https://collegefootballnews.com/2018/06/...m-rankings

Thoughts on the West: UTSA is WAY too high & UAB is way too low. West will be:
1) UNT
2) UAB
3) LA Tech
4) Southern Miss
5) UTSA
6) Rice
7) UTEP

(06-25-2018 11:15 AM)AustinFromUNT Wrote:  Thoughts on the West: UTSA is WAY too high & UAB is way too low. West will be:
1) UNT
2) UAB
3) LA Tech
4) Southern Miss
5) UTSA
6) Rice
7) UTEP

I admit, I don’t know a whole lot about what goes on with La Tech, USM, UNT, or UTSA, but I wouldn’t be shocked by any order of those teams (plus us) finishing 1-5. I think UNT is the favorite, but I wouldn’t be shocked to see any of those 4 other teams win it.

Lmao San Antonio Community College at 1? I'll have whatever he's having.

(06-25-2018 11:02 AM)XYZ Wrote:  https://collegefootballnews.com/2018/06/...m-rankings

Everyone gets an opinion. Can't wait to settle it on the field.

Quote:This is NOT a prediction of how the teams will finish. They’re the rankings of how good the teams are going into the season.

(06-25-2018 11:20 AM)Blazer4Life14 Wrote:  

(06-25-2018 11:15 AM)AustinFromUNT Wrote:  Thoughts on the West: UTSA is WAY too high & UAB is way too low. West will be:
1) UNT
2) UAB
3) LA Tech
4) Southern Miss
5) UTSA
6) Rice
7) UTEP

I admit, I don’t know a whole lot about what goes on with La Tech, USM, UNT, or UTSA, but I wouldn’t be shocked by any order of those teams (plus us) finishing 1-5. I think UNT is the favorite, but I wouldn’t be shocked to see any of those 4 other teams win it.

Okay. I still don't understand all the love for UNT this year. Yeah, I know, the QB --Mason Fine-- had a pretty good freshman year, and he returns. But this is the same UNT and the same QB that was blown out by FAU in the CUSA championship game, and blown out again by Troy (of the Sunbelt) in the New Orleans Bowl. Why does everyone suddenly think UNT is going to be so great?

(06-25-2018 09:27 PM)HogDawg Wrote:  

(06-25-2018 11:20 AM)Blazer4Life14 Wrote:  

(06-25-2018 11:15 AM)AustinFromUNT Wrote:  Thoughts on the West: UTSA is WAY too high & UAB is way too low. West will be:
1) UNT
2) UAB
3) LA Tech
4) Southern Miss
5) UTSA
6) Rice
7) UTEP

I admit, I don’t know a whole lot about what goes on with La Tech, USM, UNT, or UTSA, but I wouldn’t be shocked by any order of those teams (plus us) finishing 1-5. I think UNT is the favorite, but I wouldn’t be shocked to see any of those 4 other teams win it.

Okay. I still don't understand all the love for UNT this year. Yeah, I know, the QB --Mason Fine-- had a pretty good freshman year, and he returns. But this is the same UNT and the same QB that was blown out by FAU in the CUSA championship game, and blown out again by Troy (of the Sunbelt) in the New Orleans Bowl. Why does everyone suddenly think UNT is going to be so great?

Because they return almost everybody on offense from that team. Teams improve alot with experience and UNT was already pretty good last year. I wouldn't be surprised if they are the dominant team in conference this season.

Yeah, Fine/Guyton is as good as Mullins/Thomas was. When you have that kind of passing chemistry, your offense is set.

Not sure why so high on UTSA, or so low on FIU.

Defense wins championships, don't get me wrong, offense is just as important, but defense is what makes you dominant. UTSA had a good D last year, maybe that is why they have them high? Proving a point, UNT faced a good Offense 3 times at least last year, and got smoked all 3 of those times......proves the point.

Yes, one thing I totally don't understand is how everyone just expects FIU to slide back down. Why? Yes, they lose a lot on the offensive side of the field but they keep bringing in top recruiting classes and strong transfers. In addition to that, they have a really successful coach. I don't think anyone in the division should be looking at the FIU game and circling that date as a sure "W". We (FAU), certainly shouldn't.

(06-25-2018 09:27 PM)HogDawg Wrote:  

(06-25-2018 11:20 AM)Blazer4Life14 Wrote:  

(06-25-2018 11:15 AM)AustinFromUNT Wrote:  Thoughts on the West: UTSA is WAY too high & UAB is way too low. West will be:
1) UNT
2) UAB
3) LA Tech
4) Southern Miss
5) UTSA
6) Rice
7) UTEP

I admit, I don’t know a whole lot about what goes on with La Tech, USM, UNT, or UTSA, but I wouldn’t be shocked by any order of those teams (plus us) finishing 1-5. I think UNT is the favorite, but I wouldn’t be shocked to see any of those 4 other teams win it.

