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Portal Losses

If the DL and safeties improved, the Lb was solid and everything else was the same then why was our defense good last year and terrible much of the time this year?
I meant that the individual players we have improved, but overall the position declined because of losses.

Drop, Barber, and Montalvo definitely improved since last year. But our DL overall declined bc we lost KD, Goode, Big Kat, Hancock, Hester, and Landon.
 
Unproven sure. But they also have not been proven to be unqualified to start or be rotational. So let's not assume that they aren't, especially when their film indicates that several of them can provide immediate quality help.

We all knew that we needed better linebacker play. We can't get better without change.
Don’t disagree with needing change, but I still would rather be adding the talented new guys AND keeping previous starters.
 
They are soft. One of the drawbacks of the portal is kids dont learn how to fight through adversity, just take an out and transfer. Competition makes players better

Multiple players stayed after a coaching change for multiple years, was the best player in their position and chose to leave after giving Malzahn and his staff a chance.

I find it funny when people on Twitter say O'Keefe would be a 3rd or 4th option next year anyways after having by far the most touches of all receivers the last two years.

These are players that aren't happy with the direction of the team and its hard to argue. The defense has a regressed, and the identity of the offense lies in a QB that is not a passer and will spend the next half year focused on baseball.
 
When I was growing up, my coach told me "Quitting is like sucking d*ck."

That may not sound like a deterrent to this current generation, but at the time it was...

The point is, for these outgoing transfers, quitting gets easier every time you do it and they will quit again.

Now, for the incoming transfers to UCF, those guys are hard fighting soldiers you want to be in a foxhole with!
Because they quit on their previous team?
 
Players that entered the portal, will they be eligible for the bowl game?
Based off last year I think they can if they want. I'd rather give the reps to someone who will be here in 2023 or is out of eligibility and playing their final game.
 
Based off last year I think they can if they want. I'd rather give the reps to someone who will be here in 2023 or is out of eligibility and playing their final game.
No. They cannot play in the bowl game. The rule changed this year. If MK could have played in the Cotton Bowl, he would have burned his red shirt in the AAC Championship Game.
 
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I admire those guys’ passion and loyalty, but they never had the dangling carrot of an easy transfer + NIL like today’s players have. It’s hard to know whether they would have made similar decisions or not
 
No. They cannot play in the bowl game. The rule changed this year. If MK could have played in the Cotton Bowl, he would have burned his red shirt in the AAC Championship Game.
Says who? Did he say that? Has he said anything since "let's go win a championship?" I don't think anyone knows what any of these players were or were not going to do in hypothetical situations.

Maybe I'm just grumpy
 
Nothing but they look like a quality opponent and you need some new glasses if you haven't noticed that we've been getting worse as each game goes on. We're not going to put up much of a fight when all these players are going portal and won't be playing. JRP is hurt. O'Keefe's gone among various other defensemen. How do you think we're going to win when we couldn't win with those starters??

It's going to be BYU Boca Bowl all over again.
 
Nothing but they look like a quality opponent and you need some new glasses if you haven't noticed that we've been getting worse as each game goes on. We're not going to put up much of a fight when all these players are going portal and won't be playing. JRP is hurt. O'Keefe's gone among various other defensemen. How do you think we're going to win when we couldn't win with those starters??

It's going to be BYU Boca Bowl all over again.
Despite us getting "worse" as you say, we still were good enough to make it to the CCG. JRP has several weeks to rest the hamstring, and TC is available. We have more than enough talented WRs that can step up now that ROK is moving on.

Do we know how many key contributors Duke is losing to the portal? If not, any portal defection comparative analysis is incomplete.

Further, Duke was 8-4 this season. Three of their victories were OOC against the benevolent trio of Temple, Northwestern and NC A&T. Of their 5 conference wins only one was against a team that posted a winning record. That was against 7-5 Wake Forest who they beat by 3 points. Duke lost to Kansas and to Ga Tech, who we beat by 19 points.
In summary, I respect Duke but I ain't scared.
 
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I respectfully disagree. On what do you base your apparent confidence in Duke's alleged ability to outclass us in the bowl game?
How about not having a group run for the exit? They had a very productive offense and so far don’t seem to be losing much. Our D sucked with no losses but it’s starting and I doubt we’re done.
 
