Athlon Sports: 5 underrated teams heading into the season

[Wildcat1997]

https://athlonsports.com/college-football/fcs-football-five-teams-test-athlon-sports-fcs-top-25-rankings-2019

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

Ohh no...EKU...

[Thumper 76]

Duquesne is not underrated. I’ve watched them play SDSU twice, and that’s not how a top 25 team should look.

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

Duquesne is not underrated. I’ve watched them play SDSU twice, and that’s not how a top 25 team should look.

Just imagine if preseason Top 15 Towson came calling to Brookings! Duquesne should be solid again. Fringe Top 25 imo...

[Thumper 76]

Just imagine if preseason Top 15 Towson came calling to Brookings! Duquesne should be solid again. Fringe Top 25 imo...

I would love it. I just have a hard time calling a team solid when Misery St has put up more of a fight in the games against good competition. Outside the Towson game (which I hold against Towson, weather be damned) there isn’t much to impress me. After playing Duquesne twice with a combined score of 102-19, consider me more than underwhelmed with the Dukes and AJ Hines.

[Catatonic]

Nice



As the 2019 season nears, we’re recognizing more teams that may make us regret leaving them out of the rankings. They may have not been far outside the Top 25, but outside nonetheless.

Here are five teams that give us a sinking feeling:

Abilene Christian
2018 Records: 6-5, 5-4 Southland
The Wildcats were picked seventh in the Southland Conference preseason poll. That will be wrong. They have too strong of a team and too good of a head coach (Adam Dorrel, who guided Northwest Missouri State to three Division II national titles) to finish that low. A gaudy 18 starters return from the first winning season in their Division I era. Junior quarterback Luke Anthony passed for more than 3,000 yards a year ago and is surrounded by offensive weapons. Former South Dakota State defensive coordinator Clint Brown should boost a defense that is led by senior middle linebacker Jeremiah Chambers.

[Redbird 4th & short]

What I like about this is he actually looked at their rosters returning, their schedule, what happened in recent past, and made a reasonable case for each ... very much UNLIKE the majority of his pollsters from his STATS polls. So while Craig Haley of STATS is forced to do things that get his site more clicks, I tend to think articles like this are very worthwhile ... and he at least puts his name on it, so we'll see how many of these he gets right.

That said:

- EKU I can believe might finally re-emerge this season
- ACU is bit more of stretch, but I can see it because Southland is not real strong at top. On other hand, their 4 of their 5 toughest conf games are on road in 2019.
- Yale sounds believable, but not sure that even makes them top 25, plus they won't do playoffs .. so who cares. Ivy will probably be down this year compared to peak year in 2018, so Yale could emerge simply because of that and staying healthy.
- TSU was a very weak 7-3 a year ago .. they barely beat several bad teams. They lost by 56 to a 5-7 Tennessee team. Had just one impressive win over 6-4 Furman (bubble team), beat 3-8 WCU by 2, 1-10 VMI by 3, and had just 2 games against playoff teams, lost both ... which I guess was enough for the selection committee. We'll see if they have enough around their FBS transfer QB.
- Duquense ... would normally have doubted a team like Duquense could be legit finally, but with so many returning SR starters and a 21 pt playoff win last year over 7-4 Towson, followed by a 51-6 drubbing st SDSU ... hard to say, but I can see them piling up wins again. Slightly tougher OOC against YSU and UNH this year, both coming off bad years, but no FBS and also play D-II Walsh and FCS patsy Long Island. So they only play 10 D-I games in a year most teams will play 12. They could go 8-2, get the autobid, and not even be a worthy top 25 team ... I believe no one on their schedule was ranked or in playoffs last year.

[BEAR]

Nice

ACU really has an issue this year. It happens to teams with tough road games.

North Texas on the road (FBS)
UCA on the road (lost by 9 last year at home)
UIW on the road (lost by 10 last year at home)
Lamar on the road (didn't play)
NIcholls on the road (Won by 16 at home last year)
Mississippi State on the road. (FBS)

Going off last year and saying ACU having 18 starters returning, likely the same level of team if not better, then I see three for likely wins (HBU, SFA, and D2 Arizona Christian), 6 losses (North Texas (no idea really), UIW, UCA, Lamar, SHSU, Miss. State), and 3 tossups (McNeese, SLU, Nicholls). Just my opinon not based on anything of substance. Just so many road games plus 2 FBS. It's gonna be tough. However if ACU does finish with a winning record they will have something to be proud about. That means they got an FBS upset, ran the tossups, and won those likely wins. McNeese is kind of a unknown for all SLC teams. Even for their fans. Good luck Cats. Just so many road games. UCA fans understand that problem this year too. xlolx

[Catatonic]

ACU really has an issue this year. It happens to teams with tough road games.

North Texas on the road (FBS)
UCA on the road (lost by 9 last year at home)
UIW on the road (lost by 10 last year at home)
Lamar on the road (didn't play)
NIcholls on the road (Won by 16 at home last year)
Mississippi State on the road. (FBS)

Going off last year and saying ACU having 18 starters returning, likely the same level of team if not better, then I see three for likely wins (HBU, SFA, and D2 Arizona Christian), 6 losses (North Texas (no idea really), UIW, UCA, Lamar, SHSU, Miss. State), and 3 tossups (McNeese, SLU, Nicholls). Just my opinon not based on anything of substance. Just so many road games plus 2 FBS. It's gonna be tough. However if ACU does finish with a winning record they will have something to be proud about. That means they got an FBS upset, ran the tossups, and won those likely wins. McNeese is kind of a unknown for all SLC teams. Even for their fans. Good luck Cats. Just so many road games. UCA fans understand that problem this year too. xlolx

I’m predicting 8 wins, maybe 9 with no FBS upset necessary. We will know soon enough.

