There is lots of time to kill between now and when summer practices start, so I figured it's time to ratchet up some off-season football talk.
Let's rank next year's schedule, toughest to easiest ....
1. Florida State ..... until they stumble, gotta put them at the top. Like without Winston begins, so maybe they drop a bit.
2. Clemson .... we hung with them there, but they're loaded with talent. And while we did a very good job containing DeShaun Watson before he got hurt, he's a very talented kid, who will be tough to stop.
3. Auburn ... pre-season top 10 team, in Atlanta game 1. A tough season opener for sure. But they arguably lose as much as we do. And some recent secondary losses can't be good for them. I don't know about you, but a Will Muschamp Defense isn't nearly as intimidating to me as it was BEFORE the 2013 Sugar Bowl.
4. NC State .... year two for Jacoby Brissett. Year 3 for Dave Doreen, who took Northern Illinois to the Orange Bowl (which got us to the Sugar Bowl -- MAJOR props to him for that). 8 and 5 last year. And they should improve off that record.
5. Pittsburgh ... Pat Narduzzi takes over, who was rumored to be on the short list for Tom Jurich when re-hiring Petrino. The former Michigan State DC has a nice reputation as an assistant, and I thought he would make a good head coach when we were considering him to lead our program, but we'll see. I admittedly don't know much about the Panthers, but they went bowling last year, playing a wild one against Houston. Their former coach was hired at Wisconsin, so you'd expect the cupboard isn't totally bare for Narduzzi.
6. Boston College ... Year 3 for Steve Addazio, and two straight 7 and 5 seasons. Tyler Murphy led the Eagles last year, with an upset of USC and close calls against Florida State and Clemson, but he is gone. Replacing him will be paramount.
7. Virginia ... Mike London survived the hot seat, even after only posting a 5 and 7 record. Dude has some talent. If he doesn't get results this year, I'd expect him to be toast. Since they beat us last year (many would argue we beat ourselves, but hey, that's the way the ball bounces), I'd hope we'd be out for some pay back this year.
8. Kentucky ... I was tempted to put Houston here, but am afraid my bias against UK would show too much. UK hasn't proven anything under Stoops yet. And I have my doubts they ever will. But we'll see. New offensive coordinator for the putty tats to adjust too as well. Ironically, the offense showed improvement in year two of Stoops, and not the defense, which is what Stoops is supposedly known for.
9. Houston ... A dangerous non-power 5 team to play for sure. They'll be jacked to play us, as we were when outside the power 5 conferences trying to earn respect. Hiring Ohio State assistant Tom Herman to take over for Tony Levine (former U of L assistant) pushes them down a bit. Assuming new schemes and all that goes with that, they return quite a bit of personnel, and sandwiched between Auburn and Clemson on our schedule, this game concerns me. It also sucks that they are a 12 noon start time ... our crowd will be slow to get in football watching shape.
10. Wake Forest ... maybe the Deacons should be higher on this list. But it is May after all. Year two of Dave Clauson. And they could make some noise. 3 and 9 last year, although they fought us tooth and nail. So who knows.
11. Syracuse ... Year 3 of Scott Shafer tenure. After a bowl winning campaign in his first year, the orange stumbled to a 3 and 9 record his next. Vegas puts the over/under for games won for the Cuse in '15 at 4.5.
12. Samford .... not Stan, but Sam ... ford. Enough said.
What say you?? How would you rank these foes in strength?
Let's rank next year's schedule, toughest to easiest ....
1. Florida State ..... until they stumble, gotta put them at the top. Like without Winston begins, so maybe they drop a bit.
2. Clemson .... we hung with them there, but they're loaded with talent. And while we did a very good job containing DeShaun Watson before he got hurt, he's a very talented kid, who will be tough to stop.
3. Auburn ... pre-season top 10 team, in Atlanta game 1. A tough season opener for sure. But they arguably lose as much as we do. And some recent secondary losses can't be good for them. I don't know about you, but a Will Muschamp Defense isn't nearly as intimidating to me as it was BEFORE the 2013 Sugar Bowl.
4. NC State .... year two for Jacoby Brissett. Year 3 for Dave Doreen, who took Northern Illinois to the Orange Bowl (which got us to the Sugar Bowl -- MAJOR props to him for that). 8 and 5 last year. And they should improve off that record.
5. Pittsburgh ... Pat Narduzzi takes over, who was rumored to be on the short list for Tom Jurich when re-hiring Petrino. The former Michigan State DC has a nice reputation as an assistant, and I thought he would make a good head coach when we were considering him to lead our program, but we'll see. I admittedly don't know much about the Panthers, but they went bowling last year, playing a wild one against Houston. Their former coach was hired at Wisconsin, so you'd expect the cupboard isn't totally bare for Narduzzi.
6. Boston College ... Year 3 for Steve Addazio, and two straight 7 and 5 seasons. Tyler Murphy led the Eagles last year, with an upset of USC and close calls against Florida State and Clemson, but he is gone. Replacing him will be paramount.
7. Virginia ... Mike London survived the hot seat, even after only posting a 5 and 7 record. Dude has some talent. If he doesn't get results this year, I'd expect him to be toast. Since they beat us last year (many would argue we beat ourselves, but hey, that's the way the ball bounces), I'd hope we'd be out for some pay back this year.
8. Kentucky ... I was tempted to put Houston here, but am afraid my bias against UK would show too much. UK hasn't proven anything under Stoops yet. And I have my doubts they ever will. But we'll see. New offensive coordinator for the putty tats to adjust too as well. Ironically, the offense showed improvement in year two of Stoops, and not the defense, which is what Stoops is supposedly known for.
9. Houston ... A dangerous non-power 5 team to play for sure. They'll be jacked to play us, as we were when outside the power 5 conferences trying to earn respect. Hiring Ohio State assistant Tom Herman to take over for Tony Levine (former U of L assistant) pushes them down a bit. Assuming new schemes and all that goes with that, they return quite a bit of personnel, and sandwiched between Auburn and Clemson on our schedule, this game concerns me. It also sucks that they are a 12 noon start time ... our crowd will be slow to get in football watching shape.
10. Wake Forest ... maybe the Deacons should be higher on this list. But it is May after all. Year two of Dave Clauson. And they could make some noise. 3 and 9 last year, although they fought us tooth and nail. So who knows.
11. Syracuse ... Year 3 of Scott Shafer tenure. After a bowl winning campaign in his first year, the orange stumbled to a 3 and 9 record his next. Vegas puts the over/under for games won for the Cuse in '15 at 4.5.
12. Samford .... not Stan, but Sam ... ford. Enough said.
What say you?? How would you rank these foes in strength?