vander54 said:

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SA68AG said:

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In comparison to other SEC teams next year.

QB - average
RB - below average (above average if Moss fully recovers)
OL - above average
WR - average
TE - average

DL - below average
LB - average
CB - average
Safety - below average

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RB is not below average or even close. DL lacks numbers more than anything.

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Without Moss, it is definitely below average. Daniels is a good back but that's average in the SEC.

Owens hasn't shown anything yet. He can't break a tackle and can't follow his blockers. He played like a low 3 star not like a 5 star his freshman year and hasn't shown he's recovered from his injury much less shown he's improved over last year. The rest of our backs are completely unproven. We need to get an RB from the portal like the NMSU back who played at OU.

As far as the d-line goes we desperately need numbers. As far as quality - Although Howell and Kennedy both flashed at times neither has shown to be an every down player. Regis is good but that's average in the SEC. Hicks has yet to show he's more than a rotational player. We'll see how he does against USC.
It remains to be seen whether our portal replacements will be better than our portal departures,

SA68AG said:

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vander54 said:

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SA68AG said:

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In comparison to other SEC teams next year.

QB - average
RB - below average (above average if Moss fully recovers)
OL - above average
WR - average
TE - average

DL - below average
LB - average
CB - average
Safety - below average

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RB is not below average or even close. DL lacks numbers more than anything.

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Without Moss, it is definitely below average. Daniels is a good back but that's average in the SEC.

Owens hasn't shown anything yet. He can't break a tackle and can't follow his blockers. He played like a low 3 star not like a 5 star his freshman year and hasn't shown he's recovered from his injury much less shown he's improved over last year. The rest of our backs are completely unproven. We need to get an RB from the portal like the NMSU back who played at OU.

As far as the d-line goes we desperately need numbers. As far as quality - Although Howell and Kennedy both flashed at times neither has shown to be an every down player. Regis is good but that's average in the SEC. Hicks has yet to show he's more than a rotational player. We'll see how he does against USC.
It remains to be seen whether our portal replacements will be better than our portal departures,

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Moss will be back.

We will have

Owens
Moss
Daniels
And the 2 freshmen

Mr. Fingerbottom said:

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Zuhn is not a tackle. He's a pretty good guard that is playing tackle.... This was pretty clear when he had to go up against edges w talent & he got smoked

If the blue chip freshman left tackle is ready to go day 1 like Joeckel was then we might have a shot at being serviceable

This would also allow zuhn to move into left guard where he belongs.... then you take your pick at right guard between bisontis or adams... I'd probably lean Adams but it's a coin flip

This still leaves crow over at right tackle which is avg at best... this is the major head scratcher imo w regards to the portal.... there were enough guys avlb that could've at a minimum come in & driven competition at the right tackle spot


But we did nothing & let a key depth piece walk without replacing him



Hope I'm wrong but I'm expecting similar results to this year.... Success against finesse teams, but failure against trench teams

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Zuhn was our highest rated Olineman all year, he's a good college LT and projected NFL guard.


I'm almost astonished you want him to replace our best Olineman with assesment lol, Bisontis is our strongest Oline dude and best overall talent on the line. A lot of the games we lost he was out, sips he just came back from an ankle injury.


We did do piss poor at short yardage all year, a lot of that is self inflected. As for the sips they have the best defense in the country hate to say it, great DE, average / below average DT and the best LB unit in the country.


I'm not saying we're world beaters but a lot of our short yardage woes did come from not having moss and play calling (self inflected)

Agvet12 said:

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Mr. Fingerbottom said:

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Zuhn is not a tackle. He's a pretty good guard that is playing tackle.... This was pretty clear when he had to go up against edges w talent & he got smoked

If the blue chip freshman left tackle is ready to go day 1 like Joeckel was then we might have a shot at being serviceable

This would also allow zuhn to move into left guard where he belongs.... then you take your pick at right guard between bisontis or adams... I'd probably lean Adams but it's a coin flip

This still leaves crow over at right tackle which is avg at best... this is the major head scratcher imo w regards to the portal.... there were enough guys avlb that could've at a minimum come in & driven competition at the right tackle spot


But we did nothing & let a key depth piece walk without replacing him



Hope I'm wrong but I'm expecting similar results to this year.... Success against finesse teams, but failure against trench teams

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Zuhn was our highest rated Olineman all year, he's a good college LT and projected NFL guard.


