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TG1996's pre-pre-season reality check...

http://www.ay-ziggy-zoomba.com/articles/footnotes/

I want to see the Falcons play in the Orange Bowl.

I think they have a shot.

TG:

A bit hyperbolic?

I don't think it's a two choice issue. Let's not oversimplify it to either
A) We're going undefeated and playing New Year's Day!
or
B) We're doomed; we'll be lucky to break .500

Instead, I think there's room for tempered enthusiasm. The stars have aligned and we could be this year's "Utah." They could also lose one of their OOC games, still win the MAC & the MCB, finishing in the top 15. Pretty awesome, too.

Enthusiasm and optimism are one thing. Doom and gloom are another. But the sometime unfettered lack of grounding in reality confounds me. The same thing happened before last year's Toledo game. Folks were thumping their virtual chest about how we were going to shut out the Rockets and hang 70 on them. I thought we'd beat the Rockets, but couldn't envision a scenario outside of PS2 where we beat them 70-0.

Can we beat Wisky? Yes. Should we beat them? Yes, I believe so. Should we expect to beat them by three or four touchdowns? C'mon.

We can beat Boise, too. We can beat everyone on our schedule. But we shouldn't walk into this season expecting everyone to lay down for us because we're coming off a very good season and getting great pre-season pub. It doesn't work that way.

We can be the BCS buster this year. Like I said, the table is set. But we have a lot to prove.

"I don't know if the folks that are calling for a halt to the undefeated talk are just hoping to get their jollies out of an "I told you so" after the first loss, or if they really don't have an optimistic bone in their body, but I'd rather get MY jollies out of an undefeated season, thankyouverymuch. "

TG,
I agree it's much more fun to envision an undefeated season than to expect a serious of blemishes. I don't get excited to watch us lose games, I get excited by expecting us to kick some ass. With the talent we have it is reasonable to talk about going undefeated. It's not like we went 1-10 last year. We went 9-3 and were a better team than that record (IMO, for whatever that is worth). My point is that last years team easily had the talent to be 11-1 and I feel like we are going be even better this season.

Is 13-0 going to be tough? Yes and the odds are against us. But why should we be shooting for less when we have the most dangerous offense in the country? It's no fun to be a pessimist all the time.

kdog27 wrote:
Is 13-0 going to be tough? Yes and the odds are against us. But why should we be shooting for less when we have the most dangerous offense in the country? It's no fun to be a pessimist all the time.

Exactly what I was going to say.

I know that its not easy and that no one will lay down because Pete Fiutak climbs on our bandwagon between bong hits, but especially 3 and a half months away from the opener, there is absolutely no reason why we shouldn't be psyched to blow each and every opponent out of the water, and make our case for the BCS. And hopefully land in the (Brown and) Orange Bowl.

I see four tough games on our schedule, plus a potential MACC game. I also see very good reasons why we can win every one of those tough games. Like you said (and I think I said) why choose to be pessimistic? So you can rub one out with "I told you so's" if they lose a game? Will you (not you personally, "you" as a generalization of negative nellies, of course.) sit on the edge of your seat hoping they lose a game so you can be the first one to start a "Ha! I knew they'd lose!" thread? If that's you, I can do without it. The season's too short and the wait is too long for losses. We've got s**t to prove at Wisky and Boise and revenge to cram down throats in Oxford and Toledo. I think it CAN be done, and I believe it WILL be done.

Its a damn exciting time to be a Falcon.

Wisconsin, Boise, Miami, Toledo--realistically, BG could lose any one or--given there defense--all of these games. I think it highly unlikely they will win all of them. A good guess--again given their defense-- would be that they will be very fortunate to split the four. (3 of the 4 are on the road--very hard to win.) That would be my guess--2 and 2 in those four games. And again--with their defense--it wouldn't shock me if they lost them all. I would be very, very surprised if they won them all.

old guy wrote:Wisconsin, Boise, Miami, Toledo--realistically, BG could lose any one or--given there defense--all of these games. I think it highly unlikely they will win all of them. A good guess--again given their defense-- would be that they will be very fortunate to split the four. (3 of the 4 are on the road--very hard to win.) That would be my guess--2 and 2 in those four games. And again--with their defense--it wouldn't shock me if they lost them all. I would be very, very surprised if they won them all.

Yes, but in May, I don't think we need a reality check. We need to be as pumped up for the season as we can be. Right now is the perfect time to be thinking about the joys of an undeafeted season. In August/september sure reality should set in about the possibilty of losses. But why ruin the fun of dreaming and be excited now.

Wisconsin, Boise, Miami, Toledo--realistically, BG could Win any one or --given their offense--all of these games. I think it is highly unlikely we will lose any of them. A good guess -- again given our offense -- would be that our opponents will be very fortunate to not get swept. (3 of the 4 are at home--very easy to be overconfident.) That would be my guess--4-0 in those four games. And again--with our offense--it wouldn't shock me if we won them all. I would be very, very surprised if we lost at all.


