Ok, I live in Austin and I didn't get to go to the spring game. How did the O-line and D-line look? Have they bulked up? Gotten stronger? Faster?

I'm expecting that after being in a strengthening program for a year now, that they should be significantly improved. BTW, I thought both lines did wonderful last year! As we move up to WAC, these are the guys that will get beat on, and do the beating. Size and strength matter. With such young guys last year doing quite well all season long, I have high expectations for them this year.

Also, on a game-by-game basis, what areas do you think we match up well with the opponents?

South Alabama - I expect front line dominance and a win (allowing passing and running). I expect the defense to dominate. The secondary will be getting tested.

Texas A&M Commerce - I expect the same, but with a solid run game

Georgia State - I think we have a strong D-Line, strong passing game. Secondary getting better and better.

Northwestern Oklahoma State - Total Dominance and a breakout game for the passing game.

New Mexico State - We see our O-line and D-line getting tested. I'm worried about our secondary with the speed of some of the NMSt players.

Rice - I think this is where the size of CUSA/WAC teams begin to be noticed. I'll be watching our O-Line and D-Line to see how they handle this. For me, the front lines are keys moving into the stronger teams because they usually have Jr./Sr. players with years of strength training. I think we can compete in these areas!

But this is where I pretty much stop analyzing and just hope for the best throughout the rest of the season. That LaTech game will be the game we measure our true progress. LaTech is a bowl-caliber team and I think they make bowls for several years to come (including after they join CUSA). So, I'll be trying my best to find that game on tv or streamed because I'm wanting to see each piece of our offense and defense. (I can't travel to LaTech that weekend).

What does everyone think? Again, I didn't see the spring game. I'd love to hear what you think about that game compared to our players last season.

I expect us to improve drastically from last season. Though I don't see us winning anymore games than we did last season.

Both lines are going to be our strengths. Depth will be a huge problem along the Oline, but I am extremely comfortable with the starting 5. The running game will be improved. We lost a lot of talent through attrition, but I think we still have enough talent for the running game to ultimately be a strength for us. Our WR depth is impressive. Lots of solid talent across the board. I like Soza, I want him to succeed, but I think Polite pushes him the ENTIRE season for playing time. The X Factor for our offense will be how the TE's are utilized. I like Morgan's abilities. Hopefully they are targeted more this season.

On the defensive side, we will only be as good as our corners allows us to be. We are deep and talented along the dline and at linebacker. Erik Brown and Darrien HAVE to stay healthy. As we saw this spring, there is not much depth behind those 2. I like Nic Johnston but think that he will be pushed. There is talent at safety, and I think it could be a solid unit this season.

Improvement is the name of the game. The difference between this years spring game and last years was HUGE, but we aren't ready for D1 yet. YET.

Ok, I'm posting here in hopes others will read it and provide their input on how we'll do this season. Matty mentioned Soza will be pushed for playing time by Polite. What about the junior QB transfer? I've seen an article (somewhere) that the coaches loved him and just thought he needed to learn the offense.

Any thoughts?

Here were my highly-noviced predictions:

South Alabama - I expect front line dominance and a win (allowing passing and running). I expect the defense to dominate. The secondary will be getting tested.

Texas A&M Commerce - I expect the same, but with a solid run game

Georgia State - I think we have a strong D-Line, strong passing game. Secondary getting better and better.

Northwestern Oklahoma State - Total Dominance and a breakout game for the passing game.

New Mexico State - We see our O-line and D-line getting tested. I'm worried about our secondary with the speed of some of the NMSt players.

Rice - I think this is where the size of CUSA/WAC teams begin to be noticed. I'll be watching our O-Line and D-Line to see how they handle this. For me, the front lines are keys moving into the stronger teams because they usually have Jr./Sr. players with years of strength training. I think we can compete in these areas!

JUCO quarterback is screwed, I think. Highly doubt he will see any playing time, unless we are blowing somebody out, or Soza gets injured.

He has to sit out this year, to learn the playbook. Next year, Soza will be at his prime, so it will be hard to take his spot.

Our lines are strong, on both sides of the ball. However, there isn't much behind the starting lineup. Any injuries, we are done.
Our cornerbacks are our weakest link. And that's a very bad spot to lack talent. Our safeties are good, but safeties can only stop the bleeding, they can't prevent it like the corners.
I say we split the games against Georgia state and south Alabama. More likely to be Georgia state. We win against all FCS and lower.
Terrible loss against Rice, La Tech and NMST. Competitive loss against the rest, including boobcats. If the gods are with us, we might be able to pull off a win against San Jose.

(06-20-2012 06:50 AM)Yankee Runner Wrote:  JUCO quarterback is screwed, I think. Highly doubt he will see any playing time, unless we are blowing somebody out, or Soza gets injured.

He has to sit out this year, to learn the playbook. Next year, Soza will be at his prime, so it will be hard to take his spot.

