2018 SLC Pick'em: Week 9

[BEAR]

Games for October 27, 2018

UCA vs McNeese
SLU vs SHSU
Lamar vs SFA
IWU vs Nicholls
HBU vs NWST
ACU vs Bye U.

[BEAR]

5-2: UCA and McNeese
4-3: Nicholls, SHSU, and IWU
4+ losses- rest of conference.

Nicholls plays IWU so one of them will have 4 losses after that game.
If SHSU loses to SLU they will have 4 losses.
McNeese or UCA will take the conference lead after their game. Both are 4-1.

[bonarae]

UCA
SHSU
SFA
IWU
NWST

[Daytripper]

Give me a minute. The Southland world is upside down and totally unpredictable...

[Daytripper]

UCA vs McNeese - McNeese got exposed. UCA is just better.
SLU vs SHSU - Keeler is good at bouncing back.
Lamar vs SFA - Lamar runs the ball. Well.
IWU vs Nicholls - UIW is a revelation. Maybe the best FCS turnaround.
HBU vs NWST - Demons are just a bit better than the Huskies.
ACU vs Bye U - tough one.

[bwbear]

UCA vs McNeese - UCA is rolling. Defense is salty right now.
SLU vs SHSU
Lamar vs SFA - Late season rally.
IWU vs Nicholls
HBU vs NWST
ACU vs Bye U. - Toss up. I'm going Bye U on this one.

Lamar is an interesting case. They have taken down two top conference teams the last two weeks (and I consider UIW a top team just because of their record). I'm not sold on UIW yet. The win over McNeese was impressive, but other than that, they have not played anyone yet. Their next three weeks will tell us a lot about them (Nicholls, Sam Houston, and UCA). I still like Fourcade in this one.

Toss up for game of the week between UIW/Nicholls and UCA/McNeese. Both are big games with conference/playoff implications.

[McNeese75]

UCA vs McNeese Just not sure how McNeese will react after the beating last night but the Bears are supposedly better than UIW (maybe).
SLU vs SHSU I will go with the Kats but if the Lions run the ball well it could get ugly.
Lamar vs SFA Who would EVER think this.
IWU vs Nicholls If the cards play like they have the last few week. The Colonels could go down.
HBU vs NWST
ACU vs Bye U.

[Outsider1]

Do I really want to try and guess anything this week????

[McNeese75]

Do I really want to try and guess anything this week????

http://www.anygivensaturday.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=29328&stc=1

Take the scientific approach. I do :D

[BEAR]

UCA vs McNeese- I think UCA has only won once in LC. Plus Cowboys have revenge on their mind. But..
SLU vs SHSU- Unless Lions have mailed it in, the team we faced might upset the Kats.
Lamar vs SFA- Cards playing tough!
IWU vs Nicholls- Colonels want to play spoiler
HBU vs NWST- HBU plays tough but no defense. Close one.
ACU vs Bye U.

[McNeese72]

UCA vs McNeese
SLU vs SHSU
Lamar vs SFA
UIW vs Nicholls
HBU vs NWST


Doc

[Outsider1]

Exactly..... 🤞
http://www.anygivensaturday.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=29328&stc=1

Take the scientific approach. I do :D

Sent from my BLU_S1 using Tapatalk

[Wildcat1997]

UCA
SHSU
Lamar
UIW
NWST
ACU (It'll be a tough hard fought game though)

[BEAR]

Anyone got an idea about who SHOULD make the playoffs.

I know the autobid goes to the conference champ..whoever that will be...but will the SLC get anymore in? I mean we look like a turd rolled in dung covered in fecal matter. Ugh. :pumpuke:

[Daytripper]

Anyone got an idea about who SHOULD make the playoffs.

I know the autobid goes to the conference champ..whoever that will be...but will the SLC get anymore in? I mean we look like a turd rolled in dung covered in fecal matter. Ugh. :pumpuke:

I think we get two in the playoffs for sure. The winner of the UCA McNeese game should get the autobid unless UIW wins out (if that happens I know the apocalypse is nigh). Then one more should get in. I believe the chaos in the Southland this season is caused by the fact that traditional mediocre and/or bottom-feeders are improving quickly. Combine that with the fact that there isn't a single dominant team but, instead, a few really good teams at the top.

[bwbear]

I think we get two in the playoffs for sure. The winner of the UCA McNeese game should get the autobid unless UIW wins out (if that happens I know the apocalypse is nigh). Then one more should get in. I believe the chaos in the Southland this season is caused by the fact that traditional mediocre and/or bottom-feeders are improving quickly. Combine that with the fact that there isn't a single dominant team but, instead, a few really good teams at the top.

