Bad luck, bad evaluations? Don't know. Losing Pili was a lot more damaging than I thought at the time. Georgia, then OSU, exposed how bad our linebackers were this year. Will Brooks at safety made some big plays and is a great story, but he was not going to provide any deep support coverage to any D1 wide receiver.
Our o-line was a major disappointment this year, but the biggest disappointment (to me) were the wide receivers. At the beginning of the year, Kevin Simon was on the Jayson Swain show and made the comment that none of our receivers were capable of starting for any team in the upper half of the SEC. I thought he was way off, but he appears to have been right. Our receivers, on average, were just not able to get separation, but more importantly, they would run their routes and then just stand there. To me, it was such bizarre behavior to the point that I wonder if they were coached to do it (it is about impossible to see on TV, but obvious watching from the stands). I thought it was natural instinct for a wide receiver to try and find a seam when the quarterback started to scramble. Very few times do I remember him (Nico) just tucking the ball and running (on a designed pass), he was always looking, it just wasn't there.
With these deficiencies, we went 10 - 3. No one is satisfied at any major D1 program losing even a single game, but one of twelve team to make the playoffs is pretty damn good to build from. I will go into believing we will win every game next year, when I don't believe that, I will start calling for the chopping block.