A little off topic but I ended up going down a rabbit hole on past football seasons and reflected back on the '07 team. For those that remember, that team was ravaged by injuries (Albert McClellan's ACL in August) and lack of depth for a lot of reasons (it seems like this is the year that the fallout of probation and the lost 2004/2005 recruiting classes really hit us). I know at one point mid-season we only had 3 or 4 scholarship defensive lineman on the whole team and walk-on James Burkes from Capital High was starting at defensive tackle and playing 70-80 snaps a game. Bernie Morris finally evolved into what we thought he could be but unfortunately had very little to work with outside of Cody Slate and a very green Darius Passmore. True frosh Darius Marshall did what he could to fill Ahmad Bradshaw's shoes in the backfield.
To compound all of this, we played what may be the most demanding schedule of all time.
#6 WVU
at #17 Cincinnati
at 10-4 UCF - Conference Champ
at 10-4 Tulsa - Conference Runner-Up
at 8-5 Houston
8-5 East Carolina
at 7-6 Memphis
7-6 Southern Miss
at Miami Hurricanes in the old Orange Bowl
That season will be remember by most for either the loss to New Hampshire (who was actually a pretty good FCS team that lost to #1 Northern Iowa 35-38 in the playoffs) or for the home game vs. WVU.
However, all things considered, we competed really well with some good teams.
We lost by 7 to Tulsa.
By 7 to Houston.
By 3 to Memphis.
We beat East Carolina.
Say what you will about Snyder and his staff, but I think they got the absolute most out of that team that year.
To compound all of this, we played what may be the most demanding schedule of all time.
#6 WVU
at #17 Cincinnati
at 10-4 UCF - Conference Champ
at 10-4 Tulsa - Conference Runner-Up
at 8-5 Houston
8-5 East Carolina
at 7-6 Memphis
7-6 Southern Miss
at Miami Hurricanes in the old Orange Bowl
That season will be remember by most for either the loss to New Hampshire (who was actually a pretty good FCS team that lost to #1 Northern Iowa 35-38 in the playoffs) or for the home game vs. WVU.
However, all things considered, we competed really well with some good teams.
We lost by 7 to Tulsa.
By 7 to Houston.
By 3 to Memphis.
We beat East Carolina.
Say what you will about Snyder and his staff, but I think they got the absolute most out of that team that year.