UCA plays UIW on November 10th. The scenarios for the autobid for the top 3 teams are:

UCA wins out, UCA gets it.
If UIW wins out, UIW gets it.
If McNeese wins out, and UCA beats UIW, McNeese gets it.

Of course, in our conference this year, anything can happen. I could see a scenarios where UIW, UCA, McNeese, and SHSU all end up with 2 losses and then the AQ is the only one who gets in.

[Bear84]

UCA vs McNeese
SLU vs SHSU
Lamar vs SFA
UIW vs Nicholls
HBU vs NWST

[BEAR]

Just trying to put a little discussion out there. Here's what Massey thinks will happen the rest of the year as of today.

http://www.anygivensaturday.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=29333&stc=1

[Katfan]

UCA
SLU
Lamar
UIW
NWST

[Sammy94]

So I am sure they didn’t expect to be in the playoffs but if UIW gets a playoff spot I wonder if they drop their game with Iowa State scheduled for 12/1?

[Sammy94]

McNeese
Sam
Nicholls
NWST
Lamar

[Sammy94]

Just trying to put a little discussion out there. Here's what Massey thinks will happen the rest of the year as of today.

http://www.anygivensaturday.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=29333&stc=1
Lol Massey sure got it right this last weekend.

[Outsider1]

Ok, I'm flipping my coin...

UCA vs McNeese
SLU vs SHSU
Lamar vs SFA
UIW vs Nicholls
HBU vs NWST

I think the most likely scenario is that the SLC gets 3 into the play-offs max with only one auto. With #1UCA beating McNeese, and they win out, I think they have the best chance for the auto-bid. Then, I think #2UIW and #3McNeese come behind them with at-large bids. If we get a fourth, it will be #4SHSU with another at-large. I can see McNeese and SHUS flipping easily though.

[bwbear]

I don't see us getting 4. McNeese was 9-2 last year and was snubbed over an 8-4 Nicholls.

This year, we're looking at (in my ideal perfect scenario):

9-2 UCA
8-3 McNeese
8-3 SHSU
6-4 UIW

In this scenario, they may only take 2 (most likely AQ UCA and SHSU at-large, just based on SHSU win over UCA).

But, that's a lot of pieces and parts to fall into place. Sammy, and all the SLC, needs some help from other conferences.

[Outsider1]

I don't see us getting 4. McNeese was 9-2 last year and was snubbed over an 8-4 Nicholls.

This year, we're looking at (in my ideal perfect scenario):

9-2 UCA
8-3 McNeese
8-3 SHSU
6-4 UIW

In this scenario, they may only take 2 (most likely AQ UCA and SHSU at-large, just based on SHSU win over UCA).

But, that's a lot of pieces and parts to fall into place. Sammy, and all the SLC, needs some help from other conferences.


I couldn't discount that the SLC only gets 2 in this year. UIW could get snubbed because of lack of playing and ranking history, as well as over-all record. The hard thing is seeing how bad they are beating some teams ranked ahead of them. Of course, that is with me still thinking they will win 2 of the next 3 games...who knows. I think whatever happens between UCA, McNeese and SHSU the rest of the season determines 2 or 3 seeing any post season.

[Catatonic]

An ACU off week story..

SLC Offensive player of the week ACU RB Billy McCrary (222 yards rushing, 37 receiving) had a little extra incentive to perform well against SLU last week.

McCrary transferred from Cal Berkeley after Cal determined he wasn’t really a very good running back and moved him to DB.

The Cal coach who didn’t think much of McCrary’s talent? He’s now the rb coach at SLU. Karma, baby.

[Outsider1]

An ACU off week story..

SLC Offensive player of the week ACU RB Billy McCrary (222 yards rushing, 37 receiving) had a little extra incentive to perform well against SLU last week.

McCrary transferred from Cal Berkeley after Cal determined he wasn’t really a very good running back and moved him to DB.

The Cal coach who didn’t think much of McCrary’s talent? He’s now the rb coach at SLU. Karma, baby.

Thanks Catatonic, I didn't know that. He left Cal after the 2016 season and was at NM Highlands last year.

[one_armed_man]

UCA
SHSU
Lamar
IWU
HBU

[katss07]

My playoff prediction is winner of UIW/SHSU gets in and the winner of UCA/McNeese gets in. Sorry Nicholls. Maybe they beat UIW and get in over the Cards or Kats. Not sure about them.

