Good article in Athlon Sports predicting the teams who will be in the 2023 post-season. SIU is in the list along with NDSU, UND, and the pick to win the conference SDSU: https://athlonsports.com/college-football/projecting-fcs-playoff-qualifiers-in-2023
I'm not sayin' -- I'm just sayin'!
I'd be pretty surprised if SIU was a playoff team this year given their losses. I guess you can be hopeful they improve their defense with the new DC but I think it's going to be a .500 year.
@salukiworld I am not going to argue with you.
I'm not sayin' -- I'm just sayin'!
Less than 3 months to the opener! Who's getting season tickets this year?
@kyle_saluki_17 Right on. I'm likely going to be a first-time buyer. I just need to figure out how many I'm going to order.
It'd be nice if there was any coverage at all of the football team as they head into the season. I assume there are activities happening right now, but no one would know.
It's tough to get too excited about the football team as they have seemingly took a significant step BACK since the 2021 season. I was hopeful they could maintain, if not grow, on their momentum and turn into a real force. I can seen them struggling to finish over .500 this season.
Honestly the performances from both basketball and football this year will determine if I continue to do season tickets or just buy singles when I go. I’m finding myself with less time available (growing family and now I’m doing some high school coaching) and I need to have confidence from these programs that they’re worth the investment.
@kyle_saluki_17 Right on. I'm likely going to be a first-time buyer. I just need to figure out how many I'm going to order.
It'd be nice if there was any coverage at all of the football team as they head into the season. I assume there are activities happening right now, but no one would know.
I actually don’t think there is much going on in the way of team activities other than lifting/conditioning. I don’t think they get any on field practices until fall camp in August.
@kyle_saluki_17 Right on. I'm likely going to be a first-time buyer. I just need to figure out how many I'm going to order.
It'd be nice if there was any coverage at all of the football team as they head into the season. I assume there are activities happening right now, but no one would know.
I actually don’t think there is much going on in the way of team activities other than lifting/conditioning. I don’t think they get any on field practices until fall camp in August.
I think you're right. Now that I think about it, I've only seen pics on social media of teams working out together; not on the field.
Still, it'd be nice to have some pre-season coverage of the team. I'm interested in who they brought in this off-season, but the only way to know is by paying close attention on Twitter.
It's tough to get too excited about the football team as they have seemingly took a significant step BACK since the 2021 season. I was hopeful they could maintain, if not grow, on their momentum and turn into a real force. I can seen them struggling to finish over .500 this season.
I have a similar feeling, but I'm hoping they surprise us after last year's disappointment. I want Hill to succeed here so badly.
I was thinking if our offensive line is okay our running game should be better because Pop Jones will not be injured and will be able to play. The running game was absolutely anemic last year. One thing Jerry kill always had was a darn good running game.. I think it's necessary to win the way we want this team to win.
However Pop Jones is not listed on the roster so I guess he must have transferred and that's a shame. He got to play only a few plays late in the season last year.
I see we picked up a wide receiver from Charleston Southern who was Second Team all Big South.. supposedly fast but he's only five seven. Was there leading receiver last year.
One thing is for sure, if we actually win our games, our schedules lately have us set up for a good playoff seed.
This year is again no joke.
Our 3 non-conference games: home against Austin Peay (7-4 last year in the ASUN), at Northern Illinois (3-9 in the MAC; a surprising down year, but they should be better this year), and at SEMO (9-3 in the OVC and made the playoffs).
I was thinking if our offensive line is okay our running game should be better because Pop Jones will not be injured and will be able to play. The running game was absolutely anemic last year. One thing Jerry kill always had was a darn good running game.. I think it's necessary to win the way we want this team to win.
However Pop Jones is not listed on the roster so I guess he must have transferred and that's a shame. He got to play only a few plays late in the season last year.
I see we picked up a wide receiver from Charleston Southern who was Second Team all Big South.. supposedly but he's only five seven.
Jones hit the portal back in December. I haven't seen if he's landed anywhere.
https://twitter.com/POPJONES08/status/1602398515270979589?s=20
I was thinking if our offensive line is okay our running game should be better because Pop Jones will not be injured and will be able to play. The running game was absolutely anemic last year. One thing Jerry kill always had was a darn good running game.. I think it's necessary to win the way we want this team to win.
However Pop Jones is not listed on the roster so I guess he must have transferred and that's a shame. He got to play only a few plays late in the season last year.
I see we picked up a wide receiver from Charleston Southern who was Second Team all Big South.. supposedly but he's only five seven.
I agree on the running game, but I still see quite a bit of depth and talent there even without Pop Jones and Javon (Ro, Bennefield, Strong, and Lester...brought in Kayleb Wagner too excited to see how he's able to adjust to college ball). My concern is, like you mentioned, the offensive line. They were pretty poor last year in run blocking. I don't know how many times we saw first contact on our RBs at or behind the line of scrimmage. Some of that you can lay at the feet of the RBs (making the wrong cut, not being patient, etc.), but I think the majority was the offensive line not getting any push/missed assignments. All RBs besides Ro were below 4 ypc. Javon had statistically his worst year and I don't think all that was due to teams figuring him/us out. He just didn't have much room to run.
My concerns heading in to the year:
1a. Offensive Line: see above
1b. Defensive Line: Felt like we got man handled at times, especially towards the end of the season. We also lost our 2 best DL in Hagarty and Agnew. Brought in Varga from EIU who was good for them, but not sure if they did enough to make this a strength. Might have to rely on our LB core to make some plays (I think that group is really good).
2. WR: I feel like we have some talent at the position, but a lot of it is unproven. Cox was solid last year, but had some critical drops. Hartrup is coming off a season long injury, but was really good his Freshmen year. Beyond that, Gibson and Jones got a few reps last year, but most everyone else hasn't played much if at all with our QB.
3. PBP: Who do we get to take over for Reis...big shoes to fill.
4. Special Teams: I feel like our special teams showed up in not a good way too often last year. Our punter was very inconsistent (he was also a freshmen), our long snapper had a nightmare first game and quite a few not so good snaps beyond that, and for the first time in quite some time our kicking game seems to be unsettled (missed XPs and make-able field goals).
