At defense, we lose Shaquem, and Pittman and Guerard at the front are key too. Man the rollercoaster ride of Guerard from off the team in GOLs final season to key contributor during the Frost years. Burgess-Becker has the inside track to replace Shaq, but it will be difficult to replace arguably the best defensive player in UCF history...certainly one of the most inspired.
As for the offense, I flashed that uneasy smile when Jordan Akins was finally catching passes against those mighty SEC defenders. Every time we talk about how he's always creating mismatches with the defender and on the big game it finally paid off. He will be easily missed. Some of the seniors on the line redeemed themselves after the last two years under GOL. All i can say is thanks for your service, but looking forward to Frost's recruits...and the Juco's Heup brought in as well.
With MM and our core of offense players coming back, it will be much different than what we dealt with post 2013.
As for losing, I say never underestimate South Florida. Those players play like they have something to prove against us even though their fan base says otherwise. We win at least one of two against Pittsburgh and UNC. I think we can beat both but Pitt got the surprise win against Miami at the end of the year so they will ride on that confidence. I'm curious of how we respond to Navy visiting Spectrum Stadium for the first time. They struggled towards the end but beat up Virginia at their bowl. ECU sucked last year but if they beat ACC teams early next year, they will have confidence as we visit Greenville next year. Memphis laid it all this year against us, the AAC and their bowl opponents. All their best players will be gone. I seem naive to think they will suck because they shouldnt have been this good so fast after losing Fuentes and their senior QB in 2015.
Some of the longest winning streaks happened this century. We can possibly win 25 straight but if we make the Final Four for our efforts next year, we lose in the Semis. I cant see it happening though...not until 2019. Success will be winning early against the ACC, ascending late in the CFP polls but struggling enough that we lose before the AAC title game. I will take that at the very least.
