I’m a Miami fan, and I think 11 wins is the minimum. If we f up and do less, than Randy Shannon needs to go. Jacory Harris will do really well, we’re insanely deep at wr, rb, and dl. We have a really good starting def. backfield, but the db depth is an issue. OL is always an issue for us, but if the D can force more turnovers and Jacory throw the ball away when necessary rather than into coverage, that can be alleviated a bit. There are good linebackers, but depth is an issue here, too. Our returners are electric, and our kicker/punter is great.
Zakalwe, I’ve read some really good things about what Jimbo is doing for FSU regarding the program (basically stuff liking nutritional programs and other big $$$ things), and am rather jealous. I’d love to see Miami and FSU finally meet in the ACC-CG, because it means the world of cfb will finally be right again. And then your boys can miss another fg.
I just wanted to say that my college is horrible. All the programs, not just sports. It’s really embarrassing to me to admit where I went to college. However, since we don’t have a pro sports team, the average people flock to games, a lot of whom I guarantee never set foot in the college at all. Those of us who actually went there pretend they don’t exist.
My dream is that Michigan State goes 12-0 and beats our future Big Ten brothers from Nebraska in the title game. The Spartans should be better in the secondary (like they had much room to go down) and the lines look pretty solid. An experienced quarterback and depth of receivers should make up for the lack of great running backs. The biggest plus is that the schedule is downright friendly…
7 home games plus a “road” game with Florida Atlantic that was moved to Detroit because their stadium wouldn’t be done in time.
Easy wins: Home vs. Western Michigan, Northern Colorado, and the defacto home game with Florida Atlantic. Very Winnable games are Notre Dame at home, at Michigan, Illinois at home, at Northwestern, and Minnesota and Purdue at home. The challenges will be Wisconsin at home, at Iowa, then close out with our attempt to win for the first time ever at Penn State.
The excitement is definitely back, that’s for sure. It started in the spring when he changed the Garnet & Gold game from a set piece scrimmage to a “real” game with full offenses and defenses (picked by team captains from all players). Ticket sales and booster contributions are up. As I mentioned before, our recruiting is improving dramatically.
This year will be about realistic expectations. We will lose a few games and most people expect that, but we need to beat one of our in-state rivals for the year to be a success. Unless UF gets decimated with injuries, I can’t see us beating them, so that leaves…
The problem with Miami hasn’t been the missed kicks, but the fact that in most of the games we let UM back into the game late and put ourselves in the position of needing the kick. For a team that tradionally dominated the second half, Bobby et. al. had the ridiculous habit of playing not to lose, which, IMHO, makes it much more likely that you will lose.
Ahh, the revenge game against USF. That makes sense.
You make a good point about the mentality in the losses. Heck, even some of the wins for FSU against Miami were almost pulled back. The game in '08 comes to mind right away (rain game in Miami) where UM’s special teams and defense made some plays after trailing big at half time and almost got back in the game.
In 2002 (my first trip to Miami), FSU led 27-14 going into the 4th, but I think the comeback had more to do with Miami’s talent and motivation than FSU screwing it up. In '05 and '06 (probably the 2 worst UM-FSU games in the past 30 years), terrible coaching on both sides meant both were playing not to win. I suppose the one that sticks out most, though, would be '87. I think that was a 16 point 4th qtr comeback. Either way, I think you’d probably agree that it’s been by far the most exciting rivalry of the past 30 years, even in the down years. The talent has always been incredible and better than any other I can think (over the full 30), and the number of nailbiters, too, is probably higher than OSU-Michigan, UT-OU, Bama-AU, etc.
Wisconsin is ranked 12th this year (though only third in the Big 11), which means they’ll disappoint this year.
Of course, I’m hoping not, and they got some intriguing talent come back, naturally, but since the program revival under Alvarez, there has been one constant with the Badgers…if they start with high expectations, they’ll almost always end up not meeting them. If its a year when people think they’ll be lucky to get to the Insight Bowl, they overachieve. About the only exception was when they repeated as Rose Bowl champs in 99 in Dayne’s senior year.
Bielema at least proved last year he can win with players he recruited…this year is about moving the program up to, dare I say, where Iowa is now. Woo! On Wisconsin.
Pitt is ranked 15th in the preseason polls. But they’ve disappointed me so many times that I think they need to drag Tony Dorsett out of retirement to really have much of chance.