Okay. I still don't understand all the love for UNT this year. Yeah, I know, the QB --Mason Fine-- had a pretty good freshman year, and he returns. But this is the same UNT and the same QB that was blown out by FAU in the CUSA championship game, and blown out again by Troy (of the Sunbelt) in the New Orleans Bowl. Why does everyone suddenly think UNT is going to be so great?

UNT defense is not very good and offense is average, yes they back their way into the championship game but got exposed in CUSA championship and by a Sunbelt team. Not impressed at all by UNT.

Overall I think the three best teams in the West will be USM, Tech and UTSA

(06-25-2018 09:43 PM)XYZ Wrote:  

(06-25-2018 09:27 PM)HogDawg Wrote:  

(06-25-2018 11:20 AM)Blazer4Life14 Wrote:  

(06-25-2018 11:15 AM)AustinFromUNT Wrote:  Thoughts on the West: UTSA is WAY too high & UAB is way too low. West will be:
1) UNT
2) UAB
3) LA Tech
4) Southern Miss
5) UTSA
6) Rice
7) UTEP

I admit, I don’t know a whole lot about what goes on with La Tech, USM, UNT, or UTSA, but I wouldn’t be shocked by any order of those teams (plus us) finishing 1-5. I think UNT is the favorite, but I wouldn’t be shocked to see any of those 4 other teams win it.

Okay. I still don't understand all the love for UNT this year. Yeah, I know, the QB --Mason Fine-- had a pretty good freshman year, and he returns. But this is the same UNT and the same QB that was blown out by FAU in the CUSA championship game, and blown out again by Troy (of the Sunbelt) in the New Orleans Bowl. Why does everyone suddenly think UNT is going to be so great?

Because they return almost everybody on offense from that team. Teams improve alot with experience and UNT was already pretty good last year. I wouldn't be surprised if they are the dominant team in conference this season.

Did you watched UNT any last year? They didn’t dominate anyone they won five games by less than score, miraculous comeback against UTSA, and Skip Holtz screw-up that gifted them a win in Ruston. They could have easily had a very bad season.

They were exposed with blow out losses in the CUSA and bowl game.

(06-26-2018 06:24 AM)goliath74 Wrote:  Yes, one thing I totally don't understand is how everyone just expects FIU to slide back down. Why? Yes, they lose a lot on the offensive side of the field but they keep bringing in top recruiting classes and strong transfers. In addition to that, they have a really successful coach. I don't think anyone in the division should be looking at the FIU game and circling that date as a sure "W". We (FAU), certainly shouldn't.

New recruits and transfers most of the time do not equal instant upgrade, takes time to mesh and heck, a good portion of the times those pieces don't live up to the potential, whether they don't mesh well with the system, the existing players, it just happens. Looks good on paper, sometimes that's as far as it goes. Marshall is facing the same thing with the QB position, BUT what we had back there left alot to be desired, so an upgrade or status quo has a higher % of happening then trying to replace a very good player like Cato was. FIU is replacing alot, FAU kinda is but has a stronger supporting cast, similar to Marshall this coming season.

(06-26-2018 08:15 AM)Dawgxas Wrote:  

(06-25-2018 09:43 PM)XYZ Wrote:  

(06-25-2018 09:27 PM)HogDawg Wrote:  

(06-25-2018 11:20 AM)Blazer4Life14 Wrote:  

(06-25-2018 11:15 AM)AustinFromUNT Wrote:  Thoughts on the West: UTSA is WAY too high & UAB is way too low. West will be:
1) UNT
2) UAB
3) LA Tech
4) Southern Miss
5) UTSA
6) Rice
7) UTEP

I admit, I don’t know a whole lot about what goes on with La Tech, USM, UNT, or UTSA, but I wouldn’t be shocked by any order of those teams (plus us) finishing 1-5. I think UNT is the favorite, but I wouldn’t be shocked to see any of those 4 other teams win it.

Okay. I still don't understand all the love for UNT this year. Yeah, I know, the QB --Mason Fine-- had a pretty good freshman year, and he returns. But this is the same UNT and the same QB that was blown out by FAU in the CUSA championship game, and blown out again by Troy (of the Sunbelt) in the New Orleans Bowl. Why does everyone suddenly think UNT is going to be so great?

Because they return almost everybody on offense from that team. Teams improve alot with experience and UNT was already pretty good last year. I wouldn't be surprised if they are the dominant team in conference this season.

