End of season, looking ahead stuff. All of this is based on NCAA official participation stats, so if you disagree with the numbers take it up with them. This is a simple look at how many seniors each team had, how many starts are lost to graduation (i.e. If your starting LT graduated and started all 13 games, that's 13 starts lost), and how many players you have returning that started at least 5 games, regardless of class. The list goes from the most starts lost to the least.

Team - seniors-starts lost-returners with 5+starts
La Tech - 24-166-10
WKU - 23-143-12
USM - 20-134-13
Marshall - 17-130-13
Middle - 27-121-13
UTSA - 22-113-15
UTEP - 22-103-16
FIU - 18-91-16
UNT - 17-85-17
FAU - 12-83-18
Rice - 14-75-17
ODU - 14-69-18
Charlotte - 11-50-19

The two things that really jump out to me based off just this data is that Skip is going to have to do a great job with La Tech next year and ODU could be poised to make a significant jump next year. Also, Charlotte should be better, but they will still be young, I think 2017 is when they start showing real improvement. Rice should have an opportunity to move up a few spots in the standings also.

Yep, we got some coaching of some young pups to do next year. The ones who need to grow up fast are QB, DB, and LB. Dixon is just irreplaceable. Doesn't have the makings of a championship team, I think we can find a way to a bowl game though if we can coach em up.

QB - not likely to be as good as Driskel.
RB - will not be as good as Dixon.
WR - push (we return 3 of 4).
OL - push (we return 4 of 5).

DL - not likely to be as good losing Butler and Dora.
LB - not likely to be as good losing all 3 starters.
DB - not likely to be as good losing 3 of the 4 starters.

2017 we should be competing for a championship again.

Then I guess by your (Op's) logic that FAU should be poised for a big jump up as well?

(12-29-2015 10:46 PM)T_Won1 Wrote:  Yep, we got some coaching of some young pups to do next year. The ones who need to grow up fast are QB, DB, and LB. Dixon is just irreplaceable. Doesn't have the makings of a championship team, I think we can find a way to a bowl game though if we can coach em up.

QB - not likely to be as good as Driskel.
RB - will not be as good as Dixon.
WR - push (we return 3 of 4).
OL - push (we return 4 of 5).

DL - not likely to be as good losing Butler and Dora.
LB - not likely to be as good losing all 3 starters.
DB - not likely to be as good losing 3 of the 4 starters.

2017 we should be competing for a championship again.

We will be nasty in 2017 if our QB develops. Also that's the year we get the Mississippi Bulldogs at home and play South Carolina on the road. Also we have 7 home games that year. Could be special.

I have heard we have 33 of 44 on depth chart returning.

(12-29-2015 10:50 PM)GoodOwl Wrote:  Then I guess by your (Op's) logic that FAU should be poised for a big jump up as well?

I think they should. FAU hung tough in most of their games this season. I think they could be very good next year.

(12-29-2015 10:57 PM)freshtop Wrote:  

(12-29-2015 10:50 PM)GoodOwl Wrote:  Then I guess by your (Op's) logic that FAU should be poised for a big jump up as well?

I think they should. FAU hung tough in most of their games this season. I think they could be very good next year.

Yeah they literally were a couple things going their way from 8-9 wins and beating a ranked Florida this year. If there is a team I would define as on the cusp, it would be FAU.

(12-29-2015 10:46 PM)T_Won1 Wrote:  Yep, we got some coaching of some young pups to do next year. The ones who need to grow up fast are QB, DB, and LB. Dixon is just irreplaceable. Doesn't have the makings of a championship team, I think we can find a way to a bowl game though if we can coach em up.

QB - not likely to be as good as Driskel.
RB - will not be as good as Dixon.
WR - push (we return 3 of 4).
OL - push (we return 4 of 5).

DL - not likely to be as good losing Butler and Dora.
LB - not likely to be as good losing all 3 starters.
DB - not likely to be as good losing 3 of the 4 starters.

2017 we should be competing for a championship again.

There are some similarities between Tech 2015/Rice 2014, and similar losses in terms of talent. We almost made a bowl game this year, and you guys generally have a little bit better talent than us, so I think you guys should be bowl bound.

