(04-16-2014 08:51 AM)Pan95 Wrote:  

(04-16-2014 08:13 AM)Digi368 Wrote:  

(04-15-2014 02:20 PM)Niner National Wrote:  As long as UTSA's new QB is pretty good, I think they are the favorite to win the west. They return most of their players from a solid team, with QB being the main question mark.

Marshall is the clear favorite in the east. I would actually put FAU second in the east, WKU third, and ODU above UAB.

I don't really know enough about the west schools to really comment. I have no idea what was lost / what was gained.

I think all concerns about our new QB1 have evaporated since spring workouts. Tucker Carter (SR) is the real deal and has been proving it with his arm and scrambling ability for several weeks now. Soza has a Saint status at UTSA but I dont think anyone who is a UTSA fan can deny that Carter is solid and brings a whole new element to our offense thanks to his arm and ability to throw accurately down the field

Interesting. You return most of your offensive line right? Lucky for us, we get you guys and North Texas at home.

Yes our entire o-line is back. We only lost 8 seniors/4 starters total so the team should be competitive barring any major injuries. All of our 2013 all conference players/honorable mentions will be back as well

(04-15-2014 01:38 PM)ODU AGGIE Wrote:  Mark your calendars for October 4th. It will be a Heinicke/Cato shootout in Norfolk.

Two great quarterbacks should make for a great game. ODU was my pick when realignment occurred. Very happy to see you guys in the same conference. Good luck this year and all later years as well. Hopefully a MU/ODU rivalry will begin.

(04-15-2014 09:50 AM)Dawg87 Wrote:  WEST[b]
North Texas
Rice
LA Tech
UTSA
USM
UTEP

EAST

Marshall
Western Kentucky
MTU
FAU
UAB
ODU
FIU


Ranked us kinda high, but I really think we have the talent and potential to compete at the top. However, I could see us also being at the bottom given our coaching situation. So middle works for me right now.

So... What are you on? Pot? Crack? Coke? Bath salts?

(04-16-2014 10:22 AM)Surbadger Wrote:  

(04-15-2014 01:38 PM)ODU AGGIE Wrote:  Mark your calendars for October 4th. It will be a Heinicke/Cato shootout in Norfolk.

Two great quarterbacks should make for a great game. ODU was my pick when realignment occurred. Very happy to see you guys in the same conference. Good luck this year and all later years as well. Hopefully a MU/ODU rivalry will begin.

Personally, I think it is a football rivalry just waiting to happen. How fast it incubates depends on how fast ODU becomes competitive. Of course, we (ODU fans) believe it will be much sooner than later.

(04-16-2014 02:38 PM)ODU AGGIE Wrote:  

(04-16-2014 10:22 AM)Surbadger Wrote:  

(04-15-2014 01:38 PM)ODU AGGIE Wrote:  Mark your calendars for October 4th. It will be a Heinicke/Cato shootout in Norfolk.

Two great quarterbacks should make for a great game. ODU was my pick when realignment occurred. Very happy to see you guys in the same conference. Good luck this year and all later years as well. Hopefully a MU/ODU rivalry will begin.

Personally, I think it is a football rivalry just waiting to happen. How fast it incubates depends on how fast ODU becomes competitive. Of course, we (ODU fans) believe it will be much sooner than later.

I would venture to say a few years will prove you correct. ODU is brimming with potential.

WKU had too many key graduations. I think we will finish lower than 2nd.

While WKU did lose a lot. I have been to several of the spring practices. I expect the defense to take a small step back this season but not as much as what a lot of Topper fans think. This won't be the hard hitting smash defense that we have had the last couple of seasons. But the guys moving into the starting jobs can still lay the lumber from time to time and are excellent at wrapping up when making tackles. Pass coverage will most likely be our biggest weakness. Though that is hard to gauge because WKU offense is looking mighty good early on with a couple of the new JUCO WR's really impressing in spring ball. Leon Allen will fill Andrews role at RB nicely, he is stronger, faster, and just as good at receiving out of the backfield as Andrews.

Really looking forward to this season. Gonna be real interesting to see what happens with ODU and WKU in the fold, and how we'll fare with Tucker at the helm. As far as Dawg87's prediction, I'll just say that everyone is entitled to their opinion and leave it at that.

If Dixon stays healthy last year we win 2 more games in CUSA and we were not a very good team. Our defense should be better next year, RB and WR should be much better with the additions and RB will be better with a healthy Dixon. On the negative side our OL and QB is still lacking and we have Skip has the head coach. Skip is trying to make us more of power running team for some reason? Tech has always been a pass first team.