I'm almost astonished you want him to replace our best Olineman with assesment lol, Bisontis is our strongest Oline dude and best overall talent on the line. A lot of the games we lost he was out, sips he just came back from an ankle injury.


We did do piss poor at short yardage all year, a lot of that is self inflected. As for the sips they have the best defense in the country hate to say it, great DE, average / below average DT and the best LB unit in the country.


I'm not saying we're world beaters but a lot of our short yardage woes did come from not having moss and play calling (self inflected)

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We were one of the best teams in short yardage most the year.

EricHill said:

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BrianDaWheelman said:

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Kam Dewberry transferred to Bama.

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Which is crazy bc based on message board expert opinions, he sucked

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This ain't Saban's Bama anymore.

Bama has to settle for scraps too just like everybody else. NIL has changed the game altogether.

Wake me up when we have…

- an experienced jr or sr leader at QB
- a first team SEC RB (doesn't happen without a decent OL)
- a 1st round draft choice at LB
- an all American head hunter at Safety
- one or two first/second/third round draft choices on DL, with quality depth
- proven winners at all the other window-dressing positions (I'll take winners over talent, everyday of the week and twice on Sunday)

and a quality staff of several experienced coaches would be very helpful.

AGDAD14 said:

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Wake me up when we have…

- an experienced jr or sr leader at QB
- a first team SEC RB (doesn't happen without a decent OL)
- a 1st round draft choice at LB
- an all American head hunter at Safety
- one or two first/second/third round draft choices on DL, with quality depth
- proven winners at all the other window-dressing positions (I'll take winners over talent, everyday of the week and twice on Sunday)

and a quality staff of several experienced coaches would be very helpful.

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Lol

Rod92 said:

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I was reflecting on what talent we have coming back. Seems pretty solid, except for Dline. I don't think we're gonna win a natty....but have a solid chance at playoffs.

My thoughts on position groups......


Offense
QB - Marcel should get better with experience
RB - Moss and Owens back. Hope Daniels is back. Hell of a group.
WR - Our best WR's Noah and Bussey back, plus new dudes from portal and 2025 class. Take a step forward
TE - probably about the same but better blocking. maybe Thor advances and we take a step forward.
OL - don't we get all the starters back? would hope that they take another step forward. our depth will be very inexperienced. If our OL can keep healthy, it should be solid

Defense
LB - Scooby and York back. probably take a step forward
Dline- Here's my big concern. Not a lot of pash rushing power coming back. Think we take a step back.
DB - seems we should be better. Lee coming back is huge. Ricks getting better. Some dudes from the portal. Hope Chappelle stays as a stellar nickel dude.

Am I right that our only major position group that we take a step back is Dline and the other position groups may very well be better?

Rod '92

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Last year most of you said the QB position was literally the best in the history of the school with a future 1st rounder (Weigman) and that our backups would start for Texas. You saw how that worked out. Our first rounder had a towel on his head all year and our backups wouldn't have started for Incarnate World. This year we have an average at best starter, a coach who actively takes away the one thing the QB does well, and no backups. Our QB group is AWFUL.

Our RBs are a couple of backs returning from MAJOR injuries and no backups who have proven to be able to play AT ALL. Moss is good but his knee was destroyed and no one knows if he will be all the way back. On the biggest plays of the year this group consistently did nothing or just flat out hurt the team.

While our best WRs return, they were pathetic last year. This group was absolutely terrible. Bussey has potential, no one else showed they can play at all

TE - got a bunch of them, but none have proven to be any sort of difference maker. When we needed them the most, the ball was dropped.

