Was Our 2016 Season A Success?
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I’m interested in your collective thoughts on our 2016 season. I applaud the effort of each and every player and student manager on the 2016 team. There were many individual positive performances that made the season interesting, if not successful. For me, the 2016 season was not successful; the failure to identify a starting QB and get decent production from the position overshadows everything else about the season. The win over Texas was certainly an emotional boost for our program, but KU didn’t beat Texas; Texas’s 6 turnovers lost the game.
I remain disappointed that Coach Beaty didn’t achieve enough success on offense, especially from the QB position. Teams like Iowa State find ways to win games with functional quarterbacks. Coach Beaty didn’t. We need to hire an experienced and successful D1 offensive coordinator. The Coach Beaty guided offense was flawed in 2016 and I don’t see how just trying a new set of quarterbacks in his offense in 2017 is going to change things enough.
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I barely watch KU football. Wished I had seen the Texas game. I would say that was an unsuccessful season only from this perspective. 82 teams made bowl games this season if I remember correctly that there’s 41 bowl games. There’s only about 120 or so DI or whatever they call it now teams. Pretty unsuccessful I believe!
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Chip Kelly needs a job. Brent Venables is not a head coach yet… That’d make a heck of a one two punch. O&D
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@stoptheflop KU absolutely beat Texas. Yes, UT had 6 turnovers, KU forced most of them. Stripping the ball, jumping routes, actually catching bad passes from Buechelle, KU forced those turnovers.
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We beat Texas! To’s part of game, we didn’t win games that we turned the ball over. Anyway, season sucked! Need an offensive coordinator. I like our coaches and will watch every game. We do have some exciting athletes. Look forward to watching them get better.
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I would absolutely say this season was a success for KU. There was noticeable progress made as a program on the field this season. We had been wondering at what point KU was finally going to hit rock bottom. It appears that 2015 was rock bottom and that KU is now climbing up which is progress. Do we all wish progress was faster? Absolutely, but anybody who watched this season knows there was progress made this year. Enough progress was made to deem Beaty worthy of an extension and pay raise which now starts putting pressure on him to start winning more games.
Remember that it was the defense that developed much quicker under Mangino than the offense did. It took quite awhile for Mangino’s offense to get to level people wanted it to be at. As long as KU’s defense keeps playing at the level they did this past year and building on that, KU’s going to have a chance against most teams while they wait for the offense to catch up.
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@Texas-Hawk-10 I would say we made progress.
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@Texas-Hawk-10 We certainly progressed on the defensive side of the ball. The defense was successful and fun to watch. It’s Coach Beaty and staff’s failure to improve at quarterback and with offensive play calling that was unsuccessful last year and has me worried for the upcoming year. Maybe, Coach Beaty is overly optimistic or unrealistic, but I remember throughout the season the high marks he gave our quarterbacks. Perhaps, I’m too focused on that one position and it’s shortcomings. I’m concerned that unless KU gets some coaching help for the quarterbacks and the offense, we won’t see the significant improvement on offense in 2017 that I was expecting to see in 2016.
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@stoptheflop yeah man, I mean technically…what was KUFB record? 2-12? tehnically thats an improvement.
But yah, count me as another bucketeer thats not so hot on football.
Heck, I havent even watched the Chiefs play.
Not a knock on your post at all!
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@stoptheflop I think your expectations on the speed of progress is too unrealistic. Beaty inherited a roster that was being built to run a pro style, run first offense. He inherited a roster ill-equipped to run his desired up tempo offense. Charlie Weis admitted his goal was to run the ball to shorten games so KU wouldn’t lose by as many points. That mentality was a joke and did nothing for KU.
Beaty came in, he has a vision for what he wants KU to look like. His vision is an up tempo, pass heavy offense that is basically tge exact opposite of what Weia was doing. He’s recruiting players that fit that vision. Recruiting players to fit that vision doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time. Carter Stanley was the only QB on the roster to have any familiarity with an up tempo pass heavy offense. Peyton Bender played at Washington St. under Mike Leach, went to a JuCo that runs an air raid. Stanley, Bender, and Starks all fit the system Beaty wants to run unlike Cozart and Willis did who were recruited to run pro style offenses. KU also had no playmakers at WR under Weis. Beaty has 3 of them now on Sims and Quiv who can each take one to the house whenever they touch the ball and Daylon Charlot who Nick Saban was not happy about losing. When Nick Saban is not happy about losing a player, I take that as a sign that Charlot is going to be pretty good. In 2017, KU will have 3 QB’s who fit the air raid offense, 2 of whom have played in D1 football games.
Progress is being made on offense. It took tye defense 4 years of Bowen being in charge to get to the place their at now of giving KU a chance most weeks. It was not an overnight deal either. It took Bowen 4 years of recruiting to the same system for the defense to get where they’re at after years of changing coordinators and vase defenses for about 7 years in a row.
Will KU’s offense be elite in 2017? Doubtful, but it will be improved because Beaty will have more pieces who fit his vision of the air raid than he did last year including multiple options at the QB position now which he did not have last year.
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As far as record no. As far as making progress and building for the future a tepid yes.
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@Texas-Hawk-10 As always thanks for your knowledgeable insights. I’m very much looking forward to seeing all the new players on the field.
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Successful? Idk if I’d say that but we did show signs of improvement in quite a few areas IMO. Team speed was so much better as was strength and conditioning. Beaty said about half way thru the season that this offseason was huge in that department because our guys up front were so young and not as strong as they needed to be. We have a good core of WRs, D lineman, o lineman and linebackers returning. Ending the season with a win vs Texas for the first time since 1938, along with competing with KSU on the road.
