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Post by The Cats on May 26, 2023 18:14:37 GMT -5
I'll post these as they are published: VMI (play on week #12 of the season) Location: Lexington, VA 2022: 1-10 (113th) Head Coach: Danny Rocco (1st season) Defense: Losing LB Stone Snyder is going to hurt for a defense that already isn’t good. The Keydets gave up 34+ to every SoCon team except for the Citadel. New DC Rich Yahner has his work cut out for him, although this unit is decently experienced so maybe theres a silver lining. Schedule: They’re going to need to improve quickly to compete in the SoCon, but I figure they beat Davidson and Bucknell, then steal a home game against Wofford to build some momentum going into next season. Prediction: 3-8 (1-7)  |
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Post by The Cats on May 26, 2023 18:20:07 GMT -5
Charleston Southern (Game #4) Location: Cullowhee, NC 2022: 2-8 (89th) Head Coach: Gabe Giardina (1st season) Conference: Big South Last Year: The Bucs struggled to a 2-8 record that resulted in the dismissal of Autry Denson. It wasn’t the worst 2-8 ever, as they were competitive in most of the games. Albany State head coach Gabe Giardina gets his shot after a great run with the Golden Rams. Offense: An injury to QB Ross Malmgren in Game 4 certainly didn’t help the Bucs offense. In fact, he was still the leading passer despite the injury. He’s back in 2023, as are both the leading rushers from 2022. They do lose their top WR, though. Defense: It appears as if they lose their 2 best players in LB Garrett Sayegh and DB Kamron Brown. That’s a huge blow to the defense (although Sayegh might pull another year of eligibility out of the random wheel of destiny), which was fine but not amazing last fall. 
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Post by wcatradio75 on May 31, 2023 12:52:11 GMT -5
Looking at the VMI predictor, it appears this guy still thinks WCU is 8th out of 9 SoCon schools this year. Can't wait to prove them all wrong.
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Post by The Cats on Jun 27, 2023 20:50:28 GMT -5
The Citadel Location: Charleston, SC 2022: 4-7 (84th) Head Coach: Maurice Drayton (1st season) Defense: The Bulldogs lose 3 of their 4 leading tacklers from 2022, but at least they bring back LB Hasan Black, who was excellent last fall. The rest of the depth chart is pretty much intact, so you could see a lot of young guys make a leap forward this fall. Schedule: They got the right side of the home road split, as they have most of their winnable games at home. I think the offensive transition makes things a bit rocky early, but they still match last fall's record and look better in November. Prediction: 4-7 (2-6)  |
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Post by carolinacatamount on Jun 28, 2023 14:30:06 GMT -5
The Citadel Location: Charleston, SC 2022: 4-7 (84th) Head Coach: Maurice Drayton (1st season) Defense: The Bulldogs lose 3 of their 4 leading tacklers from 2022, but at least they bring back LB Hasan Black, who was excellent last fall. The rest of the depth chart is pretty much intact, so you could see a lot of young guys make a leap forward this fall. Schedule: They got the right side of the home road split, as they have most of their winnable games at home. I think the offensive transition makes things a bit rocky early, but they still match last fall's record and look better in November. Prediction: 4-7 (2-6) Highly doubt there is a 50% chance to beat us. They have a brand new offense with players still on the team who are built and recruited for the triple option. Notoriously small oline built for triple option and will be hard to see them have any success on offense this first year. |
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Post by wcu72 on Jun 29, 2023 8:21:43 GMT -5
