Of course fans of every team are optimistic this time of year about their team's chances. It's obviously easier to look back in Jan. and assess how things went vs. making that assessment now at the end of August. I'm interested in how each of you guys view your team's chances this season..... #wins.... accomplishments etc. and at the end of the season it might be fun to peek at this and see how accurate we all were. I'll start with UF.... and I do have a feeling that the offense will be the best Gator offense we have seen in years down in Gainesville and cannot even be derailed by the loss of a Qb to injury. Loaded at WR and RB.... experience on the OL. Defensively UF still has NFL quality talent running around back there....but may slip a notch because of inexperience. I'm saying 11-3 for Florida counting the postseason bowl... not the CFB playoff though. SEC East Champs.... but losing a possible playoff spot to Bama in Atlanta.
I'll go first. The 2017 Fightin' Texas Aggies will be an interesting animal, but a lot of the mystery will be solved on Sep 3. Unlike a great many publications and websites that only look backward, I predict the Aggies to have a decent defense this year. They have a full set of mature defensive tackles for the first time.. since ever, and a full set of healthy (knock on wood) SEC sized Linebackers. Our DE's will undoubtedly take a step back with the loss of Myles Garrett, but we will be using multiple blitz packages to improve the rush. The safeties are nasty, and the CB's are serviceable. The offense is where the rubber will meet the road. We have excellent WR's. Very good RB's and a big and well coached offensive line that will finally not be patchwork. That just leaves one tiny position to fill... Yep, the QB. Total Wildcard here. No one knows who's going to take the first snap. I suspect we'll have at least 2 (if not 3) play substantial minutes against UCLA. If he's decent... the players around him can carry us to a good offense. If not... blech. I'm excited... it's kinda fun not knowing what to expect. I have no idea what our record will be. A safe bet would be 8-5, since we seem to get there quite often. I'll just take it one week at a time, giving 110%, and trying to help my team any way I can. 8)
Thanks for the comments Scott. I think the Aggies will catch a couple of teams off guard this year.... hopefully not my Gators.
My Buckeyes are going to be challenged by our fan base. Everyone seems to think we will go undefeated and whip the Tide in the CFP. A train wreck just waiting to happen. Urban has a lot of talent and I think you will see at least five or six freshmen see a lot of playing time this fall. Our defense is pretty solid and we might have a few frightening moments with young talent in the secondary. J. T. seems to be ready to face the challenge as our fifth year QB. He is not the sole blame for our failures last year. Poor pass protection and no dependable deep ball receivers did not help. This should be a very interesting season. I just hope the fans can be a little patient and not too demanding early on.
Nothing but crickets from Irish fans. I guess that's expected following a miserable 4 win season. Let's start on defense. I just don't see the Irish D being physically dominant this year. They were the last team in the country to register a sack last year and that lack of physicality may still be there. What can be improved is their ability to force turnovers. They hired Mike Elko from Wake Forest to improve their TO ratio. Last year it was awful. While the D may not be physical I do expect the O line to be just that. They're experienced and there are high expectations but then there were high hopes last year and they failed to deliver. While our QB has little experience he's a junior and seems to be ready to step in. Lack of talent didn't keep him from the field it was 2 very good QBs ahead of him that kept him seated. Our running backs are really talented and we have an above average corps of receivers. We've had coaching changes in 2 other areas of importance. First we hired Brian Polian to improve our almost always terrible return teams and we've replaced our strength and conditioning coach. Last year we had the lead in a number of games only to fade in the 4th quarter. Conditioning may have played a big part in that. We'll have a good idea of what kind of team we have in week 2. We host Georgia who hopefully is overconfident. If we can somehow win that game our midseason showdown with SC could be a big game.
Unlike other years, Alabama's defense is a question mark. Our secondary should be stronger but our linebackers and DL took a draft/graduation hit. There are returnees that had playing time but they were not starters. Our offensive line has not been finalized yet and it will be a mixture of vets and newbies. Right side seems to be the question mark area. Running backs and wide receivers are a strong point. Although it seems like Scarborough and Jacobs have been dinged up all off-season. Hurts had a good year last year but he must improve in the passing game. He's a very good runner, but we have several very good runners, since our defense may not be as strong we need a competent passer badly. The FSU game will be tough. They seem to be quality on both sides of the line. The winner of this game will have the luxury of having a bad game later in the season, the loser (assuming it's a close loss) will have to run the table to make into the playoffs. The SEC West seems to be down this year. A&M and Arkansas could fool us though. Auburn is getting a lot of good press so I guess Stidham is going to turn everything around over there. I see Alabama losing one game at least. I don't think this is a 12-0 team.
Notre Dame has the same overall feel as previous years; we will be tough to stop with the ball and should score a lot of points. But can we score enough to win games? I have high hopes that the defense will be much improved. It starts in the back. If we can get good coverage out of our DBs then the LBs will not be forced into coverages they cannot perform and can blitz with a purpose. To me the biggest ? is Brian Kelly.
