Reality Check

[greenyellow]

I think the Reality Check is that this team for as flawed as it seems to be, might be 7-1 if Herbert was healthy and that's pretty much at the top and outside of anyone's realistic projections for this team going in. No, we aren't 7-1 but I'm not even willing to call it a bad year right now with how the last year has played out. Sure, it's been frustrating to watch the offense at times but it should make everyone appreciate how good Justin is too.

I think everyone knew this team was only going to go as far as Herbert could carry it because of how thin the team was at QB and other positions. Kinda hard to judge the coaching staff's performance when the team is just so shorthanded after a few years of neglect and poor development by the previous staff. I do think we've seen signs that Taggart and his staff have the program improving but it's just going to take a bit of patience to see if their work pans out.

[pezsez1]

I am a bit disappointed that we don't get to learn more about Taggart as a playcaller this season. I stand by everything I've said so far about him seeming a bit more conservative than we're used to in recent years, but yeah, we seemed to have a good thing going before Herbert went down. The Ducks looked like they'd turned a corner in the first quarter of that Cal game.

[nogerO]

I hate to lose, but it's not like we were expected to win all of these games before the season started anyway. The loss to ASU may come back to bite us as far as getting to a Bowl Game goes, but Herbert played the entire game, we just let that one get away.

Few people expected us to beat WSU or Stanford either, though I'd argue that the WSU game would have been much more competitive if Herbert had played and we may have had a chance of winning.

That being said, by most fans and experts, we were expected to be 5-3 or 6-2 right now. So even if Herbert was healthy and we'd beaten UCLA yesterday, we'd be at 5-3.

Being 4-4 is going to make getting to a Bowl Game tough. We still have Utah, UW and a couple of inspired Arizona and OSU left to play. If Herbert comes back for Utah I think we'll have a chance to win that game and finish either 6-6 or 7-5. If not, we're going to have trouble getting to 6-6.

Hoping for the best. A Bowl Game gives teams 15(?) additional practices and a bit of prestige. We could use both.

Given what WT inherited and the fact that they've had to start so many freshman at so many positions, I think the team is just about what I thought it would be given Justin's injury. Anyone else think the O-line is not what we expected it to be this year?

[karlhungis]

I hate to lose, but it's not like we were expected to win all of these games before the season started anyway. The loss to ASU may come back to bite us as far as getting to a Bowl Game goes, but Herbert played the entire game, we just let that one get away.

Few people expected us to beat WSU or Stanford either, though I'd argue that the WSU game would have been much more competitive if Herbert had played and we may have had a chance of winning.

That being said, by most fans and experts, we were expected to be 5-3 or 6-2 right now. So even if Herbert was healthy and we'd beaten UCLA yesterday, we'd be at 5-3.

Being 4-4 is going to make getting to a Bowl Game tough. We still have Utah, UW and a couple of inspired Arizona and OSU left to play. If Herbert comes back for Utah I think we'll have a chance to win that game and finish either 6-6 or 7-5. If not, we're going to have trouble getting to 6-6.

Hoping for the best. A Bowl Game gives teams 15(?) additional practices and a bit of prestige. We could use both.

Given what WT inherited and the fact that they've had to start so many freshman at so many positions, I think the team is just about what I thought it would be given Justin's injury. Anyone else think the O-line is not what we expected it to be this year?

O Line has been a disappointment in regard to penalties for me. Tough to evaluate their execution with the offense we have had to use.