1> QB
Playing devil's advocate here... I don't remember the preseason talk last year, but honestly did anyone think Mitch would ascend to become such a high draft pick and leave after one season as a starter? I don't think he was thought of as a first round pick before last season began. Regardless, if he was still here, our opponents would have to respect his ability and he would make our receivers better. But we've lost how many WR's now? Combined with the crappy QB's we have now and a weak OL, our offense is doomed.
2> Recruiting
We all know that the NCAA crap had a negative affect. Despite that, he's actually averaged getting the 5th best ACC class (30th nationally) during his tenure. Whether or not Fed can improve on that now that the cloud is lifted, remains to be seen. He can no longer use this as an excuse, so he's got no choice but to get better, especially since better talent might be the only way to offset the next 3 frustrations...
3> Poor fundamentals coaching
Again, I'll play devil' advocate for a minute here - but due to all the injuries, it's fair to say we have a bunch of guys on the field that weren't ready yet. I mean, there's a reason they weren't going to be starters, right? It's easy to say that they need to be "coached up" better, but I think you have to consider that they aren't as skilled (or are as quick of a learner) as the guys that were ahead of them on the depth chart. Hopefully the minutes they get this year can translate into improved play & depth next year. Hopefully. We've not seen much improvement in this area during Fed's tenure, so all we can do is hope.
4> In-game coaching
This one is hard to defend. I too am frustrated at the stupid penalties we see every year, usually at the worst possible moments of the game. I suppose that the dumb penalties falls into #3, but anyway, add to that his stubbornness in play calling (and clock management) that has cost us games, and again, it's hard to defend. Fed HAS GOT TO learn from his mistakes and get better in this area. Unfortunately these issues have been present from day one and I'm not sure if they'll ever change. Sad.
5> Defense
I saved the best for last, haha. There's not much I can say here. Our D usually sucks at historically bad levels. There are the occasional bright spots; we've actually seen some decent play this year at times but with next to no help from the offense, it doesn't really make much difference. Maybe we need yet another DC / staff? Maybe our recruiting will get better on D now and the results will show over the next few seasons? Wishful thinking, I suppose. I know I am tired of waiting for at least a respectable defense.
1. Before the season he was not thought of as a first rounder, but after the Florida State game he was like top 10 for the Heisman. After that the writing was on the wall. His accuracy from the pocket is off the charts, he's mobile, and he's accurate on the run. And our opponents would not have to respect his ability to throw because he would barely have time to throw. Have you seen this O line? Even if we still had our starting wide receivers he would have a worst year than last year. No one on this team is capable of stretching defense like Mack was. Hell look at how we preformed after we lost him for the season and that was with another eventually drafted WR and another one who is being given a chance to prove himself at the NFL level. If he came back after doing what he did last season he would've had so much hype around him that he would have never been able to live up to because he doesn't have the help around him. He would be in the same position Sam Darnold is in now on a WORST team.
2. So he has more talent than NC State, Duke, Virginia and Cal but has lost against all of them. He has a losing record to Duke with more talent. That's all coaching. Doesn't Fedora undersign recruiting classes every year? That's on him. He continues to play people out of position and try to make them into something they're not. Dalton is a defensive end.
3. On defense we still can't tackle, we have little to no knowledge of angles and we let the offensive player come to us instead of going to him. Myles Dorn got his ass ran over because he stood there and took the hit instead of going and delivering the hit. VTech should have been 2-4 yards behind the first instead it was a first down. On offense we have so many penalties that it's ridiculous. Yesterday we had 9 false starts. We have so many holding penalties. They might gain experience this year, but I don't see it helping much if at all for next year. We act like this is the first year we've had problem with penalties. 2015 is the only outlier every other year has been basically just like this. They lack discipline and that's all on Fedora and the coaching staff.
4. I wish people would realize he keeps doing the exact same thing he's done since he's been here. He is NEVER going to learn and as fans we either need to accept that and run him out of town or just bend over and take it.
- Not running the ball with Hood against South Carolina in 2015.
- Mitch's first start he throws the ball 40 times in what is a basically a home game for Georgia when we were having success running the ball.
-The screen he or Kap called in the end zone against Georgia that gave up a safety.
- The safety we gave up against Pitt with Switzer running parallel to the endzone in the endzone.
- Losing to Duke and NC State last year with all the talent we had.
- Cal we should've tried for the endzone a couple of times then went ahead and kicked the field and tried to recover the onside kick. Instead we keep trying to punch it in wasting ALL of the clock and score a meaningless TD.
- Duke the very same thing happens. We even get to 4th down in what was around a 36 yard field goal if remember correctly and instead we still try to score a TD and we turn it over on downs.
- We were lucky to be down only 7 against Notre Dame and instead of just qb sneaking a few times to run out the clock and go into half time with confidence we throw the ball into double coverage and very little time runs off the clock. Then we follow that up with handing the ball off what 4-5 yards in the endzone. Don't give me the right side missed blocks. You, I and the rest of the fan base knows this isn't a good running line. All that was needed was for the center and the right guard or left guard, which ever side Chazz was going, to push the D linemen back a little and him fall forward.
- We passed the ball on 3rd and a foot. Why? Did the coaching staff have that little faith in the O line? Then why hand the ball off out of your own endzone.
5. Defense is the only reason we had chances to beat Cal, Louisville, Duke and Virginia and they played good-great in the first half against ND and Georgia Tech. And exactly there in lies the problem. The offense has repeatedly let the defense down by either turning the ball over, not scoring, or not moving the ball at all. We have to be close if not leading the P5 in most three and outs. The only way we'll have a respectable defense while Fedora is here is if he completely changes his offensive philosophy. He wants a hurry up offense that goes as quickly as possible. That means if the offense goes 3 and out like 40 seconds have ticked off the clock unless we get a TV timeout and the defense has to go back on the field. Repeatedly doing that I don't blame them for being exhausted by half time or halfway through the third. I also think going up against a spread offense in practice all the time also hurts them.