OL - The starters are all back, but did we really want them back? All of our depth left. This group was 1 for about 1000 on short yardage. Maybe we will be better but is that saying much?

LB - same. All back but none are any good. We are in the SEC with a middle LB who is 5'6" and weighs about 185. Did we want him back? He gets tackles, but he gets them 8-12 yards downfield.

DLine - At the end of the season Cassius Howell is our best player, Hicks seems good. Need some others to step up. Thin group, but talented. Doesn't matter, we only use DL to occupy space, we don't ask them to make plays. We do not utilize this group and I am not surprised they all leave after a year or two of standing there.

DB - I really like the group next year. Talented, deep, decent experience.


Sorry Rod 92. I have no idea how you can say the groups are better next year... except DB. And if they are better, they still aren't very good

AGDAD14 said:

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Wake me up when we have…

- an experienced jr or sr leader at QB
- a first team SEC RB (doesn't happen without a decent OL)
- a 1st round draft choice at LB
- an all American head hunter at Safety
- one or two first/second/third round draft choices on DL, with quality depth
- proven winners at all the other window-dressing positions (I'll take winners over talent, everyday of the week and twice on Sunday)

and a quality staff of several experienced coaches would be very helpful.

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Need to change your user name to Rip Van Winkle.

The narrative of being bad in short yardage is a prime example of recency bias. We were really good until tu. Even against South Carolina we weren't bad but it slipped some.

give me the results i don't care how may stars they were out of high school. as others have posted elko got way more out of kingsley keke, mack and a few others who were not as highly regarded as this years group. with elkos style of defense it's all about doing your job. sometimes stars want the sack and lose the edge etc. bottom line for the perceived talent we had this year we didn't get the dominate results any of us expected.

I chuckled…

SA68AG said:

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OL - above average

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Nah, average (at best).

How many times did we get stuffed by the opposing D when we were going for 4th and 1?

zephyr88 said:

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SA68AG said:

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OL - above average

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Nah, average (at best).

How many times did we get stuffed by the opposing D when we were going for 4th and 1?

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4 with 3 being agaisnt tu

5 if you want to include 4th and 2

All after Moss and Bisontis injury

I would like to see the continuation of this thread after the upcoming USC bowl game.

zephyr88 said:

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SA68AG said:

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OL - above average

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Nah, average (at best).

How many times did we get stuffed by the opposing D when we were going for 4th and 1?

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When it mattered most....

Do that stat because everything else is fluff

SA68AG said:

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In comparison to other SEC teams next year.

QB - average
RB - below average (above average if Moss fully recovers)
OL - above average
WR - average
TE - average

DL - below average
LB - average
CB - average
Safety - below average

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Is this in comparison to the SEC teams that actually win titles and championships or every team?

geoag58 said:

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SA68AG said:

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In comparison to other SEC teams next year.

QB - average
RB - below average (above average if Moss fully recovers)
OL - above average
WR - average
TE - average

DL - below average
LB - average
CB - average
Safety - below average

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Is this in comparison to the SEC teams that actually win titles and championships or every team?

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The teams that are winning titles are pumping around 10 players into the NFL Draft with consistency.
Meanwhile we tend to put in 3 or 4.

Until we narrow or close that gap, we won't be championship caliber, we'll just be another Cinderella story hoping for big upsets

Mr. Fingerbottom said:

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Zuhn is not a tackle. He's a pretty good guard that is playing tackle.... This was pretty clear when he had to go up against edges w talent & he got smoked

If the blue chip freshman left tackle is ready to go day 1 like Joeckel was then we might have a shot at being serviceable

This would also allow zuhn to move into left guard where he belongs.... then you take your pick at right guard between bisontis or adams... I'd probably lean Adams but it's a coin flip

This still leaves crow over at right tackle which is avg at best... this is the major head scratcher imo w regards to the portal.... there were enough guys avlb that could've at a minimum come in & driven competition at the right tackle spot


But we did nothing & let a key depth piece walk without replacing him



Hope I'm wrong but I'm expecting similar results to this year.... Success against finesse teams, but failure against trench teams

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Just curious. Have you watched other teams OTs?

