I'm focusing on offense for this series of questions because I think we're going to take a small step back on D and rely more heavily on the offense's ability to both score and put games away late.
In Harbaugh's first year, we won 10 games with the 135th ranked offense in yards per game. We scored 31.4 points per game and I'm not sure where that ranked nationally. In just his second year and with another new QB, we improved to 10th nationally in scoring offense and from 135th to 68th in yards per game. The defense was outstanding, but not good enough to overcome our inability to score/finish against Iowa.
So my question is...we now have two options at QB that have two years under their belt under coach, albeit a new QB coach/passing game coordinator. We have a new OL coach, but for the first time under Harbaugh a coach focused solely on the OL and a guy with a stellar track record. New receivers but plenty of talent there. No Butt but Speight showed in the OB that in the absense of Butt he'll find other guys (we saw Bunting catch 3 for 40 something yards etc).
Will we take another step (more yards and points per game)? I can't help but think we'll be top 10 again in points per game. I'm starting to feel more comfortable with the idea of Speight in his second year as a starter (I'm assuming he hangs onto the job), a "much more athletic" line coached up by Frey, Evans as a premier back etc.
If we take another step up in offensive performance, this time more with an offensive ability to close out games against tougher competition, we should be pretty good. I don't know why but today I'm feeling more optimistic about our offense.
In Harbaugh's first year, we won 10 games with the 135th ranked offense in yards per game. We scored 31.4 points per game and I'm not sure where that ranked nationally. In just his second year and with another new QB, we improved to 10th nationally in scoring offense and from 135th to 68th in yards per game. The defense was outstanding, but not good enough to overcome our inability to score/finish against Iowa.
So my question is...we now have two options at QB that have two years under their belt under coach, albeit a new QB coach/passing game coordinator. We have a new OL coach, but for the first time under Harbaugh a coach focused solely on the OL and a guy with a stellar track record. New receivers but plenty of talent there. No Butt but Speight showed in the OB that in the absense of Butt he'll find other guys (we saw Bunting catch 3 for 40 something yards etc).
Will we take another step (more yards and points per game)? I can't help but think we'll be top 10 again in points per game. I'm starting to feel more comfortable with the idea of Speight in his second year as a starter (I'm assuming he hangs onto the job), a "much more athletic" line coached up by Frey, Evans as a premier back etc.
If we take another step up in offensive performance, this time more with an offensive ability to close out games against tougher competition, we should be pretty good. I don't know why but today I'm feeling more optimistic about our offense.
