As always, we are sending this one out to giacomo or anyone else who thinks it is a complete waste of time to think about the future and predict outcomes and other fun tasks. And again the only rule is you can't comment on other people's picks at any point in the season unless you yourself post your picks. Ryan Carey is currently developing a script that will send lightning bolts thru your keyboard the moment you do it. He is that good of a programmer, don't risk it.

8/31 @ Syracuse -
9/7 vs South Alabama -
9/14 vs Morgan State -
9/21 @ Kentucky -
9/28 vs Akron -
10/12 @ Central Mich -
10/19 @ Fiami -
10/26 vs Buffalo -
11/6 @ Kent St -
11/13 vs Eastern Mich -
11/20 @ Toledo -
11/29 vs Ball St -

Conference Champ (W, L, or N/A) -
Bowl Game (W, L, or N/A) -

Total Record -

8/31 @ Syracuse - L
9/7 vs South Alabama - W
9/14 vs Morgan State - W
9/21 @ Kentucky - L
9/28 vs Akron - W
10/12 @ Central Mich - L
10/19 @ Fiami - L
10/26 vs Buffalo - W
11/6 @ Kent St - W
11/13 vs Eastern Mich - W
11/20 @ Toledo - L
11/29 vs Ball St - W

Conference Champ (W, L, or N/A) - N/A
Bowl Game (W, L, or N/A) - L

Total Record 7-6

8/31 @ Syracuse - L
9/7 vs South Alabama -L (50/50 but only because we're at home. SA will be good)
9/14 vs Morgan State -W
9/21 @ Kentucky -L
9/28 vs Akron -W
10/12 @ Central Mich -W
10/19 @ Miami -L
10/26 vs Buffalo -W
11/6 @ Kent St -W
11/13 vs Eastern Mich -W
11/20 @ Toledo -L
11/29 vs Ball St -W

My optimistic guess...

7-5, though 6-6 feels likely. I usually have a fairly good estimation of where we are as a team (I guessed 10 wins last season hiyoo), but this season is about as in the dark as I've ever been. OU is 1-11 when scoring 17 or less points since 2016. This season we wont have the defense to stop many people, do we have the offense to keep up? No idea. I have doubts.

I have high hopes for Parker, on a team returning less than 10% on offense, Parker has been in the building a long time. Time to lead. Though we have almost 0 returning WR production, we have a lot of hungry transfers ready to be the next Wiglusz. I think RHJ is as good as advertised, but if Parker can't throw it down field, or we can't get creative on offense teams are gonna put 22 in the box and if I know Albin like I think I know Albin the Tyus is gonna get 3 up the middle and the punter is gonna get a full buffet of work.

Highs:
69
RHJ + Tyus should be a strong 1-2
DB should be a strength
Brian has taken over OC
We have almost zero usable tape from the previous season to scout against


Lows:
Take your pick

8/31 @ Syracuse - L...I'll eat my words likely in the next week, but it feels like people are a bit too high on 'Cuse right now, especially around here. I'm betting it'll end up being close, within a score or so in the 4th quarter but I don't think we leave there with a win.
9/7 vs South Alabama - W...in The Athletic's rundown of the 134 teams in order, they have South Alabama at 97 and OHIO at 98. Gotta hope that home field advantage plays well here.
9/14 vs Morgan State - W
9/21 @ Kentucky - L...this one I do think will be ugly.
9/28 vs Akron - W
10/12 @ Central Mich - W...but not confident
10/19 @ Fiami - L
10/26 vs Buffalo - W
11/6 @ Kent St - W
11/13 vs Eastern Mich - W
11/20 @ Toledo - L
11/29 vs Ball St - W

Conference Champ (W, L, or N/A) - Nah, Miami keeps us from that
Bowl Game (W, L, or N/A) - yeah, but how can you predict these games anymore? You don't even know which of your players will opt out due to the portal. We won last year with a QB and an RB that hadn't really ever played for us. Impossible to predict this.

Regular season: 8-4. Wow, that'd be a dream.

https://www.bing.com/search?q=ohio+bobcats+beat+UK+footba... Ohhhhhh UUUUUUU Ohhhhhh Yeah!!!

