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Post by catscratchfever4 on Jul 12, 2018 22:59:25 GMT -6
Fearless Prediction: The Lions enter their Division I transition this year as an independent and will play six of is 11 games against DI competition. The defense should be the strong side of the ball after giving up just 17.5 points last year and return 18 of the top 23 tacklers this year. The offense will be the question mark but expect around a .500 record again this year.
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Post by brandon on Jul 13, 2018 7:09:50 GMT -6
Fearless Prediction: The Lions enter their Division I transition this year as an independent and will play six of is 11 games against DI competition. The defense should be the strong side of the ball after giving up just 17.5 points last year and return 18 of the top 23 tacklers this year. The offense will be the question mark but expect around a .500 record again this year. My prediction, should be better than .500. 3 games I'm worried about, well I'm not really worried about NDSU, but 3 games I think we have a good chance to lose. Out of the 3, we also have a good chance to win 2 of them. |
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Post by tuna85 on Jul 13, 2018 7:35:36 GMT -6
Fearless Prediction: The Lions enter their Division I transition this year as an independent and will play six of is 11 games against DI competition. The defense should be the strong side of the ball after giving up just 17.5 points last year and return 18 of the top 23 tacklers this year. The offense will be the question mark but expect around a .500 record again this year. My prediction, should be better than .500. 3 games I'm worried about, well I'm not really worried about NDSU, but 3 games I think we have a good chance to lose. Out of the 3, we also have a good chance to win 2 of them. Got to say I am worried about that NDSU game. We can't go into it with an expectation that it is a guaranteed loss. Doing so would be a self fulfilling prophecy. Beyond that, doing so could result in sloppy play and sloppy play opens us up to the injury bug. Injuries can result in a replay of 2017. We are thin in some key areas and have to play focused. Play to win and you stand a better chance of coming out healthy and will reinforce good, not bad, habits. |
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Post by unafied on Jul 13, 2018 7:46:33 GMT -6
My prediction, should be better than .500. 3 games I'm worried about, well I'm not really worried about NDSU, but 3 games I think we have a good chance to lose. Out of the 3, we also have a good chance to win 2 of them. Got to say I am worried about that NDSU game. We can't go into it with an expectation that it is a guaranteed loss. Doing so would be a self fulfilling prophecy. Beyond that, doing so could result in sloppy play and sloppy play opens us up to the injury bug. Injuries can result in a replay of 2017. We are thin in some key areas and have to play focused. Play to win and you stand a better chance of coming out healthy and will reinforce good, not bad, habits. It's a weird position for us when you think about it. In recent years, how many times has UNA went into a game where the other team is clearly better? Maybe Jacksonville in 2016, but while JSU was supposed to be pretty good, we had been competitive with them (hell, beat them in 2003) the previous two times. So I bet our guys expected to stand toe to toe with them. You would think we look at the Bison as a special opportunity. The coaches should play it up as our championship game this year. I mean, we wouldn't be happy if we went 1-10 with the one win being NDSU... but then again, it would still be remembered as one of our greatest wins ever. |
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Post by brandon on Jul 13, 2018 9:27:55 GMT -6
Don't get me wrong, I want us to win every game we play. If I am a coach, I am selling the point that we can play with anyone, by the time of the game, I would have them so prepared, they would know they can win.
If I'm a player, I want to play the best, I want to beat the best.
That being said, I was just talking about the odds. I do not want them to lay down to stronger competition, i want them to fight till the end.
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Post by tuna85 on Jul 13, 2018 9:35:57 GMT -6
Got to say I am worried about that NDSU game. We can't go into it with an expectation that it is a guaranteed loss. Doing so would be a self fulfilling prophecy. Beyond that, doing so could result in sloppy play and sloppy play opens us up to the injury bug. Injuries can result in a replay of 2017. We are thin in some key areas and have to play focused. Play to win and you stand a better chance of coming out healthy and will reinforce good, not bad, habits. It's a weird position for us when you think about it. In recent years, how many times has UNA went into a game where the other team is clearly better? Maybe Jacksonville in 2016, but while JSU was supposed to be pretty good, we had been competitive with them (hell, beat them in 2003) the previous two times. So I bet our guys expected to stand toe to toe with them. You would think we look at the Bison as a special opportunity. The coaches should play it up as our championship game this year. I mean, we wouldn't be happy if we went 1-10 with the one win being NDSU... but then again, it would still be remembered as one of our greatest wins ever. Jacksonville 2016 is direct and to the point. We went into that game expecting to go toe to toe. Early on we found the JSU FBS transfers setting the tone of the game. Early on the game was moving too fast for our QB. But, we went into this game with the expectation and goal of playing toe to toe. After the initial onslaught UNA started to settle down. Weaknesses were being found in JSU and the game started slowing down. We began to play toe to toe and eye to eye. The team did not say this is big bad JSU and rollover. You could see the team maturing. When that game was over, we may not have had the W but, our team knew they had something and that something was very good. This game against NDSU should be expected to be a toe to toe and eye to eye slobber knocker by our team and fans. The goal in Fargo is not to say "look everyone we are new to FCS but look who we just played". The goal is to go to Fargo and stand toe to toe,eye to eye, and whup them. This team will not mature and be special if they don't have a gleam in their eye and a fire in their belly. By the way, back in 2016 after the loss to JSU, don't you wish we could have played them again the next week? |
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Post by brandon on Jul 13, 2018 10:14:12 GMT -6
Absolutely, I talked to a JSU guy a couple of days later, he is a big donor for them and a friend of mine. He said talking to Coach Grass later that week he asked him what he thought about UNA, he said that if UNA would have started how they ended the game, UNA would have won. He also said he didn't understand why a D1 conference hadn't picked us up at the time.
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Post by tuna85 on Jul 13, 2018 10:31:20 GMT -6
Absolutely, I talked to a JSU guy a couple of days later, he is a big donor for them and a friend of mine. He said talking to Coach Grass later that week he asked him what he thought about UNA, he said that if UNA would have started how they ended the game, UNA would have won. He also said he didn't understand why a D1 conference hadn't picked us up at the time. I will always think the OVC and SoCon leadership saw the results of NDSU dominance in the Missouri Valley and wuz askeered of us. Grateful the stars aligned and the Big South and ASun were looking at not having the numbers to be halfway viable or we might still be in D2. |
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Post by lions09 on Jul 13, 2018 20:06:30 GMT -6
At least one of our toughest games is a D2 team. Some of these DI schools on our schedule wouldn't fare well in the GSC.
But, this season is truly a toss-up.
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Post by brandon on Jul 13, 2018 20:55:57 GMT -6
At least one of our toughest games is a D2 team. Some of these DI schools on our schedule wouldn't fare well in the GSC. But, this season is truly a toss-up. More than half the FCS wouldn't win the GSC, ever...... |
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