Next year we have to "start the fight'' and "finish the fight''!!!!!!!

Really interested to see who our Crossover opponents are this year since the we have not played Ohio, Miami and BGSU at Huskie Stadium or away for the longest period.

My bold and way too early prediction is 6 - 6 and no bowl game. I think we lose to Arkansas by two scores (even bad SEC teams are tough and they they will be improved), lose a close one to Northwestern, and struggle with a much improved UNLV team. In conference play I do not believe we will have the luxury of playing the bottom of the league again so the cross-overs will be tougher and as a result we will lose one or two. I think our undoing will be a tougher schedule, soft defense, and uncertainty at QB. Let's be honest, we have been playing some pretty soft schedules the last two years. I think with a tougher MAC slate and OOC portion the sledding will be much tougher and expectations should be adjusted accordingly. I am glad we are playing a better schedule as I think long term it is better for the program but it will make each game that much more of a grind.

(01-04-2014 03:08 PM)HuskieTap22 Wrote:  My bold and way too early prediction is 6 - 6 and no bowl game. I think we lose to Arkansas by two scores (even bad SEC teams are tough and they they will be improved), lose a close one to Northwestern, and struggle with a much improved UNLV team. In conference play I do not believe we will have the luxury of playing the bottom of the league again so the cross-overs will be tougher and as a result we will lose one or two. I think our undoing will be a tougher schedule, soft defense, and uncertainty at QB. Let's be honest, we have been playing some pretty soft schedules the last two years. I think with a tougher MAC slate and OOC portion the sledding will be much tougher and expectations should be adjusted accordingly. I am glad we are playing a better schedule as I think long term it is better for the program but it will make each game that much more of a grind.

I think we beat Northwestern. Lets not forget that they need a quarterback as well (I don't think Siemian is their answer) and I think the Arkansas game will be closer than you think. We have a deep linebacking core, possibly better corners, and offensively whoever our quarterback is has a ton of tools to work with. It will be interesting to see how quick Bielema can turn around Arkansas and if our front four can improve because I think that's where we struggled this year and most of them graduated.

(01-04-2014 03:08 PM)HuskieTap22 Wrote:  My bold and way too early prediction is 6 - 6 and no bowl game. I think we lose to Arkansas by two scores (even bad SEC teams are tough and they they will be improved), lose a close one to Northwestern, and struggle with a much improved UNLV team. In conference play I do not believe we will have the luxury of playing the bottom of the league again so the cross-overs will be tougher and as a result we will lose one or two. I think our undoing will be a tougher schedule, soft defense, and uncertainty at QB. Let's be honest, we have been playing some pretty soft schedules the last two years. I think with a tougher MAC slate and OOC portion the sledding will be much tougher and expectations should be adjusted accordingly. I am glad we are playing a better schedule as I think long term it is better for the program but it will make each game that much more of a grind.

BGSU, Buffalo and Akron will be the better half of the East...it's doubtful that we will play Buffalo or Akron...and until last year the MAC had not set a rematch of the previous years MACC in the regular season...so I doubt we will play more than 1 of those teams.

Ohio and Miami are most likely since its been the longest for those two.

Huskiejohn, we played Kent St. this year after playing in the MACC.

(01-04-2014 06:48 PM)niudos Wrote:  Huskiejohn, we played Kent St. this year after playing in the MACC.

Lol well until last year.

I wouldn't mind a revenge game at Huskie stadium vs BGSU!

Important items about next year's OOC schedule

1) While Colter is gone and Siemian had a down year at NU, the Cats do get Venric Mark back who missed nearly all of 13 and had a great 2012. If he's healthy he's tough to stop (2012) 226R, 1366 yards,105 ypg, 6.3 avg, 12 TD's.

2) NIU"s schedule is setup very favorably

UNLV opens at Arizona who caped off 2013 with a blowout win over BC finishing 8-5 with wins over UT, CO, CAL & Oregon along with close losses to USC, UCLA & WSU(7 or less). They have a bye week before NIU but AZ could beat them up physically and pschologically. They got bowl eligible (7-5) beating Hawaii, New Mexico, CMU, Western Illinois, Nevada, AFA & SD ST also got whipped in their bowl by N TX ST.

Arky has a first half of the year schedule that would be a huge challenge for any team; opening at Auburn(could be defending Nat'l CHamp), home opener Nichols St then at bowl winning TX Tech, then NIU at home followed by a game in Arlington TX with A&M followed by a bye week, then Alabama & Georgia.

They should be 1-2 when they play NIU and considering who they have to play after NIU, this can be a trap game for them.

NIU should be no worse than 3-1 OOC and very possibly 4-0 with wins over SEC & B10 teams.

Looking at the other top G5 programs who are likely competitors for the Access Bowl slot

1) Fresno opens with USC, Utah & Nebraska, if they open 3-0 they should be the highest ranked G6 team but I doubt that will happen
2) SD ST has NAU & Idaho but also road games at Oregon State & UNC..
3) Boise opens with Ole Miss in the Georgia Dome and has a homegame with BYU on their schedule,
4) Navy opens with Ohio State and has ND, AFA & Ga Southern on their schedule
5) Cincy hosts Toledo and has road games at Ohio State and Miami(FL). If they win all 3 they should be #1 or #2 out of the G5 but I doubt that will happen.
6) UCF opens with Penn State in Ireland, a road game at Mizzou and hosts BYU on 10/11. If they sweep those 3, they should be one of the top G5 teams but I don't believe that will happen.
7) BYU has road games at Texas, UCF, Boise & Cal along with home games with Virginia, Houston, UT ST & UNLV. They get through that schedule they will be the #1 G5 team but I doubt that will happen.
8) Toledo opens with a solid FCS team in New Hampshire, a Mizzou home game, at Cincy and at Iowa State on 10/11. If they win those 4 they will be MAC kingpins but that's alot for a team with a new QB.
9) BGSU opens at WKU, has INdiana at home and travels to Wisky.

scheduling AQ games is great, but getting winnable AQ games much better. Hopefully all this info puts a smile on your faces it should!

Veneric mark was a true senior. Only way he plays next year is if he gets a medical redshirt

(01-04-2014 09:23 PM)HuskiePride12 Wrote:  Veneric mark was a true senior. Only way he plays next year is if he gets a medical redshirt

Mark will get the redshirt. I can almost guarantee it

Boy, talk about way too early predictions... It's impossible to really know what kind of team we're going to have. We could be awful based on how we finished the year. We could be great based on how we played ball state and Toledo. We just don't know how the returning guys will play and if the new guys will produce. It's a huge off season no doubt. If our coaches and players respond we'll have turned a corner as a program. If we take a huge step back we'll need a few years and a coaching change or two or three or four to turn it back around.

(01-05-2014 12:43 AM)YoungPup Wrote:  

(01-04-2014 09:23 PM)HuskiePride12 Wrote:  Veneric mark was a true senior. Only way he plays next year is if he gets a medical redshirt

Mark will get the redshirt. I can almost guarantee it

He only played in 2 games, it's almost a certainty he will be granted another year.

(12-28-2013 09:27 PM)prairiedawg Wrote:  I am excited for next year. Lynch was a stud that can't be easily replaced but it was a repeat of G Wolfe in 2006. We were one dimensional.

A solid Returning O-line with backs Stingily, Spencer, Harris Jr, A Daniels, along with A Turner and Jordan Huff will take a lot of pressure off of a green QB.

Completely agree.. And I think Brescacin is money!!

Daniels/Harris Jr combo with Stingly will be great...hopefully lots of play action.