[BEAR]

From looking at stats only UCA and McNeese are similar so I didn't include many of the similar stats. Again, these are only stats. For example punting the Cowboys had the edge on average yards BUT UCA typically has LONG drives that don't leave much yardage left for long punts so that average is deceptive (even if UCA doesn't score).

http://www.anygivensaturday.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=29346&stc=1

[BEAR]

Flip the rushing defense stats. They are similar so it really doesn't matter much.

[BEAR]

Nicholls defense may be too much for IWU according to stats:

http://www.anygivensaturday.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=29347&stc=1

[Outsider1]

Nicholls defense may be too much for IWU according to stats:

http://www.anygivensaturday.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=29347&stc=1

Possibly, but they weren't for ours and UIW has a much more prolific offense I think than us. McNeese defense was another that failed.

[Outsider1]

UIW has proven very opportunistic when it comes to scoring.

[McNeese72]

From looking at stats only UCA and McNeese are similar so I didn't include many of the similar stats. Again, these are only stats. For example punting the Cowboys had the edge on average yards BUT UCA typically has LONG drives that don't leave much yardage left for long punts so that average is deceptive (even if UCA doesn't score).

http://www.anygivensaturday.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=29346&stc=1

Too bad you can't do a "number of injuries" stat. McNeese would probably be way ahead in that right now (and I don't mean in a good way). Of course, such numbers at McNeese are Top Secret information. ;)

Doc

[BEAR]

Too bad you can't do a "number of injuries" stat. McNeese would probably be way ahead in that right now (and I don't mean in a good way). Of course, such numbers at McNeese are Top Secret information. ;)

Doc

xlolx Until you listen to your coach's press conference. :D

[McNeese72]

xlolx Until you listen to your coach's press conference. :D

I have and there is a lot he is not saying that my sources are saying.

Doc

[BEAR]

I have and there is a lot he is not saying that my sources are saying.

Doc

As in there are more injuries? OR he's playing the media trying to get a slight advantage if the opponent is listening. You can PM me if you need. Either way the Bears are in NO WAY looking past the "gold standard" of the SLC. They are hustiling at practice right now....xbowx

[McNeese72]

There are more injuries than what he is saying.

[McCowboys]

As in there are more injuries? OR he's playing the media trying to get a slight advantage if the opponent is listening. You can PM me if you need. Either way the Bears are in NO WAY looking past the "gold standard" of the SLC. They are hustiling at practice right now....xbowx

Guidry doesn't talk much about injuries or who will or will not play.
Some of you may be familiar with Keith Zembower's blog. He covers what he knows. Cowboys are hurting on offense and defense. Parker Orgeron, probably the most consistent receiver and punt returner, has not played for a few games. This really hurt the Cowboys versus UIW. Tabary may also be injured (but we don't know because Guidry and his staff don't say anything), because he has not played well in the last few games.
I hope the Cowboys can rally and beat you guys after the last two years when y'all have curb stomped us, and maybe a miracle will happen, but this is not sandbagging. You have seen how much our offense has been struggling, and now some of our defensive guys are out or are "iffy."

[pokefan02]

Coach Guidry guaranteed that the Cowboys will line up with 11 players on offense and 11 players on defense and that one of those players will be B J Blunt.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

[McNeese72]

Coach Guidry guaranteed that the Cowboys will line up with 11 players on offense and 11 players on defense and that one of those players will be B J Blunt.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

And that was the only comment he would make about injuries when asked at the Petrochem meeting.

Doc

[Outsider1]

And that was the only comment he would make about injuries when asked at the Petrochem meeting.

Doc

We are finding out that coach Dorrel is very much the same way. He likes to make sure flies don't hear too much. I don't mind it too much though so far as we are seeing improvement. I know that if we started regressing it would hurt more, but I think we would already see the reasons if we regressed if it was injury related just by keeping track ourselves. It was funny to listen to DOrrel last night. He said something to the effect of, " You never want to say too much, but that our bye week was coming at a good time.", then he grinned.

We don't have any huge outages from major injuries right now, Fuller is actually beginning to come back a little, but I think our guys are just a little tired and dinged. I think our bye right now is crucial to our final games; especially SHSU and UCA.

[BEAR]

And that was the only comment he would make about injuries when asked at the Petrochem meeting.

Doc

Interesting because at the coach's show I saw on facebook he mentioned different injuries. I'll see if I can find it.

https://www.americanpress.com/videos/mcneese-football-weekly-press-conference/youtube_24f4c84a-d7bc-11e8-93f1-77a3a3525fb7.html

[McNeese72]

Interesting because at the coach's show I saw on facebook he mentioned different injuries. I'll see if I can find it.

https://www.americanpress.com/videos/mcneese-football-weekly-press-conference/youtube_24f4c84a-d7bc-11e8-93f1-77a3a3525fb7.html

Yeah, but there is a hell of lot more that he didn't say anything about. Those were just the most obvious ones.