Bama alum here. Roll Tide! They are looking pretty good this year, with at least an average chance of going back to the SEC title game, if not the National Championship. I’m not so much of a homer that I don’t see the glaring flaws in the defense this year (replaced 9 starters, lots of pre-season injuries in the secondary), but the offense should be able to score on just about anybody (returning Heisman winner Mark Ingram, freshman phenom RB Trent Richardson, plus two really good backups in Demetrius Goode and Eddie Lacy, a healthy Julio Jones, Marquis Maze, Darius Hanks, and an experienced O-line. And having a second-year national champion QB in Greg McElroy doesn’t hurt, either.)
The strengths of the Bama offense bring to mind Oregon. I don’t think there are any Ducks on this board who could speak more intelligently (or quack), but I don’t get the Oregon love – they’re being picked to win the Pac-10, despite having to break in a new QB, their old one having been kicked out of school.
I’m not too sure how I feel about Masoli ending up at QB at Ole Miss. He’s obviously a thug with no self-control, and I now have grave reservations about Houston Nutt. On the other hand, he is a gifted athlete. I’m just not sure he deserves a second chance at another school.
Georgia alum here. I bleed red and black.
New QB might be good enough, but our defensive line is shaky.
We are going to a 3-4 scheme this year which might help.
I think 9 wins is about the best we can hope for with losses to Florida (again…sigh), Auburn and (disturbingly) Georgia Tech.
I also think that if we don’t win against Florida this year then it will be some time before we have a chance. Florida is down a little this year so I can always hope, right?
I’ll give you one guess. We’ll suck big time. New coach is going to hurt bad. And being in the best conference in football doesn’t make life easy. I think we play 7 or 8 bowl teams from last season. Probably the standard 2 wins.
Yeah, I know the trend, but I still have high hopes. They have possibly the best O-line in the country with John Clay, Big 10 Offensive Player of the year last year, running the ball. Tolzein might be the best QB in the conference (Pryor seems to be more hype, than reality). Their TE is also one of the best in the country. Their WRs are pretty decent in if unspectacular. On defense they have the Big Ten Freshman of the year from last year, a decent offensive line (great guards, questionable tackles). The secondary is a concern though.
Yes, I am clearly objective and not at all biased.
The Fighting Illini will most likely suck this year.
They’ve got quite a few things to be excited about and interested in, but at it’s core the team is pretty hollow. They added blue chip offensive and defensive coordinators which inspire a lot of optimism, but frankly they just don’t have the horses to make them work it appears. They’ll probably be starting a redshirt freshman at QB and they’ve lost quite a bit of skill on the offensive side of the ball to the draft. Defensively they are mostly intact but that group wasn’t worth a damn last year so I’m not seeing that as a big plus.
The players to watch are Mikel Leshoure, the potential stud RB and his stablemate Jason Ford. Both showed flashes of Mendenhall-like brilliance last season in a often disoriented offense. With a young QB we’ll need to lean on the running game and Petrino has a history of generating awesome running attacks. The defenses in the Big Ten are supposed to be a little down and a reliable running game could help this mediocre group scrape to the middle of the pack in a wide open league.
On defense it’s all about Martez Wilson, the physical freak who could potentially be the next NFL Combine darling. He had offseason neck surgery and thus far has been more hype than substance, but everyone is saying all the right things in the preseason and supposedly he’ll be able to really exploit that athleticism in this new defensive scheme. There are a lot of question marks on defense and a lot of youth, but everyone thinks they will be much improved over last season.
It should be a very interesting season at the very least. As usual I’ll talk myself into it, but odds are good I’ll be cursing Zook again come November.
I don’t know why, but Vandy is one my teams. I always hope the best for them and love it when they win. That said, I think you’re probably in the ball park for the season outcome.
Wanna trade hats? I’ll send you a quality FSU hat for a quality Vandy hat. PM me if you’re interested…
I don’t actually “follow” them the way I do my pro team, but I root for the Ducks and forever will. From what I’ve heard, Oregon is returning nearly their whole offense except for the QB, and from what I’ve seen I thought this Costa kid was better than Masoli. The love for Oregon regarding the Pac-10 probably stems from their defending the crown and no other team looks better than them.
However, I think Oregon State (who I also root for, outside the Civil War game) can make a run for the conference and will take national prominence if they beat non-BCS darlings Boise State and TCU. The 2010 Civil War game could be bigger than last year’s.
