BillySee58

27-20 good guys. I wish I could say we win by more, but I'm not sure how well we'll be able to maintain drives and, more importantly, get in the endzone once we reach the redzone. We were only able to score 4 touchdowns at home against Texas Southern last year. If our offense hasn't improved then I think we score 3 tds this game. Hopefully we'll see some notable improvement.

I just started a thread about recruiting in the southeast (Memphis) with us being in CUSA, here's a guy from a city just north of Atlanta who claims a UNT offer. Rivals profile: http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/recruiting/player-A'lencio-Graham-149262 Highlights: http://www.hudl.com/athlete/o/807255/alencio-graham Also claims a Boise St and WKU offer. Highlights remind me of Darvin Kidsy's junior highlights.

Lol yup, there's that chicken vs the egg of college football argument. To me, with this example in particular, you can get your nose in with prospects like Trey Moore, who I mentioned. A good player who I believe would play here and help us win games but who's best offers right now are Kent State and South Alabama. Two schools who we can out recruit. Then, the more you win and the more familiar we become to recruits in Memphis, you can move up and recruit guys who have offers from other CUSA schools and maybe some lower tier SEC schools like Kentucky or Miss St. We will probably almost always get about 70% or more of our high school commits from Houston and Dallas. Other than that, the only other big recruiting hotbeds closer to us than Memphis are in Louisiana and we seem to have abandoned that state. For now at least.

Yeah, change is usually good coming off a 1-11 season. I wouldn't underestimate losing those guys, especially not early in the season.

Winning games we aren't supposed to. That's our next step IMO. Especially on the road.

Like you said, you could sell Texas itself. Couple that with success, should we have some, and we would IMO. Look at a guy like Trey Moore who I mentioned. His best offers right now are Kent State and South Alabama but he's a pretty good player who I think would make a good addition. His offer list: http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/recruiting/player-Trey-Moore-145627 We seem pretty set at linebacker for this class so Moore himself may not be a likely target, but he's an example of a good player over there who has offers but offers that we could potentially beat out.

I asked a question a few weeks ago about where we could recruit with recruiting having picked up this summer and with us starting our first season in CUSA. I suggested we start recruiting in Memphis because it is only about 7 hours from Denton and we play La Tech, Southern Miss, UAB, Western Kentucky, and MUTS who are all less than 5 hours away and their parents could easily watch them play games at those venues. Memphis produces solid SEC size and speed every year, but also has plenty of D1 caliber players who don't go to the big-time SEC programs. Here's a list of what players in Memphis are being recruited and/or have been offered D1 scholarships. http://rivals.yahoo.com/tennessee/football/recruiting/recruit-search-results;_ylt=AkfZaIUvKwgVPwvaJj9vH8Wpt5B4?sport=football&year=2014&hometown=Memphis&state=Tennessee Take guys like Dejuan Mcquarters or Trey Moore. Here are their offer lists and highlights. Mcquarters: Rivals - http://rivals.yahoo.com/tennessee/football/recruiting/player-Dejuan-Mcquarters-151663;_ylt=Ak9mEDG6yQIA_HyQIEif2Riqt5B4 Highlights - http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=W9Am_MMBR20&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DW9Am_MMBR20 Moore: Rivals - http://rivals.yahoo.com/tennessee/football/recruiting/player-Trey-Moore-145627;_ylt=AtpDG0koGeKiewsESlhcEgCqt5B4 Highlights - http://www.hudl.com/athlete/441757/trey-moore These guys are ballers but they have offer lists that I think we could match up against. Maybe we don't get these guys or even go after them, but I think we should stick our nose in Memphis and see who we can get being in CUSA. What do you guys think? I don't know our history recruiting guys from Memphis or Mac's history over there.

Yup. Wondering this too. I'm especially curious to see who our number 2 is at qb.