[Redbird 4th & short]

ACU really has an issue this year. It happens to teams with tough road games.

North Texas on the road (FBS)
UCA on the road (lost by 9 last year at home)
UIW on the road (lost by 10 last year at home)
Lamar on the road (didn't play)
NIcholls on the road (Won by 16 at home last year)
Mississippi State on the road. (FBS)

Going off last year and saying ACU having 18 starters returning, likely the same level of team if not better, then I see three for likely wins (HBU, SFA, and D2 Arizona Christian), 6 losses (North Texas (no idea really), UIW, UCA, Lamar, SHSU, Miss. State), and 3 tossups (McNeese, SLU, Nicholls). Just my opinon not based on anything of substance. Just so many road games plus 2 FBS. It's gonna be tough. However if ACU does finish with a winning record they will have something to be proud about. That means they got an FBS upset, ran the tossups, and won those likely wins. McNeese is kind of a unknown for all SLC teams. Even for their fans. Good luck Cats. Just so many road games. UCA fans understand that problem this year too. xlolx
edit ... Just checked ... according to keepratings, ACU has 5.1 off starters returning and 8.2 def starters .. so 13.3 returning starters. Looks like their OL was hit hardest with just 2 returning starters. Not sure how Hakey gets to 18 returnees ... maybe counting part time starters who toook over positions later in year ?? Or just relying on something ACU released to press.

[BEAR]

OL..... it starts in the trenches for any offense. Lacking in that and it will be a tough year especially on the road against the conference's top teams. But anything is possible.

[BEAR]

I’m predicting 8 wins, maybe 9 with no FBS upset necessary. We will know soon enough.

Which 8 or 9 will you win? You're guessing defeating all the SLC teams PLUS the D2 and losing to only the FBS? Brave prediction for so many road games and those being the top of the conference at that. Fan on!

[Catatonic]

Which 8 or 9 will you win? You're guessing defeating all the SLC teams PLUS the D2 and losing to only the FBS? Brave prediction for so many road games and those being the top of the conference at that. Fan on!

We play 12 games. I’m counting on winning out at home and splitting the four road games against the SLC. With luck, we could win three of the four to go 8-4 or 9-3.

We return more starters than anyone on our schedule other than SHSU, part of the reason for my confidence but I recognize parity is upon us in the SLC and we could lose to virtually any team we play.

[Catatonic]

OL..... it starts in the trenches for any offense. Lacking in that and it will be a tough year especially on the road against the conference's top teams. But anything is possible.

We feel pretty good about our line. We return two starters but between part time starters from last year and transfers we will be ok. He doesn’t have starting experience with us but our center is a grad transfer who had two years of starting experience with Towson for example.

[Catatonic]

edit ... Just checked ... according to keepratings, ACU has 5.1 off starters returning and 8.2 def starters .. so 13.3 returning starters. Looks like their OL was hit hardest with just 2 returning starters. Not sure how Hakey gets to 18 returnees ... maybe counting part time starters who toook over positions later in year ?? Or just relying on something ACU released to press.
I think the higher numbers counted guys who have starting experience vs year long experience,

In any case if you want to use that site look in the far right hand column you will see ACU has the 22nd most experienced FCS team for 2019 , more than any SLC on our schedule other than SHSU.

[Redbird 4th & short]

I think the higher numbers counted guys who have starting experience vs year long experience,

In any case if you want to use that site look in the far right hand column you will see ACU has the 22nd most experienced FCS team for 2019 , more than any SLC on our schedule other than SHSU.
that appears to be based on defensive production (i.e. tackles) .. I'm pretty sure it has nothing to do with offense. Not as thrilled with the new format from keepratings this year .. I liked how he did it in past better. Still love the site, but seems harder to work with other than returning starters.

[Catatonic]

that appears to be based on defensive production (i.e. tackles) .. I'm pretty sure it has nothing to do with offense. Not as thrilled with the new format from keepratings this year .. I liked how he did it in past better. Still love the site, but seems harder to work with other than returning starters.

I think it says it’s based off ten categories, offense and defense.

[Redbird 4th & short]

I think it says it’s based off ten categories, offense and defense.
I'll look closer, but some of the rankings made no sense if it was on some total off + def .. plus he shaded the ranking purple along with rest of defensive info. That was main reason I assumed it was just defense.

[BlackNGoldR3v0lut10n]

Saw that article, noted that ETSU was among these teams. I expect ETSU to have as good as, if not better, record as last year. ETSU came a long way last season and that is a credit to Randy Sanders. I am going to say it before and I'll say it again, bet against Randy Sanders at your own peril.

[Mocs123]

Saw that article, noted that ETSU was among these teams. I expect ETSU to have as good as, if not better, record as last year. ETSU came a long way last season and that is a credit to Randy Sanders. I am going to say it before and I'll say it again, bet against Randy Sanders at your own peril.


Henrik seemed to be the heart and soul of that team, so it will be interesting to see how the Bucs do without him. ETSU seemed to get all the right bounces last year and I think this year will help determine if ETSU was more lucky or just plain good last year. I was in JC for the UTC game, and I think we should have won but our staff ran the 2:00 offense worse than my son's middle school coaches. I admit the Randy Sanders era started rough but he had ETSU playing pretty good football later in the year.