Doc

[BEAR]

Yeah, but there is a hell of lot more that he didn't say anything about. Those were just the most obvious ones.

Doc

Ouch. Just ouch.xsmhx

Here's a strange but possible scenario.

UCA beats McNeese.
Nicholls beats IWU.
SLU beats SHSU (not sure on SHSU anymore. )

That would put conference and overall records at:

---------------------So far playoff eligible...
UCA 5-1, 6-2
----------------------Borderline playoff eligible
McNeese 4-2, 5-3
Nicholls 4-2, 5-3
------------------- Likely OUT with the conference records we have this year.
SHSU 3-3, 4-4
SLU 4-3, 4-5
IWU 4-2, 4-4

Sam is fighting for its playoff life.
If McNeese loses they are hanging by a thread. If its true that your offense and defense have that many injuries then it may not matter.
Nicholls doesn't play UCA but have SLU left. Cutting it close to losing 4 games.
UCA still has Lamar, IWU, and ACU left. NOT an easy road to finish the season.

Conference champ may have 2 losses and the conference may only get 2 teams in the playoffs this year. Of course this is all speculation. A game can change at any moment.. by losing a QB or two that is...xlolx

[McCowboys]

How is the team traveling to the Lake City, bus? Plane? Whatever, safe travels to the team and fans.
It looks like it will be perfect football and Homecoming weather!

[BEAR]

I'm seeing that Cody Orgeron may be McNeese's starting QB? What kind of QB is he like? Is he run heavy, pass heavy, or just hand off the ball most plays? I know NOTHING about the kid except his dad is a coach at LSU. xlolx



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsRLI--ja8Y

[maninthehighcastle]

UCA
SHSU
Lamar
IWA
NWST
ACU

[McNeese72]

I'm seeing that Cody Orgeron may be McNeese's starting QB? What kind of QB is he like? Is he run heavy, pass heavy, or just hand off the ball most plays? I know NOTHING about the kid except his dad is a coach at LSU. xlolx



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsRLI--ja8Y

Hasn't played enough to be able to tell for sure. He can run a little better than Tabary but doesn't have Tabary's arm strength. Other than that, they aren't that much different other than Tabary has ton more of experience. Of course, it won't matter who is at QB if the offensive line doesn't step up and play better.

Doc

[Catatonic]

Ouch. Just ouch.xsmhx

Here's a strange but possible scenario.

UCA beats McNeese.
Nicholls beats IWU.
SLU beats SHSU (not sure on SHSU anymore. )

That would put conference and overall records at:

---------------------So far playoff eligible...
UCA 5-1, 6-2
----------------------Borderline playoff eligible
McNeese 4-2, 5-3
Nicholls 4-2, 5-3
------------------- Likely OUT with the conference records we have this year.
SHSU 3-3, 4-4
SLU 4-3, 4-5
IWU 4-2, 4-4

Sam is fighting for its playoff life.
If McNeese loses they are hanging by a thread. If its true that your offense and defense have that many injuries then it may not matter.
Nicholls doesn't play UCA but have SLU left. Cutting it close to losing 4 games.
UCA still has Lamar, IWU, and ACU left. NOT an easy road to finish the season.

Conference champ may have 2 losses and the conference may only get 2 teams in the playoffs this year. Of course this is all speculation. A game can change at any moment.. by losing a QB or two that is...xlolx

This is a whacky year for the SLC. After yesterday’s games, McMeese has to be the favorite for the autobid. Nicholls and UCA are “borderline” and UIW and SAM are likely out. We might be a two bid conference this year.

[BEAR]

This is a whacky year for the SLC. After yesterday’s games, McMeese has to be the favorite for the autobid. Nicholls and UCA are “borderline” and UIW and SAM are likely out. We might be a two bid conference this year.

Yeah I said it would be a strange scenario because beating McNeese in the Hole is tough no matter what kind of year they are having now. Last time they lost it was to us..two years ago! Nicholls came out and stomped IWU. Who saw that? Sammy fought off SLU. Weird day in football but not totally unexpected.

[McCowboys]

Yeah I said it would be a strange scenario because beating McNeese in the Hole is tough no matter what kind of year they are having now. Last time they lost it was to us..two years ago! Nicholls came out and stomped IWU. Who saw that? Sammy fought off SLU. Weird day in football but not totally unexpected.

Whoever still has Lamar on their schedule better watch out for the Cardinals!

