I know it's early for this but I figured I would put this out there and find out where everyone is at. Lester's 3rd year coming up. I do realize there might be some roster attrition, but he will be adding his 3rd recruiting class as well and it looks like a good one on paper so far.
I expect Western to win the MAC championship next year. Here is why.
Senior/experienced QB play.
One of, if not the best offensive unit in the league next year.
Tons of returning players in the 2 deep.
Third year for this coaching staff with quite a bit of continuity.
While the schedule isn't as favorable as it was this year. There is no reason that we shouldn't be able to go on the road and win games. We are talented and this coaching staff has had plenty of time to teach their concepts.
10 wins and a championship.
Beat Central Michigan. No excuses. CMU has no talent, no $, no principle (and ugly uniforms). And Lester has dominated recruiting the last two years.
Play meaningful games in November and be a MAC Championship Contender.
College football success is all about coaching. Both getting good players in recruiting, then using them to full potential. Lester has always had good players, but he has proven chalanged with getting the players to be beyond average as a team. I don't think this team is going to be better simply because it's a new year, or because the players are "more experienced". Coaching needs to be better, from top to bottom. We are destined to repeat what has been happening the past two years if we continue to do the same thing with the players we have. There is nothing to suggest that Lester will acknowledge that he needs to do things much differently than what he and his staff have done in their first two years. Thus, I think we will be very similar to what we have done so far.
I also think that this was a very poor year for the MAC overall, and particularly the West. NIU is typically very good, but this might be its lousiest MAC Championship team ever. Toledo was a huge disappointment, as was WMU. EMU was good for EMU, and probably not far behind anyone in the MAC, but still not great. CMU was horrible, and BSU was a bad team again. I'm not sure how much the other teams will improve, but I would expect the division at least to be better. So we will need to be better in order to improve.
The MAC is ripe for some school to get things going and dominate for a few years, and that presents tremendous opportunity for Lester, because we have everything he could ask for in terms of becoming dominant. He just isn't taking advantage, because, in my mind at least, he is far too conservative thinking, and seems reluctant to even consider, let alone actually grabbing that brass ring.
Lester either needs to radically change his philosophy in general, or we need to find someone else who has more of a gutsy winning spirit. College football lends itself far more to guys like Brian Kelly than to guys like Opie Taylor.
(12-02-2018 01:54 PM)brovol Wrote: [ -> ]College football success is all about coaching. Both getting good players in recruiting, then using them to full potential. Lester has always had good players, but he has proven chalanged with getting the players to be beyond average as a team. I don't think this team is going to be better simply because it's a new year, or because the players are "more experienced". Coaching needs to be better, from top to bottom. We are destined to repeat what has been happening the past two years if we continue to do the same thing with the players we have. There is nothing to suggest that Lester will acknowledge that he needs to do things much differently than what he and his staff have done in their first two years. Thus, I think we will be very similar to what we have done so far.
I also think that this was a very poor year for the MAC overall, and particularly the West. NIU is typically very good, but this might be its lousiest MAC Championship team ever. Toledo was a huge disappointment, as was WMU. EMU was good for EMU, and probably not far behind anyone in the MAC, but still not great. CMU was horrible, and BSU was a bad team again. I'm not sure how much the other teams will improve, but I would expect the division at least to be better. So we will need to be better in order to improve.
The MAC is ripe for some school to get things going and dominate for a few years, and that presents tremendous opportunity for Lester, because we have everything he could ask for in terms of becoming dominant. He just isn't taking advantage, because, in my mind at least, he is far too conservative thinking, and seems reluctant to even consider, let alone actually grabbing that brass ring.
Lester either needs to radically change his philosophy in general, or we need to find someone else who has more of a gutsy winning spirit. College football lends itself far more to guys like Brian Kelly than to guys like Opie Taylor.
We'll be in for another 7-5/6-6 season
8-9 wins, in the MACC game but no guaranteed win, bowl snub (whatever it is, we have it BAD).
What should our expectation be? at least 9 wins, beat CMU, and win the MACC.
What is my personal expectation? 6-6/7-5, finish 3rd in the West.
Somewhere between 0 and 15 wins.
Monmouth and Georgia State should be wins and (at) MSU and (at) Syracuse will end up in the loss column. Eastern, Toledo and NIU on the road could be disastrous. 3-3 in the MAC. 5-7.
