Who's the team to beat?

[FanofFCS]

TSN looks ahead to 2012. Sam Houston State returns a lot.

http://www.sportsnetwork.com/merge/tsnform.aspx?c=sportsnetwork&page=cfoot2/writers/infcshuddle/archive/haley_3_8_2012.htm

[Professor Chaos]

Northern Iowa - Unlike Wofford, UNI simply needs to survive its September schedule, which includes games at Wisconsin, Iowa and Youngstown State and a home matchup against North Dakota State. At least the Panthers can feast on Savannah State in their second game.
Not so much...

[TheRevSFA]

The team to beat? Everyone you face in the playoffs

Simple...no article needed

[MR. CHICKEN]

16442.....GOTTAH BE SOMEONE...FROM DUH CAA......xrotatehxxnodxxrotatehx......DOODLE-DOO!

[darell1976]

Montana State - The Bobcats will have one of the FCS' top defenses with the return of tackle Zach Minter, ends Brad Daly and Caleb Schreibeis, and linebacker Jody Owens. Oh, yes, quarterback DeNarius McGhee isn't too shabby, either.


We will do our best to beat Montana State who hasn't beaten UND since 1978...but then we haven't played each other since 1983.

[Screamin_Eagle174]

Joe Schad made it official 20 minutes prior to this article being posted. Oh well... EWU will be back at it in 2012, as we return 17 starters, and have tons of depth especially on the OL after last year's injury plague. Will also have UW transfer DT Andru Pulu (6'2, 300) available to play for us, along with his brother (6'2, 240 3-star LB) who might play as a true freshman along with a couple other prized recruits.

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/7662796/ex-smu-mustangs-kyle-padron-going-eastern-washington-eagles


Padron, 6-foot-4, 233 pounds, set a Mustangs passing record in 2010 with 3,828 yards and 31 touchdowns.

J.J. McDermott took over last season, and former Texas quarterback Garrett Gilbert has transferred to SMU.

"I felt comfortable with being able to pick up the system and how well the system prepares a QB to get to the next level," Padron said. "There is more responsibility the QB has there than what I'm coming from and the guys they have coming back, especially at WR are very intriguing.

"The coaches and their motivation to compete and be the best was the biggest thing for me though, because they want to win a conference/national championship as bad as I do."

[tractorapp]

I'm convinced we will be better. Lots of excitement on the mountain. After ECU and Montana we'll have a real good idea if we are heading in the right direction.

[StorminASU]

Chattanooga. Done

[cbarrier90]

Chattanooga. Done

FCS football, not NFL...

[AmsterBison]

Leaving NDSU out of it since I'm a fan and not objective, I'd go with Sam Houston.

Isn't SHSU returning 10 out of 11 starters on the defensive side? They had a heckuva defense last season and should be even better this season. Plus, they are prohibitive favorites to win their conference - Lehigh might be the only team with a better shot of getting an autobid.

In short, the team not to beat: NDSU. The team to beat: SHSU. :)

[DJKyR0]

FCS football, not NFL...

Plus "team to beat" implies at least a marginal chance of defeating them in the first place. As if.

[alvinkayak6]

The team "to beat" is the team you are playing. Any Given Saturday. xrotatehx

[van]

Leaving NDSU out of it since I'm a fan and not objective, I'd go with Sam Houston.

Isn't SHSU returning 10 out of 11 starters on the defensive side? They had a heckuva defense last season and should be even better this season. Plus, they are prohibitive favorites to win their conference - Lehigh might be the only team with a better shot of getting an autobid.

In short, the team not to beat: NDSU. The team to beat: SHSU. :)

Thanks for the love, but Lehigh lost some key guys on both offense and defense. Still have a good nucleus and some quality depth from last year, don't see us as prohibitive favorites for sure, except on the weekend before Thanksgiving.

[Side Judge]

Good to see a Montana team make the cut...

[Silenoz]

Good to see a Montana team make the cut...

Is it possible for UM to be under the radar, so to speak? If so I like it xthumbsupx

[Bison Fan in NW MN]

My preseason top teams to beat in '12:

SHSU
Georgia Southern
Montana
Youngstown State
JMU

NDSU will also be in the mix....

[darell1976]

My preseason top teams to beat in '12:

SHSU
Georgia Southern
Montana
Youngstown State
JMU

NDSU will also be in the mix....

Until NDSU loses I would put them #1.

[frozennorth]

ndsu, shsu, ysu, gsu, maybe app and stony brook. I don't think will be a truly dominant team in the bsc, caa, or patriot

[BlueHenSinfonian]

My preseason top teams to beat in '12:

SHSU
Georgia Southern
Montana
Youngstown State
JMU

NDSU will also be in the mix....

