Louisiana's running game reminded me a lot of ours last year. Their O line plus stable of strong experienced talent in the backfield.
As others have said, we clearly underestimated the impact of our losses after last year. New D Coordinator, and isn't this our 3rd O-line coach in as many years? Two top receivers, two top tailbacks, part of our O line (but honestly we had enough coming back I thought they wouldn't miss a beat - this has been the most disappointing thing so far).
I do expect that we will get better as the season goes on, but we don't get any breaks with the start of the conference season. We could be out of this thing before we get our feet under us.
I think it was more that on offense, everyone recognized the losses, but expected Rourke to carry the team. Unfortunately, he seems to be pressing, and I think he needs to relax and play his game. It's a team game, and the QB is just one position out of eleven on offense.
On defense, most of the defense is back. The losses were Nelson, Croutch, Gullett and the defensive tackles, Payne and Berger, which isn't any more or less than most years. Also, the backups behind all five of those played a lot last year, so people expected the defense to pick up where they left off at the end of last year. Unfortunately, they are playing like they did at the start of 2018 instead.
We'll find out soon enough if the team can regroup, and make a run for the MACC. It all starts at Buffalo, who has has some good games, and some bad ones, and who no doubt wants revenge for last year.