(06-01-2015 12:22 PM)Boca Rocket Wrote:  

(06-01-2015 11:41 AM)TheWoodenNickle Wrote:  

(06-01-2015 08:11 AM)Boca Rocket Wrote:  

(05-31-2015 08:18 PM)EagleSam Wrote:  I hate predictions when I haven't even seen the team, in it's current form, play a game yet. But Army, ODU, Wyoming, Ball State, UMass, Miami, and CMU are all projected to be sub .500 teams this season. Whether that holds true or not remains to be seen, but there should be several winnable games in that bunch.

Athlon projects UMass(6-6, 5-3) #2 MAC East and Ball State(6-6, 4-4) #4 MAC West.

Athlons is a piece of garbage.

Wooden Nickle's 2014 FB Projections for EMU(5-7, 3-5)
Athlon's 2014 FB Projection for EMU:(2-10, 1-7)
EMU's 2014 FB Results:(2-10, 1-7)

i wish there was a 'swish' emoticon

What does Athlon's predict for 2015?

They were right once, maybe twice in a row???

Well, Athlon has EMU ranked #127 nationally (out of 128). The #127 team in the nation typically would have no more than 1 win in the season? The good news, New Mexico State is #128, so...

And the Orlando Sentinel (or whoever) has us at #101, ahead of at least 4 of our opponents in 2015. Odds are, none of these guys have ever watched an EMU game, save for maybe one of our massacres at a P5 school.

The only one who really goes in depth with analysis is Phil Steele, and he's been wrong wayyyy more than he's been right. It happens. They sell well because it's June and people are starting to crave football again.

Not to hedge my bets but if there are more player departures prior to camp opening in August I would be very concerned about depth and lack of experience. I'm not a big advocate of burning down the house in order to build a new one. EMU has been a constant player shuffle every time a new coach comes in. Hard to build a program without consistency.

(06-02-2015 08:13 AM)emu79 Wrote:  Not to hedge my bets but if there are more player departures prior to camp opening in August I would be very concerned about depth and lack of experience. I'm not a big advocate of burning down the house in order to build a new one. EMU has been a constant player shuffle every time a new coach comes in. Hard to build a program without consistency.

Were there some departures that I missed?

(06-02-2015 07:16 AM)EagleSam Wrote:  And the Orlando Sentinel (or whoever) has us at #101, ahead of at least 4 of our opponents in 2015. Odds are, none of these guys have ever watched an EMU game, save for maybe one of our massacres at a P5 school.

The only one who really goes in depth with analysis is Phil Steele, and he's been wrong wayyyy more than he's been right. It happens. They sell well because it's June and people are starting to crave football again.

1. I buy 2 or 3 of the annual publications each year and the writer who is assigned to a given conference is usually a writer who writes for one of the in conference newspapers, so they have watched every team play. 2. With modern analytics, we can make accurate predictions based on statistics. You think Vegas watches every team they make predictions for?

Pretty sure one of the big gambling rules is to never bet on week one college lines. And the term "accurate" needs to be used very loosely when it comes to predictions. Those publications (which I am also guilty of buying) are rarely "accurate". Go back and re-read last year's Athlon. Where did they have WMU finishing?

(06-02-2015 08:28 AM)EagleSam Wrote:  Pretty sure one of the big gambling rules is to never bet on week one college lines. And the term "accurate" needs to be used very loosely when it comes to predictions. Those publications (which I am also guilty of buying) are rarely "accurate". Go back and re-read last year's Athlon. Where did they have WMU finishing?

Athlon 2014 MAC Prediction/Final Standings:
West:
UT 6-2/NIU 7-1
NIU 6-2/UT 7-1
BSU 5-3/ WMU 6-2
CMU 4-4/CMU 5-3
WMU 1-7/BSU 4-4
EMU 1-7/EMU 1-7

East:
BG 8-0/BG 5-3
OU 5-3/OU 4-4
Akron 5-3/UB 3-4
UB 4-4/Akron 3-5
KSU 3-5/UMass 3-5
Miami U 2-6/Miami U 2-6
UMass 1-7/KSU 1-6

Both teams that were predicted to win the Division lost their starting QB's before the Conference schedules began.