All solid picks. Delaware should be in the mix again this year. The word on GoHens.net is that OCs spent some time at Texas Tech and Northwestern to get some new tricks up their sleeves to speed up the offense and that there's going to be more variety in the playcalling. Trent Hurley, the transfer QB from Bowling Green is expected to bring back the deep pass, and we've picked up several guys from the max exodus from MD.

[Silenoz]

Someone recently pointed out SHSU has all of 3 home games this year. I think that alone makes them not the team to beat

[344Johnson]

Until NDSU loses I would put them #1.

Normally I'd say no, but I'm a Bison fan and we got a lot returning this year but like most teams, quite a few questions.

Sucks for SHSU that they are being roadwarriors.

[BisonHype!]

I would lookout for a strong Montana, SHSU, and Youngstown State teams in my unbiased opinion. I think NDSU will be in the mix as well, but it is hard to repeat in this league.

[Apphole]

I would lookout for a strong Montana, SHSU, and Youngstown State teams in my unbiased opinion. I think NDSU will be in the mix as well, but it is hard to repeat in this league.

They'll be good, but they'll be starting 1-1 (beating SD of course)

[TheRevSFA]

Someone recently pointed out SHSU has all of 3 home games this year. I think that alone makes them not the team to beat

3 home games, only one of them OOC (vs Incarnate Word)
Trips to Tx Southern, A&M and Baylor...

The Tx Southern and game vs SFA will be in Houston which is an hour from Huntsville..and Aggieland is soimething like 45 minutes tops from the Prison

[Silenoz]

So they have a non-counter, two Big 12 teams, and two other home games?

Yeah... SHSU has a 0% chance of getting a seed, and a slim chance at the playoffs at that

[Silenoz]

In fact I think it's something like 5 of the last 7 teams to lose the championship have missed the playoffs the next year

[frozennorth]

I don't know why people are so high on montana.

[Sammy94]

Yeah... SHSU has a 0% chance of getting a seed, and a slim chance at the playoffs at that

Really? Granted seeding will be an issue but I'm not sure to many will agree with you that Sam has a slim chance at the playoffs at all. Since this is a FCS message board I think most FCS teams would agree that Sam IS a team to beat.

[Silenoz]

Well I figure SHSU has to go 7-2 in their FCS games for a playoff birth. That's definitely possible, especially in the Southland, but it's also very hard to overcome that many road games. See EWU last year.

A seed will obviously require them to run the table in FCS (and maybe hope for a little luck on top of that)


As for the UND's fans comments per Montana: they've been to the semis or better 5 of the last 8 years. It's definitely a conservative pick to say Montana might be good next year

[Silenoz]

Apologies, 7-1. So if SHSU slips up a single time, they're basically stuck in an elimination game scenario for the rest of the year

Although, 7-4 could still win the Southland I suppose. So maybe I should say SHSU put themselves in a hard spot for getting an at-large

[frozennorth]

As for the UND's fans comments per Montana: they've been to the semis or better 5 of the last 8 years. It's definitely a conservative pick to say Montana might be good next year

conceptually, I think a team to beat is one that should be head and shoulders above it's conference. a team replacing nearly its entire defense is not one that screams 2012 juggernaut.

[NoDak 4 Ever]

As for the UND's fans comments per Montana: they've been to the semis or better 5 of the last 8 years. It's definitely a conservative pick to say Montana might be good next year

Yes, it's perfectly reasonable to believe that Montana will lose in the semis again.

BTW. What is a playoff birth?

[Silenoz]

conceptually, I think a team to beat is one that should be head and shoulders above it's conference. a team replacing nearly its entire defense is not one that screams 2012 juggernaut.

So EWU wasn't a team to beat last preseason? History says Montana is one of the safer bets to finish near the top of the FCS pack, saying they're a team to beat is perfectly reasonable.

[Silenoz]

Yes, it's perfectly reasonable to believe that Montana will lose in the semis again.

BTW. What is a playoff birth?

It's the special formation the UM band does during the playoffs. Like dotting the I, except it's a vagina

[frozennorth]

So EWU wasn't a team to beat last preseason? History says Montana is one of the safer bets to finish near the top of the FCS pack, saying they're a team to beat is perfectly reasonable.

so what part of the incoming staff and team has you convinced about the caliber of 2012 montana.

[Sammy94]

I think a team to beat is one that should be head and shoulders above it's conference.


Sounds like SHSU, not UM.

[Silenoz]

so what part of the incoming staff and team has you convinced about the caliber of 2012 montana.

Where did I say I was convinced of anything? We could go 7-4 again, who knows. Hell, maybe we'll pull a Delaware or NDSU and fall all the way to 3-8. But history says we'll most likely be in the top 10 at the end of the year, which is why I entered our name for consideration, nothing more...

And what about our team?

