Topic: Football season...I have to ask why?

[GreenBison60]

is everyone on the boards less optomistic than me? My how times have changed. It seems that i could see realistically what was happening over the last 8 years while everyone else was wanting to see the same records of the 90's. Now i see at least 8-4 and probably 9-3 and everyone else is saying 7-5 and maybe 8-4. If i can see at least 8-4 why are you guy's not thinking we will be undefeated? You are always predicting at least 3-4 wins more than we usually get. Our offense is going to be shockingly better this year. Defense is going to be the Q mark. We have the talent on D but will they put it together with all the new guys and can we get pressure from the d-end position? If so, we are going to be really good. People are underestimating how much better Cato will be this year. He was a TRUE FR last year and played as well or better than ANY true freshman we EVER had. Yes including Pennington. Remember Pennington throwing SIX picks against UTC his first game? And Pennington played against SC teams, while Cato played against CUSA, WV and Louisville. Not taking anything away from Pennington because he ended up being a legend. But all i'm saying is if you compare them both after their freshman campaign, Cato is gonna be a stud. The offense is gonna be real good this year and there isn't a team on our schedule we can't beat except for maybe WVU. Geno will be tough this year. But we should be favored in at least 8 games IMO. And Purdue is winnable as is Tulsa at home. Houston will be down also. Weaker schedule and much better team = at least 8 wins regular season is not more. With this schedule, 8 wins regular season or DOC needs to answer some tough questions IMO.

[Scottyo614]

I'm pretty optimistic and I think several others are. I had no severe issues with Cato when the great Graham Cato debate began. Felt coaches left Cato out at OU too long and after that ECU game got his confidence back. He faced a ton of adversity last year in everything from OU, monsoon, benched to leading us to one of our bigger wins this decade against ECU in a pressure game.

On D I'm real excited to see that rotation of D tackles. Like you said, we have the talent lets see if the chemistry clicks.

Looking for 9 wins, but will be ok with 8 IF we win what we should and not have any massive let downs.

[kyherd05]

I think 7 wins is a realistic expectation. I've just learned to not expect anything with this team, I'm simply just going to enjoy every game, game by game this season. Predicting who is going to be where and do what in June is fun, but I want to see where the chips fall in August, then maybe I'll be a little more free/loose with my 'predictions'.

[GreenBison60]

kyherd05....7 wins? With this schedule? CUSA is gonna be way down. Almost every team lost their starting QB. Houston will be WAY down. UCF will be about the same. ECU will be about the same. Tulsa lost their QB but has a decent one coming in. But we have them at our place. WCU is HORRIBLE.  Purdue is nothing exceptional and a winnable game. If you see 5 losses with this schedule then we are much worse shape than anyone can imagine. I'm beginning to question the football knowledge of a lot of our fans. When we were HORRIBLE thru the snyder years and the schedule was MUCH more difficult, all you saw was 9-10 win predictions. Now the schedule is much weaker and we are much more talented with a second year QB that is very talented and people are saying 7-5 is realistic? Heck that is about where we were last year with a younger team and a much tougher echedule....Scrathing my head and looking off in confusion!!!!! ???

[Scottyo614]

GreenBison just for your board and to discuss ill throw my preditions out here.

WVU L- could shock, but I have to be real.
WCU W- should be a tune up and a easy W
OU   W- thanks to the week before should be prepared.
Rice W- it's Rice and don't see how the talent can match
Purdue W- this is a swing game if there ever was one. Rice beat them last year @Purdue so who knows what can happen in West Lafeyette.
Tulsa W- it's in the Joan and if we are 4-1 going into he game the stadium will be rocking. Also considers a swing game in my book.
USM W- should have a down year after last year. Will be a tough game, but think result like last year.
UCF W- maybe they get another rain storm and it swings in their favor again.
UM W- its Memphis with a possible 7-1 or 6-2 team playing Memphis.
UAB W- once again, like Memphis it's UAB. Not enough talent, but stranger things have happens @UAB with good teams coming in.
UH W- down year for the Cougs.
ECU L- just don't play well down there for some reason... I'm saying swing game though.

10-2 yet if we win the swing games watch out. If we lose em and get shocked once we could be 8-4 at worse IMO.

[GreenBison60]

pretty much the way i see it. But we may lose a game or two we shouldn't and vise-versa. But 8-4 should be the minimum. Anything less and this coaching staff should be held accountable. I would like anyone to show me where we should win 5 games with this schedule? If we did we would have to lose ALL the toss-up games. I can see 6-7 wins that we should be favored without question. And we should win half of the toss-up games. I say 9-3 will be the record and if we don't see at least 8-4 then i will have lost ALL respect for this coaching staff. JMO!!!!

