The weather is awful in NC today and the Tech-WF game was rescheduled for tonight. I am sitting inside listening to 40 kts of wind and taking a break from The Book Thief because my mind is still wandering off to focus on the upcoming football season.
The only way my mind can deal with the long list of questions is to focus on them one at a time. Will we settle on a QB who can lead our offense without making a lot of unforced errors? Will Stephen Hill catch passes that actually hit him somewhere on the hands or body? Can we replace Anthony Allen with another 1000 yard back? Will CPJ ever be happy with the O-line? Can we possibly replace four D-backs and still improve our pass defense? Will our special teams be special this season? Who is our kicker this year? Oh, will we try to catch punts or just let them hit the turf and roll dead somewhere?
With this in mind, I punted and decided to look at the schedule instead. Maybe I could find eight wins:
9/1 W Carolina: I hope this game is not in question. My sister went to school here and I cannot stand the thought...
9/10 @Middle TN State: My son's former girlfriend is from MTSU and I hope to never hear from her again. A loss here would spoil that.
9/17 Kansas: This ain't basketball damn it. We should be able to beat these guys to be 3-0. Right?
9/24 UNC: We have the Tarheels at home, but they will tough. The D was stingy last year and will certainly be good again. They have questions on offense, and will be on the road for the first time. If we are any good at all, this should be a toss up. I think we will be able to hold on. I hope...
10/1 @NC State: I will be there for this game. State has no idea who will play QB for them. If Wilson returns, this will be a tough game. The guy is seriously good. I am thinking he will be back at State and we will lose this game.
10/8 Maryland: Another team on the road for the first time. They play Temple and Towson leading up to us and I bet the speed of our offense will be difficult to match. They have a lot of issues and a new coach. Their top O-lineman was injured this spring. I am thinking we will win this game. If not, it will be a long second half of the season. If I am right, we will be 4-2, perhaps 5-1 at this point.
10/15 @UVA: We always have trouble with these rich kids. Why? I wish I could be optimistic.
10/22 @Miami: On the road. I don't see how it happens for us. Hopefully this is not our second loss in a row.
10/29 Clemson: This is always a tough game. Even when we don't have issues. Maybe we can win at home. I can certainly hope. Can't I??? I also fear this is our third loss in three weeks.
11/10 VPI: On Thursday night. I don't think it happen here, either.
11/19 @Duke: A breather before UGA.
11/26 UGA: It would be nice if there is more gold in the stands than red. Please, let's turn this train around.
So, did I find eight Ws? We need to be 5-1 after Maryland. The second half of the schedule looks very difficult. I will be very happy with 8-4 and a bowl game. 7-5 is more likely. At least if I set this as my expectation, it will have to be really bad to disappoint.
UPDATED to correct errors in number wins after Maryland..