Strange times in Ruston but Skip is really recruiting very well so far which I can't figure out - maybe it's the new endzone facility finally starting construction?

(04-18-2014 07:20 PM)winston70 Wrote:  If Dixon stays healthy last year we win 2 more games in CUSA and we were not a very good team. Our defense should be better next year, RB and WR should be much better with the additions and RB will be better with a healthy Dixon. On the negative side our OL and QB is still lacking and we have Skip has the head coach. Skip is trying to make us more of power running team for some reason? Tech has always been a pass first team.

Strange times in Ruston but Skip is really recruiting very well so far which I can't figure out - maybe it's the new endzone facility finally starting construction?

If QB is lacking and RB is a stud, making us a power running team kind of makes sense, right?

But he's not trying to make us a power running team. Just giving Dixon more support.

(04-15-2014 02:40 PM)banker Wrote:  

(04-15-2014 01:38 PM)ODU AGGIE Wrote:  Mark your calendars for October 4th. It will be a Heinicke/Cato shootout in Norfolk.

We have a defense to go with our offense. We had two common opponents last year, Maryland 47 ODU 10, Marshall 31 Maryland 20. You passed for 170 against them no TD 3 int. Cato went for 337 3 TD no INT.


ECU, Marshall beat by 31 giving up 28 (really 20 not counting the late TD with our 3 defense against their 1 offense). You lost by 14 giving up 52.

So combined record, us 2-0 you 0-2. Combined score, us 90-48 you 48-99.


We'll see how it goes.

While the ECU comparison is valid, the Maryland one is less relevent. UMD was at full strength and had greater aspirations than the Military Bowl in Week 2. I do not know of any team more decimated by injuries than UMD last year. Similar to UNC from beginning of year to end, UMD was vastly different teams from start to finish.

Regardless, I look forward to the game next year. The crowd should be electric, and Heinicke/Cato should be fun.

My picks

East
1: Marshall
2: Old Dominion
3: Western Kentucky
4: Florida Atlantic
5: Alabama-Birmingham (UAB)
6: Florida International
7: Middle Tennessee

West
1: Rice
2: North Texas
3: Southern Miss
4: Texas-San Antonio
5: Louisiana Tech
6: Texas-El Paso (UTEP)

As a UTEP fan I accept the idea of the Miners being picked last by everyone in the world. It's based on how horrible the Miners were the last half of last season which was largely due to injuries to key players on a team without depth. But with a good number of returning starters and better depth and another year in the new system I do expect some improvement. I don't see the Miners in the top half in the west but I do expect them to avoid last place and surprise a team or 2 or maybe even 3 in conference play.

After what I've seen from North Texas in the Spring, I believe they can contend for the western division. But, until I see how they look in the OOC games, I can't justify placing them above Rice and UTSA. Plus, we have to travel to Houston and San Antonio for those games. In all honesty, I think the west will be improved. I could see LA Tech, UTEP, and Southern Miss all turning the corner and making things interesting, with LA Tech being the most likely.

In the East, I think Marshall has the perfect schedule to run the table. I think MTSU, FAU, and WKU will probably battle it out for second.

By the end of the season, I believe, Marshall, North Texas, Rice, UTSA, LA Tech, MTSU, WKU, and FAU are the most likely to earn bowl games. Marshall's schedule gives them a good chance at the access bowl, if the AAC and MWC champs are one loss teams.

We'll definitely be strong in offense if Showers doesn't get hurt again. We have some killer running backs too many to count, wr's are still unknown. If the defense does get better it'll be because they had a year to learn it and with new recruits I think we'll be an improved defensive team. But like everything we'll know for sure fb season. I already can't wait.

(04-19-2014 12:12 PM)olliebaba Wrote:  We'll definitely be strong in offense if Showers doesn't get hurt again. We have some killer running backs too many to count, wr's are still unknown. If the defense does get better it'll be because they had a year to learn it and with new recruits I think we'll be an improved defensive team. But like everything we'll know for sure fb season. I already can't wait.

If there was a trophy for most resilient fan base in college football, it might belong to us every year. No matter what happened the year before, we start getting optimistic in the spring.

(04-19-2014 12:53 PM)MinerInWisconsin Wrote:  

(04-19-2014 12:12 PM)olliebaba Wrote:  We'll definitely be strong in offense if Showers doesn't get hurt again. We have some killer running backs too many to count, wr's are still unknown. If the defense does get better it'll be because they had a year to learn it and with new recruits I think we'll be an improved defensive team. But like everything we'll know for sure fb season. I already can't wait.

If there was a trophy for most resilient fan base in college football, it might belong to us every year. No matter what happened the year before, we start getting optimistic in the spring.

+1