Cat, just for the sake of discussion I will take issue with a couple of your 'Dog' picks.
UNLV may just be the worst team in FBS football. Northern Illinois won 11 games last year
and have 14 or 15 of the same starters back for 2015. NI will win this home game by 30.
Southern Miss other than Old Dominion has the worst defense in Conference USA. They were
104th last year and return just 3 starters. Can't see them stopping Miss State's offense, especially
with that quarterback. This game will get ugly fast.
Just my take for what its worth.........GL
UNLV may just be the worst team in FBS football. Northern Illinois won 11 games last year
and have 14 or 15 of the same starters back for 2015. NI will win this home game by 30.
Southern Miss other than Old Dominion has the worst defense in Conference USA. They were
104th last year and return just 3 starters. Can't see them stopping Miss State's offense, especially
with that quarterback. This game will get ugly fast.
Just my take for what its worth.........GL
Actually Southern Miss has seven starters returning this season which would seem to be better than ten. Not sure
I could put much stock in an offense rated 114th scoring, 121 rushing and 97th total last year with ten of the
same players back, especially against an SEC defense. Blowout by halftime!
I could put much stock in an offense rated 114th scoring, 121 rushing and 97th total last year with ten of the
same players back, especially against an SEC defense. Blowout by halftime!
yeah never understood the theory that having starters back from a terrible sector of a team was a good thing
i remember everyone pimping Indiana last year because of having the most starters in b10 returning and nearly entire offense back. how'd that work out?
top 3 OL career starts returning last year were App St, UTSA, and Indiana .... 3 least were Ohio State, Penn State, and Tennessee. enough said
Miss. State loses a lot of talent on both lines. They host LSU after this game, and a loss at home to any SEC team will be very costly. Right now there is a real possibility that Miss. State will go 1-7 in the SEC (that win coming at home against Kentucky) and out of a bowl game. Miss. State also lost 3 out of their last 4 games last season. If State loses to LSU, they can easily be 0-3 in the SEC after 10/3. They know this. Will they beat So. Miss? Yes. Will the game be a rout? No. Need I remind everyone in here, especially the SEC West homers of how we found out how good the SEC West really was in the bowl games last season (2-5).
The only circumstances where I will consider or allow for some kind of improvement of returning starters coming off a bad season is a change of coordinator. Last year TCU had basically their same offense back from the year before where they were one of the worst offenses in the country, and turned it around to one of the best in the country. But I have to see a drastic change like that before I would bet on a team like Indiana, regardless of the number of starters. They were probably doomed anyway because they had such a poor defense. Even if they had a new DC, you can only run so many disguises on defense before the big boys eventually overpower you...yeah never understood the theory that having starters back from a terrible sector of a team was a good thing
i remember everyone pimping Indiana last year because of having the most starters in b10 returning and nearly entire offense back. how'd that work out?
top 3 OL career starts returning last year were App St, UTSA, and Indiana .... 3 least were Ohio State, Penn State, and Tennessee. enough said
UTSA lost 36 seniors from the 2014 team. They entered the season with 19 starters but wound up with a disappointing 7-5 season. This year there are no starters returning on offense and just 3 on defense. Adding to the inexperienced youth factor is a tough ass non-conference schedule that includes Arizona, Kansas State, Oklahoma State and Colorado State. Looking at the schedule, I see only two wins (Southern Miss and Charlotte). Long year for the Roadrunners!
I do not see UTSA, who was a major disappointment last season, getting past Southern Miss. It is a road game for UTSA. Last season, as the favorite to win the CUSA West, UTSA won their opening away game at Houston, then then proceeded to lose 5 straight on the road. Charlotte is also a game on the road, so that certainly is not a guarantee either. It may be a very long season for UTSA.
Thanks for your contribution. Many people in this forum underestimate the value of spotting live dogs. You are not always asking them to win the game, just cover a spread that is possibly inflated due to public perception. Factors such as scheduling (next team up, off a tough game, conference next) always play into the equation. Another factor is VALUE. If you are astute at setting lines/using Power Ratings then you can spot value. Value does not guarantee success, but does lead to a winning % if all other factors are considered equal.
Good luck this season. I hope you will continue to post threads such as this one.
Good luck this season. I hope you will continue to post threads such as this one.
