Horns247 Board

I gotta wait until I at least see a few spring practices before I start wildly prognosticating. I am hoping that with this staff what we work on in the spring and summer feeds directly into our offense in the fall, so prognostication may not be quite as harebrained.

I say 2-3 losses. OU for sure. Maybe Missouri on the road; maybe A&M on the road.

OU isnt a sure loss. Texas almost pulled that game out last season with a crap team. I know it will take some time, but I think things last year were less about talent than coaching and attitude. I would be pretty disappointed if all that happened was just 3 more wins for an 8 win season. With great coaching and the talent on campus this team NEEDS to win 9-10 games min. I think they win at least 9 games next season

Oh, and ut755ln, you left off Texas Tech from your schedule before the Mizzou game.

I'm not sure how anyone can predict anything at this point, especially without seeing the other qb's in action last year and knowing that the only experienced qb on the roster has what might be the worst case of noodle arm I've ever seen.

I'm optimistic. 9-3. And we beat OU. Why?

1) GG having a tough year under his belt will begin to emerge. It all hinges on better OL play, but we've replaced 2 guys who were absolute sieves on the OL last year. GG effectively played with an OL made up of 4 guys instead of 6. Additionally, even with GG's highly likely improvement, Woods could surpass GG and CM with a redshirt under his belt, and all his natural talents. Either way this goes, our QB play is guaranteed to be improved. Let me say again: guaranteed to be improved.

2) Young guys at WR emerging who are very hungry: Davis, White, Hales, Timmons, dark horses, + the enigmatic malcom W. and Goodwin. We had zero leadership at WR last year.

3) A functioning TE. Haven't had this since Blaine went down. Dominique J. began to play and emerge here at the end of the season, and will continue. Blaine Irby returning could be huge. Our TE drought is finally coming to an end.

4) Running backs: Cody J in his Sr. year, Fozzy there w/experience, Malcom Brown working his way in, T. Snead as dark horse, and surely, surely Harsin/Applewhite will find ways to get the explosive DJ Monroe more involved. Again, how can RB not be improved over last year.

5) Offensive scheme. We are now going to actually require other teams to think when they play us. It'll be a first. No longer will OU know our play calls.

Offensive summary: almost every group will be improved significantly, including coaches and scheme. Our OL is still a bit thin, and a bit young, so the improvement here is more about eliminating the constant sieve that could be seen on almost every play by at least one of our 3 departed senior OL/TE's. Also, it may take a year to really get the new offensive system running smoothly. Those 2 factors will likely cost us 2 losses.

Defensively, I think we go sideways.

DT's: we should be the same or better if any of the young guys step up. Very likely at least one of them will. It's why they were recruited. Okafor can continue to slide down as needed.
DE: Wilson and Jeffcoat, with Okafor and D. Johnson can cover this. It's thin, but barring injuries, I think Jeffcoat will breakout and lead this group to good things.
LB: Our OLB's are terrific, as long as they play OLB. We've got to have MLB step up. If so, this group gets better. If not, sideways.
S: this is tough. We have a ton of talent here. But none of them are starting. Gideon will be the smartest guy on the field. If only his body could keep up. C. Scott will definitely be improved, although not sure he'll be good enough to stave off the younger guys. Vacarro is going to dominate from where ever he plays. He is a beast. Phillips is coming on strong too. This group cannot but improve.
CB: decline. Losing Brown and Williams is big. Those guys were outstanding. Chykie, no. So we drop off a bit here. Vaccaro may help, and our young guys coming in will improve as the season progresses.

Defensive summary: we go sideways. Our thin DT/MLB will hurt us against teams that can run hard up the middle. Our new CB's and Safety issues will hurt us earlier in the season until we figure out what to do there, as well as get the new guys some experience. This will cost us 1 game, maybe 2. Sideways for this defense is not such a bad thing if our offense is much improved, as I think it will be. I lean towards only 1 loss due to defense issues.

Overall, 9-3. And, in a coming out party for Harsin, we beat OU.

I agree. The QB position is a huge wildcard. If we are as bad at the QB position as we were last year, I'm not sure there is an OC alive that could get us a winning record.

7-4 to 9-2.
OL and DL concerns expressed here already, but I think a wildcard for next year is the special teams play. Last year was below average, but I am optimistic that enough talent exists to make it a productive unit. We might need a big special teams play here and there to win some games.

Still no assigned special teams coach?

I'm optimistically thinking we win 8 or 9 games. I'm not so sold on A&M. They are losing some important players on defense with Hodges and Miller. Also, I really don't think Tannehill's that good. Texas proved that they could make him a non factor even as bad as we were last year. It was A&M's run game that killed us. If, and that's a big if at this point, we can effectively defend the run next year, and we fix some of our WR and QB problems, I think we win at A&M. Many stars have to align first, though, so we shall see. All I know is I can't wait until next fb season now. I'm really excited to see what this new crew can put together and I hope we are all pleasantly surprised.

7 wins and I'll be happy.

10+ is stretching it, but I could see us winning the Big 12. There are some advantages that we have to go with the disadvantages. Our opponents will struggle gameplanning for us in our first year but unlike most "new staffs" we have a film rat already on staff who is well-schooled on our opponents. He will be key in helping Diaz and Harsin pick out meaningful film to prep them for game planning from week to week. I would posit that we really don't know what we are capable of on offense (particularly at offensive line and tight end). I know what my eyes told me last year: that we were horribly prepared and that we quit on our running game in just about every game before it really made sense to. Are you convinced we won't be able to the run the ball next year? If we can even decently I think our offense will be dangerous by the 8th game.

My concerns actually start with the secondary on defense. We can't play 2 deep with Gideon and Scott and if we rely on cover 3 in our base package I think we will struggle covering the underneath stuff (unless our pass rush is really that immediate).

If I had to put money on it at this stage, I'd probably mark us for 3 losses... with 2 of them coming in the first 6 games (so you and I are not far apart). But by the end of the season I think we will be a team no one wants to play... I think I see a higher ceiling for us next year because I don't think we are as bad on the lines as we appeared to be.

Usually, but not always. Tennessee's snuck in there a couple times. Doubt Florida would go to the Cotton Bowl though. Too many bowls in the state of FL to let the Gators and all their fans go to Dallas. $$$

As for my prediction, Bobby took the words right out of my mouth. I think an 8-3 regular season is right on. There's going to be a learning curve with the new offense and there will be a fair amount of young players with significant roles. 8-3 would be a nice step in the right direction.