Zuhn has consistently been one of the upper SEC OTs the last 2+ seasons. I believe he ranked 4th this year in the sec. Texas DL has been making OLs look bad all year. It's what elite SEC DLs do. It's what we HOPED ours would.

We were much better on the OL and even in short yardage than most of this board gives credit for. No, not great by any means. But a massive step in year one under a new staff with plenty of reason can be even better in year 2 with so many guys returning.

Turns out, when you play 2 of the top 5 defenses in the country, you struggle in short yardage, especially when they know what's coming. 4th and 1 play calling is another story, but I'm talking just pure ability of our interior OL. I mean look at Clemson. Look at every team texas played? They stuffed many teams for no gain on 3rd and 4th and short.

I still hope we improve on the interior OL and I think we will just with sheer experience, but we are starting at a much better point than I think this board gives credit for. There's a reason we are letting two guys walk without an NIL fight. Two guys that Tennessee and Bama think can help them.

So again, the truth as per usual is in the middle. We need to improve even more. We were probably better than this thread makes it seem on the whole.

beerad12man said:

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We were much better on the OL and even in short yardage than most of this board gives credit for. No, not great by any means. But a massive step in year one under a new staff with plenty of reason can be even better in year 2 with so many guys returning.

Turns out, when you play 2 of the top 5 defenses in the country, you struggle in short yardage, especially when they know what's coming. 4th and 1 play calling is another story, but I'm talking just pure ability of our interior OL. I mean look at Clemson. Look at every team texas played? They stuffed many teams for no gain on 3rd and 4th and short.

I still hope we improve on the interior OL and I think we will just with sheer experience, but we are starting at a much better point than I think this board gives credit for. There's a reason we are letting two guys walk without an NIL fight. Two guys that Tennessee and Bama think can help them.

So again, the truth as per usual is in the middle. We need to improve even more. We were probably better than this thread makes it seem on the whole.

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The narrative that we were bad on short yardage is a prime example of recency bias. We actually did pretty good until injuries started haunting us. And even then we weren't bad except against tu.

Most our 4th down plays were actually passes.

The most TexAgs thing ever is to look at this lineup and think this team is close to the playoffs. A&M is not getting in with three losses and they aren't anywhere close to double digit wins next year.

AWP 97 said:

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The most TexAgs thing ever is to look at this lineup and think this team is close to the playoffs. A&M is not getting in with three losses and they aren't anywhere close to double digit wins next year.

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So we will be worse in 2025?

The 25 team could be a better overall team than the 24 team but still finish 8-4. Right now it appears the 25 schedule looks much tougher than the 24 schedule.

Water Boy said:

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The 25 team could be a better overall team than the 24 team but still finish 8-4. Right now it appears the 25 schedule looks much tougher than the 24 schedule.

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I'm not so sure it was be much tougher. On paper it does appear to be tougher but our schedule this year was supposed to be super easy and it turned into a tough schedule.

vander54 said:

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Water Boy said:

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The 25 team could be a better overall team than the 24 team but still finish 8-4. Right now it appears the 25 schedule looks much tougher than the 24 schedule.

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I'm not so sure it was be much tougher. On paper it does appear to be tougher but our schedule this year was supposed to be super easy and it turned into a tough schedule.

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This year we had most all the "tough" teams at home.
Next year, not so much

Well it was "easy" compared to most years. Only thing that concerns me is the away games. Like most team we are not that good on the road and we will have much more challenging road games next season. Still a lot we don't know yet as far as how good teams will actually be next year but with the current roster 9-3 next season would be a great year for us.

