2006 FB Predictions of the Harshman Sophomores

[bgsufalcon24]

Okay, its time to put this down in writing and be accountable for all that is being said right now about the team. Last night me, Jerzyboy247, and Svillefalcon, the three Harshman Sophomores on AZZ, met up and decided once and for all what was going to happen in the 2006 BG football season. This list that I am about to post is now taped to my door for all to see right outside my room. Game by game, we made our picks, and here is what we came out with:

Bgsufalcon24's picks:
1.Wisconsin - L
2.Buffalo - W
3.Florida International - W
4.Kent State - W
5.Ohio - W
6.Ohio State - L
7.Eastern Michigan - W
8.Cental Michigan - L
9.Temple - W
10.Akron - W
11.Miami - W
12.Toledo - L
MAC East Champions
13.MAC Championship Game vs Northern Illinois - L
Final Pre-Bowls Record - (8-5, 6-2)

Svillefalcon's picks:
1.Wisconsin - L
2.Buffalo - W
3.Florida International - W
4.Kent State - W
5.Ohio - W
6.Ohio State - L
7.Eastern Michigan - W
8.Central Michigan - L
9.Temple - W
10.Akron - W
11.Miami - W
12.Toledo - W
MAC East Champions
13.MAC Championship Game vs Central Michigan - W
MAC Champions
Final Pre-Bowls Record - (10-3, 7-1)

Jerzyboy247's picks:
1.Wisconsin - W
2.Buffalo - W
3.Florida International - W
4.Kent State - W
5.Ohio - L
6.Ohio State - L
7.Eastern Michigan - W
8.Central Michigan - W
9.Temple - W
10.Akron - W
11.Miami - L
12.Toledo - W
MAC East Champions
13.MAC Championship Game vs Northern Illinois - L
Final Pre-Bowls Record - (9-4, 6-2)

As you can see, we pretty much agree that the team is headed for about 8-9 wins this season, and Sville even went so far as to predict a MAC Championship for us this season. Here's some further analysis of the matchups:

Wisconsin - The feeling here is that we have a chance to win this, but it will be tough. Jerzyboy predicted a win, but Sville and I were concerned about Partridge and Turner not being able to play, prompting some L's to come out for the Clash in Cleveland

Buffalo, FIU, Kent - We are united on these. No way in hell we lose to these three, among the crappiest in I-A football.

Ohio - This is an intriguing team. Jerzyboy predicted a win for the Bobcats, while Sville and I stuck with the Falcons. My concern here is with Ohio's offense. They were fairly pathetic last year, particularly at QB, and unless that improves I don't see how we lose this game. Jerzyboy seemed to think that our offense was going to struggle as well against an improving Ohio defense, which could lead to a low-scoring close affair, not our strength.

Ohio State - united on this one, for an L at the horseshoe

Eastern Michigan, Temple - Two more terrible teams that will be cruising for a bruising at the hands of the Falcons.

Central Michigan - The MAC's most improved team last year drew some L's from our panel. I think their defense in particular will be very tough, and with the game at their place, it will be tough to win. Sville agreed, while Jerzyboy seemed to think regression was in order for this team.

Akron - All three of us have the general feeling that Akron fluked their way to a MAC East title last year, and that we will be out for their blood when we visit the rubber bowl on November 5th. Not only that, but we also believe that had #4 played last season, we would have killed them. Another factor is that without Biggs, Akron's offense won't be nearly as good, and if we can just score on them, we win. We stood with 3 W's on this one.

Miami - I had no doubts about this one, giving us the victory against a very inexperienced Miami squad who we dusted last season. Sville and Jerzyboy both had doubts though, as they considered the Akron scenario from earlier as hurting us this time. No doubt Miami wants us bad after how we kicked their butts last year. In the end, Jerzyboy went with a loss and Sville went with a close W.

Toledo - I think this is one case where caution got the better of me. Sville and Jerzyboy predicted a road victory to pay back Turdledo, but I didn't. I think their experienced skill players around their new QB means their offense won't miss a beat, and their defense was at least as good as ours last year anyway. They seemed to think that our speed on defense was going to make life miserable for Toledo's offense, and that the loss of Gradkowski hurts them more than the loss of Jacobs hurts us. That's yet to be seen though.

[bgsufalcon24]

Just as I thought. Just about everything the student members on here say is either ignored or discredited by everybody else. Nothing like shooting the breeze I guess.

[Flipper]

We don't generally don't cotton to people whining about their threads beig ignored....it's considered bad form.

