Whether you were in favor of buy out or not, is there anyone on here that thought/thinks the overall quality of the program is going to improve much, if at all next year ?
I expect it to. Not hugely, but I think the continuity alone will be helpful. Changing horses midstream is never ideal and we changed coaches like a month before the season. Just the stability should be helpful.
There's an easy to imagine world where we win a few of our close losses last year (Duquesne, Central, Buffalo) and are just a pedestrian 6-6. I think that's realistic for next year.
If we split the OOC games, I think the best we can do is 6-6. We'll have Akron, a weakened NIU (I think Lombardi is done there), Buffalo and BG at home and all are winnable. Last year's MOFO game could best be described as a non-loss -- if they hadn't missed a PAT and subsequent two-pt conversion they likely would've won despite our four TD lead in the third quarter -- and I don't expect we'll be as lucky this season. I don't see us beating BSU, Kent or WMU on the road.
As far as the overall quality of the program, it's hard to imagine it getting any worse. Defense was a shambles last year, but I'm confident that the new guys will improve it. Offense has a lot of holes to fill and has to improve at getting off our own one yard line. Special teams needs a lot of work.