RE: FanSpeak.com's AAC early football preview (Tulane picked 5th)
The Top 4 look right to me. As for who can come in at #5... I have no idea. I think that those teams will beat up on each other for the most part and that we could have a three-way tie for 5th (UConn, Tulane, USF).
I would not be surprised to see SMU get rid on Jones next year. As for Tulsa, they could very well be back to 6 + wins next year.
RE: FanSpeak.com's AAC early football preview (Tulane picked 5th)
(03-19-2014 05:48 PM)RobUCF Wrote:
(03-19-2014 11:40 AM)Indiana Bones Wrote:
(03-19-2014 11:01 AM)Brian Reading Wrote: I think East Carolina might be a bit high, no offense, Pirates.
Seems like many non-ECU fans on this board believe that our preseason placement in many of these early projections is unjustified. I think we've been predicted to finish 1st, 2nd ,3rd, or 4th in every projection that I've read.
I think that a lot of the skepticism stems from our poor showing at Marshall (our other 2 losses were by a combined 8 points). People need to remember that we were just coming off of an emotional win against our biggest rivals (NCSU) & it was Marshall's Super Bowl (they wanted it more because we have always been at the top of the east, we usually beat them, and we were leaving them behind). College football is an emotional game and we had a let down but it was just one game.
Every projection in the country has ECU as a contender for the AAC crown for a reason. We are projected to be better than last year and we we were pretty good last year.
You have a good team and are clearly to be in competition for the the AAC title this year. That being said - you're team couldn't get up for a game to play in the conference championship? I know NC State is a rival, but they were 3-9 (victories: Louisiana Tech, Western Michigan, FCS Richmond), just a bad team. Marshall had lost to Middle Tennessee. V. Tech, and Ohio), and they beat you by 30+ (which I watched and was rooting for you) before getting blown out by Rice in the C-USA Championship. Also - let's be honest, you haven't been at the top of C-USA East since 2009. I like your team, and with Carden at QB, you will compete, but there are clear reasons to doubt.
You can toss the records out the window when ECU plays NCSU. Take the last 2 games prior to this season. In 2010, Ruff's 1st year, an average ECU team beat the best NCSU team in the past 10-15 years (led by Russell Wilson, finished ranked, and beat WVU in a bowl). The game before that in '08, a below average NCSU team beat #15 ECU (going into that game ECU had won consecutive games against #22 Boise State, #15 VT, & #8 WVU and we went on to win C-USA).
My point is that when ECU and NCSU play, anything goes. Moreover, ECU's fan base has traditionally cared more about beating NCSU than winning C-USA. Call that dumb if you want but it is what it is. When we played Marshall last year we were coming off an emotional win against our biggest rival and our players know how our fan base feels about NCSU. I was worried that we would be flat regardless what was at stake.
Add to that the fact that Marshall's team last year was the biggest Jekyll & Hyde act in NCAA history. They played like FSU at home and UAB on the road. Yes they blew us out by 31 but against all other opponents at home their average margin of victory was by 41.4. Conversely, on the road, they were lucky to beat any team with a pulse.
All I'm saying is that the Marshall game was a perfect storm (it definitely meant more to Marshall & their fans, they play out of their minds at home, it was in WV, in November, we were coming off an emotional win over our rival, we were leaving them behind for the AAC, etc.) and we flat out had a bad game. If UCF played @ Marshall in November last year with the effort that you guys produced against SMU or Temple then Marshall would have won handily. We had a bad game but don't judge our entire season off that one game with all of those factors going against us.
This year we have the best QB & WR combo in the nation retuning. We have a lot of continuity coaching wise and we expect big things. I never said we would definitely win the AAC but we have as good a chance as anyone in my biased opinion & I think that many objective minds would agree. We'll just have to wait and see.
(This post was last modified: 03-19-2014 07:32 PM by Indiana Bones.)
RE: FanSpeak.com's AAC early football preview (Tulane picked 5th)
(03-19-2014 05:48 PM)RobUCF Wrote:
(03-19-2014 11:40 AM)Indiana Bones Wrote:
(03-19-2014 11:01 AM)Brian Reading Wrote: I think East Carolina might be a bit high, no offense, Pirates.
Seems like many non-ECU fans on this board believe that our preseason placement in many of these early projections is unjustified. I think we've been predicted to finish 1st, 2nd ,3rd, or 4th in every projection that I've read.
I think that a lot of the skepticism stems from our poor showing at Marshall (our other 2 losses were by a combined 8 points). People need to remember that we were just coming off of an emotional win against our biggest rivals (NCSU) & it was Marshall's Super Bowl (they wanted it more because we have always been at the top of the east, we usually beat them, and we were leaving them behind). College football is an emotional game and we had a let down but it was just one game.
Every projection in the country has ECU as a contender for the AAC crown for a reason. We are projected to be better than last year and we we were pretty good last year.
You have a good team and are clearly to be in competition for the the AAC title this year. That being said - you're team couldn't get up for a game to play in the conference championship? I know NC State is a rival, but they were 3-9 (victories: Louisiana Tech, Western Michigan, FCS Richmond), just a bad team. Marshall had lost to Middle Tennessee. V. Tech, and Ohio), and they beat you by 30+ (which I watched and was rooting for you) before getting blown out by Rice in the C-USA Championship. Also - let's be honest, you haven't been at the top of C-USA East since 2009. I like your team, and with Carden at QB, you will compete, but there are clear reasons to doubt.
Well, don't pull for us anymore please.
Oh, and if you want to play that game, We beat UNC who beat UC, and we beat Ohio that beat Marshall.
(This post was last modified: 03-19-2014 07:50 PM by ecumbh1999.)