My early predictions for the 2007 season

[jkwuc89]

I am going to list more than one below. The first one can be called either "from the heart" or "I have a dream":

SE Missouri State - Easy win (14 points or more)
Oregon State - Win
at Miami - Win
Marshall - Win
at San Diego State - Win
at Rutgers - Very close loss
Louisville - Bearcats pull a HUGE upset at home
at Pittsburgh - Win
at South Florida - Win
UConn - Win
West Virginia - This one is for the Big East BCS bowl bid! WVU even when predicting from the heart is too strong for UC even at home. Close loss.
at Syracuse - Win
Record: 10 - 2, 6 - 2 in the Big East, Gator Bowl bid

This one can be called, "from the head" and is a bit more realistic I think:
SE Missouri State - Win
Oregon State - Win
at Miami - Win
Marshall - Win
at San Diego State - Win
at Rutgers - Loss
Louisville - Close loss at home
at Pittsburgh - Win
at South Florida - Loss
UConn - Win
West Virginia - Loss
at Syracuse - Win
Record: 8 - 4, 4 - 4 in the Big East, lower Big East bowl bid

If things fall the right way, I think UC has a real chance to come closer to my "heart" prediction.

[red_n_black_attack]

SE Missouri State - Easy win (35 points or more)
Oregon State - Win (thought it would be a shoot-out, but the Bearcat Def score 2 TD and pulls in 5 turnovers
at Miami - Win (they are no longer in our class, but we keep this game on the schedule FOREVER) :D
Marshall - Win (Why are we playing them again? They are no longer in our class and should be replaced ASAP)
at San Diego State - Win. Win. Win. Win the game, enjoy the Sun, and the fine food.:cool:
at Rutgers - Win - Rutgers has revenge factor and is playing at home, yet their running game still cannot create any yardage!
Louisville - Bearcats pull a HUGE upset at home. Petrino is gone and Brohm is good, but this game is surprisingly a shoot-out final score 63-55
at Pittsburgh - Win. Our revenge for two blown tackles and two 80 yard TD's. No Palko.
at South Florida - Loss Sadly S. Fla is able to recruit players better than the other three schools and have a solid core. A very disappointing FIRST loss of the season!:eek:
UConn - Win
West Virginia - Win This one is for the Big East BCS bowl bid! Close game. Def gets big turnover late
at Syracuse - Win
Record: 11 - 1, 7 - 1 in the Big East, Lowest tier BCS Bowl bid because we don't travel well. BCS tries to give bid to WVU despite their 10-2 (6-2) record and Mike Slive steps in. UC will never rank higher than 8 in the polls :mad: , but this is the year we start to get some respectability!

[bearcatmark]

I think other than West Virginia, Oregon State will be the best team we play all year. I think they'll be a preseason top 20 team. They return a large part of their team that beat USC, and looked great at the end of the year last year. Also because it is early in the season, i think the game will be tougher for UC, because UC will still be adjusting to the new system, and staff.

Remember in Dantonio's first season we were awful his first 5 before really playing great football the rest of the year(throwing at the Louisville game)... That UC team was incredibly talented...two of the Defensive lineman are starting in the NFL one is playing linebacker for the bengals. Holly is playing CB for the browns...Gino was the QB... There were a lot of good players.



My Predictions...
Southeast Missouri State- Win by 30+
Oregon State- Tossup... I love UC's team... I think Oregon State will be better at this point...but it will be a great UC crowd, on a Thursday night...players will be incredibly fired up. I think a sellout(come on UC fans) could make the difference.
@Miami- Two TD+ Win
Marshall- 10 point+ win
SD State- 20+ point Win
@Rutgers- Close win... Rutgers will be ready, but I think like last year we will match up amazingly well with Rutgers. They want to run the ball...they are a damn fine running team, but they run in a pretty simple system. I think our defense is built to stop them.
Louisville- Tossup- Huge Rivalry game at home, i really think it is time to take back the keg of nails. They have a new coaching staff. Lets do it. I am leaning towards UC in this game.
@Pittsburgh- close win
@ South Florida- Tossup This south florida like UC, is poised for a breakthrough kind of season... UC absolutely shut them down last year, and I think our defense can do a pretty good job...but their offense is going to be good. This could be a fight. I really am not sure here...leaning towards South Florida.
UConn- 10+ point Win
West Virginia- WVU by one or two tds... I think West Virginia will be in the thick of a national title hunt at this point. I think WVU will be one of the best 4 teams in the country next season...with probably the toughest offense to stop. Their offense causes huge problems for UC. We played two good quarters against them last year(first team to shut them down in the first quarter), and got lit up in two quarters. If we can cut down the big plays and get some scores early...we can win this game... But i still gotta take WVU.
Syracuse- 17+ point win



I have three tossups on there...One of which i lean towards UC, another i lean towards South Florida, and another i really am neutral, and think a great crowd could be the difference.

that said...I think we can go anywhere from 8-4 (4-3) to 11-1(6-1)...the later would likely put us in the Gator bowl, as I could not see us being offered a BCS atlarge. I am more inclined to think we go 9-3(5-2), which would be an exceptional first season for Kelly...

