Can't defend myself on the Conference Beard but A-State is my pick to win the SBC West, and maybe the SBC for the all the reasons -both for the first time in Butch Jones tenure, and the fact Butch Jones is their HC .

Will not know for sure if they are my pick to win the overall until fall practice begins and I know for certain who is on their team, and more importantly how the best HS recruits in the SBC the last 3 years have developed-remember they are a "developmental program": around developing HS recruits , and because they return the bulk of their depth-chart from last year and most are transfers.

As far as 2023 my few predictions were :

"Can't post on the Conference Forum, so will post my thoughts here.

Should be better on both sides of the ball, and while they have a tough schedule, should have a shot at being bowl eligible.

No SBC team has a better roster to cobble a depth chart out of, and while still very young overall, many of their youngsters have already been thrown into the fire, so their youth should not be as big a problem as last year.

With a full 85 on scholarship, and some solid additions since the end of last season, Butch has enough talent in every room to more than compete against any SBC team.

Of course the key for them is where Butch Jones feels they are at as far as adopting "his" culture. While he probably has another "throw away" year to implement it, he might be inclined to help his AD- who he helped entice into joining them, this coming season."

and

"Because of their overall youth, and the uncertainty of where they are at in culture implementation, they are probably a year away from being a true contender for a SBC Championship, although they have the talent to beat any SBC team this year.

Like last year the key game is Memphis, and if they beat them their fans may not have to wait until 2024 for their "bounce-back" season."

and

"Nothing is really different about A-State this year. They have above average talent at the skill positions (maybe a little more depth) and it comes down to how they perform in the trenches. The last few years they have not done well on the OL or DL, but especially the OL.

While A-State took steps to address the youth issue that hurt them on the OL in 2022 by bringing some older transfers, they have not done much on the DL, an area where Butch said they needed to get tougher and more physical.

On the interior of the DL they brought in Alabama State DT Micah Bland (6-1, 327lb, GT)- who exited spring as a starter, and Harvard DT Nate Martey (6-1, 270lb, SO) . The only other upperclassmen other than Bland on the interior of the DL is former Lamar DT Treviance VJ Bronson (6-3, 292lb, JR), who had a couple of starts in his first year at A-State, and should be a solid player this year . Both Bland and Bronson are physically capable of playing inside at the FBS level, but the other interior DL's, while probably as talented as any group in their programs history, where still needing to grow up a little bit physically.

Little better at DE than at DT, where Junior Ethan Hassler (6-3, 245lb, JR), Senior Thurman Geathers (6-2, 227lb, SR) and Junior Blayne Toll (6-5, 274lb, JR) provide experience, but all the other DE's are underclassmen-again talented underclassmen.

Would not be surprised if the did not add a couple of older players on the DL before the season starts."

and

" As noted on the Conference forum CFN has A-State winning five games.

https://collegefootballnews.com/cfn/arka...eview-2023

Insert any other SBC Coach HC as the HC at A-State last year and they win five games minimum IMO .

It was a throw away year-they gave Butch an extra year after year one, focused on implementing his "culture" and not wins, something he made clear would be the case before the season started.

While this is a tougher schedule , hopefully they got enough of his "culture" implemented to spare their fans a repeat."

as far as 2022:

"While their talent prevents calling any SBC game a sure loss , because of how young their roster is overall, and how solid the SBC is top to bottom , most feel this team is a year away or two away from being a SBC Championship caliber team.

The consensus last spring that a lot would have to go wrong for this team not to win five games, and not much right for it to win more, is still the prevailing opinion at the end of fall camp........... for real and for tangible reasons.

Most expect Butch Jones prediction that their fans will be happy where they are at, at the end of the 2022 season, and excided about 2023 will end up being true. Regardless, should be a very fun team to watch grow in an exciting new SBC. Enjoy!"

and

"Took the last post on the other thread to start this thread.

Other than they have a talented team , the answerer IMO is better than last year for sure, but how much better is an unknown.

Their practices have been closed for the most part, plus the Portal has resulted in their, and their opponents rosters changing more significantly than normal from last year.

We do know according to 247 they added one of the top SBC recruiting classes https://247sports.com/Season/2022-Footba...erence=SBC , to one of the top rosters https://247sports.com/Season/2021-Footba...erence=SBC , as far as talent.

While 247 has not provided their transfer ratings , they will almost certainly be one of the better SBC classes in that regard too.

The key for them is whether a nearly decade long trend- for a verity of reasons, of being the worse prepared, most undisciplined, and fundamentally unsound team on the field in most games continues .

The other questions is how much better will a team of mostly Butch Jones players, perform for him than did a team composed of mostly Blake Andersons players. While their spring practices and scrimmages, indicated the answerer is "a lot better", there have been changes since then and the results have been hidden behind closed doors."

and

"As far as beyond this season, the still open question is can Butch Jones & Company better bridge the gap between their talent ratings and their performance on the field, than the previous coach. Blake Anderson was rather mediocre at doing so even before a three year fight with the cancer that took his wife, capped off by the COVID year that hit them hard after the Memphis game.

One thing is for sure, that gap did not close last year, and might have been a little wider. Hard to tell because Butch was facing much better SBC competition than Blake did during most of his tenure."

Again have not predicted any championships in Butch Jones tenure until now.

They are IMO the team to beat in the SBC West , and maybe the SBC in 2024.