[LUOrange]

I figured I'd start this thread correctly by asking, has anyone received their season tickets yet?

[jmclaughlin]

Just watched highlights from the BYU game last year. Dang that was an incredible performance! You could see a well constructed team and system of committed players. The impact of coaching and players that trusted the process was clear. Well... we know how it ended and now have questions as to what we will have coming into '23.

A few subjective takes, in comparison to the "peak" team we had through the Arkansas game :
1. Our Defense lost so many studs. Not just talented dudes but guys that were the grit of the team. Scruggs was always around the ball. Smith was a beast. Walker was the most talented (potential) player we had. Johnson, Osagiede, Clark, Megginson, Anthony, Sings are not going to be easily replaced. Our O was not good for the majority of the season last year so our D was 90% of the reason this team got to 8-1 and was looking close to an arrival on the national scene. When the internal word was out that Freeze was...out, a good majority of our D quit with him. Those are the players names we now see at SMU, Auburn, Mich St., Ole Miss, Baylor, Tenn, etc. The '23 team has to replace 7, Power 5 level, talents. I don't see many 1 to 1 replacements on paper that would suggest our D stays on level this season. It is hard to envision a new team, new system being near the peak of '22.
2. The opposite is true on O. We smoked BYU with a pretty average O (no clue on QB...granted the great performance on JB in that one). We beat Arkansas with a vanilla O game plan. Like 8 play schemes total. On paper, you can make the case that there is more talent / depth at every Offensive position this season. WR production may be the biggest question mark, mainly due to injuries...again. However, with a new scheme and new opponents this year, I can see our offense producing a lot more first downs and sustained drives than last year. Taking some of the pressure off of a thin D.
3. The X- factor again will be confidence in the kicking game and special teams play in general. This seemed to haunt the Flames all year and remains a dark cloud coming into the season. Freeze all but gave up on trusting anything beyond 30 yards last year and the opponents knew that. Making us very predictable in 3 down situations on the opponents side of the 50.

All in all, this will be an exciting season, because of the unknowns. I wouldn't be shocked at a 5 loss team nor with a 1 loss team. You can see that we are light years ahead of the FCS program that Freeze started with. In fact, we are far past being a middle of the road G5, already! Perspective that this may be another reset year is something that I can live with.
Chadwell seems to be the right man at the right time.

[AATL]

I have no idea what to expect out of the defense this year with the turnover, both roster and coaching. It doesn't sound like the coaching turnover was for lack of effort. While I would have loved to see Aldridge and some others stay, I'm looking forward to seeing what Magee and the new staff bring. The Simons/Aldridge/Curtis systems are pretty different from what Coastal previously ran (and better), so I'm eager to see what the defense is running.

I'm very excited to watch the Jamey Chadwell offense, though.

[alabama24]

Ain’t this the HOCKEY forum?

[jmclaughlin]

Ha! Sorry. No thoughts on hockey to offer...but if i do, i will place them on the women's lacrosse page.

[LUOrange]

...so has anyone received their hockey season tickets yet?

[Ill flame]

I just saw an article that said we averaged over 2700 fans for hockey last year and are on pace to have the best season yet for season tickets sales this year. That's pretty impressive considering its a club team and the basketball attendance was consistently worse than that until recently. It would put us in the middle of the pack in D1 attendance if we were to ever move up.