I think Texas fans have a fair amount of optimism most of it surrounding the new coach Tom Herman. Will he be able to resurrect Texas football? Charlie Strong didn't leave him a bare roster and while like almost all college programs not named Ohio State and Alabama, there are holes, but still we have enough talent to have a solid season if things go well and no major injuries. It will be important to get off to a good start vs Maryland and then we don't have to beat USC but we can't get blown out either. Play well on the road at USC will be a good thing. The B12 is fairly balanced with no super team so while we are not picked to win the B12 and OU and OK. State are probably the 2 best teams we could have a good season and beat one of those teams. I just think the fans want to see a good product on the field one that plays up to the talent that is on hand, not playing down and losing to a pathetic KU team like Charlie did last year. Beat the teams we should beat and pull and upset or two and fans will be pretty happy. Recruiting under Tom Herman is going well and we should have an excellent group for Feb 2018, maybe even an outstanding group if we show marked improvement on the field. A lot ot talent in Texas and a lot of those top players want to come to Austin, but not to lose, to win. The key to watch is the play of QB Shane Buchele who was the starter last year and had a good year for a true freshman, but by the end of the season he was pretty beat up and he's not a big guy. If he shows he can hold up and lead the offense great, if not a player who really is Tom Herman's style of QB named Sam Ehlinger a true freshman is that bigger and more physical QB that Herman wants. But it would be a good thing not to have to throw him into the fire as freshman. There are no other scholarship QBs on the roster either. There are several studs coming in the 2018 class but for 2017 it's those 2 guys or bust.
The Irish a team that I am excited to see what we have and also scared to death. We have new coaches and Kelly swears he's going to let the coaches coach and be more of a CEO coach. I think that's a good thing if he can do it. Maybe we won't see him go nuts on the sideline this year. Offense, strength everywhere you look, OL 2 potential 1st round picks on the left side in McGlinchy and Q. Nelson. A trio of RB's who are probably the best trio we've had in a long time. 5 TE's all have different skill sets, all have high upsides Wr in Equanous St. Brown we have an AA caliber WR, and the rest of the crew is unproven but a lot of potential. It's the defense that will likely make or break the year. Elko the new guy is a college DCoord so the defense won't be some NFL scheme that kids can't master in the 20 hour week they are allowed. But both the 2 previous DCoord were terrible and lazy recruiters so we are not as talented, not without talent though. We need more depth in the interior of the DL but it's all freshmen or projects. Our LB's are good with Nyles Morgan have potential to be one of the top LB's in college. The secondary is young and unproven, but they got some experience last year having to play early. I don't think Elko can turn this defense around in 1 year, there just isnt the depth and the talent level. But if we had just been average last year we'd have been 8-4 instead of 4-8. Like most I see us as a 9-3 or 10-2 type of team if things go right. It's a crucial year for the program. Kelly is a very unpopular coach and another medicore year and buyout or no buyout I don't see how Swarbrick ( who is maybe more unpopular than Kelly) can not fire Kelly.
Stu, I predict Purdue will win more than a couple of games. Not much more, but more than the past few years. Around here, there is optimism about the future of the program. I think you'll like this article. Brohm was a freakish athlete in HS and college: http://www.indystar.com/story/sport...-football-work-progress-jeff-brohm/602821001/
Good article on Brohm, I didn't know that about him. I do think he's one of those guys to keep an eye on what he does at Purdue the next 3 years. I noted in that article that Brian Brohn is his QB/OCoord. I do remember Brian from QB recruiting and his playing days at Louisville.
My team is poised to take it all. We have inserted a sticky backfield and increased offensive performance. The NHRA points championship is within my reach for this local track... What's that??? College Football team you say??? Oh, Tennessee has lost one major player... The one that sunk or ship last year. Hurd is gone and so is the cancer that he grew. We have lost some very valuable players to draft and graduation but I see the QB as a reload... we are losing a gifted running QB and gaining a QB with a grenade launcher for an arm. The O line will be healthy and more experienced so he should not have to run away from defenders. We lose the pass rusher that broke Reggie White's Tennessee sack record last year. Defense could drop a notch. Anything 8 and 4 plus a bowl win or better will be satisfactory. Now, back to racing!
Lulz at Tom.... 8) Miami thoughts - last season the offense improved from 49th to 34th and defense surged from 52nd to 13th its highest since 2010. Miami won nine games, finished ranked in the AP poll, and finished in the S&P+ top 15, all for the first time since 2005. We had a good season. The key to Miami's success this season is replacing Brad Kaaya who left early for the NFL. Junior Malik Rosier was named the starting QB this week as he leads a young but talented team. The 5 offensive linemen have combined for 85 starts, running back ran for 1,100 yards last season, the front seven may be among the top five in the country and special teams will be just that special. To be honest scheduling is weak and if we do anything this season I hope it's defeating FSU.....Nice quality bowl game in my projection but still one year away from competing in anything with the word Championship in it outside of the ACC...
A little late to the game but I pretty much agree with MCG about the Gators. An improved offense and better players at most all positions. Coach Mac has done a great job bringing in players to balance the roster. I am very optimistic about our opening game with Michigan.
Sid, thanks for the article. I am a big fan of the pick of Brohm...eager to see how it pans out. I think he's gonna need some time, though.
Is it me or is this the first season in a while where ND didn't have one player who managed to do something stupid and get in trouble before the season started? No gun or grass possession arrests. No drunken altercations with police. Maybe that's an indication that there have been some changes.