2021 season prediction

[ohio herd]

I will go on record and say I have us at 9-3 this season. Probably 2-2 OOC and 7-1 in conference. I will say if Huff is as good as advertised then we should go at least 3-1 OOC. I like our odds of a title and bowl win so an 11 win season is possible.

 

[RhinoD]

I mentioned in another thread that I think 9-3 is a good prediction based on the talent we have returning... I would say "worst case" scenario would be 6-6 (1-3 OOC, 5-3 CUSA) and "best case" would be 11-1 (3-1 OOC, 8-0 CUSA).

With that said, as a big picture guy, I am more interested in this season than some of the previous because I think we will get a feel for the direction this program is headed over the next 5 years or so, whether that is positive, meh, or negative.

 

[TwolfHerdfan]

I could see 9-3/8-4.
I think our problem games will be ECU, App, FAU and UAB. I think we handle Navy.

Like everyone else, excited to a Huff lead team and how they look, react, and the consistency throughout the year.

 

[IslandHerd1]

15-0 Natty Champs

 

[Tonycried2]

I will go on record and say I have us at 9-3 this season. Probably 2-2 OOC and 7-1 in conference. I will say if Huff is as good as advertised then we should go at least 3-1 OOC. I like our odds of a title and bowl win so an 11 win season is possible.

If we can get Navy off the field and beat them in Annapolis...we're going to be a tough team for anyone else on our slate to beat!

 

[i am herdman]

Too early to tell. Got to get through camp first.

 

[herdalicious]

7-5

We lost all of our best players (including 2 NFL linemen and the best back we've had since Bradshaw) and we're breaking in a rookie head coach. Maybe Huff will be a prodigy, but the on-the-job-training aspect usually comes with some turbulence that costs you a couple W's.

 

[ru4_mu2]

10-2.

 

[19MU88]

7-5

We lost all of our best players (including 2 NFL linemen and the best back we've had since Bradshaw) and we're breaking in a rookie head coach. Maybe Huff will be a prodigy, but the on-the-job-training aspect usually comes with some turbulence that costs you a couple W's.

If he goes 7-5 we made the wrong choice

 

[herdalicious]

If he goes 7-5 we made the wrong choice

I believe that will be the overwhelming sentiment of Marshall fans, as well.

 

[19MU88]

I believe that will be the overwhelming sentiment of Marshall fans, as well.

Me too.

but, I’m guessing your prediction is completely wrong so we may never know

 

[oldeherd]

Believe the minimum "acceptable" record should be 8-4, if we are able to play the full regular season (No COVID problems/cancellations, that is). Agree that the NAVY game is "pivotal" when it comes to our OOC success. Win the opener at Annapolis, then we should be 2-0 when ECU comes to the JOAN in game 3. That means we should have a very large, loud and "jacked up" crowed in the house when the Pirates appear, prepared to walk the plank!! Then the Appy State game on a week night the following week on national TV will be pivotal for the rest of the season. Win that one, and the remaining key games, versus FAU and UAB, IMO will determine if we are representing the East in the CUSA championship game once again!!

 

[RhinoD]

Believe the minimum "acceptable" record should be 8-4, if we are able to play the full regular season (No COVID problems/cancellations, that is). Agree that the NAVY game is "pivotal" when it comes to our OOC success. Win the opener at Annapolis, then we should be 2-0 when ECU comes to the JOAN in game 3. That means we should have a very large, loud and "jacked up" crowed in the house when the Pirates appear, prepared to walk the plank!! Then the Appy State game on a week night the following week on national TV will be pivotal for the rest of the season. Win that one, and the remaining key games, versus FAU and UAB, IMO will determine if we are representing the East in the CUSA championship game once again!!

Not to take a thing away from Navy on the road, but that game in Boone, at night, on four days rest, at App is our toughest game of the year.

 

[The Real SamC]

7-5. Assuming there is a Bahamas Bowl, lose to Toledo there; if not lose the roofclaim.com Boca Raton Bowl or the visitmyrtlebeach.com Bowl to a Sun Belter.

 

[19MU88]

Your optimism and unbridled enthusiasm is inspiring.

 

[TwolfHerdfan]

7-5. Assuming there is a Bahamas Bowl, lose to Toledo there; if not lose the roofclaim.com Boca Raton Bowl or the visitmyrtlebeach.com Bowl to a Sun Belter.

