re: How much improvement do you expect in your offense?

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I think Ware will prove to be a better RB than Ridley but not by much (and this is TBD). Ridley was one tough dude to tackle for all 13 games last year. Ware needs to provde himself game-in and game-out (and yes I expect him to). Ford needs to run as strong as he is.

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Ware is about the same size as Ridley and should be harder to take down in his second year. The big difference between the two is that Ridley offers no home run threat. He can plow through the line and always fell forward but he isn't going to outrun anyone. Ware can do it all and is also a much better receiver.

Potential in our offense is ridiculous but it all hinges on QB play. We need some type of passing attack. We're wasting weapons at WR like RR/RS. RR is a first round talent if LSU would give him the ball more. RS just needed time at WR and I think he'll be more comfortable there this year. RS can be the breakout player we've all be hoping for. People just had unrealistic expectations for him last year. Most people don't see heavy maturity until Junior/Senior year. RS had no experience at WR in HS and barely a few months before last year. If JJ improves his passing attack to just average, we'll be a really good offense, IMO.

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If JJ improves his passing attack to just average

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Well that's not going to happen. The guy flat cannot read defenses, make quick decisons, and throw quickly deep over the middle of the field. It will absolutely, positively NEVER happen.

That being said, JJ's always been competent at the rollout pass, occasionally decent at slants, and has always been excellent at throwing deep bombs on fly routes--especially off play action.

If Kragthorpe is smart, he will figure out how to play to JJ's strengths when he is in the game (e.g., not expect him to be effective with screen passes), or just take him the hell out and put Jarrett Lee or Zach Mettenberger in the game when necessary.

We have a 5th year, 4th year, and 3rd year QB, so I'm really not that worried about that position as it pertains to the whole season.

I'm a little bit spooked by the thought of the coaches dogmatically sticking with JJ for the whole Oregon game no matter what, but as we've seen from the Bama game and others, JJ can be quite effective when he's just in there to use his feet to make busted plays work, thus providing just enough distraction to keep our power running game steamrolling the opponent.

This is a team that could average over 200 ypg rushing in our 8 SEC games this season.

I honestly cannot understand all the premature confidence the fanbase seems to currently be having with Ware, but fwiw, I hope it works out as advertised and Ware really does set the CFB world on fire this fall.

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I honestly cannot understand all the premature confidence the fanbase seems to currently be having with Ware

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it's simple. that boy good.

That's what Rivals tells us.

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I know you recently hired a new coordinator, so there should be some hiccups in your offense when you move to a new scheme.

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we're not really going to a new scheme as much as we're emphasizing what we do well. the Cotton Bowl is pretty much what I think we'll try to look like on offense: hard-nosed running, some option mixed in, and a greater emphasis on the deep ball. of course there'll be other stuff, but those are the things we'll stress primarily. we bout to ball out this yr.

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Ware diced them up for over 10 yds/carry for over 100 yards as a backup to Ridley.

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Which has almost ZERO significance.

Bowl games are very unnatural. They may be showcase games, but they are often terrible indicators for the future.

Motivations of various players are all over the map. Some teams prepare well, some don't give a shite. Some players step up in December and train hard, and some don't. Some superstar NFL prospects just phone it in, and some coaches let discipline get sloppy.

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get on this bandwagon, dog. it's not too late

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I think a lot of folks were fighting it because they root for the hometown kid(Mike Ford). Don't get me wrong, Ford is a beast but he had some growing pains in the mental department. There had been write-ups that say he was running timid and didn't know all of his blocking assignments. I haven't heard anything but positives on Spencer Ware. Most of those people have really warmed up to Ware by now.