andy7171 wrote:Dead? Hardly. Argueably the two best teams Towson and ODU are compiled entirely of underclassmen.
Almost
-TU vs Lehigh game notes showed 18 of 23 starters as underclassmen, 5 seniors.
-ODU vs GSU game notes showed only 16 of 22 starters as underclassmen, 6 seniors.
Both have a most of their top players coming back. That includes maybe the top 2 FR in country, Jerry Rice Award winner RB for Towson & ODU's QB Taylor Heinicke, possibly will be the CAA pre season Offensive POY
JMU played NDSU very respectively, and that was JMU coming off their 3rd straight road game (all plane trips) and NDSU coming off of a bye. None of the other 3 teams (Lehigh, GSU, SHSU) had to deal with that. In the playoffs:
-NDSU gave up 3 TDs. JMU got 2 of them.
-JMU scored more points (14) on NDSU than did Lehigh, GSU, and SHSU combined (13).
-JMU was only outgained 329 to 301 and actually had more 1st downs and led TOP.
Oh, and JMU has:
-Offense 9 starters returning. Lose an OL and WR. Have a 10' starting OL and WR who missed last season returning, so that's 11 starters from the last 2 seasons back.
-#1 in CAA defense Defense 5 starters returning from the end of the season
+ starting DT who went down for season in game 2
+ 08'-09' starting LB who missed almost all of last 2 seasons
+ starting safety from Maryland (started 6 games), Rivals 4 star
Oh, and nice choke job by EWU- coming off an NC, pre season #1, and going 6-5