Man, a lot of people sleeping on the Monarchs.

That’s cool.

I can't wait for this season to kick off!

I thought I was being aggressive at 9-5, USA and Ark St. could surprise you guys and don't sleep on Troy pulling an upset vs. App or Marshall.

(08-10-2022 10:37 AM)mturn017 Wrote:  Man, a lot of people sleeping on the Monarchs.

That’s cool.

Not sure what you expect. You went 6-6 last year in a weak league. You'll get a lot of people sleeping on you until you prove them otherwise.

(08-10-2022 10:43 AM)Saint3333 Wrote:  I thought I was being aggressive at 9-5, USA and Ark St. could surprise you guys and don't sleep on Troy pulling an upset vs. App or Marshall.

Marshall is more likely since we get them in Troy. Winning in Boone is a tall order. I always think back to year one under Neal Brown when we almost beat you guys in Boone. That was a great game! That's when we, and most of the people on this board, knew Troy was back. Hoping we hear that phrase again very soon!

(08-10-2022 10:37 AM)runninjoe Wrote:  I think we win 4 in a row starting with ODU, ULM, JMU, and USM with our final win against UMASS later on to finish 6-6.

Obviously, this includes a Grambling win.

If I were a betting man, I'd bet heavily against this analysis. All four of those teams were better than Arkansas State last year. I'm really not trying to troll, I just don't see you guys going 4-0 against those teams.

(08-10-2022 09:20 AM)ODU AGGIE Wrote:  

(08-09-2022 12:25 PM)EigenEagle Wrote:  9/24
Ark State at Old Dominion
Marshall at Troy

11/26
Old Dominion at South Alabama

The Red Wolves were 2-9 last year, giving up a whopping 38.6 points per game and were last in the conference in run defense giving up 260.9 yards per game. Though they should see some improvement, by consensus opinion of the pundits, they do not project to be much better this season. Coming to Norfolk will mark their third road trip in a row, following trips to Ohio State and Memphis, and that should bode well for the Monarchs who won their last five games last year to be bowl eligible and return 10 starters on offense. In front of a home crowd, the Monarchs should get their first Sun Belt win.

The Jaguars won 5 games last year and are generally expected to do about the same this year. They do return seven starters and add eight P-5 transfers to a defense that was fairly well regarded for most of the season last year before losing their last four games. But keep in mind, the Monarchs do return 10 starters on offense to do battle with that defense. Eight starters return on offense for the Jags, but quarterback Jake Bentley is gone after completing 70% of his passes last year. Still competing to replace him are Toledo transfer Carter Bradley and redshirt junior Desmond Trotter. The Monarchs and the Jaguars appear to be pretty evenly matched, and I have to agree, this game is as much a 50-50 game as any in the conference. Adding to that is that this is the last game of the season, and that makes any preseason prediction tenuous at best. Nevertheless, here in August, if I am going to pick a winner of this game to be played in November, I'm definitely going with my Monarchs. I'm sorry Coach Rahne. I know this flies in the face of your "go 1-0" philosophy, so with that in mind, GO MONARCHS -- BEAT THE HOKIES!

Says who? South is expected to be much improved this year and was picked by the coaches' poll to finish 2nd in the west, and also by Athlon sports magazine. A lot can happen during a season and sometimes expectations do not always come to fruition, but South has added a lot of talent and experience for '22 and this offense is very much improved not to mention an already strong defense. I respect ODU and I am especially impressed with their HC. November 26 is a long way off and much can and will happen, but the Monarchs will have their work cut out for them when they enter Hancock Whitney Stadium take on the Jaguars.

(08-10-2022 10:50 AM)chiefsfan Wrote:  

(08-10-2022 10:37 AM)mturn017 Wrote:  Man, a lot of people sleeping on the Monarchs.

That’s cool.

Not sure what you expect. You went 6-6 last year in a weak league. You'll get a lot of people sleeping on you until you prove them otherwise.

Yeah. That’s fine.

I’m not going to get into it. I can’t blame you guys for not having followed our progress last year. Marshall fans should know though. It’ll be more fun to just wait a few weeks anyway.

(08-10-2022 10:58 AM)TroyFootball05 Wrote:  

(08-10-2022 10:37 AM)runninjoe Wrote:  I think we win 4 in a row starting with ODU, ULM, JMU, and USM with our final win against UMASS later on to finish 6-6.

