... will be a solid victory for the Bobcats, with the defense coming up big and shutting the door on Idaho.

will demonstrate the growth and improvements in our QB's since last season and their potential for leading the team the rest of the year.

we will see a solid defense that wins the game and a QB rotation that will still leave unanswered questions.

I'm on board with that.

Will be disappointing whether we win or lose.

I guess I'm the only cynic here, but we barely beat Idaho at home last year and the trip to Moscow is not easy. Nor is playing in that oddball building. A loss wouldn't shock me, but I expect a narrow win, followed by talk of the apocalypse on this board.

Unless we have miraculous changes on both sides of the ball, no game this year is a gimme. I think we should win this by 10. So, it will probably be a 3-6 point victory.

I hope we see a dominate rushing game and a dominate defensive effort. I do not believe we are going to have our QB situation all sorted out after this one, because I don't think we need to throw heavily to win this football game.

Win by 20, win by 3 or lose by any margin, there are some of this board who won't be happy. There are some on this board who wouldn't be happy if we won the national championship. This is not surprising, as us winning the national championship would mean that Ohio State did not win the national championship.

I'm sure chat will be filled with hope, as always.

Will be an unexpectedly tough game and Ohio will be fortunate to win.

Count me in with SBH and Recovering Journalist. I see Ohio winning but I just don't see Ohio being that good that it can travel across the country and just dominate the home team, a team that's in a conference probably as good as the MAC. I think the loss of Mangen hurts. I'm normally wrong in making predictions so we'll see.

It's a really good point: Unhappiness with our play--irrespective of whether deserved or not--is wrong.

Thank you for your intolerance.

And apparent lack of objectivity.

The defense will play well but give up some big plays. College football is dominated by the offense. We win 33-30 in a game that is close at half and at the end, but one where we lead by 17 in the 2nd half.

We're thin at TE, not definite at qb yet, no returning receiver who's clearly a threat at any moment but our running game looks to be solid...Won't Idaho stack to stop our running?

Yes they will stack the box. Film study from last year; rushing Ouellette 135 yds, Vick/Sprague 14/131 @ 9 yds/c, Vick 4/86. However, passing Sprague/Vick combined for 12/19 or 63% to these same receivers, minus Chase. We all worry, though, mine are for the health of Reid & Cope. Brunis, Brown, Marhefka & Walker need to play this game anyway.

A coach who is blaming negative stories in the media for his team's underwhelming performance is a coach who is in over his head (ask any Reds fan about that).

A team who has to deal with the drama surrounding said media blame, as well as the fallout from some shoplifting, is a team that is focused on things other than football.

The back 7 of the D has been looking impressive, at least to Arkley, who is the primary source we have for team development. Idaho throws first and runs second. Advantage Bobcat defense.

We ought to be able to run the ball effectively, so as long as we avoid stupid penalties and turnovers, we ought to be able to get yards. The only question is whether we score touchdowns or field goals. Red zone effectiveness has been a point of focus by the coaches, so being high on green Kool-Aid, let's assume TDs get scored.

The trip, with the resulting late start, is our biggest disadvantage.

I am calling a 14-17 point win, with solid D and a promising run game. Two players go over 100 yards on the ground. Both QBs play well but not perfect (Vick starts, Sprague gets the 2nd quarter, they split the 3rd quarter, and Windham gets most of the 4th quarter). We go +2 on turnovers, with 1 INT and zero fumbles by the RBs. Idaho makes some noise late but the game is out of reach by that point.