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Who and Why?

Well, you have to pick Sam Houston because they won it last year and have almost everybody back. I'm hopeful with respect to McNeese IF they can stay healthy for once. They do get both Sam Houston State and Southeastern Louisiana at home. And they should start the season with a talent level a little higher than it was when they took Nebraska to the wire to open last season (before quickly being depleted by injury thereafter).

It'll be interesting to see how Southeastern Louisiana does without Brian Bennett. I think we saw during the SFA game last year that he was extremely important to them. He sat out the first half and Southeastern got 0 points and 55 yards. Five of their six possessions were three and out. Then, I guess since they were down 17-0, they put him in for the second half. Even though he was not 100% the Lions got 17 points and 292 yards in the second half.

I got McNeese. Just a feeling.

Certainly won't be those FCSINOs Incarnate Word....

SHSU. Semi final game notes only showed 3 seniors starting vs NDSU...Preseason polls are as worthless as titties on a bull, but they should be pre season top 3-4...

Below are the takes of the Southland Coaches and Sports Information Directors from today's Southland media day. I frankly think that about the only ones that have no shot this year are Incarnate Word, Nichols State, and Houston Baptist. It actually should be a pretty strong league this year as far as the top 8 teams go. I don't think it would be a shock to see any of the top 8 beat any of the other top 8.

2015 Southland Conference Preseason Polls
Coaches' Poll
1. Sam Houston State (8), 98
2. Southeastern La. (1), 86
3. McNeese (1), 79
4. Stephen F. Austin, 73
5. Northwestern State, 60
6. Central Arkansas (1), 57
7. Abilene Christian, 49
8. Lamar, 46
9. Incarnate Word, 26
10. Nicholls, 16
11. Houston Baptist, 15

Sports Information Directors' Poll
1. Sam Houston State (9), 99
2. Stephen F. Austin, 87
3. Southeastern La., 77
4. McNeese (1), 75
5. Central Arkansas (1), 66
6. Northwestern State, 51
7. Abilene Christian, 48
8. Lamar, 41
9. Incarnate Word, 25
10. Nicholls, 20
11. Houston Baptist, 12

BDKJMU wrote:SHSU. Semi final game notes only showed 3 seniors starting vs NDSU...Preseason polls are as worthless as titties on a bull, but they should be pre season top 3-4...

I know it's unpopular to say but, as I said while it was going on, they got a good draw the first two rounds with Southeastern Louisiana playing with Brian Bennett limited by injury then getting Jacksonville State. Then they got Villanova with Villanova's All American quarterback out. I'm not saying they weren't good. But I don't think they were anywhere close to one of the four best teams in FCS. I think they were the easiest "out" North Dakota State faced during the playoffs last year. I know we all would agree it's obvious that Illinois State was better but I also think both Coastal Carolina and South Dakota State were better. And I think the scores during North Dakota State's run are consistent with my view. Sam Houston State was the only "cakewalk" they had.

North Dakota State 27, South Dakota State 24
North Dakota State 39, Coastal Carolina 32
North Dakota State 35, Sam Houston State 3
North Dakota State 29, Illinois State 27

I doubt that Sam Houston State would even have made the playoffs if it'd been in the MVC. I think they'd have come out in 5th place in that conference at best (behind North Dakota State, Illinois State, South Dakota State, and Northern Iowa).

JohnStOnge wrote:

BDKJMU wrote:SHSU. Semi final game notes only showed 3 seniors starting vs NDSU...Preseason polls are as worthless as titties on a bull, but they should be pre season top 3-4...

I know it's unpopular to say but, as I said while it was going on, they got a good draw the first two rounds with Southeastern Louisiana playing with Brian Bennett limited by injury then getting Jacksonville State. Then they got Villanova with Villanova's All American quarterback out. I'm not saying they weren't good. But I don't think they were anywhere close to one of the four best teams in FCS. I think they were the easiest "out" North Dakota State faced during the playoffs last year. I know we all would agree it's obvious that Illinois State was better but I also think both Coastal Carolina and South Dakota State were better. And I think the scores during North Dakota State's run are consistent with my view. Sam Houston State was the only "cakewalk" they had.

North Dakota State 27, South Dakota State 24
North Dakota State 39, Coastal Carolina 32
North Dakota State 35, Sam Houston State 3
North Dakota State 29, Illinois State 27

I doubt that Sam Houston State would even have made the playoffs if it'd been in the MVC. I think they'd have come out in 5th place in that conference at best (behind North Dakota State, Illinois State, South Dakota State, and Northern Iowa).

