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This season has been a disaster and so had to get things off my chest. I am not sure anyone could have foreseen the poor record we have after 8 games. We have kept games close (silver lining) but have no ability to close games. Of our 5 losses, if we just had 2 of them go our way our record would still not be what we want but I think the truth is most would feel better about our future. I generally like Riley the guy and am pulling for him. But I am disappointed that initially we heard that we would use our players according to their strengths. This has turned out not to be the case. Our QB is not a pocket passer with poise but that's how we are trying to use him. The game plan does not start with TA's strengths but rather with his weaknesses and when it doesn't work out we get this mix of new Tommy and old Tommy trying to make plays and it is not good. Tommy has regressed and I feel bad for him. He is a competitor put in a bad spot not using his strengths and it is accentuated by an awful OL. He is always under duress. There has been no commitment to the running game. I think this is also accentuated by a bad OL as well as Riley's preference to pass. Sure I would like to run but we have had a lot of negative run plays and a pass-first coach is probably thinking "screw this...I am going to go to what I know". We don't have a RB the caliber of Helu, Burkhead, or Abdullah...combine that with a poor OL and the running game has a bleak outlook. Our best chance to get yards are with Westy and DPE and that's how I think Riley sees it. On the defensive side of the ball, it has been really disappointing. The DL has had moments but I have not been impressed with any other unit. Injuries have played a factor but I expected much better play from guys like Rose-Ivey, Banderas, Gerry, and the CB's. Young has struggled as well. We have a commitment to a new defensive scheme and change is difficult. That being said, some of our personnel is slow and continue to take poor angles. So the above tells me Riley is here to change things, even though we were not sold this initially. He's changing the offense, he's changing the defense (even to the point where we don't have the right guys for his system he is jamming his philosophy forward anyway). This tells me he is here at least 3 years and he knows it. Maybe 5 wins this year? A 7 win season next year as he continues to transition to his philosophies? Year 3 is the big year...he's got to do something this year...if year 3 continues to be a bust, then I see that as the end of this. So this all sucks and I do realize it (actually have resigned myself that we are not going to be very good for awhile). But when I look back am I am trying to find who would we all have thought that coach would have been to take what Bo had done and tweak things to get us over those 9 wins? Who was the perfect coach to fit our system (power run first, sound defense, commitment to starting with a strong and deep OL). If we could go back who could we have got? My bet is maybe that person was not there, so we went with the anti-Bo that could at least eliminate that part of the problem. So now the truth has been revealed and so far this staff has not done well (I have to think this staff thought they would have a much better record at this point despite the change they were implementing). I expect a lot of change going into next season including a QB battle. Recruiting will still be the tell tale sign to me. If Riley can find the right guys to play his system (both offense and defense) and high caliber recruits are coming then great, I will be the first to support this. At this point winning recruiting battles are just as important as winning games. So now that we know the truth can Riley handle the truth? He was coming into a great situation with a strong likelihood he could make his mark in the first few years. But the truth is this year has just set him back and he may not make it out of his first contract. The truth is he needs to put evidence on the field and on the recruiting trail that he is up for the biggest job of his life. The truth is winning cures everything. GBR.