BUBear24 said:

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bularry said:

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Rhule needed a good juco in the first class and he failed to address that need

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He had basically a month to recruit that 2017 class?? And he still got a guard from the national champions to come sit a year to play for us this year. Rhule is responsible for a lot of the ****ty record last year for sure, but this definitely isn't one of them.

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Exactly. And in addition to having less than two months to recruit, he was stepping into a situation where any transfer brought in was going to need to be vetted to the absolute extreme. Bringing in a JUCO linemen or two to help immediately was much easier said than done given the circumstances.

bularry said:

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BUBear24 said:

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bularry said:

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Rhule needed a good juco in the first class and he failed to address that need

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He had basically a month to recruit that 2017 class?? And he still got a guard from the national champions to come sit a year to play for us this year. Rhule is responsible for a lot of the ****ty record last year for sure, but this definitely isn't one of them.

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I gave him a one year pass, but no excuses this year. A bad OL is Rhule's fault.

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Fair enough I was just referring to the juco comment. He did bring in Valentine this year which was a pretty regard juco tackle.

Let me preface this by saying I don't think ACU will win, but I think anyone expecting Baylor to completely obliterate ACU will be surprised. Yes ACU only won 2 games last year but we were competitive in nearly every game, much like Baylor was. ACU and Baylor actually have a lot of similarities, we both had disappointing 1st years under our HCs, we were both competitive in a lot of games but just couldn't pull out the wins and we are both expecting improved teams this year. Again I don't think ACU will win, but it wouldn't surprise me if ACU kept it close for the 1st half or maybe 3 quarters and then Baylor pulls away because they have superior depth.

Wildcat1997 said:

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Let me preface this by saying I don't think ACU will win, but I think anyone expecting Baylor to completely obliterate ACU will be surprised. Yes ACU only won 2 games last year but we were competitive in nearly every game, much like Baylor was. ACU and Baylor actually have a lot of similarities, we both had disappointing 1st years under our HCs, we were both competitive in a lot of games but just couldn't pull out the wins and we are both expecting improved teams this year. Again I don't think ACU will win, but it wouldn't surprise me if ACU kept it close for the 1st half or maybe 3 quarters and then Baylor pulls away because they have superior depth.

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Glad to see another Wildcat fan here. I left the the pitch pipe as an instrument question for you to answer. I dealt with whether our band is acapella.

Oh, and I agree with you. I'm not predicting a win, except against the betting line. 38 points is a bit much. It will be closer than that.

OscarWildeCat said:

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Wildcat1997 said:

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Let me preface this by saying I don't think ACU will win, but I think anyone expecting Baylor to completely obliterate ACU will be surprised. Yes ACU only won 2 games last year but we were competitive in nearly every game, much like Baylor was. ACU and Baylor actually have a lot of similarities, we both had disappointing 1st years under our HCs, we were both competitive in a lot of games but just couldn't pull out the wins and we are both expecting improved teams this year. Again I don't think ACU will win, but it wouldn't surprise me if ACU kept it close for the 1st half or maybe 3 quarters and then Baylor pulls away because they have superior depth.

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Glad to see another Wildcat fan here. I left the the pitch pipe as an instrument question for you to answer. I dealt with whether our band is acapella.

Oh, and I agree with you. I'm not predicting a win, except against the betting line. 38 points is a bit much. It will be closer than that.

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Yeah if you're a betting person then definitely bet on ACU beating the spread. I really can't see us losing by 38 or more points.

Wildcat1997 said:

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... I think anyone expecting Baylor to completely obliterate ACU will be surprised. Yes ACU only won 2 games last year...

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Hey, that's twice as many as the Bears won. Be at McLane Stadium on 9/1 for the Pillow Fight of the Year.

I expect the Baylor D to shut ACU out of the endzone.

Baylor Pride said:

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I expect the Baylor D to shut ACU out of the endzone.

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Since Sept. 1, 2018 is the beginning of a new era, much like Aug. 31, 2014 was, it would be nice to see a similar result: 45-0. I'm not saying I expect it, but it certainly is not outside the realm of possibility. The Bears have the talent and now depth plus a year to learn the system. I'm looking forward to finding out Saturday.

