[SuperJon]

Stole it from the Coastal board. How many games will we win this year and which ones will they be?

08/31 - St. Paul's
09/09 - Glenville State
09/16 - @ Savannah State
09/23 - @ Towson
09/30 - @ Wake Forest
10/07 - Open
10/14 - William & Mary (Homecoming)
10/21 - Gardner-Webb*
10/28 - @ Coastal Carolina*
11/04 - Western Carolina
11/11 - Charleston Southern*
11/18 - @ VMI*


Here's my take:

Wins: St. Pauls, Glenville St, SSU

Losses: Towson, Wake, Bill & Mary, Coastal, Western, CSU

Possible wins: Gardner Webb, VMI

I can see anything from 3-8 to 5-6.

[Sly Fox]

OK, I'll play. But I am considerably more optimistic.

Wins: St. Pauls, Glenville St, Savannah St, WCU, CSU & VMI

Possible Wins: Towson, G-W & CCU

Likely Losses: Wake Forest and William & Mary.

I see us anywhere from 6-5 to 9-2. Yeah I know that sounds ridiculous but other than our three blowout losses last year we probably cold/should have won the rest. With new coaching and some nice additions to a strong core of freshmen & sophomores I feel we are in for our best season a long time.

[A.G.]

Eight and three. Take it to the bank! 2006 Big South Champs.

[PAmedic]

AG beat me to it.

We go 8-3, losing only to Towson, Wake and a let-down at the hands of Western Carolina.

They key is exactly what SLY said: we could've had 4 more wins last year- if not more. That young team beat itself more often than not- I saw it first hand.

Maturity + coaching + nice signings = LU being VERY TOUGH in-conference this year.

EDIT: reading this, I'm scared by how much I agree w/ SLY

[bigsmooth]

7-4 OVERALL, 3-1 BSC, tie for conference championship. losses to wake, W&M, coastal and wcu

[Chris Lang]

Not making any predictions, but remember folks about last year ...

vs. VMI ... missed a FG that would have sent it to overtime
vs. Chattanooga ... blew a 10-point lead late
vs. Coastal Carolina ... lost in three overtimes and had multiple chances to win
at Gardner-Webb ... driving for the go-ahead score in the final two minutes
at Charleston Southern ... blew 11-point lead in the fourth

The difference between 1-10 and 6-5 was REAL small.

Add better coaching and new personnel, and things could change in a hurry.

[thesportscritic]

I would say 6-5 this year. Hopefully even better than 6-5

[Stevev]

That is a very positive way to look at things Chris.

Here is my prediction after doing a position by position analysis assumming that all of the underclassmen that have played or redshirted return and also based on the 3 incoming transferes and new recruits.

I believe we should go at least 7-4 due to the weakness of the schedule and obviously some of the significant changes that I know about.

Wins that should be: Savannah State, St Pauls, Glenville St, Chuck South, Gardner Webb, VMI
Games that should go either way: Towson, William and Mary, Western Carolina, Coastal Carolina
Definate Loss: Wake Forest


Anything lower than 7-4 would be considered a disapointment considering our weak overall schedule. It would be nice to do better but considering the fact that this could be somewhat of a rebuilding year as far as LU getting used to a new system I am going to downplay my expectations. Of course our success depends on us winning some of those tossup games such as Towson, W & M, or Coastal. It would probably take at least a 9-2 record for us to even be considered for the playoffs and even then that might be on the optimistic side of things. Hopefully we can use the first 3 games as an extention of fall practice to build confidence and work on trying things out to see what works or trying different combinations. I hope that I am not being too optimistic here since my reputation here on this board is the exact opposite.

[Chris Lang]

I wouldn't dismiss Chuck South as a fluke, either. They lived a charmed life last year winning games they had no business winning, but they bring just about everyone back.

[Stevev]

Me and others out there kind of dismiss them due to their incredibly soft schedule and dark past but maybe LU should start taking them seriously. VMI could be another team that should improve due to the hiring of Jim Reid as head coach. He had a lot of success at UMass and Richmond and could do the same thing with VMI.

[BJWilliams]

Stole it from the Coastal board. How many games will we win this year and which ones will they be?

08/31 - St. Paul's
09/09 - Glenville State
09/16 - @ Savannah State
09/23 - @ Towson
09/30 - @ Wake Forest
10/07 - Open
10/14 - William & Mary (Homecoming)
10/21 - Gardner-Webb*
10/28 - @ Coastal Carolina*
11/04 - Western Carolina
11/11 - Charleston Southern*
11/18 - @ VMI*


Here's my take:

Wins: St. Pauls, Glenville St, SSU

Losses: Towson, Wake, Bill & Mary, Coastal, Western, CSU

Possible wins: Gardner Webb, VMI

I can see anything from 3-8 to 5-6.

This is my take:

Lock wins: St Pauls, Glenville St, Sav St., VMI, G-W
Toss-up: Towson, W&M, Coastal, Western, CSU
Loss: Wake (although if we somehow got the win it would get us on Sportscenter which would be nice)

If we win the toss up games we should then 9-2 is a good possibility. If we win ALL of them, we go 10-1. Im thinking more in the 7-4 to 9-2 vein with a BSC title

[SuperJon]

Football is a game where you have to learn to win. You have to learn to put teams away. These guys don't know how to do that. They coughed up multiple wins last year when one play would've sealed the deal. 9-2 is extremely optimistic. Anything less than 7-4 is a disappointment? That's a stretch. I'd shoot for 5-6 or 6-5 as being a good season.

