Based mine off of what cnelson(??) said in another thread as I think he pretty much had what I would have put...

CUSA East:

Western Kentucky (7-1)* - Conference Champ
Middle Tennessee (6-2)
Marshall (6-2) - Loses to both WKU & MTSU on road.
FIU (4-4)
FAU (3-5)
Old Dominion (3-5)
Charlotte: (1-7)

CUSA West:

LaTech (6-2)
UTEP (5-3)
Rice (4-4)
Southern Miss (4-4) - Bowl Eligible.
North Texas (3-5)
UTSA (2-6)

I'd say that's a reasonable outcome but no way to know till after spring ball and some starters are determined and new signees are evaluated on the field.

WKU does not have the luck to do that.... Something always happens to us......mark it down

Any discussion about this would have no merit at all until after spring ball. Too many moving parts to all the top teams. And WKU, i believe, will be the conference favorite, they will need a defense to win it.

52 conference games, and the team records in the list in post #1 are 54-50. Take away two wins, and add two losses.

(12-26-2014 11:06 PM)goherd24herdfans Wrote:  Any discussion about this would have no merit at all until after spring ball. Too many moving parts to all the top teams. And WKU, i believe, will be the conference favorite, they will need a defense to win it.

I see what you all are saying (and I know this post truly is early), but when I really think about it I don't think any "moving part" is going to make that big of a difference (in an educated guess - which is more of a crapshoot anyway) between now and when next season starts. We for the most part know who's leaving/graduating, know who's coming back, injuries/dismissals could happen at any time; Spring, August, or in the first game, and they'll be some impact freshman (as there always is)...that we really won't know how "impactful" they are until the season's half over.

Unless a team has a Randy Moss or Peyton Manning coming in as a freshman, or unless a main weapon declares for the NFL draft (like WKU's QB) between now and Spring...most teams in this conference are going to be who they are going to be with the talent they have coming back.

(12-26-2014 11:13 PM)FriscoDawg Wrote:  52 conference games, and the team records in the list in post #1 are 54-50. Take away two wins, and add two losses.

I can't believe you counted that up. haha What cnelson had was probably mathematically correct, and I got it out of whack when I adjusted it for what I thought.

It's a guess. I expect to be at best slightly wrong on every record I listed above come Dec. 2015.

Rice 4-4 in conference given all of the key pieces we return?

With UCF and ECU gone and So. Miss down but also moving West, the East will go through Marshall for a while. Yes we have lost to MTSU and WKU in consecutive seasons but it's no coincidence that our record vastly improved when the conference landscape changed. ECU, UCF, Houston, and Tulsa all had very good if not dominating records vs us. I don't think FIU, FAU, Charlotte, ODU, North Texas, or UTSA will do the same. We struggled to get to 6 wins for the better part of 8 years and now we pretty much have a built in 7 with 4 from the East and our 2 weak non conference games and most likely 1 weak West team. So if we can go 3-2 vs let's say Rice, Purdue, Ohio, MTSU, and WKU we will go 10-2.

LA Tech's all-time leading rusher, and rushing TD champion, Kenneth Dixon, announced today that he WILL return to the Bulldogs for his senior year in 2015.

(12-27-2014 01:07 AM)HogDawg Wrote:  LA Tech's all-time leading rusher, and rushing TD champion, Kenneth Dixon, announced today that he WILL return to the Bulldogs for his senior year in 2015.

This is a great news - he is our team!

(12-27-2014 01:46 AM)NanoDawg Wrote:  

(12-27-2014 01:07 AM)HogDawg Wrote:  LA Tech's all-time leading rusher, and rushing TD champion, Kenneth Dixon, announced today that he WILL return to the Bulldogs for his senior year in 2015.

This is a great news - he is our team!

How many seniors are y'all losing this year?

(12-27-2014 01:07 AM)HogDawg Wrote:  LA Tech's all-time leading rusher, and rushing TD champion, Kenneth Dixon, announced today that he WILL return to the Bulldogs for his senior year in 2015.

I hope Rice and La Tech stay as a season-ending game. Should be for the West in 2015, also.

(12-26-2014 10:37 PM)HERD1 Wrote:  Based mine off of what cnelson(??) said in another thread as I think he pretty much had what I would have put...

CUSA East:

Western Kentucky (7-1)* - Conference Champ
Middle Tennessee (6-2)
Marshall (6-2) - Loses to both WKU & MTSU on road.
FIU (4-4)
FAU (3-5)
Old Dominion (3-5)
Charlotte: (1-7)

CUSA West:

LaTech (6-2)
UTEP (5-3)
Rice (4-4)
Southern Miss (4-4) - Bowl Eligible.
North Texas (3-5)
UTSA (2-6)

We can probably rank the schools, but we need actual schedules to predict records. I do think the West will have the upper hand, and Charlotte will have a rough first year.

After Bowl Season, I'm going to modify my original premise, since it was quoted in the OP. I do agree that, collectively, it will be easier to make predictions after Spring ball, but even those are predictions. And for a football junkie like me...who is already crying over the fact that not one C-USA school kicks off until SEPTEMBER, for gawds sake, this is how I enjoy spending my offseason...useless predictions.

CUSA East:

Western Kentucky (6-2)* - Conference Champ based on HtH
Marshall (6-2)
Middle Tennessee - (5-3)
FIU (4-4)
FAU (3-5)
Old Dominion (3-5)
Charlotte: (1-7)

CUSA West:

LaTech (6-2): No prediction on HtH with Rice.
Rice (6-2) - Driphus Jackson is all I need to say here.
UTEP (5-3)
Southern Miss (4-4) - Bowl Eligible.
North Texas (3-5)
UTSA (2-6)

(12-26-2014 11:13 PM)FriscoDawg Wrote:  52 conference games, and the team records in the list in post #1 are 54-50. Take away two wins, and add two losses.

You can take away UNCC's one win and add a loss.

How many seniors is Louisiana Tech losing? 23 or 24?

I am trying not to be a Homer, but with the backs Marshall had coming back, along with many other key pieces from this year's team, we should be near or at the top of CUSA next year. I think Birdsong will be the QB next year, and while I do expect some drop off in the passing game, it won't be as much as many think.

I've heard that LTU is losing a lot of seniors from this year's team(24 or 25).If true, they'll have a hard time staying in the top half of the West. They may descend for a year unless they can bring in a bunch of JC talent again. Rice, UNT, and UTEP will all be improved next season.

(12-27-2014 12:58 PM)Afflicted Wrote:  I've heard that LTU is losing a lot of seniors from this year's team(24 or 25).If true, they'll have a hard time staying in the top half of the West. They may descend for a year unless they can bring in a bunch of JC talent again. Rice, UNT, and UTEP will all be improved next season.

USM will have a lot back and be much improved, imo. Much tougher out next season. I predict a dog fight with no one going thru the west unbeaten. Rice and LT should both be visiting the Sun Bowl to play the Miners. Our chances are just a little better because of that.