DTN's Community Projections // Brian Duncan

I think it would be cool when it comes to season predictions (Especially like W-L record), to record everyone’s vote. Then at the end of the season, recognize those who really know what they’re talking about. It kind of gets me whenever someone boldly exclaims something like “We will beat the Longhorns in Austin this year by at least two touchdowns.” If it doesn’t happen, there is usually no apology, no eating crow. I think it would be neat if those (of us) who badly miss our predictions, when we come to the end of the season to say, “You were right and I was wrong.”

I’m going to go out on a limb here and make my prediction now. I see the south finishing like this:

OU
UT
TTU
OSU
BU
A&M

I see OU in the NC with FL again. UT claims another BCS berth and Tech plays in the cotton bowl against Alabama. I’m not too worried about OSU although some may think that is crazy. Lets see you predict in 2009.

I am befuddled by the naysayers predicting TTU to finish 4th in the Big 12 South.
 As others have prognosticated it’s a bit of stretch to think TaMu, or Baylor and or OSU will all be better in the win loss column than Tech. Thereby effectively making us take fourth place in the South division. If it’s one thing we know the Raiders’ offense will show up. The defense will be spirited and the Special teams play just might be better than average (better than 4 of the other 6 x teams in the South heck its almost guaranteed to be better statistically than the 50 % of the North Teams we play) .Why? Well we hired a Special teams Coach Erik Russell (see the LA Journal Article dated 28 Mar 09) who is by all accounts a fanatic when it comes to his area of expertise.. You know gets players excited, force a couple of miscues and never ever let the opponent block one of our kicks.
 "North Texas finished top-five in the nation in both punt and kickoff coverage in 2003 and in kickoff-return coverage in 2005. The Mean Green also led the Sun Belt Conference in net punting in 2002 and 2003 and in kickoff returns in 2002.
"We were as impressed with the longevity of it as much as what was accomplished last year," said Leach, citing Russell’s record as a special-teams coach from 2002-06 at North Texas and from 2007-08 at Louisiana Tech. (LA Journal Article dated 28 Mar 09)"

( I am getting excited m ust breathe) BTW our opponents do have to come to Lubbock. And Survive the Jones – no not just survive they have to whip our butts in some facet of the game. How did our coaching staff, the seniors and the skill players suddenly lose all that momentum ? The "new" QB comes in again and again and just does his job (what 5 times in row??) Coach Leach consistently out performs his peers. Only Stoops , Brown and Pinknel routinely thump him. SO the predictions should look a bit more like this. Raiders are in the hunt for the title game. Start to finish. The Raiders are going to have a better than even chance to upset the Horns in Sep. Why is UT going start fast – this year? Just like they did against CFU or TCU a couple of years ago?? Because it’s a revenge game?? My opinion it’s an arrival game for TTU. The Raiders O line will be just as tough as last year’s bunch a little less experienced but no less brutal. I would expect to win all our games in Lubbock. Yeah we’ll beat OU (I’m ready for the "crow "sandwich). We’re going to have queasy moments in Lincoln NE and Stillwater. But special team play is very likely the decider in those contests. Heck we almost lost the 08 NE game on an extra point botch. Wait a minute. NE did in fact score after faking a FG attempt getting the first down, then allowing the tie to occur. (I can’t remember anything.) However I bet Mike Leach can. Again the Special Teams play leaps to the fore front. I say it’s better in every measurable category. Especially kickoff and punt coverage. And it won’t matter that UT has a soccer style kicker or that Jordan "he’s a saint" Shipley got another year of eligibility. So what’s my bottom line? We have chance to win 9-10 games. All right I’ll just say it we win 11 in 2009. I will be silent as regards the BIG XII title game and just wait on your esteemed comments.

to the season I’ll do some Big 12 prediction threads. I was planning on writing a bit about each opponent this summer, but maybe I’ll do a prediction thread once practices start?

not because I don’t think we are capable of more but because the team is young and will be plugging in a lot of new personnel on the defense. The Big 12 South still has some very experienced and talented teams. In the North, I think that Nebraska is much better than most people think. I know we’ve debated this on other threads but my opinion still is that the early UT game hurts our chances of success.

However, I am certain that this team will play hard and wil be fun to watch. I am guessing that we will give the Sooners a night to remember.