While youâre not wrong CarlâŚman thatâs looking for a silver lining.
A Bobcatattack tradition is that, during the summer before each season, we open a thread where everyone can make game-by-game picks for the upcoming season. Here is last yearâs thread:
Ohio was overwhelmed with player losses to the portal, and incoming players. No one had any faith. My pick was 7 wins. As you may know, they went on to win 11. One picker did go for 8-4, but most picks were in the 7 range. I had no faith, either. I was wrong. Maybe Iâm erring on the other side this year, but Iâm calling it 8-5:
App St - Win
NC - Loss
Monmouth - Win
Rice - Win
USF - Loss
Army - Loss
Temple - Win
N. Texas - Win
E. Carolina - Win
UTSA - Loss
Georgia - Loss
Tulane - Win
Bowl - Win
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Will Albin turn down a $2mm per year payday?
You firgot uga, which is probably a loss but i definitely agree, carl. We lost less than ohio did, and brought in a lot of quality, proven talent. So much is unknown but i trust albin.
If he wins enough to get that, i imagine we can up his pay. Who knows what he values
Nm. I see the uga game
I donât think we will be able to score enough points to beat UNT.
Iâm fine with him leaving for $2mm⌠means he did something. Would be interesting to see who comes calling if he won 8 games though.
No comments on my pick of a win over Tulane? I couldnât end it with 3 losses, sorry.
Idk what Albin would do with with a 2M offer. I honestly think he would stay with a reasonable raise for him, and good raises for his assistants. When he moved to Charlotte, he didnât ask for more than he would have had at Ohio; he asked to be treated with respect. I also think that his age would put some limits on the interest in him.
As for HOW Charlotte will win these games, they are going to win with an aggressive, stingy defense that only gives up about 20 points a game, and a ball control offense that helps the defense by keeping the ball away from the foe. Whoever the starter at RB ends up being, he will end up with 800-1200 yards. The offense will get 60% of itâs yards from passing, 40% on the ground, and it will be focused and effective in the red zone.
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When I first looked over the schedule, figured every team beatable except UGA and Army. Not predicting 10-2 and 7-1 AAC - just think weâll finish around .500.
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I imagine weâll be significant underdogs versus USF, Army, UTSA, and Tulane in conference. We really need to get App to have any sort of legit hope of getting to 6. I hate to put so much on the first game after a coaching change, but we really need to get that one.
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Not beating Tulane, to strong of a program and typically a very deep roster. North Texas as said above is usually too much offense to stop.
But i would think we would have a good chance against App given all the changes. The JMU game last year was similar but they blew us out, which i believe was the end of Biffâs career here.
Yep, good olâ powerhouse Tulane. Playing football since 1893 and a winning percentage of 47%. Can lay claim to 3 SEC titles, with the last coming in 1949. Since then one C-USA championship in 1998 and one AAC title in 2022.
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I fully agree that Charlotte will be an underdog against USF, Army, UTSA, and Tulane. Itâs also a given that they will be an underdog against UNC and Georgia, and they are likely to be an underdog against Appy St. They might be underdogs in some other games as well. That and 2 bits, er 40 bits, will buy you a cup of coffee. When I look at Charlotte, this is what I see:
- On paper, the Charlotte roster looks sound, every bit as good as any recent Ohio team
- The Charlotte coaching staff looks very good. I think Albin chose well
- I know that the schemes they will be using work
- The morale and work ethic seems to be good. The grumblers and unhappy people left, and those that want to be at Charlotte stayed.
- I believe that the players want to win and expect to win. I believe they will put in the hard work this summer that is necessary to win
- The coaches were sufficiently satisfied with the players they have at every position that virtually all the late additions were Freshmen and Sophomores, players for making sure 2026 and beyond are good as well, rather than taking 1 and done players, still trying to patch up 2025.
These are all the elements necessary to win: Good players, good coaching, good schemes, good morale, expecting to win, and a willingness to do the hard work necessary to win. Nothing more is needed, except for a few good bounces, I suppose. I believe that Charlotte has all the elements to win, and therefore I believe that they can win and will win.
As a sign that morale is good, I canât think of any newcomer that transferred in to Charlotte in January that was unhappy with what they found, and who turned around and left in the April portal. In fact, I saw the opposite. It would seem to me that it is quite possible that Harrell in particular told some of his friends at UNC that Charlotte was a good place to be, as there was a flood of late transfers from UNC (Jackson, Boyd, Simpson, Cobb). There were also a couple of early transfers in from Ohio (Bowman and Startz), and then later, not only did they not leave, but more joined them (Garfield, Schmitz, and Taylor).
Maybe Iâm just drinking too much green Kool-aid, but I donât care. I like green Kool-aid. Have some, but be careful, as itâs addictive. 
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I overdosed on Green Kool-aid in 2013âŚhave been in rehab ever since. Relapsed with both the Healy and Poggi bartendingâŚ
But, I am quite optimistic againâŚitâs not only Albin and what I believe he can and is building, I also know that most of the teams we play have been equally affected by the portal, etc., new staffs, new playersâŚI expect the rough patches, but I also expect growth and development.
Every year, my expectation is 6 wins and a bowl gameâŚweâve been close, even last season, so I do believe with the new staff, thereâs absolutely no reason it canât happen this year.
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I think you may want to look at their past three seasons, 12-2, 11-3, and 9-5 with a Cotton Bowl victory over USC in 2023. They could fall off but appear to have it dialed in at the moment, even with the coaching change.
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Yes, aware that Tulane football is pretty decent as of late. Thatâs good for the AAC and the Big Easy.
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FWIW, I was aware that Tulane has been good lately when I picked Charlotte to beat them. So they have been good? Charlotte is going to be playing itâs best football by the end of the year, and they are going to win some games. There is no reason they canât beat either UTSA or Tulane, and I went with Tulane because was the last game, er, second to last game, if you count the bowl game.
Those that think Charlotte wonât be bowling, what is your reason?
- Charlotte just doesnât have enough talent yet
- Turning the program around in one year is too much to ask
- There was too much turnover in players for them to play together well enough
- The schemes they plan to use are outdated, and wonât work in the AAC
- With all the changes, the morale wonât be high enough
- There is no way the players have the confidence to win
- Even with summer conditioning, the players wonât be strong enough and big enough to win
- The injury bug is likely to rear its head
- Turnovers and penalties will turn close games into losses
- Charlotte will be bowling!
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voters
Add an option:
The schedule is too hard.
I guess you could say not enough talent, but this schedule is abnormal for a G5 program.
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I tried to add that for you, but it said that I couldnât change it after five minutes. If an Admin wants to add that option for me, that would be great. There is no doubt that itâs a hard schedule.