Joey, you've been respectful while posting on here and have given us some good insight about your team, but you have shown a lot of optimism based on your homerism. We're homers too, I know I am, and we all have moments where our team-color tinted shades blind us from reality. However, this should be a game we win easily. We return a lot of starters on both sides of the ball and didn't have any major losses, save for maybe our first-team all-conference center and our tight end. You guys are coming off a 1-11 season, you lost your leading receiver, rusher, qb, and your top 7 tacklers from your defense. And you're breaking in a freshman qb playing 2,000 miles from home, as well as plenty of new starters particularly on defense. As for our first year with Coach Mac, we did play well but all but one of our wins came against teams who finished lower than us in the conference and had losing records. The other win was a home game against an Indiana Hoosiers team that finished 1-11. Also, in his first game coach Mac and our guys looked pitiful on the road against Florida international. His tenure didn't start off great on the road, that's for sure. Again, I mean no disrespect to you or your team which coach Petrino seems to be doing a good job of turning around, but we should beat you guys and handily. Especially in the first game. That doesn't mean you guys can't have a good first season with Petrino or that he isn't really leading you guys in the right direction.

Kerr alone has 15 floors total and at least 40 residents a floor. That's over 600 in one dorm alone.

Yeah, he's done nothing but gain respect on the field. I'm not sure about his arm strength though. It's going to be interesting to see who wins the back up job and what wins it for that person.

Exactly. If Mcnulty is the backup then I don't see much of a rotation. He doesn't really bring anything that DT doesn't, save for a slight upgrade in speed.

I absolutely sense that too. I came here a year after you and it definitely seems like an all-time high, especially with the freshman.

Who were the captains last year? It was Orr, DT, and McCoy. Am I leaving someone else out? As for DT, that is surprising that he isn't a captain and it does make you wonder. That's obvious though.

Rice is good, but if our offense is clicking at that time then it could easily be a game that goes either way. Their offense is solid but I don't see it as a juggernaut offense. If our defense holds up well and we make it a game in the fourth quarter then I like our chances at home. Would be a very difficult and big win.

He's had a lot if contact with Tennessee coaches and camped there I believe. But they didn't offer him.

Another reason why we'll take at least one other high school defensive end. Sorry to hear for Horton.

Wow. Not sure why he thinks things will be better at OSU.

No I don't, and that's very possible too. I could be reading too much into things, but it did seem like no matter what he did he wasn't going to get a shot, whether he deserved one or not. Especially after that Tulsa game his first year and watching DT struggle last year and never get a chance. That has to be frustrating.

Thank you. But this makes it seem even more fishy. Osborn quit the team. When a scholarship athlete who's been at an FCS team, a JUCO, and here for two years just quits the sport with a year of eligibility left, despite still being at the school, it signals some frustration.

Personal, absolutely. The way Osborn left definitely added weight to that theory. He left the team and has not, to my knowledge, seeked out playing at another school for his last year of eligibility.

I still think that Kidsy will be starting halfway through the year. Absolutely my hope and I think I'd be surprised with Mcnulty as the backup. I also think Williams may be heading for a redshirt after all.

Very true what Vito says about Williams. If he were the backup then they would be getting him more reps. If you don't redshirt your true freshman qb then it's because you expect him to take over the starting role at some point in the season. You don't just burn a freshman's to give him mop up duty where he just hands the ball off. No dodge jokes please.

My point is that Idaho is one of our top 3 most winnable games on our schedule. If we lose to them that'd be a bad omen for the rest of our season. Michigan wanted a national championship that year. That App State loss showed they wouldn't be a national championship contender. Houston wanted another BCS busting type season and at least a good bowl. The Texas state loss showed that neither were in there future. We want a bowl game this year. A loss to Idaho, no matter how improved they may be, will show that we don't have the team to make a bowl game.

And what happened after those teams lost those games? Michigan, who was the preseason number 2 team that year, limped to an 8-4 season despite talent like Chad henne, mike hart, and number 1 pick jake long, causing Loyd Carr to retire. Then they went 3-9 and 5-7 the next two years. That loss was a bad precursor of what was to come, not just that year but the next few seasons. After Houston lost they went just 5-7 following a season in which they went 12-0 in the regular season. That Texas State loss was a bad precursor for what was to happen for that year and who knows when they get anywhere near the level they were at in 2011. Should doesn't make things happen on the field, but if that "should" doesn't happen then it often signals bad things to come.