Buzzilla
I'm all out of bubblegum
- Joined
- Dec 31, 2001
- Messages
- 807
Trying to keep it short, Reggie Ball is the real deal but will certainly make some freshmen mistakes. He will also likely lead us to an unexpected victory or two. Running game is going to be o.k. behind an experienced offensive line. If P.J. can stay healthy we will be productive on the ground. It drops off in terms of toughness some after P.J. I haven't seen it in practice but I would be very surprised if Gailey doesn't install the option for BYU. I would expect to see Chris Woods or Reshaun Grant used a lot with this. Our starting recievers are VERY good (Curry and Smith). Again, if we can keep them healthy we will be productive in the air. It drops off a good bit fromthere. Levon Thomas has a lot of promise as does Xavier Mcguire and Chris Dunlop. Bilbo may very well turn out to be the biggest surprise. I have confidence that Gailey will find ways to get him in the mix. Offensively, I'm betting we'll average about 24 to 27 points a game IF we can keep most folks healthy. Defensively, if not for the devastating academic casualties and likely not getting Gathers back (at least early) and now the injury to Newberry, this defense would have been very good. Even with all the bad luck, the defense will be good and certainly fun to watch as there is likely to be more gambling than usual with blitzes. We'll be better than many think here. Our secondary will be better than we've seen in some time though some of the gambling may lead to some big burns. I don't think I've ever seen so much speed in the secondary. I'm betting we will average giving up about 21-23 a game. All said, we may be a better team than last year and still lose 5 or 6 games (or more). The schedule is awfully demanding and the team is just too thin in very important positions but I think we will be more fun to watch than last years team and if we can catch a few breaks may even have a better record. Too many unknowns to reasonably project a record but I can see 7-5 or 6-6 pretty easily. The BYU game is big. Won't be long now.
