One way to look at is to look at the losses:
OFFENSE
OL - Lose Flading and Strum, both all-MAC, but return 9 of the top 11, and there were solid backups for both
TE - Lose Zac Clark, but return Thompson, Robak and Knight, plus add Troy Hill
RB - Lose Harden, but return Boykin and Blankenship
QB - Lost Snyder and Bell, but return TT and Vick
WR - Lost Brazill, Dunlop, Bates and Gross, return Bussy, Foster, N'Goumou, Dovell, Futrell, Landon Smith, Cochran, add Waters
Offensive line, TE, and QB should be as better than last year. RB should be comparable. WR will probably be a bit worse, but it depends how the players develop. There is a lot of talent there, and I have confidence in coach Dixon. On the whole I think the offense is a bit better than last year.
DEFENSE
DT/NG - Everyone inside is back except Jeff King, who missed most of last year with a knee injury
DE - Curt Meyers is gone, Scott, Barber return, along with lots of juco , redshirt freshmen, and true freshmen
ILB - gone is Keller, Moore is moving to ILB and will compete with Edmonds, Russell, Stefanski, etc.
OLB - Eric Benjamin is gone, Lewis, Woseley, and Grady return, along with a host of others
CB - Essentially everyone is back
S - Essentially everyone is back, Hughes should be healthy again
With Huynh healthy again, and loads of new DE's competing to play with three seniors (Jones, Scott, and Huynh), I expect the defensive line to be a significant improvement this year. The entire secondary is back, so again, there should be improvement there, and OLB looks solid. The only mystery on defense is ILB. If someone can step up and play solidly there, the defense should be better than last year.
SPECIAL TEAMS
Lose Hershey and LaVoie - The two competing for the punting job, Teipel and Venham, are both althletic, but will they be able to pull off the fakes that Hershey did? They may actually kick with more consistency, though. I am not really concerned. On the whole special teams will be as good as last year.
On the whole, then, I expect a team that is slightly better than last year. Last year's team ended up ranked 69.08 on Sagarin's predictor, so I'll call this one a 73, about where Northern Illinois ended up last year. That should put Ohio right in the mix for a conference championship. It would also put them about in the middle of the Big Tendozen, and should mean a very close matchup with Penn State, who was ranked 77 last year. I expect Penn State to be favored by less than a TD.
Last Edited: 4/5/2012 10:30:11 PM by L.C.