Let's start with the ugly.
UGLY - You're never guaranteed this caliber of a team again, and we may have squandered our best chance at a title in quite some time. This one is going to sting for awhile, unless we duplicate results and get in soon.
GOOD - Simmons is a quality QB1 next season that you can build around. Some decent pieces on offense remain. Should have a quality offense, but duplicating that defense, particularly defensive line, will be difficult. I still believe in Golding, though. We still have a favorable schedule next season. Getting South Carolina, LSU, and Florida at home actually turns out to be solid.
BAD - Coaching has to be better. I worry that Kiffin's mental state will decline after that. I don't know what the deal with Bentley is with Smith, but it doesn't take some schematic genius to know starting Micah Davis and not giving him a snap is coaching malfeasance. I'm sorry, it is. It's unbelievable. You can have whatever opinion you'd like on Weis, but I don't think it's controversial to say that a new mind to the spread might be helpful to complement Kiffin.
Overall, no spin necessary, this sucks. However, I know how I felt after 2022 too, and I thought "the decline" was potentially happening after that year. Can rightfully wallow in it for awhile, but the last five years have proven we're going to make it sooner rather than later.
UGLY - You're never guaranteed this caliber of a team again, and we may have squandered our best chance at a title in quite some time. This one is going to sting for awhile, unless we duplicate results and get in soon.
GOOD - Simmons is a quality QB1 next season that you can build around. Some decent pieces on offense remain. Should have a quality offense, but duplicating that defense, particularly defensive line, will be difficult. I still believe in Golding, though. We still have a favorable schedule next season. Getting South Carolina, LSU, and Florida at home actually turns out to be solid.
BAD - Coaching has to be better. I worry that Kiffin's mental state will decline after that. I don't know what the deal with Bentley is with Smith, but it doesn't take some schematic genius to know starting Micah Davis and not giving him a snap is coaching malfeasance. I'm sorry, it is. It's unbelievable. You can have whatever opinion you'd like on Weis, but I don't think it's controversial to say that a new mind to the spread might be helpful to complement Kiffin.
Overall, no spin necessary, this sucks. However, I know how I felt after 2022 too, and I thought "the decline" was potentially happening after that year. Can rightfully wallow in it for awhile, but the last five years have proven we're going to make it sooner rather than later.
