SaturdayBLITZ preseason FCS top 10

[marceagfan5]

Obviously there will be a significant dropoff from last year, but it would take a HUGE dropoff from last year to make NDSU anything less than a decent team that makes a playoff run.

No doubt the Bison are a playoff team this year, taking a look at your schedule, 2 tough road games against Iowa State and UNI, Griz will give NDSU a good game too, but the remaining 9 NDSU should be a heavy favorites to win, and will be favorites against UM and UNI as well.

All 3 teams listed in the top 3 (UM/EWU/NDSU) will be contenders this year. Griz just have to survive a brutal road schedule...

 

[Rjones61]

Agreed. I also believe Towson and Sam Houston will be feeling the loss of their offensive fire power. No reason to think any of these three teams will suck, though no reason to believe they'll be in the top ten.
:ugeek:

Agreed, but I think EWU and UM both return the majority of their offense, and have holes to fill on defense so both deserved to be ranked in the top 10 preseason.

NDSU, they lose more than most Bison fans want to admit, but they are the defending 3 time champ, so they should be #1 until they lose, which will be week 1.

How many starters are EWU and UM returning?

Looks like NDSU will be strong again on D, how abour their O?

I thought this would be true, until I learned their Offense won their Spring scrimmage this year. Considering NDSU wasn't particularly known for their offense and they replaced their quarterback this year, that raises some doubts for me on defense.

 

[kemajic]

Agreed, but I think EWU and UM both return the majority of their offense, and have holes to fill on defense so both deserved to be ranked in the top 10 preseason.

NDSU, they lose more than most Bison fans want to admit, but they are the defending 3 time champ, so they should be #1 until they lose, which will be week 1.

How many starters are EWU and UM returning?

By the book, I think EWU returns 11 or 12 starters, but technically both starting safeties didn't play last year and will be back this year, and they played 8 or 9 guys at oline so all starters on O line will have seen some starting time prior this year. EWU returns almost their entire Offense besides their #2 WR. Will have to replace both corners and 3 of 4 d lineman.

Not sure about UM, but their firepower on O is back...

Looks like NDSU will be strong again on D, how abour their O?

UM Offense - Lost 3 starting Olineman and depending on formation the 3rd WR -- Return 7+ counting the FB
UM Defense - Lost 3 starting LB, 1 DT, 1 S and 1 CB -- Return 5
Total Returning Starters is 12+
Also get Punter and Kicker back

Ben Worst will not be returning. He was a walk-on and could no longer afford the out-of-state tuition as he did not earn a schollie. He is returning to Idaho.

 

[nzone]

How many starters are EWU and UM returning?

By the book, I think EWU returns 11 or 12 starters, but technically both starting safeties didn't play last year and will be back this year, and they played 8 or 9 guys at oline so all starters on O line will have seen some starting time prior this year. EWU returns almost their entire Offense besides their #2 WR. Will have to replace both corners and 3 of 4 d lineman.

Not sure about UM, but their firepower on O is back...

Looks like NDSU will be strong again on D, how abour their O?

UM Offense - Lost 3 starting Olineman and depending on formation the 3rd WR -- Return 7+ counting the FB
UM Defense - Lost 3 starting LB, 1 DT, 1 S and 1 CB -- Return 5
Total Returning Starters is 12+
Also get Punter and Kicker back

Ben Worst will not be returning. He was a walk-on and could no longer afford the out-of-state tuition as he did not earn a schollie. He is returning to Idaho.

This will excite alphie. Now we can go for it when were 3rd and 12 from the 15. Who needs a kicker anyway. :roll:

 

[BWahlberg]

By the book, I think EWU returns 11 or 12 starters, but technically both starting safeties didn't play last year and will be back this year, and they played 8 or 9 guys at oline so all starters on O line will have seen some starting time prior this year. EWU returns almost their entire Offense besides their #2 WR. Will have to replace both corners and 3 of 4 d lineman.

Not sure about UM, but their firepower on O is back...

Looks like NDSU will be strong again on D, how abour their O?

UM Offense - Lost 3 starting Olineman and depending on formation the 3rd WR -- Return 7+ counting the FB
UM Defense - Lost 3 starting LB, 1 DT, 1 S and 1 CB -- Return 5
Total Returning Starters is 12+
Also get Punter and Kicker back

Ben Worst will not be returning. He was a walk-on and could no longer afford the out-of-state tuition as he did not earn a schollie. He is returning to Idaho.

This will excite alphie. Now we can go for it when were 3rd and 12 from the 15. Who needs a kicker anyway. :roll:

Well if him leaving is the case, he wasn't even the most accurate kicker in spring camp...

 

[AZGrizFan]

How many starters are EWU and UM returning?

By the book, I think EWU returns 11 or 12 starters, but technically both starting safeties didn't play last year and will be back this year, and they played 8 or 9 guys at oline so all starters on O line will have seen some starting time prior this year. EWU returns almost their entire Offense besides their #2 WR. Will have to replace both corners and 3 of 4 d lineman.

Not sure about UM, but their firepower on O is back...

Looks like NDSU will be strong again on D, how abour their O?

UM Offense - Lost 3 starting Olineman and depending on formation the 3rd WR -- Return 7+ counting the FB
UM Defense - Lost 3 starting LB, 1 DT, 1 S and 1 CB -- Return 5
Total Returning Starters is 12+
Also get Punter and Kicker back

Ben Worst will not be returning. He was a walk-on and could no longer afford the out-of-state tuition as he did not earn a schollie. He is returning to Idaho.