If next year's team is 5-7 some people need to be looking for work.
(12-02-2018 01:54 PM)brovol Wrote: [ -> ]College football success is all about coaching. Both getting good players in recruiting, then using them to full potential. Lester has always had good players, but he has proven chalanged with getting the players to be beyond average as a team. I don't think this team is going to be better simply because it's a new year, or because the players are "more experienced". Coaching needs to be better, from top to bottom. We are destined to repeat what has been happening the past two years if we continue to do the same thing with the players we have. There is nothing to suggest that Lester will acknowledge that he needs to do things much differently than what he and his staff have done in their first two years. Thus, I think we will be very similar to what we have done so far.
I also think that this was a very poor year for the MAC overall, and particularly the West. NIU is typically very good, but this might be its lousiest MAC Championship team ever. Toledo was a huge disappointment, as was WMU. EMU was good for EMU, and probably not far behind anyone in the MAC, but still not great. CMU was horrible, and BSU was a bad team again. I'm not sure how much the other teams will improve, but I would expect the division at least to be better. So we will need to be better in order to improve.
The MAC is ripe for some school to get things going and dominate for a few years, and that presents tremendous opportunity for Lester, because we have everything he could ask for in terms of becoming dominant. He just isn't taking advantage, because, in my mind at least, he is far too conservative thinking, and seems reluctant to even consider, let alone actually grabbing that brass ring.
Lester either needs to radically change his philosophy in general, or we need to find someone else who has more of a gutsy winning spirit. College football lends itself far more to guys like Brian Kelly than to guys like Opie Taylor.
I agree with you, Brovol, but you're missing one key ingredient: scheduling. In 2016, we had a great OOC schedule -- and Fleck knew it. Scheduling Northwestern and Illinois gave us a tremendous advantage to run the table.
Miami had a great team this year -- a team that should have probably went bowling. The problem? They're locked in to Cincinnati because of a rivalry -- and they scheduled Marshall and Army. Both Marshall and Army produce strong teams year and out.
I don't mind scheduling UM/MSU on occasion, but one of them should only be scheduled every other year. KB needs to load the schedule with lower end FCS football schools until WMU (Lester) can prove we can beat a big name opponent. Alabama and Ohio State do this all the time -- giving their starters a week off and allowing their young players to gain experience.
Quote:Miami had a great team this year -- a team that should have probably went bowling. The problem? They're locked in to Cincinnati because of a rivalry -- and they scheduled Marshall and Army. Both Marshall and Army produce strong teams year and out.
I wouldn't call it Great. I think they're definitely the best 6-6 G5, yes. I would instead call them being a pretty good team. Ohio almost (and should have) beat Cinci -- so Miami getting shut out by Cinci At Home and losing by 21 wasn't good. They lost to Marshall at home, and Marshall's a good team but not some power G5 this year nor won their division -- definitely a winnable game for a MAC team in a division title battle. Almost getting shut out by Minnesota and losing by 23 wasn't good. But beating Ohio+NIU, and coming damn close to beating Army late in the season -- while only losing to WMU by 1 and giving MAC East Champs Buffalo a decent game, while stomping Akron & Kent (and not having a close game like some may have) helps make up for that to show they're still pretty good, being a better team later than earlier. And I will say Army does not have a strong team year in, year out. This is a Stand Out year for Army that doesn't come along often (but may now, who knows).
Quote:I don't mind scheduling UM/MSU on occasion, but one of them should only be scheduled every other year. KB needs to load the schedule with lower end FCS football schools until WMU (Lester) can prove we can beat a big name opponent.
I think you mean lower end FBS teams. But I think we should schedule a UM/MSU/OSU/PSU more than once every other year. I'd say 2 out of 3 years, or 2 out of 3 for 3 years, 2 out of 4 for the next 4 & repeat. $$ does mean something. We could nix playing an FCS team the year we don't play a power P5 with tons of fans for extra $, and instead play *2* bowl-eligible-struggling P5 teams like Purdont/Indiana/etc. that is definitely winnable if we have a good team that year + we still get a decent amount of cash without a "surely you'll lose" game.
I will say though, in our BCS year -- if we did schedule Michigan State -- we would have beat them. MSU had a terrible year that year. :)
Year 3 under Lester with these recruiting classes? Anything less than a MAC West title and championship game appearance will be a huge disappointment.