Doesn't change the fact they get virtually everyone back this year.

Doesn't change the fact they get virtually everyone back this year.

Oh yeah like I said it makes sense to pick them to win the Southland given that as well as the way things fell with respect to Southland conference scheduling. Each team has one conference opponent they don't play. Sam Houston's opponent they don't play is Southeastern Louisiana while, for instance, McNeese's opponent they don't play is Houston Baptist. I just get the impression that some people think they were a top 4 or 5 FCS team last year in terms of actual caliber so they think it's a top 4 or 5 team in caliber from last year with almost everybody back. And I don't think they were anywhere close to being a top 4 or 5 FCS teams in terms of actual caliber last year. I don't think it likely they'd have gotten out of the first round with Southeastern Louisiana's Brian Bennett healthy and I sure as heck don't think they'd have been able to beat Villanova without Villanova's All American quarterback being out.

It'll be a repeat of last year with the committee matching us up in the playoffs again.

JohnStOnge wrote:Well, you have to pick Sam Houston because they won it last year and have almost everybody back. I'm hopeful with respect to McNeese IF they can stay healthy for once. They do get both Sam Houston State and Southeastern Louisiana at home. And they should start the season with a talent level a little higher than it was when they took Nebraska to the wire to open last season (before quickly being depleted by injury thereafter).

It'll be interesting to see how Southeastern Louisiana does without Brian Bennett. I think we saw during the SFA game last year that he was extremely important to them. He sat out the first half and Southeastern got 0 points and 55 yards. Five of their six possessions were three and out. Then, I guess since they were down 17-0, they put him in for the second half. Even though he was not 100% the Lions got 17 points and 292 yards in the second half.

We'll be just fine on offense.

We'll be just fine on offense.

Time will tell. But you have to admit that the Lions were stunningly ineffective on offense during the first half of that Stephen F. Austin game when he wasn't in there and that the contrast between how well they were able to move the ball in the first half of the game and how they were able to move it during the second half with Bennett in there was night and day. They may come up with a quarterback that can keep things humming. North Dakota State sure did that. Appalachian State did it after they won their first national championship, had their quarterback graduate, then showed up with Armanti Edwards.

But right now whether or not Southeastern's going to have a quarterback that can perform at or near the level that Bennett did is unknown. That's why it'll be interesting to see what happens with that.

JohnStOnge wrote:

We'll be just fine on offense.

Time will tell. But you have to admit that the Lions were stunningly ineffective on offense during the first half of that Stephen F. Austin game when he wasn't in there and that the contrast between how well they were able to move the ball in the first half of the game and how they were able to move it during the second half with Bennett in there was night and day. They may come up with a quarterback that can keep things humming. North Dakota State sure did that. Appalachian State did it after they won their first national championship, had their quarterback graduate, then showed up with Armanti Edwards.

But right now whether or not Southeastern's going to have a quarterback that can perform at or near the level that Bennett did is unknown. That's why it'll be interesting to see what happens with that.

You and others read way too much into the SFA game. There were several factors not related to who the QB was as to why we struggled in the first half. Most were corrected at halftime which coincided with Bennett getting cleared to play. That's not to say Jordan Barnett didn't struggle, but he had played well up to that point in a backup role, including leading us to 34 points and a good road win over Samford in 2013, a better team than SFA.

Now we move on to 2015. Bryan Bennett isn't here anymore but we have several very capable QBs on the roster and a loaded cast around them on the OL, WR and RB. We'll tailor the offense to suit the starter (most likely D'Shaie Landor) and we'll be successful moving the football and scoring points. We don't have to be great on offense to win games, we just need to be efficient and allow our defense to dictate play.

Well, we'll see. It wont hurt either Sam Houston State or Southeastern Louisiana that they don't play each other. I really don't like having so many teams in the conference that everybody doesn't play everybody else. But it's what college football appears to be evolving to.

JohnStOnge wrote:Well, we'll see. It wont hurt either Sam Houston State or Southeastern Louisiana that they don't play each other. I really don't like having so many teams in the conference that everybody doesn't play everybody else. But it's what college football appears to be evolving to.

