I like the way J.D plays. He wasn't very consistent but at times his play reminded me a lot of Johnny football. He could be a very fun player to watch.

Akron may not finish as high as the media has them, but I do think they will finish... On second thought, you may be right. The whole campus might close before the end of the season, and they may not be in the standings at all.

I admit, DCF, I was surprised, too. I think it also matters the nature of the pick. A deep pick is often essentially a punt, whereas a pick-six stings. I have no way of comparing that, however.

Thanks for the outsider report. Come back anytime.
How about Akron?

Reading what are very few tea leaves, and heavily weighting Frank's almost effusive comments during media day about his stable of running backs, I think the QB battle will be won by who is most effective at managing a run first/QB willing to run instead of pass offense.

If that is JD, so be it. If we can just find THE guy to be the toughest damn SOB under center and is willing to take hits in both the passing and the rushing game and is our best solution as a game manager and on field coach, I'll take that ninety nine times out of 100. Give me a Chandler Harnish or Jordan Lynch before a Matt Johnson any day.

However, I think the guy we have that best fits that description is Greg Windham, not JD or DV, at least from a body type perspective. The wild card with Greg is whether or not he can be an effective game manager. I refuse to believe we cannot find that guy among this group of QBs. I want serviceable and dependable, not flashy and game breaking. What I do not believe we have is a guy who can chuck it up 40-50 times a week, because we continue to hear about arm fatigue from the guys we have, so let's just focus on what we know Frank likely prefers: a strong running game setting up the pass, if indeed you even need to use the pass to do anything other than keep opposing D's honest. I expect a lot of short and intermediate passing with very little over the top, and just pound, pound, pounding the rock. And I also expect a lot of two back sets and counters, not AJUTM with no lead blocking. (http://www.shakinthesouthland.com/2011/6/15/2205829/insid...)

The unfortunate long term ramification of this is difficulty in trying to convince a traditional pocket passer to come to OHIO. You heard it in the presser with Dino Babers' comment (all be it inaccurate) about OHIO's offense being option oriented. I believe that is at the heart of why we haven't been able to recruit a strong passer, and while Frank is at the helm I don't know if we will ever shake that (mis)perception. While I think a heavy run first attack is the right call for the 2015 version of OHIO, I would like to see something a little more reflective of where the game is going in the future, not where it was 20 years ago. But if it means we get back to Detroit THIS YEAR, then who gives a damn.

I am personally very excited about this season, and I feel the 2015 version of OHIO is going to mirror the 2006 season's team: hard nosed run first offense that manages the clock and beats the hell out of opposing D's; a hard nosed D that is extremely physical and that forces teams to beat you with lower percentage medium and long range passes; and wins the TO and special team's battles.

This team isn't going to be sexy, a la the 2012/first half of 2013 TT teams. This is going to be a return to the AE/Kalvin style, and while I'll embrace that, as I feel it plays to our strengths, it will not be very aesthetically pleasing to most fans until wins start to mount.

I think our men are really going to sneak up on a lot of naysayers and prove themselves to be a damn tough out every week. If we don't finish at least 8-4 then you can color me very disappointed. I'll be disappointed if we start 2-2, but even if we do, I still feel that come MACtion we can out tough a bunch of teams, and 6-2 should be a minimum expectation in conference.

While we have some tough sledding in our crossover games, I think we beat BG because we beat the snot out of their finesse passing game and punish their already proven as porous defense. BG's non-con and conference slates are far more difficult than our's, so for me I just don't see BUGS with enough stamina and defense to survive their slate with enough conference W's at the end of November.

The NIU game will be for the MAC East and a birth in the MACC, and our competition for the East will be...wait for it...UMass! We face TooLeeDoo at Ford Field, they bring 20,000 fans to our 2,000, and we shock the world with Monroe's coveted MACC.

Mark the tape, and if I'm wrong I can only be accused of having high expectations, which I prefer to being Debbie Downer.

Nice job, DA. My one concern on offense is whether we can get receivers who'll stretch the field. If not, the running game will have trouble facing nine or ten in the box. Chase was a deep threat who kept defenses honest. We need someone to fill that role this year.

I'll concede both that the two back sets is a heavy dose of wishful thinking on my part, and that just comparing our team to theirs ON PAPER, that BG may be the better from player 1-105 on talent alone. If our staff is too thick to see we need to go heavy on the run this season AND GET CREATIVE IN SCHEME WITH THE RUN, then our greatest fears will be confirmed.

Where I come out of all my cogitating believing we pull a 2012 Kant State (albeit Kant having ultimately lost to NIU in the MACC) is in pouring through the details of the schedules.

Bowling Green has four of the first five on the road (Tenn, MD, Purdue and Beefs), and with the home game against 25th ranked Memphis. Then they host UMASS at home, which pits likely the two most potent offenses in the MAC against each other. There is a not improbable chance they go 1-5 in the first six. BUGS then finishes the season with us at home, at Western, Toledo at home on six days (with Toledo being on seven days having not beaten Toledo since 2009), then finish on the road at Balls.

UMASS doesn't play week one, so they play twelve straight seven day weeks save for six days for their black Friday game at Beefs. They have Colorado in Boulder as their opener which will be tough, both because it is their first game PLUS the altitude. Then they have a tough Temple team at home before playing the Golden Domers. Their MAC slate is fairly pedestrian save for their opener at BUGS, then home against Toledo and on the road at Balls. Those three will be tough outs for a team with a sieve of a defense, and they will have to hope they can win in shootouts. Twelve straight weeks without a bye is tough sledding, so despite a high powered O, they are vulnerable to a lack of rest.

And to extend the schedule analysis to include 'kron, they have a pretty weak schedule save for opening at OU, which is why they stand a reasonable chance of competing for the East, especially if the West really beats down the East in all the cross divisional match-ups.

We all know what our schedule is, and fortunately we get Western and Balls at home. I believe we should be 6-1 or at worst 5-2 going into NIU. If we are 5-2, I think we are at worst playing for a tie for the East against NIU. If we are 6-1, we will already be the East champs going into that game save for UMASS weathering their MAC slate with just one loss.

Considering all those variables, I truly believe that once you break the schedule down, we are the ones that come out on top.

Now if we end up having another year of catastrophic injuries, all this gets thrown in the dumpster. And if that happens and we spend all season saying what coulda', shoulda', woulda' because we had a MASH tent full of bodies, I'll lose my mind.