Did you watched UNT any last year? They didn’t dominate anyone they won five games by less than score, miraculous comeback against UTSA, and Skip Holtz screw-up that gifted them a win in Ruston. They could have easily had a very bad season.

They were exposed with blow out losses in the CUSA and bowl game.

Blown out twice by FAU.....

(06-26-2018 08:08 AM)Dawgxas Wrote:  

(06-25-2018 09:27 PM)HogDawg Wrote:  

(06-25-2018 11:20 AM)Blazer4Life14 Wrote:  

(06-25-2018 11:15 AM)AustinFromUNT Wrote:  Thoughts on the West: UTSA is WAY too high & UAB is way too low. West will be:
1) UNT
2) UAB
3) LA Tech
4) Southern Miss
5) UTSA
6) Rice
7) UTEP

I admit, I don’t know a whole lot about what goes on with La Tech, USM, UNT, or UTSA, but I wouldn’t be shocked by any order of those teams (plus us) finishing 1-5. I think UNT is the favorite, but I wouldn’t be shocked to see any of those 4 other teams win it.

Okay. I still don't understand all the love for UNT this year. Yeah, I know, the QB --Mason Fine-- had a pretty good freshman year, and he returns. But this is the same UNT and the same QB that was blown out by FAU in the CUSA championship game, and blown out again by Troy (of the Sunbelt) in the New Orleans Bowl. Why does everyone suddenly think UNT is going to be so great?

UNT defense is not very good and offense is average, yes they back their way into the championship game but got exposed in CUSA championship and by a Sunbelt team. Not impressed at all by UNT.

Overall I think the three best teams in the West will be USM, Tech and UTSA

I’ll give you that our defense isn’t very good, but I disagree on your other points. How can you call an offense that averaged 35.5 PPG “average”? LA Tech averaged 5 PPG less than UNT, so does that mean below average? No. FAU exposes everyone they played last season in C-USA play. The UNT defense was built to defend the pass, not an amazing rusher like Singletary. And that Sunbelt team was Troy, ya know, the team that also beat LSU @ LSU on LSU’s homecoming. I would think you would remember such an important thing happening to the best school in your state. Also, we lost that game. Troy was better than us, but not 20 points better. We had tons of mental mistakes that our team just shouldn’t make. I also think you’re stuck in the past, by a couple of years. USM will be decent but lost too much to compete. UTSA lost even more than USM did (QB, 3 WRs, their secondary, etc). I think LA Tech will finish 3rd, but could slip into 2nd if you steal that game from UAB. Here are the percentages I think each team has to win the west.
UNT: 50%
UAB: 35%
LA Tech: 10%
USM: 3%
UTSA: 2%

(06-26-2018 08:20 AM)AustinFromUNT Wrote:  

(06-26-2018 08:08 AM)Dawgxas Wrote:  

(06-25-2018 09:27 PM)HogDawg Wrote:  

(06-25-2018 11:20 AM)Blazer4Life14 Wrote:  

(06-25-2018 11:15 AM)AustinFromUNT Wrote:  Thoughts on the West: UTSA is WAY too high & UAB is way too low. West will be:
1) UNT
2) UAB
3) LA Tech
4) Southern Miss
5) UTSA
6) Rice
7) UTEP

I admit, I don’t know a whole lot about what goes on with La Tech, USM, UNT, or UTSA, but I wouldn’t be shocked by any order of those teams (plus us) finishing 1-5. I think UNT is the favorite, but I wouldn’t be shocked to see any of those 4 other teams win it.

Okay. I still don't understand all the love for UNT this year. Yeah, I know, the QB --Mason Fine-- had a pretty good freshman year, and he returns. But this is the same UNT and the same QB that was blown out by FAU in the CUSA championship game, and blown out again by Troy (of the Sunbelt) in the New Orleans Bowl. Why does everyone suddenly think UNT is going to be so great?

UNT defense is not very good and offense is average, yes they back their way into the championship game but got exposed in CUSA championship and by a Sunbelt team. Not impressed at all by UNT.