S11 said:

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Wildcat1997 said:

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Let me preface this by saying I don't think ACU will win, but I think anyone expecting Baylor to completely obliterate ACU will be surprised. Yes ACU only won 2 games last year but we were competitive in nearly every game, much like Baylor was. ACU and Baylor actually have a lot of similarities, we both had disappointing 1st years under our HCs, we were both competitive in a lot of games but just couldn't pull out the wins and we are both expecting improved teams this year. Again I don't think ACU will win, but it wouldn't surprise me if ACU kept it close for the 1st half or maybe 3 quarters and then Baylor pulls away because they have superior depth.

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ACU did a good job using turnovers to hang around in Fort Collins with CSU. I like Dorrel and my preview article (paywall changes depending on mods each week) covering ACU & his schemes was more interesting to do than I expected going in. Regardless of how things go this week he should be able to build a solid program for ACU over time.

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Thanks! We're excited by what Dorrel is building here for the future and we can already tell this team is improved quite a bit from last season.

S11. What's your read on our OL? Does the Clemson make a difference?

Thanks. As I started this thread I think the OL is the key.

OddsShark is projecting a nail biter

Great opportunity to use different packages and accumulate some player experience. Hoping BU hits the throttle and jumps to an comfortable lead. Well see about the throttle. I'm thinking a 3 td win. No accuse acceptable if we lose. Ruhle cannot afford another coaching debacle like last years opener.

I'd say strong...to quite strong.

That's ridiculous. ACU lost to pretty much everybody last year.

So did we, but the schedule was a bit different.

Robert Wilson said:

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That's ridiculous. ACU lost to pretty much everybody last year.

So did we, but the schedule was a bit different.

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That surprised me too. I'll be curious to see what the Vegas spread is when it comes out.

I'm far from cocky after the fresh scars from last year...but I think we will be winning by more than 2 or 3 points.

boognish_bear said:

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Robert Wilson said:

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That's ridiculous. ACU lost to pretty much everybody last year.

So did we, but the schedule was a bit different.

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That surprised me too. I'll be curious to see what the Vegas spread is when it comes out.

I'm far from cocky after the fresh scars from last year...but I think we will be winning by more than 2 or 3 points.

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Baylor is a 38 1/2 point favorite on FiveDimes

https://www.5dimes.eu/livelines/livelines.aspx#al_19

Baylor will win by more than 2 or 3 points but will disappoint anyone who bets on Baylor to beat the betting line.

Baylor by 3 touchdowns in my opinion.

boognish_bear said:

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Robert Wilson said:

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That's ridiculous. ACU lost to pretty much everybody last year.

So did we, but the schedule was a bit different.

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That surprised me too. I'll be curious to see what the Vegas spread is when it comes out.

I'm far from cocky after the fresh scars from last year...but I think we will be winning by more than 2 or 3 points.

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I don't think there will be any betting lines on this game. There aren't any yet that I've seen and all the other games have already been assigned odds. Bookies (and us fans) are just too spooked by the Liberty game last year to make any firm predictions.

Edit: and of course right before I posted my comment someone else made me a liar lol, apparently we are -38.5 against ACU.

Robert Wilson said:

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That's ridiculous. ACU lost to pretty much everybody last year.

So did we, but the schedule was a bit different.

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We did lose a lot last year but we are definitely much improved. I don't think we'll win but I expect us to keep the game relatively competitive.

boognish_bear said:

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Please no appearance on the sideline of Little Tykes. Let's win a conf game over someone other than KU before that gets unboxed again.

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And NO pre-game Oklahoma drill.

My expectation is Charlie Brewer as starting QB but I read today we won't know for sure until Friday when the starter is announced.

Wildcat1997 said:

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Robert Wilson said:

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That's ridiculous. ACU lost to pretty much everybody last year.

So did we, but the schedule was a bit different.

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We did lose a lot last year but we are definitely much improved. I don't think we'll win but I expect us to keep the game relatively competitive.

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I don't at all mean to be disrespectful. I expect ACU to come out playing hard, and even with a talent gap a scrappy team can keep these games surprisingly close. I just think that the line above is absurd.

Robert Wilson said:

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Wildcat1997 said:

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Robert Wilson said:

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That's ridiculous. ACU lost to pretty much everybody last year.

So did we, but the schedule was a bit different.

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We did lose a lot last year but we are definitely much improved. I don't think we'll win but I expect us to keep the game relatively competitive.

