2015 Season Prediction Thread

[LRRandy]

Oh, by the way.  I don't think I ever congratulated you on Ohio States national title.

Congratulations.

thanks.

[MuskogeeHogFan]

Recruiting (or recruiting rankings) is a very important factor in predicting a seasons outcome.....but scheduling is almost as important.   Where the game is played, and when the games are played are very crucial to outcomes.

Just consider the LSU game last season.  We played at home and had a week off to prep for the Tigers.   LSU had just come off a devastating loss to Alabama.   Scheduling was the primary reason why we beat LSU so handily.

And Ole Miss had an open date prior to playing us (actually two weeks if you count their game against Presbyterian), giving them plenty of time to heal and prepare and had the benefit of scouting the LSU game a week ahead of playing us.

Given those advantages, how could they possibly be beaten so handily by a team that hadn't won an SEC game until they faced LSU?

I agree that who a team has in their returning two deep, how much experience they have and when and where the game is played in the course of a season are all important, but the Ole Miss game alone proves that none of these are absolute guarantees of success, or failure.

[Ray Piggers]

UTEP W
Toledo (LR) W
Texas Tech W
Texas A&M (Arlington) W
@Tennessee (TOSS UP) W
@Alabama L
Auburn W
UT Martin W
@Ole Miss W
@LSU L
Mississippi State W
Missouri W

10-2

Best Case: 11-1
Worst Case: 8-4

[HogMantheIntruder]

Best case, 15-0

Worst case, 0-12

My guess is somewhere in the middle, so that's what I'm sticking with..

Link?

[Senility]

Hogs lose to Toledo, Texas A&M and Auburn, winning the others

[hogcard1964]

11-2

[GalaHawg]

Par season: 8-4
Good season: 9-3
Great season: 10-2 or better

[duckman]

UTEP W
Toledo (LR) W
Texas Tech W
Texas A&M (Arlington) W
@Tennessee W
@Alabama W
Auburn W
UT Martin W
@Ole Miss W
@LSU L
Mississippi State W
Missouri W

[razorjack12]

but the Ole Miss game alone proves that none of these are absolute guarantees of success, or failure.

Of course there are no absolutes in sports.

However, Ole Miss had lost 2 of their 3 games before us...and we deflated after a promising start to the season.  They also had injuries to deal with.   Im not certain we would have beaten them had we played in Sept or Oct.

[MuskogeeHogFan]

Im not certain we would have beaten them had we played in Sept or Oct.

I agree but only because there was a big difference in our team from the Auburn game to where we were in the last half of the season. I imagine that Auburn is very happy that they were able to play us the first game of the season, as opposed to facing us in the second half of the season. It could easily have been an entirely different outcome.

[jkstock04]

UTEP --- W
Toledo (LR) --- W
Texas Tech --- W
Texas A&M (Arlington) ---L
@Tennessee --- Toss up
@Alabama --- L
Auburn --- L
UT Martin --- W
@Ole Miss --- W
@LSU --- L
Mississippi State --- W
Missouri --- W

To me Tennessee is the biggest question mark. We win that game I'm seeing 8 solid wins. Honestly I don't have much logic for us beating Mizzou other than we have them at the end of the year at home...hopefully that's a W. So for myself I'm seeing 7 wins...8 if we beat Tennessee.

[hogcard1964]

UTEP --- W
Toledo (LR) --- W
Texas Tech --- W
Texas A&M (Arlington) ---L
@Tennessee --- Toss up
@Alabama --- L
Auburn --- L
UT Martin --- W
@Ole Miss --- W
@LSU --- L
Mississippi State --- W
Missouri --- W

To me Tennessee is the biggest question mark. We win that game I'm seeing 8 solid wins. Honestly I don't have much logic for us beating Mizzou other than we have them at the end of the year at home...hopefully that's a W. So for myself I'm seeing 7 wins...8 if we beat Tennessee.

You believe we'll lose to A& M and Auburn?  I think that's two teams we'll thump pretty good.

[jkstock04]

You believe we'll lose to A& M and Auburn?  I think that's two teams we'll thump pretty good.

Ya I just havent seen enough to make me believe we can keep up with their talent level. Also a big concern I have going into this season is the losses we will have on defense. I absolutely do believe in the new DC scheme but think we have some growing pains there with the player losses.

Also we don't have an elite talent on offense to really be a game changer. This offense doesn't have a DMAC, Matt Jones, Ryan Mallett, or Joe Adams. I think this will be a good team...the best Bielema has had here...but I'm not seeing elite status of 10+ wins. Still more question marks than answers.

[DeltaBoy]

UTEP W
Toledo (LR) W
Texas Tech W
Texas A&M (Arlington) W
@Tennessee W
@Alabama L
Auburn W
UT Martin W
@Ole Miss W
@LSU W
Mississippi State W
Missouri W

I say worst case 8-4 next year, best case 11-1.

Worst case: We could definitely lose to Bama, Auburn, and two of Tenner, LSU, Ole Miss, or Mizzouri.

Best case: Auburn will have a better qb this year, and what could be a better DC. However, we were putting Auburn in 3 and outs by the end of the first half. We had started to figure JJ out. Tennessee is on a similar trajectory as us which is why they could be a loss, especially away, but I have to say I like our odds to win more than lose. LSU struggled with offense last year but had a solid defense. This year, their defense and offense mostly remain intact. They will be a better LSU team; however, they still have the problem of not  having a good qb. Bama replaces a quartberback but they return a good amount.