Overall I think the three best teams in the West will be USM, Tech and UTSA

I’ll give you that our defense isn’t very good, but I disagree on your other points. How can you call an offense that averaged 35.5 PPG “average”? LA Tech averaged 5 PPG less than UNT, so does that mean below average? No. FAU exposes everyone they played last season in C-USA play. The UNT defense was built to defend the pass, not an amazing rusher like Singletary. And that Sunbelt team was Troy, ya know, the team that also beat LSU @ LSU on LSU’s homecoming. I would think you would remember such an important thing happening to the best school in your state. Also, we lost that game. Troy was better than us, but not 20 points better. We had tons of mental mistakes that our team just shouldn’t make. I also think you’re stuck in the past, by a couple of years. USM will be decent but lost too much to compete. UTSA lost even more than USM did (QB, 3 WRs, their secondary, etc). I think LA Tech will finish 3rd, but could slip into 2nd if you steal that game from UAB. Here are the percentages I think each team has to win the west.
UNT: 50%
UAB: 35%
LA Tech: 10%
USM: 3%
UTSA: 2%

This article has nothing to do with who wins what, but what the team looks like going in to the season. I'm not a preseason rankings guy, I despise them and think they're useless. Personally, I think UTSA's team has some great personnel returning and should still be stacked on Defense (not top 5 nationally again, but still damn good), but the offense is a huge ?. We won't know what it's going to be like until we see how the new OC works with the tools he has been given. UTSA already lost the probable starting QB to injury for the season right before the Spring Game, making it an even bigger ?. With what is returning and what we have filling in as new players, I would have put us middle of the pack. Too many ???.

And to remind the NT whiners: "This is NOT a prediction of how the teams will finish. They’re the rankings of how good the teams are going into the season."

Keep that in mind when reading the article and stop getting so butt hurt.

(06-26-2018 08:08 AM)Dawgxas Wrote:  

(06-25-2018 09:27 PM)HogDawg Wrote:  

(06-25-2018 11:20 AM)Blazer4Life14 Wrote:  

(06-25-2018 11:15 AM)AustinFromUNT Wrote:  Thoughts on the West: UTSA is WAY too high & UAB is way too low. West will be:
1) UNT
2) UAB
3) LA Tech
4) Southern Miss
5) UTSA
6) Rice
7) UTEP

I admit, I don’t know a whole lot about what goes on with La Tech, USM, UNT, or UTSA, but I wouldn’t be shocked by any order of those teams (plus us) finishing 1-5. I think UNT is the favorite, but I wouldn’t be shocked to see any of those 4 other teams win it.

Okay. I still don't understand all the love for UNT this year. Yeah, I know, the QB --Mason Fine-- had a pretty good freshman year, and he returns. But this is the same UNT and the same QB that was blown out by FAU in the CUSA championship game, and blown out again by Troy (of the Sunbelt) in the New Orleans Bowl. Why does everyone suddenly think UNT is going to be so great?

UNT defense is not very good and offense is average, yes they back their way into the championship game but got exposed in CUSA championship and by a Sunbelt team. Not impressed at all by UNT.

Overall I think the three best teams in the West will be USM, Tech and UTSA

Last season UNT averaged 35 pints a game. This season we will bring back almost all of that offense, so we should see the offense average 35 points or better this season. That would certainly be a reason for optimism.

Last season the North Texas defense was down right terrible giving up about 35 points a game. Obviously, the people writing about UNT believe our defense will be better this year. (It certainly couldn't get worse)

Last season, LA Tech lost to both UNT and UAB, so that is probably also factoring into the thought of those that have LA Tech ranked behind us.

For the record, LA Tech also got their clock cleaned by FAU last season too. The Owls beat y'all 48-23 in front of your home crowd. I have no clue why some of you think LA Tech should be among the teams favored to win the western division.

But, you are entitled to your opinions.

UTSA should have more than a 2% chance to win the West.

(06-26-2018 08:15 AM)beefcake0520 Wrote:  

(06-26-2018 06:24 AM)goliath74 Wrote:  Yes, one thing I totally don't understand is how everyone just expects FIU to slide back down. Why? Yes, they lose a lot on the offensive side of the field but they keep bringing in top recruiting classes and strong transfers. In addition to that, they have a really successful coach. I don't think anyone in the division should be looking at the FIU game and circling that date as a sure "W". We (FAU), certainly shouldn't.

New recruits and transfers most of the time do not equal instant upgrade, takes time to mesh and heck, a good portion of the times those pieces don't live up to the potential, whether they don't mesh well with the system, the existing players, it just happens. Looks good on paper, sometimes that's as far as it goes. Marshall is facing the same thing with the QB position, BUT what we had back there left alot to be desired, so an upgrade or status quo has a higher % of happening then trying to replace a very good player like Cato was. FIU is replacing alot, FAU kinda is but has a stronger supporting cast, similar to Marshall this coming season.

I see many people saying FIU is losing a lot on offense, but are we really? Yes, losing McGough is big, but other than him, we lose 1 WR, who missed the last four games of the season anyway, and 1 of our RB by committee. Our entire O-line returns and the rest of the RBs and WRs. We are losing more on defense, but as others have pointed out, we certainly have recruited that area well. Whatever. I would imagine playing the "underdog" role is easier than being fed "rat poison."