Water Boy said:

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Well it was "easy" compared to most years. Only thing that concerns me is the away games. Like most team we are not that good on the road and we will have much more challenging road games next season. Still a lot we don't know yet as far as how good teams will actually be next year but with the current roster 9-3 next season would be a great year for us.

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I'm not even sure our schedule ended up being any easier than usual. We had #9 SOS in the entire nation and #7 in the SEC. We still played the #2 team in the SEC and 4 teams that finished 5-3 in conference. Not to mention a Florida team that ended up 4-4.

I just went back and looked and we've never had a SOS finish in the top 10 since joining the SEC. One could argue this was the hardest schedule we've ever had.

vander54 said:

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Water Boy said:

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Well it was "easy" compared to most years. Only thing that concerns me is the away games. Like most team we are not that good on the road and we will have much more challenging road games next season. Still a lot we don't know yet as far as how good teams will actually be next year but with the current roster 9-3 next season would be a great year for us.

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I'm not even sure our schedule ended up being any easier than usual. We had #9 SOS in the entire nation and #7 in the SEC. We still played the #2 team in the SEC and 4 teams that finished 5-3 in conference. Not to mention a Florida team that ended up 4-4.

I just went back and looked and we've never had a SOS finish in the top 10 since joining the SEC. One could argue this was the hardest schedule we've ever had.

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All 2024 "big" games were at home:

Notre Dame
Missouri
LSU
Texas
Plus Arkansas (neutral)

The only "hot" team played on the road was South Carolina. It doesn't get more favoarble than that.

For 2025, flip em all::

@Notre Dame
@Arkansas
@Missouri
@LSU (ugh)
@Texas

Aggies might be the dog in all five of these games.

So we will be worse in 2025? You serious Clark… What kind of stupid mind Jedi question is this… The answer is hell yeah we will be worse. 7-5 is a given/lock! The ol' great 8&4 if we get lucky! You guys crack me up.

GasDetectionAg said:

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So we will be worse in 2025? You serious Clark… What kind of stupid mind Jedi question is this… The answer is hell yeah we will be worse. 7-5 is a given/lock! The ol' great 8&4 if we get lucky! You guys crack me up.

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And why will we be worse?

AWP 97 said:

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The most TexAgs thing ever is to look at this lineup and think this team is close to the playoffs. A&M is not getting in with three losses and they aren't anywhere close to double digit wins next year.

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Look, I'm currently predicting 8-4 and wouldn't bet on us making the playoffs. But how are some of you so definitive? I mean it sure is the easy position to take considering our past success, but in reality you nor I know anything as to how this team could be.

What did you think of the 2012 and 2020 rosters going into the year? Be honest?

Have you analyzed tennessees 2024 roster to compare to ours? What about lsu 2022?

Look, this is obviously a very unknown roster with lots of question marks. But there's also some pieces here to work with. Definitely far more on offense in 2025 than we had this past season. Defense, I'll have to take a very wait and see approach. Elko has improved his year 2 defense in every stop he has been, let's hope that continues

GasDetectionAg said:

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So we will be worse in 2025? You serious Clark… What kind of stupid mind Jedi question is this… The answer is hell yeah we will be worse. 7-5 is a given/lock! The ol' great 8&4 if we get lucky! You guys crack me up.

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We just be worse, we might not. Another classic case of playing the odds and then disappearing on the chance you are wrong.

Team has more higher end potential than last years. Just simply has more explosive athleticism on offense. More unknowns on defense than entering 2024.

Better everywhere but DL. Good OP. Moss and Owen's will be killers in 2025. We won't need Daniels.

Best 1-2 punch in SEC since McFadden and Jones.

6-2 or better in SEC. Gets us CFP.

Onward and upward.

The statistical difference between the 2024 and 2025 schedules is less than half a game. Always severely overplayed. Our 2024 team playing the 2025 schedule goes either 7-5 or 8-4.

Auburn and South Carolina become easier. Auburn likely flips to a win. Notre dame and Texas still losses. LSU and Arkansas the big unknowns.