Wish this was more meaningful than just being a topic of conversation this time of year.

BG is the pick to win the MAC East.

FWIW, here are a couple of links to stories about this.

http://www.utrockets.com/ViewArticle.dbm...=209600794

http://mac-sports.com/news/2014/7/22/FB_0722144929.aspx

This is great and it may have to do with Alabama transfer Phillip Ely being at UT now and the projected starter as a Junior (A senior in years). As we know, Ely was a highly rated QB coming out of Tampa Plant the year he went to Alabama. I belive they won the state championship his senior year at Plant. He was a back up the last couple of years to AJ McCarron, if he stayed, he would still have to fight for the starting job among six other QB's. That is pretty tough odds. Instead, and after seeking the advice of Nick Sabin, he transferred to UT. We just graduated two starters in the last two years in Dantin and Owens. Now Ely has to win the starting roll again but against our much younger QB's so his odds are much greater. He has two years to play at UT. During spring practice and the spring game Coach Campbell said that he can throw the ball anywhere he wants on the field. During the spring game Ely lead his team to victory and was very proficient with no interceptions and thew a couple TD passes. For those of you that didnt know about this he transfered in 2013 and sat out last year. Other big schools including Ohio State & Illinois were also considered by Ely to transfer, but Sabin recommended UT and the staff. As we know Sabin started his career as a head coach at UT. Here are a couple articles about that among many.

http://espn.go.com/college-football/stor...ing-toledo
http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20.../130529762

Coaches predict the Rockets will finish second.

Edit: Forgot the link. Here it is.

http://www.utrockets.com/ViewArticle.dbm...=209614245

One thing I think is for certain, if Ely can be a QB at the level of say Aaron Opelt - but without the injuries, it will be much more likely that Toledo will make it to the MACC game. The reason I would say they are not a shoe in is because they have NIU on the road late in the year - and I don't know how good their incoming QB will be. It is probably safe to assume he will not compare to Harnish or Lynch - and at the same time, the UT defense will be much improved and with more depth as well. We should win that game. My bigger concern is how good of a coaching staff we have in place. We made a lot of changes - hopefully all for the better. But Campbell is still unproven as a head coach and he has not shown yet that he is of the caliber he has been projected to be. Time will tell.

I have also not heard a lot about UT's back-up running backs. We should have some good talent behind Hunt - and Hunt looks like he is way ahead of where Chester Taylor was at the same point in their careers. Hunt is a man-child who stepped in as a true freshman and was relatively dominating - but he also took a pounding with his running style. If he has shed a few pounds and picked up some "wiggle" and more breakaway speed, he will also be living in a big house some day - just like Amstutz predicted Taylor would be.