Photo by Jade Johnson | The Signal
The Panthers made program history getting to 6 wins and earned its first trip to the postseason with a visit to Orlando, Florida to play San Jose State in the Cure Bowl. If this team wants to avoid the label of one hit wonder, the Panthers will need to show consistency in winning and make another trip into the postseason. There are three keys for the Panthers to have another special season in 2016.
Find a QB
Nick Arbuckle has graduated and moved on to make a life for himself in the real world, potentially at the professional level. The 2015 SunBelt Athlete of the year leaves behind a legacy of big numbers as a Panther. In his two seasons as a starter, Arbuckle completed an average of 62 percent of passes with an average of 8.32 yards per pass and a total of 7551 yards between 2014 and 2015. More than that, Nick was a leader and many of the players looked up to him and held him in very high regard.
As Coach Miles said at the Sun Belt Media Days that any team doesn’t replace someone who has put up the kind of numbers that Arbuckle has. Nevertheless, someone must step up and lead the offense down the field and carve his own name in the history books. The three candidates looking to grab that job are Emiere Scaife, Aaron Winchester and Utah graduate transfer Conner Manning.
Scaife, a sophomore from Charlotte, North Carolina, was back up to Arbuckle in 2015, playing in only three games last season. For his career, he attempted 8 passes with no completions and rushed for 36 yards in games versus Oregon, Appalachian State and Texas State.
Aaron Winchester, a redshirt freshman from Lawrenceville, Georgia, did not see any playing time in 2015. The dual-threat quarterback is “athletic” and “throws with a lot of velocity,” according Phil Steele in his preseason magazine.
Conner Manning, a graduate transfer from the University of Utah, has only 28 yards passing as a backup for the Utes, but don’t judge him too quickly. Known as a pure passer, Manning set records at El Toro High School with 88 career touchdowns and a total of 9,449 yards.
Get the running game going
In 2015, the Panthers were a tale of two teams beyond just the number in the win column. In the first 6 games, the Panthers only averaged a total of 86.5 yards. In the two wins in that half of the season, the Panthers only won by a total of 2 points versus New Mexico State and 12 versus Ball State. Then a switch flipped and we saw a light come on with totally different team in the second half of the season. In that half, the Panthers improved to an average of 119.7 yards rushing a game and won 4 games by an average of 18.25 points.
At Sun Belt Media Days, Coach Miles acknowledged that the running game must pick up speed, and the numbers prove what this team is capable of when that productive. In all 6 wins, the Panthers averaged 130 yards per game. In the 6 losses that productivity drops to 83.6 yards.
Glenn Smith and Kyler Neal should be healthy and if they can stay that way could result in a special season for the Panthers in 2016.
Keep improving on Defense
“Defense wins’ championships,” the old saying goes and Coach Miles feels the Panthers are ready to contend for a conference title if his comments at Sun Belt Media Days are any indication. To do so, the defense must continue the same sort of improvement in 2016 that it saw from the 2014 to 2015 season.
Statistically in nearly every category the Panthers showed significant improvement with the exception of two areas. The number of first downs increased from 83 to 85 and passing yards allowed increased by nearly 600 yards in 2015 to 2919. Total points allowed, however, improved from 43.3 to 28.3. Total yards improved by almost 700 yards and with that the total number of touchdowns decreased by 27. Probably the most remarkable statistic is the one the brick wall put up stopping the run. The number of yards allowed on the ground dropped by nearly 1300 yards in 2015.
With nine starters returning on this side of the ball, there is no reason why the Panthers cannot show a similar level of improvement that they attained last season. Most preseason experts expect a 6 win season, but this defense has the capability of adding 1 or 2 more wins if they live up to expectations.
