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OK, since Stallion brought it up again in the other post, I thought I'd start another season prediction thread. Why not? It's August and things are starting to take shape. So lets go over this at least one more time before they start keeping score.

For my part, I could see 6 wins this year. It has more to do with the Powderpuff schedule than anything else. And it assumes that Willis isn't in over his head (Which is a BIG assumption at this point). But that's my pollyanna prediction.

This team is building for a run in '08 as far as I can tell. In order to get there though, we need a decent showing this year (so that the '07 recruits will actually improve the team by the '08 season. Hence the light schedule this season, and the stated intention of redshirting almost all of this year's freshmen.

(And in case you have forgotten, this is my first year of following any college football lol).

-CoS

Honestly, the Ponies could compete with (or beat) just about every team on the schedule. Having said that, I'm not predicting such a run. Just about all teams lay an egg once in a while (i.e. last year's game with Tulane). In a perfect world, the Ponies SHOULD beat North Texas, Sam Houston, Arkansas State, Tulane, Marshall, East Carolina, UAB, Tulsa and Rice. That would mean 9-3. Considering injuries, the uncertainty at one CB spot and a freshman QB, I'll back off from that and say that I predict (hope) for a record of 7-5.

8-5 after the bowl game.

Win the three poweerpuff NC games and find a way to win 4 CUSA games late in the season and SMU has a 7-5 season, but no more. Anything less is a failure. Anything more is a coaching crerdit.

in a perfect world SMU wouldn't have a 7-8 game losing streak in Rice Stadium-no excuse for a loss to the Owls this year-it won't be easy

You're right, there's no such thing as an easy game. However, I'm encouraged by the fact that the Owls are playing a spread offense under Graham with players largely recruited to run the triple option. Hopefully, they'll be ill-suited to run the offense until they get a few more classes of Graham's recruits in. Personally, I wish we were facing the Owls a little earlier in the season.

vs. NTSU, vs. Sam Houston, vs. Ark. St.

it pains me to say this, but i'm afraid there's a loss in there somewhere.

i would love to be proven wrong.

Stallion wrote:in a perfect world SMU wouldn't have a 7-8 game losing streak in Rice Stadium-no excuse for a loss to the Owls this year-it won't be easy

You are right Stallion, that Rice game will be really hard. They have all those great athletes, according to Rivals. And of course, last year, they ranked in the bottom 10 in every defensive category; bottom 10 in passing offense; and terrible in special teams. They have a new offensive coordinator that was partially responsible for a 1-10 record and the 115th ranked offense in the country last year. They are implementing new offensive and defensive systems. Last year, Rice only won a single game and lost to, among others, SMU by 20.

Everything points to this being a banner year for Rice. I'll just pencil in that game in as a loss.

That, and they hired your man-crush Todd Graham as coach. If somebody were saying this about SMU, you'd be ripping them a new one.

You might be right. The key is not to panic. We lost to a Tulane team last year that we should have beaten, yet the coaches and players didn't quit and finished strong. We, as fans, HAVE to do the same.

Of course, I think we're winning all three of those. I see losses to Tech, UTEP, Houston, maybe Tulsa (but they were working with smoke and mirrors last year), and maybe UAB (although they lost a ton from last year - thank god Hackney is gone). So put me down for 7-5.

11-1!!!

OK then mark that Rice game as an easy win. Geez never heard that before.

Pony4Life wrote:You might be right. The key is not to panic. We lost to a Tulane team last year that we should have beaten, yet the coaches and players didn't quit and finished strong. We, as fans, HAVE to do the same.

completely agree. if we do lose one of those games i won't throw the towel in on the season per your tulane example.

Maybe Rice is the loss BRStang had in mind.

And who said anything about an "easy" win? Maybe all 12 games go to overtime, regardless of who wins. Quit jumping on people for having optimism about a team that clearly has improved. That's not to say you have to ditch your objectivity, because that (obviously) is a good thing -- we all could use some. But at this time of year, especially, optimism is a great thing, too. If everyone predicted doom and gloom, nobody would go to the games at all. I, for one, can't wait to be at every one.

Stallion wrote:OK then mark that Rice game as an easy win. Geez never heard that before.

That isn't what I said. On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being playing Ohio State on the road and 1 being Emporia State at home, the Rice game is probably closer to a 3 or 4 than an 8.

Stallion,
What is your prediction for Rice this year?

And tell us about how great TCU is while you are at it.

Predictions:

at TT - Loss, and ends up looking pretty bad because we give up points late.
North Texas - Win, but it will be close because the team will be shell shocked after the Tech game.
SHS - Win
Ark St - Win
at Tulane - We are coming off three wins in a row, they are coming off geting killed by LSU. That is why I will predict a win.
at UTEP - Loss
Marshall - win, they will struggle to move the ball on us.
at ECU - Return a lot of players, and it is away, so loss.
UAB - very similar to us - return a lot of players, except at QB, lots of close games last year with the same record. Toss up, but I will say win at home.
Houston - we either lose this or Tulsa. I say we lose to Tulsa. Win
Tulsa - Loss, see above.
at Rice - Final game of the season. They are going to go through what Bennett did in his 0-12 season - try plugging people who don't fit into a new system. They will be better by the end of the year, but this should be a win.

That puts us at 8-4, but we could easily go 6-6. It will most likely come down to the Rice game to decide if we go to a bowl game or not.