Week 4 Observations & Questions

[KAUMASS]

After 3 weeks of seeing whats going on...these have jumped out ... If I've missed anything, please feel free to add anything to the list.

1. Montana in salvage mode. It was bound to happen one of these years. Lost 2 on the road. Montana historically struggles on the road, but they usually pull out tight games on the road. Should win at home, havn't been blown out yet. Shouldn't be ranked, but not counting them out yet. Hauck leave at a good time? He's "Ofer" at UNLV.

2. New Hampshire sliding as well. Not a fluke or bad weather game for URI to pull the win. URI ran all over UNH and UNH could not run on URI. Only one conclusion here, UNH's O & D lines are suspect. URI blown out by Buffalo and lost to Fordham. Lehigh up next for UNH. Great barometer game for UNH, we'll know more about UNH after this game.

3. Georgia State -taking it to Jacksonville State, who took it to SEC Ole Miss. Transfers folks. Maybe, just maybe, the Alabama-GSU game won't be a laugher...

4. Old Dominion-hung tough with Willam & Mary.

5. Great to see FBS victories outside of the CAA. The CAA was tuting their horn way to much last year.

6. Delaware vs. Richmond. What more could you ask for in week 4. UD has had a relatively light schedule this year,
Richmond is battle tested after Virginia & Elon. UD has the weapons, question mark is what they have in the trenches. Richmond by 5 at home.

7. Power shift in the Patriot this year?

8. Robert Morris winning the AQ from the NEC this year?

9. Teams on my radar-
Georgia Southern. Lost to Navy by 7. Elon this week. Will know more after this game.
Furman. Destroyed Colgate, good showing against South Carolina. Citadel this week. Should be a good one.

See you next week

[danefan]

I always enjoy this thread.

A couple observations that I have:

1. Texas State? Are they for real or is the whole of FCS West down this year (e.g. Cal Poly and Montana?). If so, the SLC could be in for one of its best year's yet. SFA has to be a title contender and could Texas St. be in the mix?

2. What happened to W&M?

3. Can UMass hold it together for an entire season? They look very strong right now, but they've looked that strong in the past as well.

4. Is the Patriot League really down this year? Three teams have bad losses already (Colgate, HC and Lafayette).

5. How good is Harvard? They have a win over an unproven HC team that was also handled by UNH. How can we compare them now that UNH is suspect?

[KAUMASS]

I always enjoy this thread. Thanks danefan.
A couple observations that I have:

1. Texas State? Are they for real or is the whole of FCS West down this year (e.g. Cal Poly and Montana?). If so, the SLC could be in for one of its best year's yet. SFA has to be a title contender and could Texas St. be in the mix? YES

2. What happened to W&M? Nothing. Hit by UMass, blew out VMI. ODU played up with a bunch of transfers. Tough road game at Maine this week. We'll see what WM has with this game.
3. Can UMass hold it together for an entire season? They look very strong right now, but they've looked that strong in the past as well. Maybe. If they play everygame like the last 3, watch out. You have to expect some adversity at some point in the season.
4. Is the Patriot League really down this year? Three teams have bad losses already (Colgate, HC and Lafayette).
Seems that way.
5. How good is Harvard? They have a win over an unproven HC team that was also handled by UNH. How can we compare them now that UNH is suspect?

The truth usually lies somewhere in the middle. Harvard has a good squad. HC was smoked by UMass, not UNH.
We'll have a pretty good idea after Harvard plays 2 more games.

[danefan]

I always enjoy this thread. Thanks danefan.
A couple observations that I have:

1. Texas State? Are they for real or is the whole of FCS West down this year (e.g. Cal Poly and Montana?). If so, the SLC could be in for one of its best year's yet. SFA has to be a title contender and could Texas St. be in the mix? YES

2. What happened to W&M? Nothing. Hit by UMass, blew out VMI. ODU played up with a bunch of transfers. Tough road game at Maine this week. We'll see what WM has with this game.
3. Can UMass hold it together for an entire season? They look very strong right now, but they've looked that strong in the past as well. Maybe. If they play everygame like the last 3, watch out. You have to expect some adversity at some point in the season.
4. Is the Patriot League really down this year? Three teams have bad losses already (Colgate, HC and Lafayette).
Seems that way.
5. How good is Harvard? They have a win over an unproven HC team that was also handled by UNH. How can we compare them now that UNH is suspect?

The truth usually lies somewhere in the middle. Harvard has a good squad. HC was smoked by UMass, not UNH.
We'll have a pretty good idea after Harvard plays 2 more games.

Yeah not sure how I mixed up UNH and UMass on the HC game. That gives me some more evidence in Harvard's favor, but you're right only time will tell.

[JBB]

NIce perspective on the season.

[Tribe4SF]

2. What happened to W&M?

Missing key defensive leadership (Jake Trantin and Dante Cook) hurt at UMass. Same with Keith Hill being out at ODU. Team has had to redefine itself, and the jury is still out. The big question going in was QB, and that's been answered in the affirmative, so there's hope that the other pieces will come together. Looks like Trantin will not play this year, so the D has to find leadership elsewhere. How Cook adjusts to playing MLB is a key right now.

[KAUMASS]

2. What happened to W&M?

Missing key defensive leadership (Jake Trantin and Dante Cook) hurt at UMass. Same with Keith Hill being out at ODU. Team has had to redefine itself, and the jury is still out. The big question going in was QB, and that's been answered in the affirmative, so there's hope that the other pieces will come together. Looks like Trantin will not play this year, so the D has to find leadership elsewhere. How Cook adjusts to playing MLB is a key right now.

Saw the W/M -UMass game in person. Offensively, you guys will be fine. QB is excellent. Grimes was returning kickoffs, and he didn't look as fast as he should be in the first series of plays after every kickoff. Not sure if that has changed, or if Grimes returned KO's last year. Defensively, youv'e got some younger players filling in. Your defense is not as strong as last year, but I think it is still good enough to make alot of noise this year. I think this game at Maine is going to define your season. Good luck against Maine. Maine physically should be beat up a bit from the Syracuse game. W/M by 7-10. If you don't win convincingly, don't worry. Any win up in Orono is a good win.