From my perspective, I think the “culture” helps tremendously in that the daily competition pushes each player to their limits. The staff is not satisfied with the status quo either.
Each year Sark has upgraded the talent level. I don’t think it’s as dramatic as others may think, but it’s pointed to specific things. Moore for example may not jump off the stat sheet, but he fits this defense and gives great effort. So where we are is there aren’t weaknesses and individual failures are less apparent. I’m not talking about perfect roster because those don’t exist.
I love Taaffes success for several reasons. Helm too as he stuck with it. Same for Collins, Broughton even though more highly touted. Hope we don’t lose guys like this in college football due to the portal and overall environment.
Overall talent we can compete with anyone. We just need to lean into our relative strengths against those like Georgia that have significant talent too.