I'd rather stay home than play a scrimmage game in the Bahamas; In a soccer stadium no less. Worthless. I thought that bowl died last year?

 

[herdalicious]

ESPN Match-up Predictor (% of win likelihood):

vs. Navy - MARSHALL (70.6%)
vs. NC Central - MARSHALL (99.9%)
vs. ECU - MARSHALL (76.3%)
vs. Appy State - APPY STATE (80.5%)
vs. MTSU - MARSHALL (65.1%)
vs. ODU - MARSHALL (93.4%)
vs. North Texas - MARSHALL (56.1%)
vs. FIU - MARSHALL (83.8%)
vs. FAU - FAU (56.7%)
vs. UAB - MARSHALL (55.3%)
vs. Charlotte - MARSHALL (64.5%)
vs. WKU - MARSHALL (76.8%)

 

[BleedsGreen33]

NAVY is the only team on our schedule that I worry about. Not that I think they are all that great, but they can eat up T.O.P. and the closest thing to their offense that we've faced (Rice last year) we got embarrassed. I know, I know we have a new staff. That is a cause for concern as we have a first time HC and I put a lot of the blame for that Rice loss on Cramsey's play calling. Along with UAB and Buffalo.

That being said we should sweep our home slate of NC Central, ECU, ODU, FIU, UAB, and WKU.

The road is a different story. NAVY, Appy, MTSU, North Texas, FAU, and Charlotte is full of pit falls.

Navy is funky, Appy is going to want revenge, MTSU sucks so that should be a win, we don't travel to Texas very well historically, FAU is always a close game, and Charlotte for whatever inexplicable reason has our number.

So I say we go 6-0 at home and possibly drop 3 or even 4 games on the road.

Everyone predicting anything over 9 wins is purposefully ignoring all the question marks we have from the coaches to the FG kicker.

I am still excited for this season and think it could end up being a fun one.

I'm hoping for a championship, but predict 9-3 or 8-4.

 

[Jartard]

NAVY is the only team on our schedule that I worry about. Not that I think they are all that great, but they can eat up T.O.P. and the closest thing to their offense that we've faced (Rice last year) we got embarrassed. I know, I know we have a new staff. That is a cause for concern as we have a first time HC and I put a lot of the blame for that Rice loss on Cramsey's play calling. Along with UAB and Buffalo.

That being said we should sweep our home slate of NC Central, ECU, ODU, FIU, UAB, and WKU.

The road is a different story. NAVY, Appy, MTSU, North Texas, FAU, and Charlotte is full of pit falls.

Navy is funky, Appy is going to want revenge, MTSU sucks so that should be a win, we don't travel to Texas very well historically, FAU is always a close game, and Charlotte for whatever inexplicable reason has our number.

So I say we go 6-0 at home and possibly drop 3 or even 4 games on the road.

Everyone predicting anything over 9 wins is purposefully ignoring all the question marks we have from the coaches to the FG kicker.

I am still excited for this season and think it could end up being a fun one.

I'm hoping for a championship, but predict 9-3 or 8-4.

Any type of coaching improvement should equate for 1-2 extra wins this season I’d like to think. Coach Huff has pretty much said he doesn’t want to just win, he wants to make the opposing teams not look forward to us on their schedules.

 

[BleedsGreen33]

Any type of coaching improvement should equate for 1-2 extra wins this season I’d like to think. Coach Huff has pretty much said he doesn’t want to just win, he wants to make the opposing teams not look forward to us on their schedules.

I agree. The issue is at this point in time we have no way of knowing if Coach Huff is an improvement over Doc. We all hope he is and he is saying all the right things, but college football history is littered with coaches that won the press conference and not on the field.

I love his attitude about wanting to not only win, not only put teams away, but to make them hate playing us. I felt that is what held Doc back from having a much better career is his wanting to be "respectful" and keeping games too close. It costs in a few games that should never have been close and it cost him the fan base.

Still until the final play of the 2021 season is played we really won't know what kind of HC we actually have.

I made the mistake of assuming the new HC equaled additional Ws in the win column after Doc was hired. People can say what they want to about "knowing Doc was Doc from the start", but he was replacing Snyder and I just assumed the coaching change alone was going to equal 2-3 more wins that in the 2009 season were losses because of Snyder's ineptitude. We were coming off a bowl victory, Martin Ward appeared to have had a coming out party, and 2010 was going to be that next step forward. Little did we know we would take a step back, miss a bowl game, and be up and down over the next several seasons.