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I don't at all mean to be disrespectful. I expect ACU to come out playing hard, and even with a talent gap a scrappy team can keep these games surprisingly close. I just think that the line above is absurd.

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Don't worry, no disrespect taken. As much as I would love to keep the score that close I don't really think we'll be able to. I think we'll lose by probably 17 or 21.

boognish_bear said:

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OddsShark is projecting a nail biter

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I actually agree with this.

Especially after looking at the depth chart.

Expect a decent number of ACU fans. Over 1,900 have signed up for the pregame tailgate and we sold out our allotment of 2,000 tickets weeks ago.

https://collegefootballnews.com/2018/08/baylor-vs-abilene-christian-fearless-prediction-game-preview

Their prediction FWIW...

BU 52
ACU 20

boognish_bear said:

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https://collegefootballnews.com/2018/08/baylor-vs-abilene-christian-fearless-prediction-game-preview

Their prediction FWIW...

BU 52
ACU 20

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I'll take it.

FormerFlash said:

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boognish_bear said:

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https://collegefootballnews.com/2018/08/baylor-vs-abilene-christian-fearless-prediction-game-preview

Their prediction FWIW...

BU 52
ACU 20

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I'll take it.

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From the article:

What's Going To Happen
Get ready for a new Baylor.
Last season was the foundation-builder, and now it's all about to change. This will look like a far, far better team, but that's partly because it'll be playing Abilene Christian.
The Bears will dominate on the lines, and the passing game will rip it up in the first half, putting the game out of reach after a few drives. ACU will throw for over 300 yards and make it look cosmetically okay late, but Baylor will get what it needs.

https://sportsday.dallasnews.com/college-sports/baylorbears/2018/08/29/5-things-baylor-fans-need-know-abilene-christian-can-bears-take-advantage-wildcats-road-woes

5 things Baylor fans need to know about Abilene Christian: Can the Bears take advantage of the Wildcats' road woes?

Selby Lopez

Here are five things Baylor fans should know about the Bears' Week 1 opponent, Abilene Christian:

The last three seasons have been rough

Abilene Christian hasn't had a winning season since 2013, but the Wildcats struggles have hit a new low in the last three seasons.

Since 2015, the Wildcats are 7-26 and haven't won more than three games in any of those seasons.

Playing at McLane Stadium also doesn't bode well for the Wildcats, who have won one road game in the last three years.

A head coach with a winning background

In 2016, Abilene Christian brought in Adam Dorrel as its new head coach to try and get the program back on track.

Dorrel had success in six seasons at Division II power Northwest Missouri State University, where he won two straight national titles before accepting the job at Abilene Christian.

He ended his run at Northwest Missouri State on a 30-game win streak.

In his first season with Abilene Christian in 2017, Dorrel went 2-9 with wins over Houston Baptist and Incarnate Word.

A relatively-new Division I program

Abilene Christian was a Division II program, but the Wildcats transitioned to Division I starting in the 2013-14 season.

The Wildcats became eligible for all NCAA and Southland Conference postseason tournaments.

When Abilene Christian faces Baylor on Saturday, it will be their first-ever meeting on the football field.

A quarterback with local ties

Episcopal School of Dallas player Jack Colonnetta (20) tries to get ahold of Fort Worth Saints quarterback Luke Anthony (3) during their football championship game at Dragon Stadium in Round Rock, Texas on November 7, 2015. Thao Nguyen/Special Contributor
Thao Nguyen/Special Contributor
Episcopal School of Dallas player Jack Colonnetta (20) tries to get ahold of Fort Worth Saints quarterback Luke Anthony (3) during their football championship game at Dragon Stadium in Round Rock, Texas on November 7, 2015. Thao Nguyen/Special Contributor
Former Fort Worth All Saints quarterback Luke Anthony will be taking snaps under center in Waco on Saturday.

In 2014, Anthony led the All Saints to a state championship while throwing for 3,173 yards and 34 touchdowns.

Slow starters

Since moving to Division I, Abilene Christian has never won a season opener.

The Wildcats' last win in a season opener was in 2013 vs. Concordia College, their last season in Division II. The closest the Wildcats came to winning a Division I season opener was a 38-37 loss to Georgia State in 2014.

Big win, play freshmen, no injuries

A well tuned machine.