12-0 baby!

11-1. I think we beat Iowa by 10 the one loss is either Purdue or Toledo. People that think 7-5 and 8-4 are way off. If Lynch is healthy we don't lose more than 3 games. I just don't see a letdown with Lynch at the helm. I'd be surprised with anything less than 9-3 and a share of the MAC West.

(06-06-2013 06:41 PM)HuskieJWN Wrote:  11-1. I think we beat Iowa by 10 the one loss is either Purdue or Toledo. People that think 7-5 and 8-4 are way off. If Lynch is healthy we don't lose more than 3 games. I just don't see a letdown with Lynch at the helm. I'd be surprised with anything less than 9-3 and a share of the MAC West.

I went with 8-4 primarily because the defense is an unknown. If Lynch has improved his passing even a little bit though all of NIU's opponents will have a difficult time stopping our offense. A running game (other than Lynch) would also help.

One thing is for certain, I love to watch Jordan Lynch play the game. He is a competitor and I have never seen anyone quite like him at QB. If the D steps up it could be a special year.

Looking at how the entire MAC schedule is I think it will be BGSU in the MACC. I will be surprised if they have more than 1 loss.

Ball St also has a very favorable OOC schedule that could also give them 0-1 losses coming into DeKalb.

I am assuming Toledo will have a down year but will play us in a close one.

I went with 12-0. There is not a single team on the schedule that is unbeatable.

The D lost some good players...if they can keep an opponent to under 30 pts/ game anything is possible.

I went with 10-2, but just as easily could have gone with 12-0; I just think we'll have a target on our back. Getting through the season without a loss is tough, but I think doable. As someone else commented, I don't see a team that I believe is not beatable. Certainly a couple of tough games on the road (Iowa and Toledo), but very winnable. I'm very excited about what our offensive line can do this year. I saw a video featuring Brown at spring camp, and it looked to me like he bulked up. With a year of experience under the belt, and more bulk, I think it will make our running and passing games even more high octaine and take some pressure off Lynch.

I also went with 10-2, but that could easily be plus or minus one game of that. Losing Coach Doeren is probably our biggest loss, I would venture to guess in the 2 years he was here, he gave us 4 wins with coaching alone.

(06-07-2013 02:47 PM)MaddDawgz02 Wrote:  I also went with 10-2, but that could easily be plus or minus one game of that. Losing Coach Doeren is probably our biggest loss, I would venture to guess in the 2 years he was here, he gave us 4 wins with coaching alone.

Is it just me or does it seem like Doeren has already been gone a full season?

(06-07-2013 03:06 PM)NIUslumo Wrote:  

(06-07-2013 02:47 PM)MaddDawgz02 Wrote:  I also went with 10-2, but that could easily be plus or minus one game of that. Losing Coach Doeren is probably our biggest loss, I would venture to guess in the 2 years he was here, he gave us 4 wins with coaching alone.

Is it just me or does it seem like Doeren has already been gone a full season?

Yes and no.

Seems like the 2012 MACC was forever ago but then I remember that Carey has yet to win a game.

(06-07-2013 03:06 PM)NIUslumo Wrote:  

(06-07-2013 02:47 PM)MaddDawgz02 Wrote:  I also went with 10-2, but that could easily be plus or minus one game of that. Losing Coach Doeren is probably our biggest loss, I would venture to guess in the 2 years he was here, he gave us 4 wins with coaching alone.

Is it just me or does it seem like Doeren has already been gone a full season?

I'm not even sure if it's that as much as it seems like he never left. Normally when there's a coaching change there is roster turnover and putting in new systems, but everything has pretty much stayed the same.

(06-07-2013 03:41 PM)7 Wrote:  

(06-07-2013 03:06 PM)NIUslumo Wrote:  

(06-07-2013 02:47 PM)MaddDawgz02 Wrote:  I also went with 10-2, but that could easily be plus or minus one game of that. Losing Coach Doeren is probably our biggest loss, I would venture to guess in the 2 years he was here, he gave us 4 wins with coaching alone.

Is it just me or does it seem like Doeren has already been gone a full season?

I'm not even sure if it's that as much as it seems like he never left. Normally when there's a coaching change there is roster turnover and putting in new systems, but everything has pretty much stayed the same.

Thats a good point, I dont think the coaching change will potentially be a big deal and its definitely more about Coach Doeren's ability than it is about Coach Carey questions. Coach Doeren will get whatever job he wants in 2 years. But I agree the fact not much is changing should hopefully minimize the impacts from the coaching change.

I hate to make predictions but I got sucked in because I am football starved & that affects my brain.

I went with 11 - 1. I'm not sure why. Maybe we lose to either Iowa (although we shouldn't) or Purdue (which we also shouldn't) or one of the conference games that we shouldn't lose because we have a let down week after a ton of road games.
I agree - we FOR SURE will have a huge target on us. No new system which is a plus... But a new coach with no real track record...
Of course the great season depends on Lynch staying healthy. If he goes down - we bend over & kiss our season goodbye. Good & bad points all around.
I would LOVE to see a three-peat on winning the MAC.

A lot of you were pretty close with the season predictions, I know we still have WMU, but I think it's safe to say we will go 12-0