Quote:Year 3 under Lester with these recruiting classes? Anything less than a MAC West title and championship game appearance will be a huge disappointment.
Well, our D First needs to get shored up before I'd be expecting winning the MAC in a coming year. :)
Barring a crazy injury season (which can happen) -- it depends on how the other teams are, too. World doesn't actually revolve around us. But yes, our O should be the best in the league, and our D *should* improve. I think the BYU game will be an indicator of how much our D can become better in some ways. We play @NIU + @Toledo. I expect Toledo to be tougher + on the road, and NIU to be a little better with a better O + on the road.
What I would call a realistic improvement: 6-2 in the MAC, possibly 7-1 if timing & luck has our back. I expect us to go 2-2 OOC (@Syracuse, @MSU). So I would say 8-4, maybe 9-3 would be my expectation. More importantly, not getting blown out by anyone -- and no losing to a team we shouldn't at all lose to (like our BSU game).
I'd be happy with 8-4. A win increase (albeit baby steps) and no sweating out bowl selection day. Another 6-6 type of year, then it becomes obvious we're semi-permanently perched in mediocre land.
We'll likely go 2-2 OOC yet again. Although if this same MSU team shows up next season, it could be interesting. But we don't seem to play them during one of their 'down' years.
Home schedule: Monmouth, Georgia State, Miami, BGSU, CMU, Ball State.
Away schedule (brutal): Syracuse, MSU, Toledo, NIU, EMU, Ohio
Not sure what to expect. But despite our feel-good rebound win vs. NIU, I'm just not very optimistic.
(12-03-2018 12:19 AM)BroncoMD Wrote: [ -> ] (12-02-2018 01:54 PM)brovol Wrote: [ -> ]College football success is all about coaching. Both getting good players in recruiting, then using them to full potential. Lester has always had good players, but he has proven chalanged with getting the players to be beyond average as a team. I don't think this team is going to be better simply because it's a new year, or because the players are "more experienced". Coaching needs to be better, from top to bottom. We are destined to repeat what has been happening the past two years if we continue to do the same thing with the players we have. There is nothing to suggest that Lester will acknowledge that he needs to do things much differently than what he and his staff have done in their first two years. Thus, I think we will be very similar to what we have done so far.
I also think that this was a very poor year for the MAC overall, and particularly the West. NIU is typically very good, but this might be its lousiest MAC Championship team ever. Toledo was a huge disappointment, as was WMU. EMU was good for EMU, and probably not far behind anyone in the MAC, but still not great. CMU was horrible, and BSU was a bad team again. I'm not sure how much the other teams will improve, but I would expect the division at least to be better. So we will need to be better in order to improve.
The MAC is ripe for some school to get things going and dominate for a few years, and that presents tremendous opportunity for Lester, because we have everything he could ask for in terms of becoming dominant. He just isn't taking advantage, because, in my mind at least, he is far too conservative thinking, and seems reluctant to even consider, let alone actually grabbing that brass ring.
Lester either needs to radically change his philosophy in general, or we need to find someone else who has more of a gutsy winning spirit. College football lends itself far more to guys like Brian Kelly than to guys like Opie Taylor.
I agree with you, Brovol, but you're missing one key ingredient: scheduling. In 2016, we had a great OOC schedule -- and Fleck knew it. Scheduling Northwestern and Illinois gave us a tremendous advantage to run the table.
Miami had a great team this year -- a team that should have probably went bowling. The problem? They're locked in to Cincinnati because of a rivalry -- and they scheduled Marshall and Army. Both Marshall and Army produce strong teams year and out.
I don't mind scheduling UM/MSU on occasion, but one of them should only be scheduled every other year. KB needs to load the schedule with lower end FCS football schools until WMU (Lester) can prove we can beat a big name opponent. Alabama and Ohio State do this all the time -- giving their starters a week off and allowing their young players to gain experience.
When NU and Illinois were scheduled, there was no way of knowing they would be mediocre when we played them. You wax about not playing MSU, but both NU and Illinous beat MSU in 2016.
The MSU team that beat us by just two scores in 2017 was v-e-r-y beatable and so will the 2019 Spartans. No reason WMU can't go into Spartan Stadium and pull off an upset. Utah State almost did it this season.
That said, I do not expect a Bronco victory in East Lansing, but it will more of a toss-up than a guaranteed "L." Dantonio has serious issues on offense and Lester has recruited well.