(06-02-2015 08:17 AM)EagleSam Wrote:  

(06-02-2015 08:13 AM)emu79 Wrote:  Not to hedge my bets but if there are more player departures prior to camp opening in August I would be very concerned about depth and lack of experience. I'm not a big advocate of burning down the house in order to build a new one. EMU has been a constant player shuffle every time a new coach comes in. Hard to build a program without consistency.

Were there some departures that I missed?

See the 2016 FB recruiting thread exchange between Steve and I, Sam.

I can see us winning 3-4 games this season.

(06-02-2015 11:31 AM)emussuperfan Wrote:  I can see us winning 3-4 games this season.

I agree with Super.

(06-02-2015 11:32 AM)emu steve Wrote:  

(06-02-2015 11:31 AM)emussuperfan Wrote:  I can see us winning 3-4 games this season.

I agree with Super.

There is no way in hell this team is winning 3 or 4 games, not that anyone should be proud of a 3 or 4 win season. Either way, it is a failed season.

(06-03-2015 07:49 AM)Bob Wickersham Wrote:  

(06-02-2015 11:32 AM)emu steve Wrote:  

(06-02-2015 11:31 AM)emussuperfan Wrote:  I can see us winning 3-4 games this season.

I agree with Super.

There is no way in hell this team is winning 3 or 4 games, not that anyone should be proud of a 3 or 4 win season. Either way, it is a failed season.

And you can continue "not being a fan" proudly! I'm sure there is a CMU season ticket rally coming up that you need to attend.

Dear Bob,
I'll set you off even more. Eastern will win five or six games this coming season.

(06-03-2015 07:53 AM)EagleSam Wrote:  

(06-03-2015 07:49 AM)Bob Wickersham Wrote:  

(06-02-2015 11:32 AM)emu steve Wrote:  

(06-02-2015 11:31 AM)emussuperfan Wrote:  I can see us winning 3-4 games this season.

I agree with Super.

There is no way in hell this team is winning 3 or 4 games, not that anyone should be proud of a 3 or 4 win season. Either way, it is a failed season.

And you can continue "not being a fan" proudly! I'm sure there is a CMU season ticket rally coming up that you need to attend.

Jeez - no sheeet Bob. Nice optimism.

I'm with Super - 3 to 4 is realistic.

(06-03-2015 09:30 AM)Huron Boy Wrote:  

(06-03-2015 07:53 AM)EagleSam Wrote:  

(06-03-2015 07:49 AM)Bob Wickersham Wrote:  

(06-02-2015 11:32 AM)emu steve Wrote:  

(06-02-2015 11:31 AM)emussuperfan Wrote:  I can see us winning 3-4 games this season.

I agree with Super.

There is no way in hell this team is winning 3 or 4 games, not that anyone should be proud of a 3 or 4 win season. Either way, it is a failed season.

And you can continue "not being a fan" proudly! I'm sure there is a CMU season ticket rally coming up that you need to attend.

Jeez - no sheeet Bob. Nice optimism.

I'm with Super - 3 to 4 is realistic.

Bob never heard the expression: "Rome wasn't built in a day."

If I'm following the gist of this thread, many expect us to go from 2 wins to 3 or 4 (this year).

Then 3 or 4 becomes the new 'floor' or 'baseline' from which we build.

For example, 4 or 5 in 2016... and 5 or 6 in 2017.

Jim Harkema didn't have a winning season at Eastern until his fourth.

The next Hurons won MAC and Cal Bowl.

Went from one win his first year to two, to four, then six before That Championship Season.

(06-03-2015 09:49 AM)MajorHoople Wrote:  Jim Harkema didn't have a winning season at Eastern until his fourth.

The next Hurons won MAC and Cal Bowl.

Went from one win his first year to two, to four, then six before That Championship Season.

And it may sound trivial to our good friend, Bob, but this year we have ZERO FCS games so all Ws will be FBS Ws.

To complete the logical thought: Last year we had ONE FBS win. This year we expect 3 or 4...

That would certainly be a positive step.

(06-03-2015 09:49 AM)MajorHoople Wrote:  Jim Harkema didn't have a winning season at Eastern until his fourth.

The next Hurons won MAC and Cal Bowl.

Went from one win his first year to two, to four, then six before That Championship Season.

Major: Yuppers - sat through his entire first five years - slow and steady won the day.

But what doesn't help when Fleck does the quick turnaround, when most of us thought he was a major assclown. Broncos probably weren't that down to begin with but yes - I'm very jelly about that.