re: I honestly have no idea what to expect this year.....

" obviously that the talent on the roster isnt what it was@

Interesting that the cry before was, it's not the talent, its the coaching. Now, the cry appears to be that it's not the coaching, but the talent.

How many years in a row has our recruiting been in the top 10 of the nation? If we have these great coordinators now to go alone with our always outstanding talent, why the lower expectations??

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Canada will dial up the right plays. Orgeron will manage the game

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Canada has never coached in the SEC, and while I think he will be successful, we don't know for sure. And what is O going to do if he's not interfering with Aranda and Canada? Yell at the refs? Call timeouts?

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Canada has never coached in the SEC, and while I think he will be successful, we don't know for sure.



He's also never had the quality of players he does now. 

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This is why I've repeatedly said we just have no way of knowing what this offense can do. Especially when you consider that Canada has never coached against defenses with this much talent week in and week out.

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This is why I've repeatedly said we just have no way of knowing what this offense can do. Especially when you consider that Canada has never coached against defenses with this much talent week in and week out.

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Yeah, this was the point of my post. SEC defenses are just bigger and faster as a whole than any other conference. FSU and Clemson may have similar talent, but that's a couple games out of a season. I have faith that Canada can make us a lot better on O, I'm just holding off on forming an opinion until I see first hand what he does with this talent.

Here's my prediction for everyone to criticize.
vs. BYU W 24-14 (1-0)
vs. Chatt W 38-6 (2-0)
@MSU W 28-17 (3-0)
vs. Syr W 41-7 (4-0)
vs. Troy W 35-10 (5-0)
@FLA L 21-17 (5-1)
vs. Auburn L 27-21 (5-2)
@Ole Miss W 34-17 (6-2)
@Alabama L 31-14 (6-3)
vs. Arkansas W 28-17 (7-3)
@Tennessee L 17-14 (7-4)
vs. Texas A&M W 37-16 (8-4)

I expect a lot of growing pains. You have to have a legitimate threat at QB play to win this conference. I think the days of having just a "Good enough" QB are long gone. We tend to hang our hat on the Flynn and Mauck comparison when we have the Etling conversations.

Canada will do fine. He's a good coach. Etling is the key.
Can he perform while thinking on his feet? That's the biggest question coming into this season.

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also don't buy into that 'has never coached in the SEC'

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Well it's a fact. Nobody is saying Canada can't or won't succeed, just that he hasn't faced SEC defenses on a weekly basis before. But he also hasn't had this level of talent, which was also said. His offenses have had bad games at his other stops, there's no reason to be upset about having an off game in the first season of a brand new offense.

I am very optimistic about this year. Here is why.
Guice will have a heisman type of year. He will move the chains and he will score some long touchdowns and take the life out of some teams.
Our WR will have some experience with chark (poised to be a 1rd-2rd pick) and gage and have some serious potential future superstars with Anderson and drake Davis.
OL will be great not just good. Weathersby and malone on the edges with all American clapp at C and tuehema next to him is a lot of experience and talent.

On the defensive side of the ball, Arden key will have another all American year. His freshman back up Chaisson is solid We get lacouture back to add some experience along with Greg Gilmore who seems to have broken out. Also have the stud sophomores Alexander and Lawrence who are poised to have a great soph season. Herron will add senior leadership. Depth is only worry here.

LB will not be a step back at all barring injury. Donnie Alexander has every tool to be just as good or better than duke riley which is high praise. He is fast physical and has tons of experience. Devin white will prove to be the best linebacker we have had here in over 10 years. He is special. Year two he will be the man for us. We have a good bit of depth here now than we did a few years ago. Divinity, Rucker, Anthony, and Thornton will all get time.

Db- toliver and Jackson will be two of the top in American. Potential 1rd picks here as well. Kristian Fulton, greedy, and Vincent will provide quality snaps at cb and Nickel. Not worried about safety at all. Battle Delpit paris and Stevens are as good as they come. The freshman really impressed me in spring.

SP teams should be much improved in kicking game and coverage.
This year I have no worries. We could be coached by jay Lucas and stilll go 10-2.
But we have a great coaching staff to go along with this roster. The roster is not as old and experienced as last years, but has same quality.