Russ, don't tell anybody, but I'm hearing rumors that Devwah Whaley has silently committed to OU. Cale Gundy said that he's the best RB in the country. I'll really be curious to see if OU can close the deal on this kid. I have a feeling that either Mixon or Perine will leave for the NFL after this season, so we'll need him. Like I said, don't hold me to this. It's just a rumor that's going around. But we'll know soon enough.
I expected a little more out of Penn St in 2014. They finished at 7-6 after starting off the season at 4-0.
They finished the regular season at 7-5 before losing their bowl game to Mich St 10-34.
In league play they took Ohio St to overtime and lost to Maryland by 3 and Illinois by 2.
HC James Franklin should do much better in 2015 and has 8 starters back on offense and 7 on defense.
QB Christian Hackenberg should have a good season. According to Steele they have 83 acholarship players this year so they should be fully recovered from penalties from the NCAA.
They have a great shot at starting the season at 5-0 this year (at Temple, Buffalo, Rutgers, S.D.
St and Army.
I expect much more this year than last and this year I think they will get it done.
They finished the regular season at 7-5 before losing their bowl game to Mich St 10-34.
In league play they took Ohio St to overtime and lost to Maryland by 3 and Illinois by 2.
HC James Franklin should do much better in 2015 and has 8 starters back on offense and 7 on defense.
QB Christian Hackenberg should have a good season. According to Steele they have 83 acholarship players this year so they should be fully recovered from penalties from the NCAA.
They have a great shot at starting the season at 5-0 this year (at Temple, Buffalo, Rutgers, S.D.
St and Army.
I expect much more this year than last and this year I think they will get it done.
Penn State was a whisker from being 0-8 in conference (3 point win vs Rutgers, 6 point win vs Indiana), of course they also were a whisker from being 6-2 in the conference...there was also a 5 point loss to Michigan. The ended 2-6 so more games broke against them than for them. Law of averages says more of those games will break for them this year.
right, the year after they won 9 games and controlled their own destiny late in the season in the SEC
- another huge Steele surprise(i didn't specifically mean Ole Miss...i meant traditionally shitty teams that would truly be a surprise if they were great)
homerish pick but if Voytik gets through fall practice healthy and Boyd's DUI doesn't land him off the team I would call Pitt the surprise team of 2015. But much easier to say a team that is fully expected to win 9-10+ games like his top 6 'surprises'
right, the year after they won 9 games and controlled their own destiny late in the season in the SEC
(i didn't specifically mean Ole Miss...i meant traditionally shitty teams that would truly be a surprise if they were great)
homerish pick but if Voytik gets through fall practice healthy and Boyd's DUI doesn't land him off the team I would call Pitt the surprise team of 2015. But much easier to say a team that is fully expected to win 9-10+ games like his top 6 'surprises'
Now there is a difference between Steele's surprise teams and his most improved teams. Two separate lists. Pitt is #4 on his most improved list.
Penn State couldn't block anybody last year. Hackenberg was sacked 44 times and struggled at times. He needs protection and I'm not sure this year's O-line can provide that. They did sign JUCO OT Paris Palmer who could start at left tackle.
The defense is what I like about the Nittany Lions. Should be pretty solid...................
On Phil Steele's blog there was an article where he ranked the teams (1 thru 128) on % of yards returning. W Virginia was #111, Duke #116, Boise St #118, Florida St #119, S Carolina #120, G Tech #123, Alabama #126, Auburn #127. Ranked last (#1280 was Kansas St which is returning only 18.69 of last years offense.
This is a toss up game with Utah getting points for home field. Other than Utah's kickers, I believe Michigan has the better team. Also, there's something going on with HC Kyle Whittingham and his staff. Both coordinators bailed along with a couple of assistants. Word is Whittingham and the athletic director aren't on the same page which is creating a difficult environment.
I'll take the points in this one all day long.
I was going over Steele’s site and something caught my attention. I was doing some research on Tennessee and noticed that on his list of % of returning yards that the Vols came in at 55.46%. Well this is where math is math and numbers are just numbers. That ranking is accurate in some ways since QB Justin Worley has departed. He started the first 7 games. Well his replacement, Joshua Dobbs, finished up the season so his stats were retained. However, if you would extend Dobb’s stats through a whole season the % of returning yards would move up quite a bit.
Worley passed for 1579 yds and Dobbs passed for 1206 yds. Throw in the fact that Dobbs wound up as their #2 rusher and that enhances the equation.
So when and if you take this type of list/rankings into consideration you need to sometimes look into them a little closer. Dobbs could turn out to be a true star this season and in terms of total yards should at least exceed what Worley did overall in 2014.
It is also worth mentioning that Tenn returns their top 2 rushers and top 9 receivers. So I think it is safe to say that barring key injuries that Tenn could improve offensively in 2015.
Worley passed for 1579 yds and Dobbs passed for 1206 yds. Throw in the fact that Dobbs wound up as their #2 rusher and that enhances the equation.
So when and if you take this type of list/rankings into consideration you need to sometimes look into them a little closer. Dobbs could turn out to be a true star this season and in terms of total yards should at least exceed what Worley did overall in 2014.
It is also worth mentioning that Tenn returns their top 2 rushers and top 9 receivers. So I think it is safe to say that barring key injuries that Tenn could improve offensively in 2015.