Not too concerned about losing Breske, since we just promoted his disciple anyways. Smith? It's Pflu's offense anyways, and I'm excited about Rosenbach (that's a copout, because everyone is always excited about a new coordinator, but his relationship with Pflu should help ensure the transition doesn't make waves. You don't fix what isn't broken). New RB coach? The guys loved Delaney, but with Green we've got another coach they love, who's a young guy who not only played for the Griz, but played in the NFL, and can help us recruit Southern Cal. Not that we need to worry about recruiting RBs for a couple years. And maybe another Griz fan can remind me, but did we even have a dedicated safeties coach last year?

On offense, losing Middleton and Sambrano hurts, but we've got some future stars coming up. Josh Denard (unless he moves to CB) and Mitch Saylor will be names the Big Sky knows soon enough. Not to mention the returning studs. If Jordan Johnson can play at all like he did the last 5 games of the season, he's going to be pushing Sorenson for best QB in the conference, if not the country. Last year was in essence his redshirt freshman year, where he already put up poised performances against an SEC team, two quarter-final teams, and a national runner-up. Carver and Gratton have been in action for the last 2-3 years now and are proven commodities. Our RB corp is beast, and Canada was only a frosh last year. Biggest issue will be the performances of Oppy and Sabin's replacements.

Defense is obviously the biggest question mark with the 9 "starters" lost (even though most of them were splitting time with other players). Our team is going to go anywhere between 11-0 and something much worse than that based on the play of our DL and CBs. We've got some JUCO DBs coming to replace our JUCO DBs (McCord and Roots) so hopefully any potential drop-off there is tempered (other than the fact that anyone will be a step or three down from Trumaine). But we've got Tripp back from injury, we've got Kanongata'a coming back. Hermanson is a beast, and he was a true frosh. He'll be our defensive captain by 2013. Tully has plenty of game experience now, and hopefully with Lebsock pushing him for the starting spot he'll step it up

In other words, are we rebuilding or reloading? Most of the time (if not always) it turns out to be the later

[NoDak 4 Ever]

Where did I say I was convinced of anything? We could go 7-4 again, who knows. Hell, maybe we'll pull a Delaware or NDSU and fall all the way to 3-8. But history says we'll most likely be in the top 10 at the end of the year, which is why I entered our name for consideration, nothing more...

And what about our team?

Not too concerned about losing Breske, since we just promoted his disciple anyways. Smith? It's Pflu's offense anyways, and I'm excited about Rosenbach (that's a copout, because everyone is always excited about a new coordinator, but his relationship with Pflu should help ensure the transition doesn't make waves. You don't fix what isn't broken). New RB coach? The guys loved Delaney, but with Green we've got another coach they love, who's a young guy who not only played for the Griz, but played in the NFL, and can help us recruit Southern Cal. Not that we need to worry about recruiting RBs for a couple years. And maybe another Griz fan can remind me, but did we even have a dedicated safeties coach last year?

On offense, losing Middleton and Sambrano hurts, but we've got some future stars coming up. Josh Denard (unless he moves to CB) and Mitch Saylor will be names the Big Sky knows soon enough. Not to mention the returning studs. If Jordan Johnson can play at all like he did the last 5 games of the season, he's going to be pushing Sorenson for best QB in the conference, if not the country. Last year was in essence his redshirt freshman year, where he already put up poised performances against an SEC team, two quarter-final teams, and a national runner-up. Carver and Gratton have been in action for the last 2-3 years now and are proven commodities. Our RB corp is beast, and Canada was only a frosh last year. Biggest issue will be the performances of Oppy and Sabin's replacements.

Defense is obviously the biggest question mark with the 9 "starters" lost (even though most of them were splitting time with other players). Our team is going to go anywhere between 11-0 and something much worse than that based on the play of our DL and CBs. We've got some JUCO DBs coming to replace our JUCO DBs (McCord and Roots) so hopefully any potential drop-off there is tempered (other than the fact that anyone will be a step or three down from Trumaine). But we've got Tripp back from injury, we've got Kanongata'a coming back. Hermanson is a beast, and he was a true frosh. He'll be our defensive captain by 2013. Tully has plenty of game experience now, and hopefully with Lebsock pushing him for the starting spot he'll step it up

In other words, are we rebuilding or reloading? Most of the time (if not always) it turns out to be the later

You can reload all you want but your shot generally ends a few feet short of the target. The Griz have been remarkably inconsistent away from WG.

[Silenoz]

Do you mean in the playoffs or in general?

[Blue Eagle]

My preseason top teams to beat in '12:

SHSU
Georgia Southern
Montana
Youngstown State
JMU

NDSU will also be in the mix....

Ga. Southern needs to make significant improvement on defense. If they do they should be a very good team.

[BucBisonAtLarge]

Kudos, Brock, for backing up your argument with a illuminating breakdown of the Griz 2012. I think the BSC, first year in the new format, will be a challenge, with a more than a few surprise outcomes.