Huff has way more talent than Doc did and the biggest difference now than in 2010 is that Huff presumably has a QB in Grant Wells.

I would feel a lot better if Cramsey was shown the door with the rest the staff and Bill Legg wasn't brought back. I'm not certain on the other staff members, but Bill Legg is the logical choice to step in if Cramsey continues the trend of Rice, UAB, and Buffalo and we've seen that movie before and it didn't end well.

 

[W-S HerdFan]

7-5

We lost all of our best players (including 2 NFL linemen and the best back we've had since Bradshaw) and we're breaking in a rookie head coach. Maybe Huff will be a prodigy, but the on-the-job-training aspect usually comes with some turbulence that costs you a couple W's.

This. Too many years posting the 9-3 10-2 predictions, only to be left standing in a sideways rain in Charlotte humiliated by yet another Doc brain fart. I love what I am seeing from Huff!! Hopefully he will beat expectations….

 

[TwolfHerdfan]

I agree. The issue is at this point in time we have no way of knowing if Coach Huff is an improvement over Doc. We all hope he is and he is saying all the right things, but college football history is littered with coaches that won the press conference and not on the field.

I love his attitude about wanting to not only win, not only put teams away, but to make them hate playing us. I felt that is what held Doc back from having a much better career is his wanting to be "respectful" and keeping games too close. It costs in a few games that should never have been close and it cost him the fan base.

Still until the final play of the 2021 season is played we really won't know what kind of HC we actually have.

I made the mistake of assuming the new HC equaled additional Ws in the win column after Doc was hired. People can say what they want to about "knowing Doc was Doc from the start", but he was replacing Snyder and I just assumed the coaching change alone was going to equal 2-3 more wins that in the 2009 season were losses because of Snyder's ineptitude. We were coming off a bowl victory, Martin Ward appeared to have had a coming out party, and 2010 was going to be that next step forward. Little did we know we would take a step back, miss a bowl game, and be up and down over the next several seasons.

Huff has way more talent than Doc did and the biggest difference now than in 2010 is that Huff presumably has a QB in Grant Wells.

I would feel a lot better if Cramsey was shown the door with the rest the staff and Bill Legg wasn't brought back. I'm not certain on the other staff members, but Bill Legg is the logical choice to step in if Cramsey continues the trend of Rice, UAB, and Buffalo and we've seen that movie before and it didn't end well.

Not defending Snyder but he was in no shape to be an HC; although the Gibsons convinced KO that he was. He also played some brutal schedules, some of the most difficult in school history.

 

[BleedsGreen33]

Not defending Snyder but he was in no shape to be an HC; although the Gibsons convinced KO that he was. He also played some brutal schedules, some of the most difficult in school history.

I mean you're right, but I still assumed a new HC would equal at least 2 to 3 more wins. It didn't. New HCs are a wildcard. Especially a first time HC.

 

[Aaron Perkins]

15-0

 

[GoHerdMarshallYes]

I would feel a lot better if Cramsey was shown the door with the rest the staff and Bill Legg wasn't brought back. I'm not certain on the other staff members, but Bill Legg is the logical choice to step in if Cramsey continues the trend of Rice, UAB, and Buffalo and we've seen that movie before and it didn't end well.

So you didn't want Legg initially...and then say he's the logical choice to step in if the current OC is bad?

 

[GoHerdMarshallYes]

Not defending Snyder but he was in no shape to be an HC; although the Gibsons convinced KO that he was. He also played some brutal schedules, some of the most difficult in school history.

He also had the NCAA sanctions on the program. I felt he never truly believed MU could beat anyone in the P5. Granted, the P5 schedule was absolutely brutal, but his pressers gave the impression that he didn't really want to try.
Snyder had legitimate NFL talent too but just couldn't coach them.

