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The three teams that beat us in CUSA (all on the road) all lose SR QBs and significant ones to their offenses, and two of those teams lost coaches.

USM loses Austin Davis who is #1 in USM history breaking many (all?) of Bret Farve's records
Houston loses Keenum, the NCAA leader this year and in history.
Tulsa loses Kinne, a key performer for them.

Of note Godfrey is leaving UCF.

We of course are losing McD.

Except for OOC next year does not look so bad.

Too early to discuss next season?

I predict a 10 win campaign next year

And then charge into the Big East!

I think we dominate CUSA next year. 8-9 wins. Another win over TCU (and I say we beat aTm - they aren't that great, we can't be intimidated by them ... they lose key players as well). Our OL will be better/more athletic, secondary will be better (if Stewart comes definitely), defense will be better/deeper. QB, I hope, will be better. RB will be deeper.

Losing McDermott is a good thing...

The PonyGrad wrote:Too early to discuss next season?

According to June, Klemm does not recruit impactful players, so doesn't matter if he leaves. Also claimed next year will be a slide backwards. Must know a lot about new QBs at CUSA schools. Too bad he struggles to translate that skill to identifying QB talent for SMU. Could have saved us from McInterceptions.

Tulsa will have the transfer from Nebraska starting next year.

No more McDermott is like bringing back six new starters.

ojaipony wrote:Our OL will be better/more athletic, secondary will be better (if Stewart comes definitely), defense will be better/deeper. QB, I hope, will be better. RB will be deeper.

Pass around whatever you're smoking' dude.
On defense, we get to keep our best player (jG) and the linebackers and secondary should improve, but we loose several of our very best players after JG, which in my order would be Thompson, Banjo, Frazier, Crawford.

Our OL will not be better. Two of our graduating seniors will be playing in the NFL next year. Other tha Ben G. and Collins (both backups), none of the younger guys have any experience. In a sense, we got REAL lucky that McJunkin was injured and can (hopefully) come back for another year. He was the only one with enough talent to crack the starting lineup this year.

And as you rightly pointed out, we're still lacking a QB.

We will slide backwards next year -- unless something dramatic and unforeseen happens. In many ways it could be the opposite of this year, in that we may have less developed/younger talent but fare better in the conference.

Very obvious statement here, but I have found that its difficult to accurately handicap a team until the games are played. Things always change in ways you don't anticipate. In August, I thought we were set at QB with Padron and had one of the best O-lines in the country. At the end of the year, I was watching McDermott play behind a gaff-prone and inconsistent O-line, and Padron wasn't even on the sidelines. Sure didn't see that coming.

On the plus side, we saw the emergence of Stephon Sanders on D and Derrik Thompson on O. Not the finished product, but they look like they have potential to be big-time players.

Some players that we're not talking about right now will emerge, and others may not do as well as hoped. Injuries are the other big X factor. You lose a guy like Zach Line for the year and it totally changes the outlook.

There's a lot of question marks going into next season. If they break our way, we'll have a great team. If they don't, we'll struggle. Obviously, the biggest question is at QB. If Padron emerges and becomes the QB we saw for a brief second at the Hawaii Bowl in 2009, then we could be really good. If not, then there isn't much behind him that tells me we're going to do well.

As far as the O-line, D-line, and secondary, we'll just have to see who emerges. We've got more talent and depth than we've had since the DP, but how quickly they will develop is an open question.

I wonder if JJ might give some of the younger players some playing time in the bowl game.
That would certainly help their experience level.

GO PONIES!!!

MustangSTATS wrote:

The PonyGrad wrote:Too early to discuss next season?

According to June, Klemm does not recruit impactful players, so doesn't matter if he leaves. Also claimed next year will be a slide backwards. Must know a lot about new QBs at CUSA schools. Too bad he struggles to translate that skill to identifying QB talent for SMU. Could have saved us from McInterceptions.

When did he say that?