That, as they say, is turning a frown upside-down. I'm a natural pessimist, and i can't help but be wildly excited for this year. The hiring of Lovett amped me up even more. If we can even marginally improve our defense from last year, we will be tough to beat. @ boise will be toughest, followed by @ miami. I honestly think we will beat Wisconsin; not a blowout, but not close either.

Jacobs4Heisman wrote:That, as they say, is turning a frown upside-down. I'm a natural pessimist, and i can't help but be wildly excited for this year. The hiring of Lovett amped me up even more. If we can even marginally improve our defense from last year, we will be tough to beat. @ boise will be toughest, followed by @ miami. I honestly think we will beat Wisconsin; not a blowout, but not close either.

That's how I size it up.

Bowling Green 38, Wisconsin 27.

If we can get past Boise State the next week -- and that game will be tough -- Bowling Green may be close to the Top 10 by the time they head to Oxford.

Schadenfreude wrote:Bowling Green may be close to the Top 10 by the time they head to Oxford.

Top 10? Can someone throw a wet blanket on this fire of excitement?

I was just dreaming last night about the possibilities of starting 3-0. Four of the next five games are at the Doyt. Can you imagine being ranked in the top 10-15-20 and having four out of the next five games at home and all being games we should win easily? Can you imagine having five sellouts at the Doyt? I'm getting goosebumps just thinking about it

As a crazy, long time BG football fan, I have to say I've never looked forward to a season like the 2005 season. I've been watching BG football since the early 80's and I know there are folks here that have been watching twice as long as me. With all the success our program has seen over the years, I've never seen buildup to a season like this one.

My question...Why shouldn't we expect an undefeated season? The players expect to win every game so why is this year different? We have the talent, a challenging schedule and a Heisman Trophy candidate. Adding a coach like Lovett this late was awesome. We needed a spark on the D side. I see the toughest games at Boise State and at Miami. I've said this before...BG beats Wisky 41-27. I think BG will beat UT at home. It's those two games at Boise and Miami that will test us big time.

Why shouldn't we dream of playing in a BCS Bowl? If we're ranked in the top 10 at the end of the year, don't we deserve a BCS Bowl? If Utah did it, why should BG be any different? I'm tired of folks saying "Just be happy with what you are and have". Screw that. We have big things happening here, new construction, upgrades...ect. Why settle for "Good" when we can be "Great"?

This team can win every game on the schedule this year.

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"Top 10? Can someone throw a wet blanket on this fire of excitement?

I was just dreaming last night about the possibilities of starting 3-0. Four of the next five games are at the Doyt. Can you imagine being ranked in the top 10-15-20 and having four out of the next five games at home and all being games we should win easily? Can you imagine having five sellouts at the Doyt? I'm getting goosebumps just thinking about it"

That is a dream that could play out this year! GO FALCONS!!

114 days....

To paraphrase a recent BG highlight video...

WHY NOT US? WHY NOT NOW????

Win 2 of those four games and you end up 9 and 2. What's unoptimistic about that? I think some of you need to get your heads out of the clouds--or wherever else you're placing them--and take a realistic view of BG's schedule and defense. Think any of the 4 mentioned teams isn't going to score points on the defense. Sure BG's offense might outscore each and every one of them--but then again, they might not. That's not being pessimistic--it's called being realistic. And again, what's unopptimistic about 9 and 2, which I have suggested is a likely outcome? Just my opinion. Have a nice day.

old guy wrote:what's unopptimistic about 9 and 2

It "gives up" before two games have even been played.

And I'd rather have my head in the clouds over this one (or wherever else it might be) than looking down at the ground worried about what we might trip over.

old guy wrote:Win 2 of those four games and you end up 9 and 2. What's unoptimistic about that? I think some of you need to get your heads out of the clouds--or wherever else you're placing them--and take a realistic view of BG's schedule and defense. Think any of the 4 mentioned teams isn't going to score points on the defense. Sure BG's offense might outscore each and every one of them--but then again, they might not. That's not being pessimistic--it's called being realistic. And again, what's unopptimistic about 9 and 2, which I have suggested is a likely outcome? Just my opinion. Have a nice day.

I think you may be missing our point. 9-2 is a very realistic outcome this year given our performance over the last few years. What we are all saying is it's no fun to be realistic in the Spring. What's the harm in letting our imaginations run wild all the way to a BCS game? If you were to give me even odds on us going undefeated this year, I don't make that bet. I think we are capable of going undefeated, but you have to be lucky and good to get there. The only team more talented than us this year is boise. We will probably only be underdogs against boise and Wisky. We are in a great position and we are all excited about it. For the time being, I'm leaving my O&B glasses on.

TG1996 wrote:

old guy wrote:what's unopptimistic about 9 and 2

It "gives up" before two games have even been played.

And I'd rather have my head in the clouds over this one (or wherever else it might be) than looking down at the ground worried about what we might trip over.

Exactly, TG. I'm with you.