Obviously, this includes a Grambling win.

If I were a betting man, I'd bet heavily against this analysis. All four of those teams were better than Arkansas State last year. I'm really not trying to troll, I just don't see you guys going 4-0 against those teams.

We shall see. Those are our best bets to win outside Grambling. We could lose all 4. We beat ULM last year and haven't lost to them in over a decade. I honestly don't know the last time we lost to ULM. They were the Indians I think. Suffice it to say, I don't know how ULM was better than us last season.

(08-10-2022 11:04 AM)runninjoe Wrote:  

(08-10-2022 10:58 AM)TroyFootball05 Wrote:  

(08-10-2022 10:37 AM)runninjoe Wrote:  I think we win 4 in a row starting with ODU, ULM, JMU, and USM with our final win against UMASS later on to finish 6-6.

Obviously, this includes a Grambling win.

If I were a betting man, I'd bet heavily against this analysis. All four of those teams were better than Arkansas State last year. I'm really not trying to troll, I just don't see you guys going 4-0 against those teams.

We shall see. Those are our best bets to win outside Grambling. We could lose all 4. We beat ULM last year and haven't lost to them in over a decade. I honestly don't know the last time we lost to ULM. They were the Indians I think. Suffice it to say, I don't know how ULM was better than us last season.

I believe our last loss to ULM was 2009

(08-10-2022 11:03 AM)mturn017 Wrote:  

(08-10-2022 10:50 AM)chiefsfan Wrote:  

(08-10-2022 10:37 AM)mturn017 Wrote:  Man, a lot of people sleeping on the Monarchs.

That’s cool.

Not sure what you expect. You went 6-6 last year in a weak league. You'll get a lot of people sleeping on you until you prove them otherwise.

Yeah. That’s fine.

I’m not going to get into it. I can’t blame you guys for not having followed our progress last year. Marshall fans should know though. It’ll be more fun to just wait a few weeks anyway.

I guess it's just part of having such a strong SBC East, but it's funny how many of us go hey ODU is turning things around, they finished strong last year and I think they're gonna be good this year... Then go on to pick them at or near the bottom of the SBC East with a pretty terrible record. Myself included. It's a tough schedule though, I think ODU is gonna be a good team with an underwhelming record.

When someone's gotta lose and you're looking for who it could be, ODU and JMU are pretty easy go-to options this year.

(08-10-2022 09:48 AM)runninjoe Wrote:  Trying to eliminate my bias, but I'm pretty sure A-State can deal with ODU and to a lesser extent JMU. There's no way to sugar coat our season last year, but it wasn't that long ago we were winning SBC games at greater than 75% clip. It's hard to make the transfer up from FCS; App and Southern are the exception not the rule.

Our defense will be better than last year's abysmal performance. We lost some close games last year. I'm cautiously optimistic and looking forward to it. We may not have the chemistry we did under Freezus, but Jones is building a Malzahn culture to me. Hopefully his recruits show up to campus and perform unlike Malzahn's.

On a side note, can't pick a better place for Freezus to land than Liberty- talk about two peas in a pod there.

The SBC that we entered was much different from today's SBC. I doubt our 2014 squads would bit .500 in league play now.

The 2014 App team would have lost at least two additional games against this lineup depending on the western draw.

GS would have been the same, they actually avoiding ULL and Ark St. that first year which didn't hurt either. App cost ULL a shared title that year, a precursor of sorts.

(08-10-2022 07:21 AM)CardinalBlackTrojan Wrote:  I think there is some heavy underestimation going on here regarding the West.

Lol….ya think? And we will win both of ours, btw. I am more sure of the Marshall one than the others.

(08-10-2022 11:44 AM)chiefsfan Wrote:  

(08-10-2022 11:04 AM)runninjoe Wrote:  

(08-10-2022 10:58 AM)TroyFootball05 Wrote:  

(08-10-2022 10:37 AM)runninjoe Wrote:  I think we win 4 in a row starting with ODU, ULM, JMU, and USM with our final win against UMASS later on to finish 6-6.

Obviously, this includes a Grambling win.

If I were a betting man, I'd bet heavily against this analysis. All four of those teams were better than Arkansas State last year. I'm really not trying to troll, I just don't see you guys going 4-0 against those teams.

We shall see. Those are our best bets to win outside Grambling. We could lose all 4. We beat ULM last year and haven't lost to them in over a decade. I honestly don't know the last time we lost to ULM. They were the Indians I think. Suffice it to say, I don't know how ULM was better than us last season.

