Jump to content

2019 Predictions!


Balsy

Recommended Posts

Let's get a thread a way-to-early thread going about our predictions for the season.  If anything it's fun to quote at the end of the season when some people think we're going to go 1-11 and others think 11-1.  Let's have fun again!   1) Overall record,  2) Offensive MV, 3) Defensive MVP, and 4) MAC Champion next year.

 

Here's next year's schedule for #1:

@Illinois
vs. UAB

@ C. Michigan

vs. Troy

@ UMass
vs. Kent
vs. Buffalo
@ N. Illinois
@ BGSU
vs. E. Michigan
@ Miami
vs Ohio

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1) 6-6
 

L  @Illinois
L  vs. UAB

W  @ C. Michigan

L  vs. Troy

W  @ UMass
W  vs. Kent
L  vs. Buffalo
L  @ N. Illinois
W  @ BGSU
W  vs. E. Michigan
L  @ Miami
W  vs Ohio

2) Kato Nelson, to Balsy's dismay!  No longer strapped to an awful offensive coordinator; a mediocre to average offensive coordinator finds a way to make him into something more.

3) Alvin Davis

4) Miami vs. Toledo; Toledo on top.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I go:

 

L vs. ILL

W vs. UAB

L vs. CMU

W vs. Troy

L vs. UMASS

W vs. Kent

W vs. Buff

L vs. NIU

W vs. BG

W vs. EMU

L vs. Miami

L vs. Ohio

 

6 and 6

 

Off MVP - Deltron Sands

 

Def MVP - John Lako

 

Champion - Toledo

 

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

@Illinois -  L. Definitely a winnable game, but I think the Illini will be just a bit too much for the new look Zips.
vs. UAB - W.  I admittedly could be a little bit ignorant here, but IIRC, UAB lost a lost from their talented team last season. Being that its so soon since they've been back, I'm not sure they have equal replacement level-depth waiting to take over.

@ C. Michigan -  W. New high-profile coach, but they went 1-11 last year. No need to say more.

vs. Troy  L.. They lost their coach to WVU, but Troy is a consistent Sun Belt contender.

@ UMass W. Its UMASS.
vs. Kent  W. Its Kent.
vs. Buffalo W. Buffalo lost a lot. Not sure they have the depth to not have a decent drop off.
@ N. Illinois L.
@ BGSU W. Should not have lost to them last year,
vs. E. Michigan  L.
@ Miami L
vs Ohio W. Screw Ohio.

 

I consider us retooling rather than rebuilding. We return a lot of younger talent who I have faith in and only won 4 games last year. I'll be disappointed if that isn't exceeded in Arth's first season.

 

1. 7-5

2.  Kato.

3.  Alvin Davis.

4. Tides are going to turn to the East this year and I think Chucky Martin or Solich (Rourke's senior year) finally get over the hump.

Edited by LZIp
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm excited about the Zips long-term outlook with Arth as head coach, but I'm not feeling good about this season. We lost a ton of talent on the defensive side of the ball on a team that only went 4-8. Combine this with the fact we're going to be implementing a new system on both sides of the ball and I don't think it's going to be a pretty season. I say Akron finishes 4-8 this coming season. The nice thing is we should be starting sophomores and juniors, maybe even a freshman or 2, at about every position so we should be returning pretty much all our starters the following season.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As much as I'd love to be an optimist and say that last year's group would have been leaps and bounds better than they actually were, I'd expect this to be a pretty tough season. I have faith that this staff will eventually have us competing for the division annually at some point, but I also realize that almost everyone is still new to FBS ball and it could take them a year or two to get a feel for what success looks like at this level. And that's going to be especially hard to do at a place that's won very little in its history. But again, even after a couple of months, the program has a different feel to it and the culture is a lot better than the previous staff had. BUT, WE WILL SEE!!!!

 

@Illinois--L, Even though Lovie is totally out of place, he does have them moving in the right direction. This would have been winnable in the past couple of years, but I have a hard time believing a completely re-tooled team that lost a lot on the defensive side of the ball will go on the road and beat a Big Ten team in August. I'd love to see a 2-game win streak against Big Ten teams, but I just don't see it happening.


vs. UAB--L, I don't know anything about UAB going into 2019, but they have had a couple of nice seasons since bringing the program back. It's pretty hard to hang 37 on NIU and they did it in the bowl game last year. I'll be conservative and call this one another loss.

 

@ C. Michigan--W, I'm taking a risk predicting a win here, but that CMU team last year was absolutely miserable. We're sandwiched in between trips to Wisconsin and UMiami for them, and they open with Albany. The thing that worries me is they've got a damn good coach (IMO) and he knows that this one could be one of very few chances to win. It should be a damn good game.

 

vs. Troy--L, The Davern Williams bowl goes to the Trojans. This is a good program and we should've won at their place in 2017, but we crumbled when it counted most. Anyway, I again don't know too much about their squad for this coming season, so I'm going to make my prediction based on the fact that Troy is a really good G5 program and we're not ready for them. Again, we'll see.

 

@ UMass--W, They just lost their best player on offense and they just suck in general. That 2012 loss still pisses me off to this day. Plus, we may be one of the hardest games on their schedule by the time they get to us. Just win.

 

vs. Kent--W, Kent didn't make any real progress last year despite what that cocky bald dumbass coach of theirs thinks. Make it 5 in a row.

 

vs. Buffalo--L, As much as UB loses, Leipold's done a nice job recruiting there and I think they'll be pretty good once again. Good enough to get him a better job? Probably not. But certainly enough to avenge their 2017 loss at InfoCision that could have been a win if he wasn't an idiot and simply kept running the ball. (Our former coach got into it with GT in the post game presser because he wouldn't admit that we stopped them because they stopped running)

 

@ N. Illinois--L, I don't think NIU will be very good this year and I'm not sure Hammock was a great hire for them. But, it's still the defending MAC Champions and they've got players.