Our lines are strong, on both sides of the ball. However, there isn't much behind the starting lineup. Any injuries, we are done.
Our cornerbacks are our weakest link. And that's a very bad spot to lack talent. Our safeties are good, but safeties can only stop the bleeding, they can't prevent it like the corners.
I say we split the games against Georgia state and south Alabama. More likely to be Georgia state. We win against all FCS and lower.
Terrible loss against Rice, La Tech and NMST. Competitive loss against the rest, including boobcats. If the gods are with us, we might be able to pull off a win against San Jose.

Ouch. I didn't know Jucos had to sit out a year. I thought only D1 to D1 transfers had to sit out. I'm still a bit confused about Juco transfers. I thought it was a one year sitout if you transfer from one 4 year institute to another 4 year institute.

---------

Ok, I did some research. It appears there are 2 possible transfer types from Juco to D1. If the player "qualifies", then he/she doesn't have to sit out the first year. If they do not "qualify", they must sit out one year.

Qualifications depend on number of credits, gpa, and full-time/part-time.

Here is the link to the pdf. It's all on page 14:

http://www.ncaapublications.com/productd...NE2011.pdf

So, it appears he may have to sit out if he isn't a "qualified" transfer.

I learn something new every day!

Oh, I wasn't aware that jucos might have to sit out a year either.

What I meant, was that the competition isn't fair. Soza has had a couple of years learning and practicing our playbook. The JUCO transfer, has no such time. So in that sense, he is handicapped to compete for a spot. Even if his mechanics and ability turn out to be better right now, he is still a step below Soza, since he doesn't know the playbook as well as Soza does.

Ah! I've gotcha now. My old brain is catching up :-)

(05-07-2012 10:55 AM)slow-runner Wrote:  Ok, I live in Austin and I didn't get to go to the spring game. How did the O-line and D-line look? Have they bulked up? Gotten stronger? Faster?

I'm expecting that after being in a strengthening program for a year now, that they should be significantly improved. BTW, I thought both lines did wonderful last year! As we move up to WAC, these are the guys that will get beat on, and do the beating. Size and strength matter. With such young guys last year doing quite well all season long, I have high expectations for them this year.

Also, on a game-by-game basis, what areas do you think we match up well with the opponents?

South Alabama - I expect front line dominance and a win (allowing passing and running). I expect the defense to dominate. The secondary will be getting tested.

Texas A&M Commerce - I expect the same, but with a solid run game

Georgia State - I think we have a strong D-Line, strong passing game. Secondary getting better and better.

Northwestern Oklahoma State - Total Dominance and a breakout game for the passing game.

New Mexico State - We see our O-line and D-line getting tested. I'm worried about our secondary with the speed of some of the NMSt players.

Rice - I think this is where the size of CUSA/WAC teams begin to be noticed. I'll be watching our O-Line and D-Line to see how they handle this. For me, the front lines are keys moving into the stronger teams because they usually have Jr./Sr. players with years of strength training. I think we can compete in these areas!

But this is where I pretty much stop analyzing and just hope for the best throughout the rest of the season. That LaTech game will be the game we measure our true progress. LaTech is a bowl-caliber team and I think they make bowls for several years to come (including after they join CUSA). So, I'll be trying my best to find that game on tv or streamed because I'm wanting to see each piece of our offense and defense. (I can't travel to LaTech that weekend).

What does everyone think? Again, I didn't see the spring game. I'd love to hear what you think about that game compared to our players last season.

No way do you beat South Alabama in our place. The Jaguars take this by 10+ at least. Sorry, but y'all just aren't men enough.

(06-21-2012 10:24 AM)JoeJag Wrote:  No way do you beat South Alabama in our place. The Jaguars take this by 10+ at least. Sorry, but y'all just aren't men enough.

Yall said that last year because yall had a 2 year headstart. In fact yall were predicting 21+ point wins....and it took OT for yall to beat us in a game we should have won against a bunch of freshmen players.

We'll beat you this year.

If our freshmen were competitive against your seniors, how can you make the assessment that you will beat us by 10+ points? I think it's a toss up, can go either way.

We will beat South Alabama by at least 2 TD's. I think our Texas talent is passing them up already. Just like we beat Georgia State

(06-21-2012 11:24 AM)Yankee Runner Wrote:  If our freshmen were competitive against your seniors, how can you make the assessment that you will beat us by 10+ points? I think it's a toss up, can go either way.

I think we have a good chance of winning. They ran their mouth last year and were crapping their pants in that game against a team full of freshmen players lol

We should beat them this year with our group of MEN.

(06-21-2012 11:54 AM)UTSAMarineVet09 Wrote:  We will beat South Alabama by at least 2 TD's. I think our Texas talent is passing them up already. Just like we beat Georgia State

Let's not get too cocky. Remember we beat GA ST in OT after they missed 5 field goals. But I do think we can beat both of them, although on the road will be tough. We have zero road wins so far.

Phil Steel has us ranked above South Alabama, placing them last in the FBS. I think we have a very good chance at beating them. Georgia state, that can go either way.

Anything is possible. Good luck and welcome to Mobile