8/31 @ Syracuse - L
9/7 vs South Alabama -W
9/14 vs Morgan State -W
9/21 @ Kentucky -L
9/28 vs Akron -W
10/12 @ Central Mich -L
10/19 @ Fiami -L
10/26 vs Buffalo -W
11/6 @ Kent St -W
11/13 vs Eastern Mich -W
11/20 @ Toledo -L
11/29 vs Ball St -W

An optimistic 7-5

I'll say a win in the bowl game since they won't be hurt as much by the portal

8-5

8/31 @ Syracuse - L
9/7 vs South Alabama - W
9/14 vs Morgan State - W
9/21 @ Kentucky - L
9/28 vs Akron - W
10/12 @ Central Mich - L
10/19 @ Fiami - L
10/26 vs Buffalo - W
11/6 @ Kent St - W
11/13 vs Eastern Mich - W
11/20 @ Toledo - L
11/29 vs Ball St - W

Conference Champ (W, L, or N/A) - N/A
Bowl Game (W, L, or N/A) - W

Total Record - 8-5

8/31 @ Syracuse - L
9/7 vs South Alabama - L
9/14 vs Morgan State - W
9/21 @ Kentucky - L
9/28 vs Akron - W
10/12 @ Central Mich - L
10/19 @ Fiami - W - I find your lack of faith disturbing.
10/26 vs Buffalo - W
11/6 @ Kent St - W
11/13 vs Eastern Mich - W
11/20 @ Toledo - L
11/29 vs Ball St - W

Conference Champ (W, L, or N/A) - N/A
Bowl Game (W, L, or N/A) - W

Total Record - 8-5

Team takes time to gel, as evidenced by a 2-4 start. Revenge in Oxford in front of 3000 quiet fans in red and team goes on a roll. November loss in the Glass Bowl keeps us out of the MAC Championship.

8/31 @ Syracuse - L
9/7 vs South Alabama - W
9/14 vs Morgan State - W
9/21 @ Kentucky - L
9/28 vs Akron - W
10/12 @ Central Mich - L
10/19 @ Fiami - L
10/26 vs Buffalo - W
11/6 @ Kent St - W
11/13 vs Eastern Mich - W
11/20 @ Toledo - L
11/29 vs Ball St - W

Conference Champ (W, L, or N/A) - N/A
Bowl Game (W, L, or N/A) - L

7-6 with a bowl loss.

8/31 @ Syracuse - L
9/7 vs South Alabama - L
9/14 vs Morgan State - W
9/21 @ Kentucky - L
9/28 vs Akron - W
10/12 @ Central Mich - L
10/19 @ Fiami - L
10/26 vs Buffalo - W
11/6 @ Kent St - W
11/13 vs Eastern Mich - W
11/20 @ Toledo - L
11/29 vs Ball St - W

Conference Champ (W, L, or N/A) - N/A
Bowl Game (W, L, or N/A) - W

Total Record - 7-6

Encouraging rebuild year, starting 2-5 and finishing 5-1 with lots of optimism going into 2025.

So general view appears to be:

Wins: 5
9/14 vs Morgan State - W
9/28 vs Akron - W
10/26 vs Buffalo - W
11/6 @ Kent St - W
11/13 vs Eastern Mich - W

Losses: 5
8/31 @ Syracuse - L
9/21 @ Kentucky - L
10/12 @ Central Mich - L
10/19 @ Fiami - L (you never know)
11/20 @ Toledo - L

Pivotal Games: 2
9/7 vs South Alabama - L
11/29 vs Ball St - W

Will Morgan St count towards bowl eligibility?

Narrative at end of season could very well be "Ohio has got hot at the right time, winning 4 of their last 5 games to become bowl eligible" ---- but might a reflection of schedule versus growth.

interesting season awaits.

On a board full of Ohio fans, in a game where if it were week 1 Ohio MIGHT be favored to win, it would be very close to a zero line, only 29% picked Ohio to beat CMU. They are in our heads. Even though I know it is a silly reason, the main reason I picked Ohio to lose in Mount Pleasant is that we always have. Since 1975 we are 5-27-2 against them. That's just weird because it isn't like they have been the dominant MAC program in that time frame.


I'm glad CMU showed last night but maybe that's reason to be even less optimistic. I don't know how much to read into that score though. There is a very good chance that Central Connecticut is one of the 5 worst teams in D1 that isn't non-scholarship.

1975 is the year they joined the MAC. I knew they had been pretty good over that time. I would have guessed without thought without looking that Toledo was the best program over that time. You may be right though.