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The MFr's 10 Bold Predictions Thread

The Maudfather

By The Maudfather,
in Husker Football

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Danimal Starter

Danimal

Posted
Posted

My predictions:

 

1. Zac Lee starts all year, barring injury.

 

2. Zac Lee throws for upward of 2600 yards and has a QB rating of at least 140. I'll guess and say 2700 and 145. He'll add a couple hundred on the ground, too.

 

3. We win 9 regular season games. The defense takes a step back and finishes in the 20's, while the offense does well despite Barney Cotton's best efforts and is a Top 30 unit.

 

4. One of these two: Hardrick, Lavonte - has a really unspectacular year while the other is decent. I'm guessing Lavonte has trouble finding his way onto the field, while Hardrick plays but isn't dominant yet.

 

5. Paul becomes the playmaker we all want him to be.

 

6. For all the hype, Tay-Mart accumulates maybe a couple hundred yards from scrimmage. Cody Green is the #2 QB, even if T gets the wildcat packages.

 

7. Jared Crick does NOT turn into the 'next Suh' and put up a monster Suh-like year.

 

8. Instead, Hagg commandeers the defense and becomes a true stud.

 

9. We're gonna see some REAL ugly safety play from a young group of safeties back there. We will miss Asante and O'Hanlon a thousand times more than we know. Good thing Alfonzo & Prince are lockdowns, but they can't do everything. Thenarse plays but a small role and doesn't come back from the injury like we'd hope.

 

10. We lose to Texas...and then beat the s--- out of them in the CCG. I could see it as the other way around, but that's not poetic enough and too painful for me to imagine...

 

I don't know...this is just me being realistic. I realize it's not as Kool-Aid laced as some of the other predictions (but come on, 5 return touchdowns? :P), but I prefer to have grounded expectations and let the team surprise me. As they did last year. It was pretty sweet.

 

 

Gotta disagree about the safety-play. PJ is in his third year in the system and played solidly when he was in last season. I haven't read anything to imply Thenarse won't be pretty ready to play. Both Gomes and West have moved to safety and Gomes is a beast. Plus Marvin is an elite db-coach. I'm not saying there won't be any growing-pains I just don't see the problems you do.

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zoogs Head Coach

zoogs

Posted
Posted

Well, there is a difference between physically healed and being a good starter. Blue hasn't made that leap yet, and Thenarse wasn't even there to begin with. So he has two hurdles to overcome: 1) mentally and physically getting over his torn ACL, which even the best quarterbacks struggle coming back from in year, and 2) developing as a player into something he has not yet reached. I think either is a tough projection to make, and #1 in tandem with #2 makes me not hold my breath too much. Plus, we heard this past spring that none of the safeties have stepped up to the plate. Asante and O'Hanlon were damn good last year, but took a long time getting there. Even at the beginning of last year O'Hanlon pretty much cost us a game. PJ Smith may develop into a Matt O'Hanlon 2008 or Larry Asante 2007 type player -- which is a big, big step back still from where we were last year. I think it'd be a big reach to project that there'll be little dropoff.

 

When considering positions with new players coming in, I'm always reminded of 2007, when we lost our entire DL but had a stud waiting in the wings at each position. Carriker, Moore, Cryer, Dagunduro were replaced by Turner, Potter, Suh, and Steinkuhler. These were all guys that saw significant time and had already made some big splashes as underclassmen...and the 2007 D-line was a HUGE step back, and we suffered for it. That's why when people say 'PJ Smith will simply step in for Asante', I sort of question it. Especially since Asante was a stud.

 

When I say "really ugly safety play," I don't mean problems with the players' development or potential or anything. Turner, Potter, Suh, and Steinkuhler turned out already - in '08. I'm just saying there will be some ugly growing pains because it seems questionable to me that we can just reload there. I'd like to be proved wrong but...

 

I think we can win more than 9 games too. But that's another projection that's tough to make IMO, because when we improve, you sort of get used to it and just think we will keep improving forever. 9 wins year 1, 10 wins year 2, now it's gotta be 11 or 12 or 14, right? It gets harder to improve the better your starting point, though. The team will have to work hard just to stand still. I think 10-2 is the most optimistic prediction we can make at this point so I erred on the side of caution a little. So I'm not disappointed :P

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RedDenver Offensive Coordinator

RedDenver

Posted
Posted

Well, there is a difference between physically healed and being a good starter. Blue hasn't made that leap yet, and Thenarse wasn't even there to begin with. So he has two hurdles to overcome: 1) mentally and physically getting over his torn ACL, which even the best quarterbacks struggle coming back from in year, and 2) developing as a player into something he has not yet reached. I think either is a tough projection to make, and #1 in tandem with #2 makes me not hold my breath too much. Plus, we heard this past spring that none of the safeties have stepped up to the plate. Asante and O'Hanlon were damn good last year, but took a long time getting there. Even at the beginning of last year O'Hanlon pretty much cost us a game. PJ Smith may develop into a Matt O'Hanlon 2008 or Larry Asante 2007 type player -- which is a big, big step back still from where we were last year. I think it'd be a big reach to project that there'll be little dropoff.

 

When considering positions with new players coming in, I'm always reminded of 2007, when we lost our entire DL but had a stud waiting in the wings at each position. Carriker, Moore, Cryer, Dagunduro were replaced by Turner, Potter, Suh, and Steinkuhler. These were all guys that saw significant time and had already made some big splashes as underclassmen...and the 2007 D-line was a HUGE step back, and we suffered for it. That's why when people say 'PJ Smith will simply step in for Asante', I sort of question it. Especially since Asante was a stud.

 

When I say "really ugly safety play," I don't mean problems with the players' development or potential or anything. Turner, Potter, Suh, and Steinkuhler turned out already - in '08. I'm just saying there will be some ugly growing pains because it seems questionable to me that we can just reload there. I'd like to be proved wrong but...

 

I think we can win more than 9 games too. But that's another projection that's tough to make IMO, because when we improve, you sort of get used to it and just think we will keep improving forever. 9 wins year 1, 10 wins year 2, now it's gotta be 11 or 12 or 14, right? It gets harder to improve the better your starting point, though. The team will have to work hard just to stand still. I think 10-2 is the most optimistic prediction we can make at this point so I erred on the side of caution a little. So I'm not disappointed :P

I like your realism, but I wouldn't call Asante a stud. We will be hurt by the lack of experience in the back, but the safeties won't be as hard to replace as Suh or Dillard.

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