I agree.

[MuskogeeHogFan]

Ya I just havent seen enough to make me believe we can keep up with their talent level. Also a big concern I have going into this season is the losses we will have on defense. I absolutely do believe in the new DC scheme but think we have some growing pains there with the player losses.

Also we don't have an elite talent on offense to really be a game changer. This offense doesn't have a DMAC, Matt Jones, Ryan Mallett, or Joe Adams. I think this will be a good team...the best Bielema has had here...but I'm not seeing elite status of 10+ wins. Still more question marks than answers.

Everyone loses talent at key positions, some more than others. Check out the returning two deep of our opponents that I posted on page one of this thread.

[robs4516]

Hogs lose to Toledo, Texas A&M and Auburn, winning the others

I think you've chosen your username wisely.

[bennyl08]

Everyone loses talent at key positions, some more than others. Check out the returning two deep of our opponents that I posted on page one of this thread.

http://www.hogville.net/yabbse/index.php?topic=588956.0

Then combine that two deep information with the returning production information here. Two deep is only as useful as the amount of rotation used. Not to mention it can me somewhat meaningless when injuries are taken into account.

[IntegrityHog]

UTEP --- W
Toledo (LR) --- W
Texas Tech --- W
Texas A&M (Arlington) ---L
@Tennessee --- L
@Alabama --- L
Auburn --- L
UT Martin --- W
@Ole Miss --- L
@LSU --- L
Mississippi State ----W
Missouri --- W

I see 7-5, with a Liberty Bowl win over West Virginia.  That gives us 8 wins total, which is great progress considering the tire fire that CBB inherited.

[MuskogeeHogFan]

http://www.hogville.net/yabbse/index.php?topic=588956.0

Then combine that two deep information with the returning production information here. Two deep is only as useful as the amount of rotation used. Not to mention it can me somewhat meaningless when injuries are taken into account.

Condense the information and post it over here. It's good info, just spread out.

[Arkfan]

Im either missing something or some of you are setting yourselves up for a long hard fall.

How do you lose Spaight (the leading tackler in the SEC), Philon, and Flowers and get better like some of you have suggested? Heck, it would be a miracle if they stayed as good but better?  smh

[lefty08]

Im either missing something or some of you are setting yourselves up for a long hard fall.

How do you lose Spaight (the leading tackler in the SEC), Philon, and Flowers and get better like some of you have suggested? Heck, it would be a miracle if they stayed as good but better?  smh

Not so sure it would be a miracle, most believe with the uptick in recruiting the replacements are already on campus. I can't predict 10 wins like some in this thread, but I absolutely wouldnt be shocked by 10 wins this year. Hell, we very nearly could have had 9 last year. Losing 3 guys on defense and 2 on offense is actually pretty good regardless of the talent of those 5 guys

[MuskogeeHogFan]

Im either missing something or some of you are setting yourselves up for a long hard fall.

How do you lose Spaight (the leading tackler in the SEC), Philon, and Flowers and get better like some of you have suggested? Heck, it would be a miracle if they stayed as good but better?  smh

One thing to consider is the great strides that Spaight made in a single year with different coaching. In 2013 we all hoped Spaight would run around "Spaighting" people all over the field. While he was a contributor in 2013 I think it is fair to say that it took him a year to adjust, or maybe it was as simple as changing to a different scheme that fit his particular skill set better?

It always hurts to lose major contributors but I think as Bielema alluded to, he expects their production to be replaced and shared by more members of the defense as a whole, than last year. That's possible. And while it would be great to have a top 10 defense this year, I do expect that there may be some drop off in production this year, but not all that much. We could easily be a top 15 or 20 defense instead of top 10. But if the offensive productivity improves, I'd take a top 20 defense while playing in the SEC, any day.

[Jeff "hogfanintx" Anderson]

4th in the west

[Prestworthy]

Im either missing something or some of you are setting yourselves up for a long hard fall.

How do you lose Spaight (the leading tackler in the SEC), Philon, and Flowers and get better like some of you have suggested? Heck, it would be a miracle if they stayed as good but better?  smh

No one even knew Speight existed before Rob Smith got here. Had one year with him and led the league. I don't expect a drop off in production.

[RyeHogFan]

UTEP --- W
Toledo (LR) --- W
Texas Tech --- W
Texas A&M (Arlington) ---L
@Tennessee --- L
@Alabama --- L
Auburn --- L
UT Martin --- W
@Ole Miss --- L
@LSU --- L
Mississippi State ----W
Missouri --- W

I see 7-5, with a Liberty Bowl win over West Virginia.  That gives us 8 wins total, which is great progress considering the tire fire that CBB inherited.

Not to be nitpicky, but you say 7-5 as your final prediction although above with your individual game W-L prediction, it's 6-6. Just saying

[SooiecidetillNuttgone]

Well I'm with you, Tusk.    (See above.)

[rickm1976]

10-2 regular season.

Losses to Alabama and Auburn.

Yeah, same here.  If we had Bama in Fayetteville, I think we might take them, but not this time.  I think both games will be close but no cigar.

[hogcard1964]

4th in the west

That would be dreadful.

[Swinesong1]

And another...