Well said and I believe on the money. I agree with last 2 statements 100%.
Yeah, I think that's not far from what I believe either. It just struck me as a bit funny that the player in the blog has lower expectations, and as a former player, he might have a better feel for the situation than the average fan. Then again, there is such a thing as being too deep in it and losing perspective.
I did a bit of research on last year recently, and our D was 36th in the country in scoring D (not great but very respectable), which IYAM is about all that really matters defensively anyway (or at any rate is the top stat). Conversely were were 106th in scoring and almost dead last in rushing yards. Which is funny, because going in we all expected the opposite....that the offense would be pretty good and the D would be a challenge. Of course, injuries were a huge part of the offensive struggles, but that would seem to put even more of a strain on the D.
So going into the fall, if the D can at least equal last year's performance and the offense recovers fully from the injuries then 9-3 or 8-4 are very realistic expectations.
Obviously the D has to deal with a few key losses, and a complete turnover on the coaching staff, but they did okay last year, and we get a lot back plus Gaithers is healthy,