. Like I said in another post, it should free our offense up to have Tyrie run as much as we want him to having a guy as capable as Jones on the roster. When we were most dangerous last year was when Tyrie could pressure a defense with his legs and then burn them over the top.
Having Tyrie, Jones, Holloway, Spencer, and Connell Young means we are pretty loaded in the backfield. Injuries like we had to battle through with Tyrie and Detrez last year ***might*** not be as tough to survive in 2018 on offense.
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Post by wcugrad95 on Apr 9, 2018 20:57:40 GMT -5
With Tyrie a rising RS Junior and Jones being a RS Freshman, seems like we will be set at QB for the next 4 years (and the timing is right to hopefully keep Jones from transferring).
And we are always asking for innovation on offense, so how about we have Tyrie and Jones in the backfield at the same time occasionally with Young and Holloway in the slots. Then either pick which side we want to run the option to based on the defense, or snap the ball to Jones with all 3 of those guys and Jordan Mathis in routes somewhere downfield??? With 4 returning lineman that would be hard to defend!
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Post by catamountalum04 on Apr 9, 2018 22:03:30 GMT -5
if will jones is as good as people say and most likely will back tyrie up do you think any of the other QB's leave?
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Post by jim68 on Apr 10, 2018 9:51:20 GMT -5
#15 impressed me too. It’s Tyrie job to lose though. Way too early for any predictions record wise till I see more in the fall. We will live or die with our D and I have way more optimism going into this year then I did last. Hope you are right. I was high on #15’s Athletic Ability last year. He had lack of experience & you told me none of the backups came close to Tyrie. I also think 15 would be starting for a number of teams in the SoCon this season. Again like 95 stated, most of us on this board are negative & do not know what we are talking about. Sometimes I think it is worthless to even comment on this board anymore. However, it is like old 72’s use to say that too many people on here look at the Football Program thru Purple Colored Glasses & think with their heart instead of their heads.
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