 

@ BGSU--L, I kind of wish we had Loefler, but I'm not complaining too much. Pelini, though he left, showed the league these guys can play if they're motivated and I think they will be as they're at home and we may be one of few shots at a win.

 

vs. E. Michigan--L, Creighton's done a great job here. They play hard, they play pretty good defense, they play disciplined, they just haven't made the jump to "contender" yet, and I think we'll see them take a nice step this year. For the first time ever since moving to InfoCision, no shame in losing to EMU at home.

 

@ Miami--L, Who knows. Martin's done enough to hang onto that job somehow and even though they aren't great, they also don't suck. So they'll win this one. 

 

vs Ohio--L, I hate Ohio too, but I also acknowledge that they're really good and they have the best quarterback in the league. At this point in the season, we can win this one, but I'd be surprised if we did. 

 

So for me its:

 

1) 3-9

2) Kato Nelson

3) Alvin Davis

4) Ohio

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'll be optimistic. I think we'll come out strong and beat a terrible Illinois team. 

 

W vs. ILL

L vs. UAB

W vs. CMU

L vs. Troy

W vs. UMASS

W vs. Kent

L vs. Buff

L vs. NIU

W vs. BG

W vs. EMU

W vs. Miami

L vs. Ohio

 

1. 7-5 

2. Abraham Alce...everyone forgot about him

3. Alvin Davis

4. Northern Illinois

Link to comment
Share on other sites

L @ ILL 

L vs UAB

W @ CMU

L vs Troy 

W @ UMASS

W vs Kent

W vs Buffalo 

L @ NIU

W @ BGSU

W vs EMU

L @ Miami

W vs Ohio 

7 - 5.  6 - 2 in the MAC.

Offensive  MVP Kato Nelson

Defensive MVP  Alvin Davis 

 MAC Champ.     Ohio

Maybe I'm being a bit of a Homer here but I think we should be a contender right away.  Coaching and Motivation were 90% of our problem last year. If Arth is worth a lick at all then he should have success with this group. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

53 minutes ago, clarkwgriswold said:

I hate to say it, but I see this year as a relatively difficult year of transition.  With any luck, the veterans are able to pull the team through to 5 wins, but I see it now as a 3 or 4 win year.  Rome wasn't built in a day!

How about 3 decades?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@Illinois - W
vs. UAB - W

@ C. Michigan - W

vs. Troy - W

@ UMass - W
vs. Kent - W
vs. Buffalo - W
@ N. Illinois - W
@ BGSU - W
vs. E. Michigan - W
@ Miami - W
vs Ohio - W

 

WOOHOO! :CK_brew:

 

@Illinois - W
vs. UAB - W

@ C. Michigan - L

vs. Troy - L

@ UMass - W
vs. Kent - W
vs. Buffalo - W
@ N. Illinois - L
@ BGSU - W
vs. E. Michigan - L
@ Miami - L
vs Ohio - L

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 3/6/2019 at 9:37 AM, Let'sGoZips94 said:

@Illinois - W
vs. UAB - W

@ C. Michigan - W

vs. Troy - W

@ UMass - W
vs. Kent - W
vs. Buffalo - W
@ N. Illinois - W
@ BGSU - W
vs. E. Michigan - W
@ Miami - W
vs Ohio - W

 

WOOHOO! :CK_brew:

 

@Illinois - W
vs. UAB - W

@ C. Michigan - L

vs. Troy - L

@ UMass - W
vs. Kent - W
vs. Buffalo - W
@ N. Illinois - L
@ BGSU - W
vs. E. Michigan - L
@ Miami - L
vs Ohio - L

Obviously we know U R not serious. If they can win 6 games in the MAC they might very well get to the MAC Championship game. They only have to win one OOC game to get legit bowl eligible. 

Everybody who is an over the top optimistic needs to take a step back. Always hiccups when a new regime comes in. Shoot we don't even know if Arth wants Nelson as his starting QB do we? Roster won't be set until August. Relax!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

19 hours ago, Lee Adams said:

Obviously we know U R not serious. If they can win 6 games in the MAC they might very well get to the MAC Championship game. They only have to win one OOC game to get legit bowl eligible. 

Everybody who is an over the top optimistic needs to take a step back. Always hiccups when a new regime comes in. Shoot we don't even know if Arth wants Nelson as his starting QB do we? Roster won't be set until August. Relax!

 

My legitimate prediction is posted in smaller font (on purpose) below the perfect season. I have them going 6-6, and I think that's very realistic. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 3/7/2019 at 6:52 PM, Lee Adams said:

Everybody who is an over the top optimistic needs to take a step back.

Why????  This was posed as a fun exercise right from the start!  We're "Fans", dammit!  Short for Fanatics.  Why can't we be over-the-top?  We all know what's ahead of the Zips, so we might as well have a little fun before reality sets in and we have to read all the negative posts once the season begins.  Lighten up!

  • Haha 1
  • Confused 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, ZipsVoice said:

Why????  This was posed as a fun exercise right from the start!  We're "Fans", dammit!  Short for Fanatics.  Why can't we be over-the-top?  We all know what's ahead of the Zips, so we might as well have a little fun before reality sets in and we have to read all the negative posts once the season begins.  Lighten up!

Was it? OK. But, we know who the folks are who will begin the negative posts if the first few games don't go the way they think they should have.If it was a 'fun' exercise that's fine. Don't show up later and tell us I told U so,please. Nobody is more tired of the mediocrity in this program than I am. Lets see who is still standing in August,please.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...