You began this thread at 5:30 on a Saturday, by the time most of the die hards that went to the scrimmage and din't go out to do something (or if they're lucky, someone) else got back from the scrimmage other posts related to that event and the evening's exhibition games had taken over the forum. Nobody's trying to ignore or diminish your contribution to our largely asinine and repititive discussions on the validity of the listed player weights, the importance of our players gaining weight (ohhhh...Brandon mack is 283 lbs...I'm getting a chubby), why our defense was bad and may continue to be bad and Omar's decision (should he have stayed?)

having said all that...we will not lose to CMU this year. I do not forsee us losing to OU. Temple has a new coach and FIU is in it's second year as a D1A. program..they are huge question marks. Temple would really like to give us some of what they got in 2004 and 2005. FIU exceeded expectations last year and have a number of those guys back. It would not suprise me at all to see us lose to every non conference opponent on our schedule.

I think we may lose at Akron and Toledo and we might lose at home to Miami.

I think we'll go 8-4 or 9-3 before losing in the MAC title game but a 6-6 or 7-5 record would not suprise me in the least.

[bgsufalcon24]

We don't generally don't cotton to people whining about their threads beig ignored....it's considered bad form.

You began this thread at 5:30 on a Saturday, by the time most of the die hards that went to the scrimmage and din't go out to do something (or if they're lucky, someone) else got back from the scrimmage other posts related to that event and the evening's exhibition games had taken over the forum. Nobody's trying to ignore or diminish your contribution to our largely asinine and repititive discussions on the validity of the listed player weights, the importance of our players gaining weight (ohhhh...Brandon mack is 283 lbs...I'm getting a chubby), why our defense was bad and may continue to be bad and Omar's decision (should he have stayed?)

having said all that...we will not lose to CMU this year. I do not forsee us losing to OU. Temple has a new coach and FIU is in it's second year as a D1A. program..they are huge question marks. Temple would really like to give us some of what they got in 2004 and 2005. FIU exceeded expectations last year and have a number of those guys back. It would not suprise me at all to see us lose to every non conference opponent on our schedule.

I think we may lose at Akron and Toledo and we might lose at home to Miami.

I think we'll go 8-4 or 9-3 before losing in the MAC title game but a 6-6 or 7-5 record would not suprise me in the least.

I started the thread on Friday, not Saturday.

[Tricky_Falcon]

Take a look at all of the forums. Many topics go unanswered. Here's some good reading material...

[Flipper]

Friday?....oh...well...here...let me give you a flower then...



I hope this helped...

[Schadenfreude]

So what do the Offenhauer juniors think?

[TG1996]

So what do the Offenhauer juniors think?

They think the Harshman sophomores are a bunch of candyasses...


WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!

[bgsufalcon24]

So what do the Offenhauer juniors think?

They think the Harshman sophomores are a bunch of candyasses...


WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!

That's because we beat their asses all over Perry Fieldhouse in a game of flag football yesterday. Sore losers, IMO.

[svillefalcon]

i was very generous with my picks, but hey, i wanna see us win. People say that this is a rebuilding year, and if people are predicting us going like 7-5, thats a damn good rebuilding year. outside of wisconsin and ohio state, there is not one game on our schedule and say, "oh, thats a loss" our schedule is very iffy on some games and i think if we can get the young and abundant talent to gel early on, then i think it will be a great year in falcon football

[TG1996]

i was very generous with my picks, but hey, i wanna see us win. People say that this is a rebuilding year, and if people are predicting us going like 7-5, thats a damn good rebuilding year. outside of wisconsin and ohio state, there is not one game on our schedule and say, "oh, thats a loss" our schedule is very iffy on some games and i think if we can get the young and abundant talent to gel early on, then i think it will be a great year in falcon football

I like that attitude!

[Strouse]

The only games that really do truly concern me with likely losses are Wisconsin, Ohio State, Miami, and Toledo. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that the rest of the games are indefinate wins. I know we have the talent, even if it is young talent on our side. We don't have the media attention to "block our vision," if you will. If our guys focus on the current game and not "next week," then we could very well come out of the season with only one or two losses. However, if we start slipping in a game and our guys lose their focus, then we could very well come out towards the bottom of the MAC. All of our games can go either way, but if our guys stay focused we can come out of Cleveland and Columbus with big wins, as well as with a MAC Championship.

[1987alum]

Didn't mean to ignore your thread, which was well-done! I'm impressed to see three sophs this into football. We need more like you.

My thoughts below ...

Wisconsin - The feeling here is that we have a chance to win this, but it will be tough. Jerzyboy predicted a win, but Sville and I were concerned about Partridge and Turner not being able to play, prompting some L's to come out for the Clash in Cleveland

With Turner and Partridge, BG is a longshot to win this game. Without them, we're in the "miracle" department. I know that's not a popular opinion, but there it is.

