This is what's in my head at this point - where do we go from here? I don't see the team shaken in their confidence of the coaches (yet), so I think we have a chance to pull out a decent season. Our remaining games are winnable, I'm not willing to mark any as a sure L just yet, but they are nearly all losable as well. Does our secondary pack it in and start counting days to declare for the draft (and in the process hurt their potential?), or do they man up and honor the words they uttered prior to being kicked in the groin? Does our DL heal up enough to be a factor, or do they and the LBs continue to get nicked up and give up more and more each subsequent weak? Not controllable, but a variable that will remain out there. For our offense, does the team gel around del Rio's return and begin producing as we've expected them to do, or does the OL continue to create limited running lanes and short clocks for the passing game? I feel we have enough to make the plays with RBs and WRs and TEs (with some blocking support), but do we have a whole offense (meaning a functional OL)?
Stepping above the player's psyche and if they can come together as a complete team when lacking apparent leadership, if we look at the coaches - what are we looking at? Can the coaches build confidence going forward, give the players something to believe in that will work, that they can build upon each week? Can the coaches overcome the weak points with scheme, show adaptation to not only personnel conditions but also play calling in games?
Personally, I'm getting worried about the JRs and SRs starting to check out again like we had for the bowl game. I know - we only have one loss and there is still a lot to play for, but I don't know how much that's in the player's minds vs just getting thru this season and let next year's team sort it out. I'm scared on the player level that we don't have enough leaders, and the few that are looked at as leaders will set the wrong example by checking out. I'm more worried, however, about the coaching. We can see some good offensive scripting, but I have yet to seen the ability to react and adjust. On defense, we've had some talented players making plays but I still don't believe I've seen good planning or much adjustment capability by our staff. More than that, the folks on this board have me concerned that I've watched essentially the same staff in place for 18+ months with little to no improvement. I've always been one that says new coaches need time to get their players, to instill their vision, and I don't think Mac and staff have had enough time to get there .... but they've had enough time to show improvement on the field and I'm simply not feeling it's on par with my expectations at this point in the program.
Best case, we pull it together, win enough of the remaining games to make recruiting and building come along. Best case next year is 9-10 wins and the following year we actually hit our stride. I'm not thinking we'll see best case.
Worst case, this team implodes for the balance of the season and the staff simply stands back and says "shucks". Worst case, Mac gets another year after being around .500, and he chooses not to make any changes to staff, and we see the same or worse next year - this can set the program another 5 yrs from being acceptable at best, assuming the new AD pulls the trigger after an atrocious 2017 performance. I'm not thinking we'll see worst case, but what I've seen so far leans more to worst case than best case.
TLDR - I'm worried about the players for the balance of the season, I'm worried about the coaching for this and next season. I feel more worried than optimistic (forget about confident) when it comes to 'what comes next?'
