Early 2018 Football Expectations Poll

[cajunhawk]

7-5 to 8-4...Napier shocks the world. Recruits take notice. Tech begins to scramble amid a swarm of hillbilly budget cuts. ULM does the sane thing and drops down to FCS. AAC admits their failure in overlooking us. Napier becomes a name on everyone's lips. Louisiana becomes etched in the zeitgeist of sports and ULL is forever etched in time as "that petty bull____ LSU was responsible for."

[Cajunsmike]

Sun Belt coaches preseason poll:

East
1. Appalachian State
2. Troy
3. Georgia State
4. Georgia Southern
5. Coastal Carolina

West
1. Arkansas State
2. ULM
3. South Alabama
4. Louisiana
5. Texas State

Arkansas State also picked to win league title

— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) July 19, 2018

Hocke better put this all over the weight room

I am sure they are going to do that. Surprised we are below South Alabama as we beat them last year. Steele has us third.

[Oiler]

Wow. Picked to finish behind ULM. Pretty disgusting to see these kind of predictions.

[Cajun90]

Wow. Picked to finish behind ULM. Pretty disgusting to see these kind of predictions.

UL 14 - App. St. 63 will do that to you......

[CajunGrad16]

I am sure they are going to do that. Surprised we are below South Alabama as we beat them last year. Steele has us third.

The only reason we are behind them is because their coach gave them a first place vote. If he didn’t, we would be ahead of them

[Million$Mullet]

Wow. Picked to finish behind ULM. Pretty disgusting to see these kind of predictions.

Ulm pretty much kicked our ___ up and down the field until the 4th quarter last year. They will have a damn good offense again this year. I’m fine with the predictions as we have a new staff as well and until we do something on the field we are an unproven commodity. Plus like someone stated earlier, it’s great locker room material. Time to prove all these guys wrong. Football can’t get here fast enough!!

[ManAboutTown]

I personally believe that national guys have the SEC, SBC and PAC12 all wrong. Phil Steele, who I read every year, has the SEC totally wrong.

Furthermore, in the Belt, good coaching is mostly all that matters. I don’t care how talented ASU and Troy may be. They are vulnerable. I think App St remains solid, but takes a step back this year.

[talktomewillis]

I think Troy has the best defense in the league and I like them over App. Arkansas State has to come to Lafayette.

The prediction on ULM is legit. They have a chance to win 7 or 8 games this year.

[MetryCajun]

3rd in the West is a reasonable outcome. Unfortunately, most teams not named Texas St have more proven players than us. It will be interesting to see how this staff coaches around all the holes in the roster. The previous staff tried to limit huge mistakes and played a very conservative style of football. I think this years squad is even less talented due to graduation and injuries. I am really curious how they scheme around a defense with no difference makers. I am hopeful this staff will get more out of what we have and get us to a bowl game. At this point a winning season is the goal. Winning the SBC is probably a year or two away.

[Cajunsmike]

3rd in the West is a reasonable outcome. Unfortunately, most teams not named Texas St have more proven players than us. It will be interesting to see how this staff coaches around all the holes in the roster. The previous staff tried to limit huge mistakes and played a very conservative style of football. I think this years squad is even less talented due to graduation and injuries. I am really curious how they scheme around a defense with no difference makers. I am hopeful this staff will get more out of what we have and get us to a bowl game. At this point a winning season is the goal. Winning the SBC is probably a year or two away.

Offense has plenty of talent in the so called skilled positions. I share your concern defensively. However that group allowed 40 points per game last year. Seems like they can only improve as it would be hard to decline from that performance. Some of the new guys that have been brought in have the potential to be contributors but they are unproven.