I respectfully disagree. On what do you base your apparent confidence in Duke's alleged ability to outclass us in the bowl game?
We aren't motivated.

We havent played defense since 11/12/22. So we can expect Duke to score on almost every drive.

Our QB is hurt, TC12 likely starts and gets some reps. If we win thats good too
 
We aren't motivated.

We havent played defense since 11/12/22. So we can expect Duke to score on almost every drive.

Our QB is hurt, TC12 likely starts and gets some reps. If we win thats good too
That is quite the implied compliment, that this team is good enough to make it to the CCG without even being motivated. Interesting...
 
That is quite the implied compliment, that this team is good enough to make it to the CCG without even being motivated. Interesting...
We arent motivated comment is 1. About the bowl game and 2. A reference to the SEC where all the teams that lose bowl games weren't motivated.

First CCG game since 2018 and our fans are melting down as our offense isn't back to 2017/2018 numbers. I think i am one of them. But not quite post boca bowl done with Heupel level yet.
 
How about not having a group run for the exit? They had a very productive offense and so far don’t seem to be losing much. Our D sucked with no losses but it’s starting and I doubt we’re done.
With this defense we held Ga. Tech to 10 points while beating them by 19. Dukes "productive" offense, as your call them, lost to GA Tech.
If you are going to pick winners of bowl games based upon who doesn't lose multiple players to the portal, you are living in a bygone era. Welcome back to 2015.
 
With this defense we held Ga. Tech to 10 points while beating them by 19. Dukes "productive" offense, as your call them, lost to GA Tech.
If you are going to pick winners of bowl games based upon who doesn't lose multiple players to the portal, you are living in a bygone era. Welcome back to 2015.
Before you make such definitive statements you should look at their entire season. At least as impressive as ours. Are they losing as many critical players as us? How about their passing attack? We have NO pass defense, so yes, I do believe they will present a problem for us. I know, our pass defense was stellar against Tulane but we’re losing some starters, so…. And obviously you don’t think losing players to the portal matters but again, we’ll see. Got to give you credit, though, with any losses in our defensive backfield I’m not sure you’ll notice any difference. And just for a reference point, we lost to Navy, who passed for exactly 0 yards. So yes I do believe Duke’s passing game could present us with problems.
 
Before you make such definitive statements you should look at their entire season. At least as impressive as ours. Are they losing as many critical players as us? How about their passing attack? We have NO pass defense, so yes, I do believe they will present a problem for us. I know, our pass defense was stellar against Tulane but we’re losing some starters, so…. And obviously you don’t think losing players to the portal matters but again, we’ll see. Got to give you credit, though, with any losses in our defensive backfield I’m not sure you’ll notice any difference. And just for a reference point, we lost to Navy, who passed for exactly 0 yards. So yes I do believe Duke’s passing game could present us with problems.
Agreed that Duke is capable of beating us. My point is merely that we are also capable of winning.

The negativity I'm hearing reminds me of several seasons past... "We can't beat Auburn", or "2017 will be a down year after 2016 because we graduated all of our linebackers", or in 2013 "Baylor had the highest scoring offense in the country",. Or this year, "we can't beat SMU...Cincy, or Memphis or Tulane".

How about last year's bowl season's negative mantra: "it's not a good year to play FLA because we just lost DG and Flash"... Why? Because they they lacked the foresight to see how we could win without those two high quality guys. Or prior years of, we can't win next year without MM, or without, DG, Trequan and Dredrick, or without Gabe, etc, etc.

You would think that by now we would all see that this program has the resilience and depth to win even after great players move on. Don't take my word for it, just look at our history of recovering from major personnel losses.
 
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You would think that by now we would all see that this program has the resilience and depth to win even after great players move on. Don't take my word for it, just look at our history of recovering from major personal losses.
Many predicted that Malzahn would have the team ready by year 3 to join the B12 and be competing for playoffs. Right now they are a bad loss away from being in the position the team was after Boca Bowl, and that nearly happened against USF a few weeks ago.

Can the team win a lot of games, sure. Can the team lay a complete egg against just about anyone, yes. Currently, the team still seems a few years off from being truly competitive in B12.
 
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