I would definitely take the over.

If we only win 5 games this season........hoooooooooo boy, there are going to be some torches and pitchforks coming out.

Minny lost their 2 best players, so I would not be surprised to see them regress somewhat. But yeah, from a New Years Day bowl to 5.5 wins seems like a bit much.

For Ohio this season promises to be one that could go either way. I count three likely wins in the home games against Kent and Miami, and the road game at Idaho, and I count one likely losses at Minnesota. The other 8 games could go either way. Win them all and they end up 11-1. Lose them all and they end up 3-9. Split them and they end up 7-5, which is about where my computer puts them.

Will 2015 be a battling team like the 2006 team, a team that manages to win all the close ones? I'm hoping so.

I'm hedging my bets - getting a pitchfork and a bottle of Syrah (pairs nicely with grilled crow)

Whether you win or lose the close games makes a huge difference in the final result, and in how the fans feel about a particular team. I went back and looked at the last decade in those terms. Here are the year by year records in games decided by 7 or less points:

2005 2-0
2006 3-0
2007 1-2
2008 2-3
2009 5-1
2010 1-2
2011 5-3
2012 4-1
2013 2-1
2014 3-1

I have fond memories of the 2006 and 2009 teams as battling teams that never quit and scrapped to victories, and I thought last year's team was pretty scrappy, too.

Overall, Solich has a 28-14 record in games decided by under 7 points, which is extremely good, given that the average for all coaches has to be .500. Unfortunately the game we all remember that was decided by under 7 points was one of his few such losses, in 2011, to NIU.

For what it's worth, Grobe was 9-11 in games decided by under 7 points, and Knorr was 2-9 in them. As another for what it's worth, at Nebraska, Solich was a more normal 9-8 in games decided by 7 or less.

How a team does against good teams may be more of an indicator than being withing 7 points...espec if within 7 points of a horrid team. See much of the MAC and our OOC sched.

Not true. If you let a bad team stay close, they often will beat you, just as, when a better team has let Ohio stay close, Ohio has often beaten them. As an example, consider the Pitt win in 2005. Pitt was no doubt the better team, but Ohio was scrappy, and stayed close, and then found a way to win. The Illinois win was probably the same - Illinois had more talent, but Ohio wanted the win more, and got it. As a contrast, the Penn State game was not within 7. Ohio was the better team, and pulled away at the end, ending any chance of a Penn State comeback.

There are certainly some examples of close wins over bad teams. The win at NTSU comes to mind as an example of that. There are also many close wins over some pretty good teams, such as Utah State or Pitt.

Considering that the core philosophy that Solich has built the program around at Ohio is to be relentless, and never give up, is it surprising that his teams have mostly been battlers that scrapped, and often found a way to win? I wasn't expecting it to be as good as it has been, but I did expect he was over .500.

Getting the discussion back on track, 2015 has a few games that are likely to be wins, but has at least 7-8 games where the point spread will likely be under 7. If the 2015 team is as scrappy at the 2009 team, and goes something like 5-1 in close games, it will be a very good year. If, on the other hand, they are like the 2007 and 2010 teams, and they lose more close games than they win, we may see a year that isn't up to our expectations.

OK, I get what you are saying, which is slightly off from what I'm saying. I'm saying I think Ohio will be competitive with those better teams, and they will be able to keep them close. The question will be, can they finish the games, and take wins.

As for Akron, Kent, and other "loser teams", oddly 5Dimes favors Akron to win the MAC East by a wide margin, with Buffalo in 2d, followed closely by BG, Ohio, Kent, and U.Mass. I think that's a crazy forecast, and have the same opinion you do, but they probably like the 5Dimes perspective in NE Ohio and NW New York.

For your stars to emerge the seniors and juniors on the OL need to stay healthy and play at the All-MAC level themselves.