Probably realized after Spring ball he'd lost his job to Greenberg anyway.

 

[CDAGRIZ]

By the book, I think EWU returns 11 or 12 starters, but technically both starting safeties didn't play last year and will be back this year, and they played 8 or 9 guys at oline so all starters on O line will have seen some starting time prior this year. EWU returns almost their entire Offense besides their #2 WR. Will have to replace both corners and 3 of 4 d lineman.

Not sure about UM, but their firepower on O is back...

Looks like NDSU will be strong again on D, how abour their O?

UM Offense - Lost 3 starting Olineman and depending on formation the 3rd WR -- Return 7+ counting the FB
UM Defense - Lost 3 starting LB, 1 DT, 1 S and 1 CB -- Return 5
Total Returning Starters is 12+
Also get Punter and Kicker back

Ben Worst will not be returning. He was a walk-on and could no longer afford the out-of-state tuition as he did not earn a schollie. He is returning to Idaho.

This will excite alphie. Now we can go for it when were 3rd and 12 from the 15. Who needs a kicker anyway. :roll:

Maybe I'm missing something, but if we're not going for it on 3RD and 12, we have more issues than I thought.

 

[AZGrizFan]

UM Offense - Lost 3 starting Olineman and depending on formation the 3rd WR -- Return 7+ counting the FB
UM Defense - Lost 3 starting LB, 1 DT, 1 S and 1 CB -- Return 5
Total Returning Starters is 12+
Also get Punter and Kicker back

Ben Worst will not be returning. He was a walk-on and could no longer afford the out-of-state tuition as he did not earn a schollie. He is returning to Idaho.

This will excite alphie. Now we can go for it when were 3rd and 12 from the 15. Who needs a kicker anyway. :roll:

Maybe I'm missing something, but if we're not going for it on 3RD and 12, we have more issues than I thought.

Don't be obtuse. Of COURSE we're not going for it. :lol:

 

[CDAGRIZ]

Ben Worst will not be returning. He was a walk-on and could no longer afford the out-of-state tuition as he did not earn a schollie. He is returning to Idaho.

This will excite alphie. Now we can go for it when were 3rd and 12 from the 15. Who needs a kicker anyway. :roll:

Maybe I'm missing something, but if we're not going for it on 3RD and 12, we have more issues than I thought.

Don't be obtuse. Of COURSE we're not going for it. :lol:

True. Where's my head? :lol:

 

[NLGrizFan]

Agreed, but I think EWU and UM both return the majority of their offense, and have holes to fill on defense so both deserved to be ranked in the top 10 preseason.

NDSU, they lose more than most Bison fans want to admit, but they are the defending 3 time champ, so they should be #1 until they lose, which will be week 1.

How many starters are EWU and UM returning?

By the book, I think EWU returns 11 or 12 starters, but technically both starting safeties didn't play last year and will be back this year, and they played 8 or 9 guys at oline so all starters on O line will have seen some starting time prior this year. EWU returns almost their entire Offense besides their #2 WR. Will have to replace both corners and 3 of 4 d lineman.

Not sure about UM, but their firepower on O is back...

Looks like NDSU will be strong again on D, how abour their O?

I believe this is what NDSU loses as far as guys that started throughout the playoffs:
Offense - QB, 3 starting O-linemen, WR, RB, FB. (Lose 7, return 4)
Defense - 2 defensive tackles, 1 DE, 1 or 2 defensive backs. (Lose 4 or 5, return 7 or 6)
Kicker and Punter are both returning, but losing a 4 year starter at long snapper.
Obviously a new coaching staff coming in too, which could be huge.

A back to back 1000 yard rusher returns to replace the previous starter, so there shouldn't be much drop off there. The leading receiver is back. The QB (Wentz) supposedly has the skills to be better than Jensen, but he's unproven, so that's a big question mark. Thankfully with more than half of the defense returning, Wentz shouldn't have to be spectacular for the team to be in games. Another thing is that the team has gotten about an extra month's worth of practices more than most teams each of the last 3 years. The seniors will have basically an entire extra season of experience from the playoff runs.

Obviously there will be a significant dropoff from last year, but it would take a HUGE dropoff from last year to make NDSU anything less than a decent team that makes a playoff run.

These numbers aren't adding up... Just sayin...

 

[Eriul]

While I am super excited for this next season I think 3 is way too high. Probably just the Griz name that got us there.

I think our defense is going to struggle with the linebackers and I haven't seen what practice looks like but honestly our offense should be an absolute firepower if we play it right. The only question on Offense is our O-line but I don't see how it could be much worse than last year..

 

[AllWeatherFan]

UM Offense - Lost 3 starting Olineman and depending on formation the 3rd WR -- Return 7+ counting the FB
UM Defense - Lost 3 starting LB, 1 DT, 1 S and 1 CB -- Return 5
Total Returning Starters is 12+
Also get Punter and Kicker back

Ben Worst will not be returning. He was a walk-on and could no longer afford the out-of-state tuition as he did not earn a schollie. He is returning to Idaho.

This will excite alphie. Now we can go for it when were 3rd and 12 from the 15. Who needs a kicker anyway. :roll:

Maybe I'm missing something, but if we're not going for it on 3RD and 12, we have more issues than I thought.

We're going for it. With a 40-yard post pattern.