[kyherd05]

I'd be tickled pink if we went 10-2, and if you sincerely believe that, that's awesome, I wish I shared your immense optimism on the subject, but every year there are people beating their chests and screaming out how bad the schedule is and how great we are and every year we are less than spectacular. Last year was a step in the right direction finally and I look for more of the same. Hence, I said 7-5 is realistic, and anything else is icing on the cake. I would love to sit and discuss who has a better football knowledge anyday with you GB. Just because I don't drink the kool-aid doesn't mean you know more than I do.

[Scottyo614]

Kyherd if anyone has been beating chests on how bad the schedule is they need a check. Our OOC has been disgusting for many years now. Under Marcum we became a cash grab mid major playin huge teams to take big whippings.

I expected a 3 win season Docs first year and around 5 last year. Just to place where my realism scale is and kool-aid drinking is.

[kyherd05]

Kyherd if anyone has been beating chests on how bad the schedule is they need a check. Our OOC has been disgusting for many years now. Under Marcum we became a cash grab mid major playin huge teams to take big whippings.

I expected a 3 win season Docs first year and around 5 last year. Just to place where my realism scale is and kool-aid drinking is.

+1 I agree with everything you just said here. I expected 5-7 wins last year and I expect right around 7 wins this year. A bowl win was a huge step, but I don't think we are world beaters just yet. This is year 3 though and we will see what we have to look forward to with Doc and Co. this season I think.

[Scottyo614]

I'd love consistency. 7 wins would build upon that, but I think most Herd fans are wanting that leap. GreenBison is very right about the D. We know the talent is there and just need to see if the other intangibles come around. If the D plays to the talent level and as 11 not just 1 we could see 10 Ws. 10 is high from a 7-6 team, but you just feel as if with the talent they are ready to smash through the glass ceilling. If there's drama, D isn't up to par then I think we are hoping for your 7-5. There's a ton of variables sitting in June. I won't say we will know week 1. That wouldn't be fair, but week 3 we should have a good idea.

[kyherd05]

I'd love consistency. 7 wins would build upon that, but I think most Herd fans are wanting that leap. GreenBison is very right about the D. We know the talent is there and just need to see if the other intangibles come around. If the D plays to the talent level and as 11 not just 1 we could see 10 Ws. 10 is high from a 7-6 team, but you just feel as if with the talent they are ready to smash through the glass ceilling. If there's drama, D isn't up to par then I think we are hoping for your 7-5. There's a ton of variables sitting in June. I won't say we will know week 1. That wouldn't be fair, but week 3 we should have a good idea.

Very well put.

[GreenBison60]

I'm still waiting for someone to show me where 5 losses will come from with this much weaker schedule. We play WCU this year which is horrible and CUSA is probably going to be the weakest it has been in at least 5 years. WVU, Tulsa, S MISS, ECU, Purdue and UCF are the toughest games. And they all should be a pickem except WVU. We would have to go 1-5 in those games to be 7-5. We WILL win half of those games. 8-4 should be MINIMUM. Either 8 years of mostly losing has got everyone spooked or some of you don't understand how much weaker CUSA will be. Virtually EVERY team lost their starting QB. S MISS also lost their coach. The stars have aligned for us to win 8-9 games in the regular season.

[LetsDoThis]

I'm still waiting for someone to show me where 5 losses will come from with this much weaker schedule. We play WCU this year which is horrible and CUSA is probably going to be the weakest it has been in at least 5 years. WVU, Tulsa, S MISS, ECU, Purdue and UCF are the toughest games. And they all should be a pickem except WVU. We would have to go 1-5 in those games to be 7-5. We WILL win half of those games. 8-4 should be MINIMUM. Either 8 years of mostly losing has got everyone spooked or some of you don't understand how much weaker CUSA will be. Virtually EVERY team lost their starting QB. S MISS also lost their coach. The stars have aligned for us to win 8-9 games in the regular season.

I agree with you there. WVU is the one game that looks stacked against us...I hate saying that but let's be honest. Every other game is winnable but as others have said we aren't a world beater there are a few swing games. I would say 7 is the lowest and 9 is probably the highest. S Miss and Houston lost both players and their coaches. Tulsa lost a lot of depth. As Scotty said we never play well at ECU but we could certainly beat them, Purdue will be tough at Purdue but we could beat them also. Really depends how the D does. I think they will be a good agressive group, but only time will tell.

[Scottyo614]

I agree with you there. WVU is the one game that looks stacked against us...I hate saying that but let's be honest. Every other game is winnable but as others have said we aren't a world beater there are a few swing games. I would say 7 is the lowest and 9 is probably the highest. S Miss and Houston lost both players and their coaches. Tulsa lost a lot of depth. As Scotty said we never play well at ECU but we could certainly beat them, Purdue will be tough at Purdue but we could beat them also. Really depends how the D does. I think they will be a good agressive group, but only time will tell.

And I think right there is how the majority of Herd fans feel.

[phillyherdfan]

I'll add that anybody who has spoken to Doc (or heard him speak) since spring ball has likely noticed an air of confidence about this team that hasn't been there since he arrived.  That tells me a lot about a team that is so close to breaking out.

I'm going with 9 wins this year.