The Citadel Location: Charleston, SC 2022: 4-7 (84th) Head Coach: Maurice Drayton (1st season) Defense: The Bulldogs lose 3 of their 4 leading tacklers from 2022, but at least they bring back LB Hasan Black, who was excellent last fall. The rest of the depth chart is pretty much intact, so you could see a lot of young guys make a leap forward this fall. Schedule: They got the right side of the home road split, as they have most of their winnable games at home. I think the offensive transition makes things a bit rocky early, but they still match last fall's record and look better in November. Prediction: 4-7 (2-6) Highly doubt there is a 50% chance to beat us. They have a brand new offense with players still on the team who are built and recruited for the triple option. Notoriously small oline built for triple option and will be hard to see them have any success on offense this first year. I totally agree and I think the 4-7 record is a bit optimistic as well |
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Post by The Cats on Jun 30, 2023 18:39:19 GMT -5
Western Carolina Catamounts (@catamountsfb) Location: Cullowhee, NC 2022: 6-5 (61st) Head Coach: Kerwin Bell (3rd season, 10-12) Conference: @soconsports Best Follow: @catsportsforum Last Year: The Catamounts finished with a winning record for the first time since 2017 and ruined Chattanooga’s playoff chances in week 12, which meant it was a pretty good season. Now, can Kerwin Bell get the Catamounts to a winning SoCon record? Offense: With Carlos Davis portaling, Cole Gonzales will take over the QB position. Gonzales saw quite a bit of time as a true freshman last fall, and will have running mate Desmond Reid (also a true freshman) and an experienced OL led by Tyler Smith. I like the upside. Defense: Although they weren’t amazing here last fall, they bring back a lot of guys with experience. Andreas Keaton is solid on the back end, and the only real loss is DL KJ Milner, who will be missed up front. Still, experience numbers are quite good here for a 3rd year DC. Schedule: If they can pull a couple home upsets and take care of business on the road, a winning SoCon record is possible as Samford, Furman, and Mercer all visit Cullowhee and the trips are manageable. Life's no fun without a surprise team, so I'll pick it Prediction: 6-5 (5-3) 
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Post by The Cats on Jul 4, 2023 10:57:31 GMT -5
ETSU Football
Location: Johnson City, TN 2022: 3-8 (60th) Head Coach: George Quarles (2nd season, 3-8) Best Follow: @themutinyofetsu Defense: They collapsed here last fall and then got sucker punched as their 4 most productive players portaled after the season, including 2 all SoCon players. They’re going to need to find some young guys to step up here in order to compete. Schedule: The state of the defense gives me a lot of pause about the Bucs ability to compete, and the non-conference is no joke. It might not be a pretty year 2 for Quarles. Prediction: 3-8 (2-6) 
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Post by The Cats on Jul 5, 2023 18:00:05 GMT -5
Wofford FB
Location: Spartanburg, SC 2022: 3-8 (81st) Head Coach: Shawn Watson (1st full season, 3-3) Best Follow: @ssn_Wofford Defense: The defense was just fine but was a bit worse later in the season. They bring back most of the key contributors, but lose 1 important guy at every level. Still, they should be a little better thanks to a strong secondary. Schedule: 1-2 is almost guaranteed in the non-con, but the terriers got a bad draw. Their "easiest" games are on the road, and the SoCon favorites have to come to them. That’s going to lower the win total for a team that’s slightly rebuilding. Prediction: 4-7 (3-5) 
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Post by wcu72 on Jul 9, 2023 9:45:27 GMT -5
Wofford FB
Location: Spartanburg, SC 2022: 3-8 (81st) Head Coach: Shawn Watson (1st full season, 3-3) Best Follow: @ssn_Wofford Defense: The defense was just fine but was a bit worse later in the season. They bring back most of the key contributors, but lose 1 important guy at every level. Still, they should be a little better thanks to a strong secondary. Schedule: 1-2 is almost guaranteed in the non-con, but the terriers got a bad draw. Their "easiest" games are on the road, and the SoCon favorites have to come to them. That’s going to lower the win total for a team that’s slightly rebuilding. Prediction: 4-7 (3-5) I find it incredible that he picked Wofford to beat us, when they only won three games last season, have a new head coach, changed their offense, and lost 13 players to the transfer portal, including last season's starting QB, Jimmy Weirick. |
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