Ranking the Mean Green's challenges in order of difficulty

10Eagle10 · July 21, 2015

After reading the Knoxville News and Go Vols Extra article posted by Harry, I submit my unprofessional ranking of our 2015 schedule. Here's a look at those challenges in order of difficulty (from most difficult to least difficult):

@ Tennessee: better depth, better athletes, SEC team - has Mac every beat one of those on the road

@ Marshall: road game, hard to win in Huntington for a program that rarely wins on the road

@ Louisiana Tech: road game, could easily flip LT with Marshall but Huntington is farther away than Ruston

Western Kentucky: probably a better team than the two directly above, but Apogee on a Thursday night gives us a better puncher's chance

@ MUTS: will we have anything left in the tank after trips to Ruston and Knoxville the previous two weeks?

Rice: I have the Owls penciled in as the West Division champs

@ Iowa: as discussed before, I think going to his hometown will fire Mac up even more to be extra prepared. That and his winning record vs Kirk Ferentz and the Hawkeyes. A North Texas win might finally be the nudge that pushes Ferentz out the door in Iowa.

UTEP: home game. There's a strong chance that the team will be 2-2 at Apogee going into this game; we all know how much Mac loves (and we appreciate) never having had a losing record in the stadium.

@ Southern Miss: the Miners are a step above USM talent-wise. This is the most winnable conference road game

@ SMU: season opener, rivalry game. If we don't win this, 2015 will be a long season

UTSA: Realistically, I should probably switch the ponies and runners, but on paper taking in the home field factor and conference contest among others - UTSA should be slightly less difficult

Portland State: this game is homecoming and bought & paid for for a reason

I would love to see some other rankings. I feel super confident that Tennessee is definitely the most difficult and Portland State is the least difficult, but am amenable in the middle

greenminer · July 21, 2015

I think UTEP might be stronger than people are giving them credit for. Kugler has them on an upward swing.

SMU will have a game under their belt, right? This would put them a step ahead on the season's biggest learning curve.

Cr1028 · July 21, 2015

‌@10Eagle10

Using your rankings, this season looks even more difficult that I initially imagined. Portland St is the only one I could confidently mark in the win column at this point. The SMU game will be very telling.

MeanGreenTexan · July 21, 2015

I'd definitely have @IA leapfrog Rice & MT.

Also, I'm not quite as worried about Marshall now that Cato's gone. I might bump them down under Holtz's surging Bulldogs & WKU.

Otherwise, it looks about right.

GOMG2013 · July 21, 2015

I'm not impressed with Rice like many on gmg...I think they are too high. I hope your rankings are acurate though.

if iowa isn't as good as Rice, we have a chance to win 7 games this season.

and as bad as mac has been on the road, one of those road wins was in Ruston. The question for them is if the transfer QB pays off again.

Mean_Green09 · July 21, 2015

Based on my initial CUSA power rankings here is how I would rate our conf and non conf opponents from toughest to weakest

1. Tennessee

2. WKU

3. Iowa

4. Marshall

5. MTSU

6. LA Tech

7. Southern Miss

8. UTEP

9. Rice

10. SMU

11. UTSA

12. Portland St

Edited July 21, 2015 by Mean_Green09

Harry · July 21, 2015

Based on my initial CUSA power rankings here is how I would rate our conf and non conf opponents from toughest to weakest
1. Tennessee
2. WKU
3. Iowa
4. Marshall
5. MTSU
6. LA Tech
7. Southern Miss
8. UTEP
9. Rice
10. SMU
11. UTSA
12. Portland St

Great list -- I would do same but exchange Southern Miss and UTEP. I think the UTEP running game will be beastly this season.

DallasGreen · July 21, 2015

I think people are far under rating the effect of the new SMU coach and the advantage SMU has of having a game with BU under its belt. We have never won a game at SMU's on campus stadium in the modern age. Why should this season be any different? Especially since Mac considers this a non-rivalry game. SMU is stiill being considered as an expansion target of the Big 12-2 according to this morning's DAMN.

Mean_Green09 · July 21, 2015

Great list -- I would do same but exchange Southern Miss and UTEP. I think the UTEP running game will be beastly this season.

I gave UTEP the edge over Southern Miss in most of my position unit rankings. I just think the QB position gives USM the edge overall. You have Mullens and TCU transfer Tyler Matthews vs Mack Leftwich. UTEP will have a beastly running game I agree, but with no real threat at WR and a below average QB I can see them having a lot of problems that we are used to seeing here at NT. Stacked boxes and daring them to go deep. UTEP was going to count on Texas transfer TE MJ McFarland, but he failed a drug test.

Mean Green 93-98 · July 21, 2015

Especially since Mac considers this a non-rivalry game.

Last year, he made some comments along that line, but I believe he's seen the light since then.

There is an SMU helmet that is being flashed around [spring practice] as a motivational prop. Don’t think for a minute that UNT isn’t pointing to that game and its season-opener as a huge one for the program.

http://meangreenblog.dentonrc.com/2015/03/tuesday-spring-practice-running-blog.html/

GOMG2013 · July 21, 2015

I think people are far under rating the effect of the new SMU coach and the advantage SMU has of having a game with BU under its belt. We have never won a game at SMU's on campus stadium in the modern age. Why should this season be any different? Especially since Mac considers this a non-rivalry game. SMU is stiill being considered as an expansion target of the Big 12-2 according to this morning's DAMN.

what effect will SMU having a new DC that has never been a coordinator have?

UNT90 · July 22, 2015

what effect will SMU having a new DC that has never been a coordinator have?

directly proportional to UNT's ability to throw downfield.

If UNT doesn't have the will or ability to throw downfield, a Jr High DC could have success.

UNTexas · July 22, 2015

If we don't get a QB and a line to block for him, then the whole thing is a wash. No matter what the defense does. If they do then I'm down with Harry's list.