IdaGriz01
Well-known member
One final set for everyone to look at before we make up a poll of the top vote-getters to wrap this up. Again, two choices allowed and you can change your votes if you hear something to change your opinion.
Alabama A&M had a bad year, but they apparently have a stud QB who didn’t get rolling until late in the year. They return quite a few starters and have hopes that some of their young talent will step up and push the more experienced guys. Middle Tennessee had a late-season run in Conf-USA to get into a bowl game, but ended up at 7-6. Mid T players did well in the NFL draft, but those players are now gone.
Without a three-game losing streak to end the season, EWU would have had a pretty good record. And they still have Cooper Kupp, so they should bounce back. Washington State had a very good year, including a bowl win. But their big weakness is still the defense, which plays right into EWU’s strength.
Liberty had a mediocre year but was probably better than their overall record showed. They too think they had a good recruiting year. The defense, which gave up some big scores last year, will supposedly be much improved. Va Tech barely squeaked into a bowl with a 6-6 record (but they did win their bowl game … by a FG). Of course, they now have a new coach with Beamer retired, and their defense lost most of their best players.
UNH had a good enough record to get into the playoffs, mainly because they played everyone tough. They are very optimistic about the coming season, apparently because they have a good mix of returning starters and guys who got a lot of playing time as backup last year. The problem, of course, is that San Diego State was really, really good last year, including a mauling of Cincinnati in their bowl game. SDSU did lose a lot of good players to graduation.
Southeast Louisiana had a poor season, with a four-game losing streak at the end. But they’ve picked up several JC transfers to address specific problems and the new guys are apparently fitting in pretty well. They are also getting back some players lost last year to injuries. Oklahoma State had a great season before getting blown out in their bowl game. They are expected to be strong again. Uh oh.
Southern University squeaked out a winning season last year, but just barely. Still, their record would have looked much better without two losses to FBS teams, one of them being Georgia when they were ranked #7. And it won’t help that the NCAA has whacked them again because they can’t seem to provide the right data to calculate the program’s APR. They were not allowed to hold spring practice, but they think the number of returning starters (four of them All-Conference players) should minimize that impact. On the other side, La-Monroe was really terrible last year, winning just 2 games. One of those was against Nicholls State (pitiful even at the FCS level) while the other was New Mexico State. On top of all that, they have a brand new head coach who has been grabbing assistants from all over the place (that is, he does not appear to have arrived with a solid core of assistants). This one could get interesting.
William & Mary had an very good year before losing in the second round of the playoff to another ACC team (Richmond). They return 16 starters that include a bunch of All-ACC players, but will need to fill a few holes on defense. Offense is expected to be their strength early. North Carolina State was another team that did enough to get into a bowl game and then get hammered. As a matter of fact, after a quick start against four soft touches, they went 3-6 for the rest of the season. Only one thing really stands out about the Wolfpack (and it’s about all their fans seem to talk about), and that’s their all-purpose “offensive player” Jaylen Samuels. In the past, they lined him up as TE, split-out receiver, blocking “fullback” and as downhill tailback. He scored 9 TDs as a running back, only 7 as a receiver. However, they have a brand new offensive coordinator, so who knows how he will line up this year?
Alabama A&M had a bad year, but they apparently have a stud QB who didn’t get rolling until late in the year. They return quite a few starters and have hopes that some of their young talent will step up and push the more experienced guys. Middle Tennessee had a late-season run in Conf-USA to get into a bowl game, but ended up at 7-6. Mid T players did well in the NFL draft, but those players are now gone.
Without a three-game losing streak to end the season, EWU would have had a pretty good record. And they still have Cooper Kupp, so they should bounce back. Washington State had a very good year, including a bowl win. But their big weakness is still the defense, which plays right into EWU’s strength.
Liberty had a mediocre year but was probably better than their overall record showed. They too think they had a good recruiting year. The defense, which gave up some big scores last year, will supposedly be much improved. Va Tech barely squeaked into a bowl with a 6-6 record (but they did win their bowl game … by a FG). Of course, they now have a new coach with Beamer retired, and their defense lost most of their best players.
UNH had a good enough record to get into the playoffs, mainly because they played everyone tough. They are very optimistic about the coming season, apparently because they have a good mix of returning starters and guys who got a lot of playing time as backup last year. The problem, of course, is that San Diego State was really, really good last year, including a mauling of Cincinnati in their bowl game. SDSU did lose a lot of good players to graduation.
Southeast Louisiana had a poor season, with a four-game losing streak at the end. But they’ve picked up several JC transfers to address specific problems and the new guys are apparently fitting in pretty well. They are also getting back some players lost last year to injuries. Oklahoma State had a great season before getting blown out in their bowl game. They are expected to be strong again. Uh oh.
Southern University squeaked out a winning season last year, but just barely. Still, their record would have looked much better without two losses to FBS teams, one of them being Georgia when they were ranked #7. And it won’t help that the NCAA has whacked them again because they can’t seem to provide the right data to calculate the program’s APR. They were not allowed to hold spring practice, but they think the number of returning starters (four of them All-Conference players) should minimize that impact. On the other side, La-Monroe was really terrible last year, winning just 2 games. One of those was against Nicholls State (pitiful even at the FCS level) while the other was New Mexico State. On top of all that, they have a brand new head coach who has been grabbing assistants from all over the place (that is, he does not appear to have arrived with a solid core of assistants). This one could get interesting.
William & Mary had an very good year before losing in the second round of the playoff to another ACC team (Richmond). They return 16 starters that include a bunch of All-ACC players, but will need to fill a few holes on defense. Offense is expected to be their strength early. North Carolina State was another team that did enough to get into a bowl game and then get hammered. As a matter of fact, after a quick start against four soft touches, they went 3-6 for the rest of the season. Only one thing really stands out about the Wolfpack (and it’s about all their fans seem to talk about), and that’s their all-purpose “offensive player” Jaylen Samuels. In the past, they lined him up as TE, split-out receiver, blocking “fullback” and as downhill tailback. He scored 9 TDs as a running back, only 7 as a receiver. However, they have a brand new offensive coordinator, so who knows how he will line up this year?