[LUconn]

AG beat me to it.

We go 8-3, losing only to Towson, Wake and a let-down at the hands of Western Carolina.

They key is exactly what SLY said: we could've had 4 more wins last year- if not more. That young team beat itself more often than not- I saw it first hand.

Maturity + coaching + nice signings = LU being VERY TOUGH in-conference this year.

EDIT: reading this, I'm scared by how much I agree w/ SLY

Close. 7-4. No letdown to western but CSU shoudl be just as good and while I think our gap in between CCU and us has narrowed, it's on the road and to me is a loss. I see the new staff lighting the world on fire next year and then a few mediocre teams after. That seems to be the cycle before you find out what a staff is really made of.

[Sly Fox]

I agree that if we were playing the Chants at Williams Stadium I would favor us. But travelling down to Conway changes things. Frankly, I would almost be surprised if CCU finished with a better overall record than us after they upgraded their schedule and we watered ours down a bit.

As for CSU, they are now fully-funded with scholies and should be much more competitive year in and year out,

[ATrain]

I'm predicting 9-2, losing only to Wake and W&M...we go 4-0 in conference play to claim our first football title.

[Chris Lang]

Don't put VMI in the lock category either. They play people extremely tough at home. They were the only ones to beat CSU last year. They took Wofford and Lehigh to the wire there recently. Only W&M has really gone into Lexington and dominated in recent years. No way that game, on the road, is a "lock."

I think SuperJon has the right take on this. 9-2? That's really, really almost absurdly optimistic considering how much the Flames struggled last season. Plus, W&M and Western are going to be better teams, and a lot of Gardner-Webb's pups got thrown in the fire at the end of last season.

To me, the "locks" end after the first three games.

[Sly Fox]

Come on, Chris. You should know by now that hope spring eternal this time of year. It applies not only to MLB but also to college football as well.

As for locks, I learned a long time ago that there are no such things when you are dealing with 18- to 22-year-olds.

[ATrain]

Yes...I know 9-2 is really optimistic, but not quite as ridiculous as 10-1 (some people I know, mostly with some type of connection to the team, are saying that) now is it? Do I really, truly, believe 9-2? Not 100%, but I think its possible and I'm going to be my way-in-the-outfield self and make that my prediction. And no, I'm not putting money on it b/c:

1. I'm cheap
2. Its not the Liberty Way

[Stevev]

I think that we all can agree that this schedule is pretty ridiculously weak. I guess with last years lack of success the admin had to do something to scheduling to build confidence to all of the young players that we have on the roster. 9-2 should not be totally out of the question. We will definately loose to Wake Forest. All the other games are winnable but I might be stretching it with William and Mary coming to our place for homecoming. And who knows maybe we could pull a major upset if things happen to fall in place. All the BSC games are winnable even CCU but it is going to be tough to beat them at their place. I am not going to start going into detail about where we stand as far as personnel since with a new coach you never know who is staying or leaving and it is something that might be discussed at a later time. Maybe we could have a great record this year and then upgrade the schedule when we reach that level of competitiveness.

[Chris Lang]

Come on, Chris. You should know by now that hope spring eternal this time of year. It applies not only to MLB but also to college football as well.

As for locks, I learned a long time ago that there are no such things when you are dealing with 18- to 22-year-olds.

No doubt, Sly. But as a sports writer, I feel the need to be overly cynical. Just my nature, I guess.

[Sly Fox]

You want to be cynical? Try having Rice, Texas Southern & Prairie View in your coverage area.

[jimflamesfan]

8-3!!!

That's my prediction.

[Chris Lang]

Well, we do have Virginia and Virginia Tech in our area, two schools battling hard to see who can put more athletes on the police blotter.

[Hold My Own]

I think that we all can agree that this schedule is pretty ridiculously weak. I guess with last years lack of success the admin had to do something to scheduling to build confidence to all of the young players that we have on the roster. 9-2 should not be totally out of the question. We will definately loose to Wake Forest. All the other games are winnable but I might be stretching it with William and Mary coming to our place for homecoming. And who knows maybe we could pull a major upset if things happen to fall in place. All the BSC games are winnable even CCU but it is going to be tough to beat them at their place. I am not going to start going into detail about where we stand as far as personnel since with a new coach you never know who is staying or leaving and it is something that might be discussed at a later time. Maybe we could have a great record this year and then upgrade the schedule when we reach that level of competitiveness.

I asked coach about the weak schedule and he said that last year after only a few games the team was beaten more than most teams are after a full season, and while they didnt give it they never were able to overcome the negative persona....it's kinda like a golfer who's stroke is perfect yet that ball always finds a way to not go in...it's amazing the difference b/t someone with a positive attitude and then a negative attitude...it's night and day

oh and let me say this...it's one thing for a team who's been struggling to have a weaker schedule and it's completely different if you know your going to have a solid team yet still produce a weak schedule

[Stevev]

I think that I see what you are saying "Hold my Own" and it does make sense. I guess it was a pretty brutal stretch last year when we played UConn, YSU, and W & M but LU should have been more equiped to handle those types of teams if Coach Karcher was doing his job properly. I find that there are a number of teams in the Colonial and Southern conferences that have those stretches of games where every game is going to be tough so it is not like LU's schedule was any tougher than teams in those 2 leagues. I am a little concerned that the schedule was being downgraded to bring us in conformity to other teams in this Big South Conference. I hope that is not the case and would be a mistake if it is happening. Hopefullly the schedule will be upgraded in the future to give us more of a chance at postseason and certainly more respect.