I see two positives that could potentially help us next year, if Bo keeps his job.
First, it really does seem that Bo has become less stubborn towards his defensive philosophy. When he had great defensive lines, the defense was incredible. When we had less than great defensive lines, the defense was average. Something like this:
Perhaps as an act of desperation (the catalyst doesn't much matter), Bo has loosened his stance since the second quarter of the Northwestern game. No more square peg stuff. And the results have been impressive.
The second thing is, for the first time in a while, we might have a legitimate quarterback playing quarterback. I love what Taylor could do with his legs, but when he was banged up (which he was a lot) or up against a great defense that could force him to pass, we were in trouble. And I'm certainly not gonna
go all crazy and say there's a 95% chance that Armstrong is a Heisman finalist next year, but I think there's reason for cautious optimism that he'll turn out a pretty good quarterback and leader.
I think, assuming Bo can hold on in the next two games, there will be the expectation from Eichorst (whether explicitly stated or not) that the team needs to be great next year. By great I mean something like 11-1 and then fighting tooth and nail with Ohio State in the title game. The schedule is favorable once again. Miami will be tough and I think @ Wisconsin is our toughest game. But they lose a ton of guys on their 15th ranked defense.
So the question is, what about the assistants? Since I have no idea what role Pap actually plays, I can't say much about him. But what about Beck? I know there were injuries, but he still managed to turn this...
...into this...
...and even at times this...
I'll give Bo the benefit of the doubt that he knows where Beck is at mentally better than us. And maybe he believes Beck is close to turning the corner. If so, then let him come along for the ride. Otherwise, take a chance with someone else. But if he retains him, he knows that his ship may very well sink or sail in Beck's hands. And that metaphor may at some point lead to this being photoshopped:
Aye aye, Captain Beck. Let's go get our Moby d!(k.