[lionsrking2]

This is a whacky year for the SLC. After yesterday’s games, McMeese has to be the favorite for the autobid. Nicholls and UCA are “borderline” and UIW and SAM are likely out. We might be a two bid conference this year.

Not sure there are two teams worthy of bids but two is most likely at this point. Not a good year for Southland Conference football.

[katss07]

Yeah I said it would be a strange scenario because beating McNeese in the Hole is tough no matter what kind of year they are having now. Last time they lost it was to us..two years ago! Nicholls came out and stomped IWU. Who saw that? Sammy fought off SLU. Weird day in football but not totally unexpected.
Very odd day. Sam had serious trouble with a weak SELA team. That should tell you all you need to know about our playoff chances. UCA isn’t getting in, no quality wins after the beating of MSU yesterday at the hands of the Gamecocks. And while SHSU and UCA will still at least be in bubble conversation, UIW can just kiss their chances goodbye completely.

Since none of the Top 4 teams play each other the rest of the way, lets dream for a second and say they all win out. I think the best that gives us are two teams in and two on the bubble. But with 3 weeks left I’m not confident any team wins out.

*just a side note, I know they’re all but eliminated now but how about the job done by the UIW coaching staff and players this season. Good to see one of those usually crap teams joining the fun. Only punching bag left in this conference is Houston Baptist.

[BEAR]

UCA isn't getting in and shouldn't because we are on our third string QB, we lost 3 offensive linemen yesterday, and on and on. Had the refs somehow made the correct call late in the game yesterday and we somehow had a chance at a field goal I don't think we would hit it anyway. We were surviving games and wouldn't have made noise in the first round anyway. I said weeks ago after the SHSU game it was over. We found a QB with a bright future. I honestly only see McNeese and Nicholls going. Sam lost out last week. Three losses overall from a team in this weak conference is a no go this year.

[katss07]

UCA isn't getting in and shouldn't because we are on our third string QB, we lost 3 offensive linemen yesterday, and on and on. Had the refs somehow made the correct call late in the game yesterday and we somehow had a chance at a field goal I don't think we would hit it anyway. We were surviving games and wouldn't have made noise in the first round anyway. I said weeks ago after the SHSU game it was over. We found a QB with a bright future. I honestly only see McNeese and Nicholls going. Sam lost out last week. Three losses overall from a team in this weak conference is a no go this year.
You hit the nail on the head. It’s pretty unfortunate because I think full strength UCA and SHSU are both solid playoff teams. The national perception of our conference just isn’t there yet. I don’t think the SLC is weak. I’d take our conference over the OVC any day. And we aren’t far behind the SoCon ethier if we haven’t already passed them as the south’s premier FCS conference.

I hope McNeese and Nicholls get in and make some noise, but I don’t think that happens. Nicholls isn’t as good as people seem to think and McNeese hasn’t won a playoff game in how many years now?

[Daytripper]

You hit the nail on the head. It’s pretty unfortunate because I think full strength UCA and SHSU are both solid playoff teams. The national perception of our conference just isn’t there yet. I don’t think the SLC is weak. I’d take our conference over the OVC any day. And we aren’t far behind the SoCon ethier if we haven’t already passed them as the south’s premier FCS conference.

I hope McNeese and Nicholls get in and make some noise, but I don’t think that happens. Nicholls isn’t as good as people seem to think and McNeese hasn’t won a playoff game in how many years now?

The SLC is better overall than in the past few years. Some of the bottom feeders are now playing good football and are not far from taking the next step (ACU, UIW and Lamar). The top teams are still the top teams (SHSU, McNeese, ACU and Nicholls), they are just not AS GOOD as in previous years...especially SHSU. SELA vacilates between these two categories. HBU, NWST and SFA are consistently bad.

[Catatonic]

Very odd day. Sam had serious trouble with a weak SELA team. That should tell you all you need to know about our playoff chances. UCA isn’t getting in, no quality wins after the beating of MSU yesterday at the hands of the Gamecocks. And while SHSU and UCA will still at least be in bubble conversation, UIW can just kiss their chances goodbye completely.

Since none of the Top 4 teams play each other the rest of the way, lets dream for a second and say they all win out. I think the best that gives us are two teams in and two on the bubble. But with 3 weeks left I’m not confident any team wins out.

*just a side note, I know they’re all but eliminated now but how about the job done by the UIW coaching staff and players this season. Good to see one of those usually crap teams joining the fun. Only punching bag left in this conference is Houston Baptist.

the top 4 teams winning out may be your dream, but some of us dream of shattering your dream xcoffeex