Buffalo, FIU, Kent - We are united on these. No way in hell we lose to these three, among the crappiest in I-A football.

Spart43 had an interesting point about the Buffalo game. If the Bulls beat Temple, they'll come into the Doyt riding high with their new coach. Meanwhile, we'll be stumbling home after a hard loss; we'll also be facing our first game of the season with AT at the helm, another transition. Remember, too, that Buffalo gave us all we could handle last year and we didn't exactly blow them away ... and that was with Omar at the helm. In the end, I expect us to win this game, but it's not a gimme at this point.

FIU - another game I believe we'll win, but this is a long road trip for a young team. If we head south at 0-2, the whole season could easily go south.

Kent - How do magazines and Web sites keep picking these guys to win the East?

Ohio - This is an intriguing team. Jerzyboy predicted a win for the Bobcats, while Sville and I stuck with the Falcons. My concern here is with Ohio's offense. They were fairly pathetic last year, particularly at QB, and unless that improves I don't see how we lose this game. Jerzyboy seemed to think that our offense was going to struggle as well against an improving Ohio defense, which could lead to a low-scoring close affair, not our strength.

I thought this would be a trap game last year, but the Bobcats were intimidated by The Streak and never seemed to give 100%. This one will be at Peden and, again, momentum could be a factor. If the Snobkitties are on a roll, our young team could have its hands full. That being said, the fact that Everson earned the starting QB slot to start the season indicates to me that the offense hasn't progressed as quickly as Stolich (sic) would have liked.

Ohio State - united on this one, for an L at the horseshoe

Ditto.

Eastern Michigan, Temple - Two more terrible teams that will be cruising for a bruising at the hands of the Falcons.

I won't sound the Temple alarm ... yet. I will say that Golden wants to make a statement to MAC teams this year. What better target that a home game against a team that's hung 20 TDs on you over two games?

Central Michigan - The MAC's most improved team last year drew some L's from our panel. I think their defense in particular will be very tough, and with the game at their place, it will be tough to win. Sville agreed, while Jerzyboy seemed to think regression was in order for this team.

Mount Pleasant is neither. I think the Chips offense will struggle with the recent judiciary issues, but this will be a very tough W for BG to secure.

Akron - All three of us have the general feeling that Akron fluked their way to a MAC East title last year, and that we will be out for their blood when we visit the rubber bowl on November 5th. Not only that, but we also believe that had #4 played last season, we would have killed them. Another factor is that without Biggs, Akron's offense won't be nearly as good, and if we can just score on them, we win. We stood with 3 W's on this one.

Akron is out to prove the deserve the title. We're out for payback. This will be a great indicator of where our team stands.

Miami - I had no doubts about this one, giving us the victory against a very inexperienced Miami squad who we dusted last season. Sville and Jerzyboy both had doubts though, as they considered the Akron scenario from earlier as hurting us this time. No doubt Miami wants us bad after how we kicked their butts last year. In the end, Jerzyboy went with a loss and Sville went with a close W.

Miami is no more inexperienced that BG this year, so I think that's a moot point. Like last year's game, it will be all about momentum. This would be a nice home win.

Toledo - I think this is one case where caution got the better of me. Sville and Jerzyboy predicted a road victory to pay back Turdledo, but I didn't. I think their experienced skill players around their new QB means their offense won't miss a beat, and their defense was at least as good as ours last year anyway. They seemed to think that our speed on defense was going to make life miserable for Toledo's offense, and that the loss of Gradkowski hurts them more than the loss of Jacobs hurts us. That's yet to be seen though.

We have not won in Toledo since 1994 and the Rockets have won 8 of the last 11 meetings. We win this game if ... a great many things go right for us over the course of the season and a great many things go wrong for Toledo this season.

[The Niz]

So what do the Offenhauer juniors think?

This Harshman Junior thinks that any hopes of beating Wisconsin and OSU are a bit far-fetched;not impossible, but far-fetched. Inside our conference the only huge competetion I can see is Akron and Toledo. Since we had more fans at their place last year than they did, this will practically be our second home-field advantage against miami in as many years. I do not forsee Miami as any kind of serious problem. There is definately no competition in the Ohio U game either; it will be nice to go down and kick their ass, especially since that is their family weekend and my little sister now attends that particular institution. It's really to bad we can't face off against WMU again after the loss they dealt us last year, that would be a good one to go see. May Saturday come ever so quickly!

[Columbus_Zak]

Your thread was ignored because all three of you muppets have BG losing to OSU. Clearly the easiest game on our schedule.