In Reply to: It was well done posted by UCLABB on August 14, 2024 at 09:15:53
I watched most of the 'SC preview too - wanted to see how D'Anton was doing.
They did not seem as enthusiastic about 'SC's defense at all, reading between the lines, Lynn really has his work cut out on defense, tho they did say Ramsay was really stepping up as a leader, but even with Yogi/DiNardo trying to be optimistic, it really sounded like they are going to be in a lot of shootouts again.
Maybe that's just relative expectations that 'SC has a shot to contend and we (probably) don't, but I'm not sure. We were better than 'SC last year (with Garbers) and have a real shot at being better this year too, IMHO.
Offensively, while they said that SC *should* be able to run the ball, I don't think Riley will focus on that at all - still. they said SC was bigger (putting on ~1400 lbs team wide this year), but I didn't get any sense that they were better (yet - I do think Lynn will get there, but I think it's going to be tougher - 'SC's defense has been REALLY bad under Riley, and I don't think he has the culture to really push for accountability on that side of the ball, so all the 5*'s, etc aren't coming together as a team defense...