 

[GoHerdMarshallYes]

ESPN Match-up Predictor (% of win likelihood):

vs. Navy - MARSHALL (70.6%)
vs. NC Central - MARSHALL (99.9%)
vs. ECU - MARSHALL (76.3%)
vs. Appy State - APPY STATE (80.5%)
vs. MTSU - MARSHALL (65.1%)
vs. ODU - MARSHALL (93.4%)
vs. North Texas - MARSHALL (56.1%)
vs. FIU - MARSHALL (83.8%)
vs. FAU - FAU (56.7%)
vs. UAB - MARSHALL (55.3%)
vs. Charlotte - MARSHALL (64.5%)
vs. WKU - MARSHALL (76.8%)

Actually, that predictor seems about right. Navy is a good game to start the season with since there's more adjusting to their unique style of play than anything else. Probably the most disciplined team and the toughest we'll see all season.
MU doesn't seem too out of any of these matchups.
I get FAU being tough even though we've had their number pretty much all the time.
UAB is understandable.

Is North Texas supposed to be good this year?

I'm kind of surprised that App State is that heavily favored over MU. Yes, its in Boone on 4 days rest, but MU isn't exactly starting from scratch themselves.

 

[SaltyMU92]

My bet is 8-4.

 

[Tonycried2]

Not defending Snyder but he was in no shape to be an HC; although the Gibsons convinced KO that he was. He also played some brutal schedules, some of the most difficult in school history.

Yes, he had to cash some checks he didn't write!

 

[The Real SamC]

Snyder - There is no defending KO’s boy, only excuse making. He was incompetent. A qualified AD would have never hired him, and would have fired him after every season of failure, including the first.

ESPN predictor - This crap is all done by this guy named Nate Silver. Unlike a quality tout who has the balls to actually take a side, he comes up with these %age chances BS, and then says “well, see, I told you there was a chance” no matter what happens. If you take his %ages and take the one he gives over 50% on the money line, you lose money. His main gig is politics, where he has gotten zero of the last 6 elections correct. Same crap, %ages and then says “see, there was a chance”. Take a flipping side.

That said, Silver is predicting 10-2, which is not going to happen. Not close.

 

[herdalicious]

Mark Snyder once ran a reverse on the first offensive play of a game against UAB because it was in the script to do so, despite the returner fumbling the kickoff and starting us on the one yard line.

 

[jdf12550]

I think 9-3 is a realistic expectation. If we win all the OOC games, we could be 11-1 or 12-0.

 

[Tonycried2]

Mark Snyder once ran a reverse on the first offensive play of a game against UAB because it was in the script to do so, despite the returner fumbling the kickoff and starting us on the one yard line.

He baffled me by throwing a pass in the waning seconds of the KSU game , when a FG would have won it, of course the pass was picked off ! But he did get stuck with a tough slate that was not of his doing.

 

[BleedsGreen33]

So you didn't want Legg initially...and then say he's the logical choice to step in if the current OC is bad?

You misread. I don't want him as the OC. However if Cramsey struggles Legg, at least to my knowledge, is the most experienced OC on our staff. So it's logical to believe that Coach Huff would look to him IF it came to the point that Cramsey needed to be replaced midseason. It's not about what I want to happen. It's what is most likely to happen in that situation. Be it Cramsey or Legg it gives me pause to think we're going to see much difference than what we've been seeing as far as play design and calling goes.

 

[BleedsGreen33]

He also had the NCAA sanctions on the program. I felt he never truly believed MU could beat anyone in the P5. Granted, the P5 schedule was absolutely brutal, but his pressers gave the impression that he didn't really want to try.
Snyder had legitimate NFL talent too but just couldn't coach them.

No doubt the sanctions held us back, but he had Ahmad Bradshaw and couldn't get to 6-6.

 

[i am herdman]

I believe that will be the overwhelming sentiment of Marshall fans, as well.

not if he is 7 and 5 in year 1 and not as stale as a 10 day old pizza.

 

[herdalicious]

I was more or less commenting on the fact that I think 1) people are letting their excitement cloud their judgement, and predicting more success than the evidence would suggest, and 2) they're going to be just as hot on condemning Huff as they were on praising him, as a means of avoiding admitting they did #1.

 

[Josh Stowers]

Low End - 7-5 (w/ bowl win)

High End - 9-3 (w/ a conference champ appearance/win and bowl appearance/win)

 

[MichiganHerd]

Pretty good work ITT by the late great Herdalicious.

 

[GreenDuke]

Pretty good work ITT by the late great Herdalicious.

Pretty much spot on. I miss his takes and humor.