If we get 1 5* guy this recruiting cycle, I'm sure that in 5 years Riley will have his pie and eat it too. If we don't get a 5* but get more 4* than the average of the last 7 years, we will have pie, but not eat it too. If we don't improve on recruiting and it stays about the same, we will neither have pie nor eat it.
I've realized that what happens this season doesn't matter. Conference championship this year would be nice, but I'm not putting that as a standard. Hell, I'm not even going to hold him to #9wins. I've come to the realization that this season is really only about 2 things: seeing improvement in the quality of the teams play (not wins and losses, but HOW we win or lose) and the quality of the recruiting class.
Think of a coach's regime being like a pie. The first year, you're given the leftovers of the last cook, and you have to struggle to make the most out of it. Sometimes the last cook leaves good ingredients and other times does not. Each season is a new pie. Each recruiting class is bringing in fresh ingredients. Schemes are the recipies. Riley has different recipies than Bo, so he will need different ingredients. And even if this year's pie isn't so tasty, it's all about how the quality of the pie improves through a coach's regime.
This season may be lost for some, and so what if it is? For me, it's in 2 or 3 years when we play Oregon, tOSU, Mich. St. A top OOC game and the best of the BIG is the year we need to wait for. That will be the make or break year. Riley will have his own recruits, have had his system in for more than a few months, and be going up against a really difficult schedule. One that, if he can win it all, will not only end our conference championship drought but also put us in the playoff.
Then we can have our pie and eat it too. We just have to be patient.