(12-29-2015 10:46 PM)T_Won1 Wrote:  Yep, we got some coaching of some young pups to do next year. The ones who need to grow up fast are QB, DB, and LB. Dixon is just irreplaceable. Doesn't have the makings of a championship team, I think we can find a way to a bowl game though if we can coach em up.

QB - not likely to be as good as Driskel.
RB - will not be as good as Dixon.
WR - push (we return 3 of 4).
OL - push (we return 4 of 5).

DL - not likely to be as good losing Butler and Dora.
LB - not likely to be as good losing all 3 starters.
DB - not likely to be as good losing 3 of the 4 starters.

2017 we should be competing for a championship again.

I'll add in we're bringing in a JUCO LB, our Rimington watch list center who didn't play this year will be back, and we have CB transfers from Arizona State and Hawaii next year.

(12-29-2015 10:57 PM)freshtop Wrote:  

(12-29-2015 10:50 PM)GoodOwl Wrote:  Then I guess by your (Op's) logic that FAU should be poised for a big jump up as well?

I think they should. FAU hung tough in most of their games this season. I think they could be very good next year.

All-Owl Champ-Game 2016 no doubt

I'm afraid we are going to lose Birdsong. It's been a trainwreck with QB retention and depth ever since B Fro left. Definitely not happy about the idea of only having 1 returning QB.

(12-29-2015 10:50 PM)GoodOwl Wrote:  Then I guess by your (Op's) logic that FAU should be poised for a big jump up as well?

I thought about FAU, but also thought about them when they only lost 110 starts from 2014.

The issue is you only had 4 full time starters that were juniors this year and only 10 juniors that appeared in at least 10 games. You had 18 sophomores that appeared in at least 10 games. That tells me you will be very dangerous in 2017.

On the other side, ODU had 18 juniors that appeared in at least 10 games. That means they will have a very experienced senior class this year. Personally, I believe strong senior leadership is what leads to improvement on the field, so I think they are better positioned for improvement. That's just my opinion and how I look at it.

(12-29-2015 11:30 PM)lmckay92 Wrote:  I'm afraid we are going to lose Birdsong. It's been a trainwreck with QB retention and depth ever since B Fro left. Definitely not happy about the idea of only having 1 returning QB.

Yep. Austin Grammer has already announced he's transferring. Not surprising, but puts us in a bind if Brent Stockstill gets hurt.

Good color. Thanks Banker.

I think FAU will be tough in 2016. Obviously USM will be favored to win it all I think. WKU amd MT will be good again. My Herd has some issues on offense that we need to fix. If we that, we can contend again. Still think ODU is a year or two away and Charlotte 3-4 years away.
UAB may come back in 2017 and surprise people.

Taking a look at 2016 La. Tech roster

http://www.shreveporttimes.com/story/spo.../78029084/

(12-29-2015 09:06 PM)banker Wrote:  End of season, looking ahead stuff. All of this is based on NCAA official participation stats, so if you disagree with the numbers take it up with them. This is a simple look at how many seniors each team had, how many starts are lost to graduation (i.e. If your starting LT graduated and started all 13 games, that's 13 starts lost), and how many players you have returning that started at least 5 games, regardless of class. The list goes from the most starts lost to the least.

Team - seniors-starts lost-returners with 5+starts
La Tech - 24-166-10
WKU - 23-143-12
USM - 20-134-13
Marshall - 17-130-13
Middle - 27-121-13
UTSA - 22-113-15
UTEP - 22-103-16
FIU - 18-91-16
UNT - 17-85-17
FAU - 12-83-18
Rice - 14-75-17
ODU - 14-69-18
Charlotte - 11-50-19

The two things that really jump out to me based off just this data is that Skip is going to have to do a great job with La Tech next year and ODU could be poised to make a significant jump next year. Also, Charlotte should be better, but they will still be young, I think 2017 is when they start showing real improvement. Rice should have an opportunity to move up a few spots in the standings also.

I still can't believe you didn't make a graph. I mean at least a pie chart, slacker.