I have mixed opinions on it. In a perfect world, everyone would play each other, but I also like the idea of a large conference. As for not playing Sam in the regular season, the conference schedules were made years ago, with no foresight of us being a contender. We don't play them again in the regular season until 2017. That said, I'm pretty sure we'll see them in the playoffs again ... the committee will make certain of it.

JohnStOnge wrote:Well, you have to pick Sam Houston because they won it last year and have almost everybody back. I'm hopeful with respect to McNeese IF they can stay healthy for once. They do get both Sam Houston State and Southeastern Louisiana at home. And they should start the season with a talent level a little higher than it was when they took Nebraska to the wire to open last season (before quickly being depleted by injury thereafter).

It'll be interesting to see how Southeastern Louisiana does without Brian Bennett. I think we saw during the SFA game last year that he was extremely important to them. He sat out the first half and Southeastern got 0 points and 55 yards. Five of their six possessions were three and out. Then, I guess since they were down 17-0, they put him in for the second half. Even though he was not 100% the Lions got 17 points and 292 yards in the second half.

wait, are you saying its a trend now? I thought Sam Houston's success was only a result of the stars lining up with Fritz, Flanders and Bell? When do we come back to the pack?

wait, are you saying its a trend now?

No, I'm saying that if a team wins the conference one year and has almost everybody coming back it makes sense to pick them the next year. Then you add to that the fact that their "don't play them" team is one that has done well recently vs., say, not playing somebody like Houston Baptist or Incarnate Word and that adds a little to the case for picking them.

In a perfect world, everyone would play each other, but I also like the idea of a large conference.

I definitely do NOT like the large conference thing. I don't like it in FCS and I don't like it in FBS either. I don't like, for instance, what the SEC is doing with is championship game. I know it was a good business decision but I think it sucks because not everybody has to play everybody else and certain teams have the advantage just based on who they play in any given year. To me the Southland would be about right if they'd have taken Abilene Christian but not taken Incarnate Word and Houston Baptist. Abilene Christian has a damned fine athletic tradition and a solid football tradition on the D-II level. In fact they had a better football tradition than Central Arkansas did and I fully expect them to become a contender. Taking them and leaving the other two out would've created a solid 9 team league. Everybody could've played everybody else and left room for three non conference games.

JohnStOnge wrote:

wait, are you saying its a trend now?

No, I'm saying that if a team wins the conference one year and has almost everybody coming back it makes sense to pick them the next year. Then you add to that the fact that their "don't play them" team is one that has done well recently vs., say, not playing somebody like Houston Baptist or Incarnate Word and that adds a little to the case for picking them.

ok, that sounds more like JSO.
4 years of winning still just an anomaly, got it.
If SHSU makes a deep run this year we can call it an outlier.

ok, that sounds more like JSO.
4 years of winning still just an anomaly, got it.
If SHSU makes a deep run this year we can call it an outlier.

No, I didn't say that. I think Sam Houston State's administration scored big on getting KC Keeler to come there as head coach. I do think they have shown that they can win after losing the coach and the nucleus of players that got them to the championship game in 2011 and 2012. And I think a big reason for that is getting Keeler. If you had asked me before they got him that they'd come up with something like getting Keeler I'll admit I'd have said "no." But they did.

JohnStOnge wrote:

ok, that sounds more like JSO.
4 years of winning still just an anomaly, got it.
If SHSU makes a deep run this year we can call it an outlier.

No, I didn't say that. I think Sam Houston State's administration scored big on getting KC Keeler to come there as head coach. I do think they have shown that they can win after losing the coach and the nucleus of players that got them to the championship game in 2011 and 2012. And I think a big reason for that is getting Keeler. If you had asked me before they got him that they'd come up with something like getting Keeler I'll admit I'd have said "no." But they did.

Ill take that. What is your prediction for your Cowboys this year. if healthy?

Ill take that. What is your prediction for your Cowboys this year. if healthy?

I think they have a shot. They have a tougher row to hoe than either Sam Houston State or Southeastern Louisiana because their "don't play" team is Houston Baptist while Sam Houston State's "don't play" team is Southeastern Louisiana and Southeastern Louisiana's "don't play" team is Sam Houston State. But they do get both Sam Houston State and Southeastern Louisiana at home and I think their initial talent level is going to be about the same as it was or maybe even a little higher than it was when they opened against Nebraska last year. But the key is the "if healthy" part. As a McNeese fan I'm beginning to wonder if that is ever going to happen. And I'm talking about to even a reasonable degree.