AATL wrote: ↑February 1st, 2024, 10:51 pm
The schedule is fine. Not great, not bad; fine. I know it stinks to get dinged (including by the CFP committee) for not playing a P5, but we saw the talent gap between Liberty and a top 5-ish program in the Fiesta Bowl and I also (as a fan) don't find playing .500ish P5 teams particularly rewarding.
Honestly, I love the regional rivalries and I'm excited for App State and ECU. I'm all for the JMU/APP/CCU/ECU/ODU/Marshall-type games. Plus, WKU at home could be a meaningful game late in the season and Jax State should be a worthwhile home game.
Except for the fact we didn’t get dinged by CFP last year for not playing a P5. They were the only “poll” that didn’t ding us. An anomaly - probably. Good news is we play two “brand name” G5 teams early. Plus half the lazy press will give just us credit for last year ( plus our returning offensive Corp ) should be a big leg up early weeks in poll vs last year. The anti LU bias will come as soon as first loss or “bad score” and trying to get a more darling G5 to leap frog us. Bad news is App St and ECU also play each other canceling one of them out - ideal would be Sunbelt champ App St playing ACC champ Clemson tough or winning and LU beating App St.
Teams to watch early
AAC
USF
https://fbschedules.com/2024-usf-football-schedule/
Brutal. Maybe if they upset 1 and play 2 of those decent...maybe. I think their season is over by end of September - but kudos on the schedule.
Tulane
https://fbschedules.com/2024-tulane-football-schedule/
New staff - meh. However KSU loses to G5 teams more often than not, OU dang near lost last time they played Tulane - plus they have a ton of media juice after last year.
UAB
https://fbschedules.com/2024-uab-football-schedule/
P5 Arkansas ( probably favored in that one ( kidding )
2 loss champ and it will be an SMU debate of last year...if they beat AR and win AAC even with 2 losses -tough out.
Mountain West ( my prediction is G5 Rep comes from this conference)
Air Force
https://fbschedules.com/2024-air-force- ... -schedule/
P5 - Baylor / Oregon St. ( will still have the cache of P5 even if they aren’t ).
Fresno St.
https://fbschedules.com/2024-fresno-sta ... -schedule/
P5 - Michigan, UCLA, Washington St.
UNLV (sneaky good winnable/upset schedule
https://fbschedules.com/2024-unlv-football-schedule/
SDSU
https://fbschedules.com/2024-san-diego- ... -schedule/
MAC - it is what it is...
So in short - beat App St. - keep the foot on the pedal - probably better odds on paper than last year was. Most of G5 typical power houses have brutal non con schedule...I will let the resident Boise St fan chime in on their odds ( and whine I left them off ). With landscape in CFP - most likely a new team emerges like LU did last year....going undefeated ( even) in CUSA back to back - a whole other topic.