I believe our last loss to ULM was 2009

Arizona State played ULM in 2009??? Sorry, the devil made me do it.

(08-10-2022 11:00 AM)JoeJag Wrote:  

(08-10-2022 09:20 AM)ODU AGGIE Wrote:  

(08-09-2022 12:25 PM)EigenEagle Wrote:  9/24
Ark State at Old Dominion
Marshall at Troy

11/26
Old Dominion at South Alabama

The Red Wolves were 2-9 last year, giving up a whopping 38.6 points per game and were last in the conference in run defense giving up 260.9 yards per game. Though they should see some improvement, by consensus opinion of the pundits, they do not project to be much better this season. Coming to Norfolk will mark their third road trip in a row, following trips to Ohio State and Memphis, and that should bode well for the Monarchs who won their last five games last year to be bowl eligible and return 10 starters on offense. In front of a home crowd, the Monarchs should get their first Sun Belt win.

The Jaguars won 5 games last year and are generally expected to do about the same this year. They do return seven starters and add eight P-5 transfers to a defense that was fairly well regarded for most of the season last year before losing their last four games. But keep in mind, the Monarchs do return 10 starters on offense to do battle with that defense. Eight starters return on offense for the Jags, but quarterback Jake Bentley is gone after completing 70% of his passes last year. Still competing to replace him are Toledo transfer Carter Bradley and redshirt junior Desmond Trotter. The Monarchs and the Jaguars appear to be pretty evenly matched, and I have to agree, this game is as much a 50-50 game as any in the conference. Adding to that is that this is the last game of the season, and that makes any preseason prediction tenuous at best. Nevertheless, here in August, if I am going to pick a winner of this game to be played in November, I'm definitely going with my Monarchs. I'm sorry Coach Rahne. I know this flies in the face of your "go 1-0" philosophy, so with that in mind, GO MONARCHS -- BEAT THE HOKIES!

Says who? South is expected to be much improved this year and was picked by the coaches' poll to finish 2nd in the west, and also by Athlon sports magazine. A lot can happen during a season and sometimes expectations do not always come to fruition, but South has added a lot of talent and experience for '22 and this offense is very much improved not to mention an already strong defense. I respect ODU and I am especially impressed with their HC. November 26 is a long way off and much can and will happen, but the Monarchs will have their work cut out for them when they enter Hancock Whitney Stadium take on the Jaguars.

ESPN 5.4 wins
College Football News 6 wins
Yahoo Sports 6 wins

(08-10-2022 10:37 AM)mturn017 Wrote:  Man, a lot of people sleeping on the Monarchs.

That’s cool.

I agree. I expect ODU to be a tough out for every team they play, but think they will end upwith 4 or 5 wins this year due to no guaranteed OOC wins.

(08-11-2022 10:25 AM)Eagleholic Wrote:  

(08-10-2022 10:37 AM)mturn017 Wrote:  Man, a lot of people sleeping on the Monarchs.

That’s cool.

I agree. I expect ODU to be a tough out for every team they play, but think they will end upwith 4 or 5 wins this year due to no guaranteed OOC wins.

No guaranteed wins but no guaranteed losses either. VT and UVA are question marks, Liberty loses its stud QB and ECU is fine but not insurmountable. They’ll win at least one and if things fall into place quickly, would not shock me to see them finish above .500 OOC. Which is good because with the East being what it is, they’ll need at least two (and possibly three) OOC wins to be in the bowl mix.

(08-11-2022 10:47 AM)Cyniclone Wrote:  

(08-11-2022 10:25 AM)Eagleholic Wrote:  

(08-10-2022 10:37 AM)mturn017 Wrote:  Man, a lot of people sleeping on the Monarchs.

That’s cool.

I agree. I expect ODU to be a tough out for every team they play, but think they will end upwith 4 or 5 wins this year due to no guaranteed OOC wins.

No guaranteed wins but no guaranteed losses either. VT and UVA are question marks, Liberty loses its stud QB and ECU is fine but not insurmountable. They’ll win at least one and if things fall into place quickly, would not shock me to see them finish above .500 OOC. Which is good because with the East being what it is, they’ll need at least two (and possibly three) OOC wins to be in the bowl mix.

I could easily see that happening and hope it does. Get those OOC dubs!