[jon b]

Keith, I love your heart predictions. I really want to go to the Gator Bowl next year! :)

I would "settle" for 7-5, 4-4 as I think Oregon State will be tough also. It will be interesting and if they do go 10-2 it could be huge for the future of the program.

[richard k.]

If they go I will certainly be in Jacksonville for the Gator Bowl!:D

[shaunsimpson]

Oregon State will be a big ????

Will the team (QB) have the system down at the time to be able to beat a team like OSU. Boise always did well spreading the ball around against them. I think we have the talent to win this game, but I don't know if the team will be ready for it yet.

[Endzone]

USF ranked #25 here, and UC plays them in Tampa where they are always tough.

http://www.nationalchamps.net/2007/sub/previews/southflorida.htm

[MUHawk84]

Can someone please clarify the fact that Miami is no longer in UC's class? I mean, UC hasn't dominated Miami in a while.

[Big B]

I think you guys are really under estimating S. Florida and Pitt. Both will be ranked in the top 25 in pre-season polls come Aug.

[Bearcat_DF]

Can someone please clarify the fact that Miami is no longer in UC's class? I mean, UC hasn't dominated Miami in a while.

Last year, I stated that UC needed to put distance between themselves and the MAC, so that it is clear that we are a BCS caliber program. Last year we beat all of the MAC teams we played.

One of the reasons I feel that way, is that I believe the C-USA affliation cost us recruits to MAC teams. I believe a large reason was the geography of the league. If you were a regional level talent (the type we were typically able to recruit) it seemed to me, that if you weren't playing in the B-10, then it was a choice between the MAC or UC. And if I had a choice between playing games where my family could reasonably travel or play for UC and travel throughout the South, I think I would have chosen the MAC.

My hope is that we hand Miami a decade of losses. Given our entry into the BE, its affiliation with the BCS, and the new facilities, that is my expectation.

With the news today, it looks like BK will be able to recruit to reach that expectation.

Go Cats!
DF

[The real Bearcat Fan]

I think the UC defense will surprise the nation with how good they are going to be next season. I think by the end of the season the offense and special teams will be considered by many people to be one of the best in the nation. I expect a fantastic football season for the Bearcats. I will say 10-2. There losses will be to West Virginia and Rutgers. They will win close games against Louisville, Oregon State and South Florida where the Bearcat defense will make the difference.

[cspeed]

It's hard to predict how the Cats are going to be this year. I think everyones predictions are VERY optimistic here. Realistically, I believe that they lose to LVille, Pitt on the road, Rutgers on the road, S. Fl on the road, and WV here. I just can't see them , in BK 1st year, going to the Gator bowl. I hope I'm wrong , but ...... Give BK a few more good recruiting classes and then we'll see, but the Gator BOWL ?

[Lobot]

<Snip>

This one can be called, "from the head" and is a bit more realistic I think:
SE Missouri State - Win
Oregon State - Win
at Miami - Win
Marshall - Win
at San Diego State - Win
at Rutgers - Loss
Louisville - Close loss at home
at Pittsburgh - Win
at South Florida - Loss
UConn - Win
West Virginia - Loss
at Syracuse - Win
Record: 8 - 4, 4 - 4 in the Big East, lower Big East bowl bid

If things fall the right way, I think UC has a real chance to come closer to my "heart" prediction.

I have a real problem with Oregon State game. I don't think we have much of a chance in this game. What may help is if they schedule this game at 12:00 and get OSU out of their rythym body clock wise and maybe they come out flat. Mike Riley is a very good coach who has had his system in place for a few years.

I also think that SDSU is going to have a stronger team than people expect. I'm looking forward to this one since I have a "local food" bet going on with my old friends from SD. I'm going to try and make it out for this one. BTW, The Q is a cavernous place to play football for SDSU. It has the same effect on the crowd as say, us playing a normal game in PBS.