Bold Prediction #1 – ISU will double their win total from two to four wins this season.
The four games ISU will win this year are home games against Black Hills State and Sacramento State and two road games against Northern Colorado.
The Black Hills State game should be an easy victory. They are small school from the NAIA. This game is as close to a guaranteed win as it gets.
The second home game that ISU will win is against Sacramento State. When ISU beats Sacramento State it will be an upset. It can be done and a lot of it will depend on the morale and health of the team after their return from playing Nebraska.
ISU plays both Cal Poly and Northern Colorado on the road this year. ISU is better than both of those teams but the last time ISU won on the road was in 2005 at Sacramento State.
Bold Prediction #2 – Cameron Richmond, not Rodrick Rumble, will lead the team in receptions.
The downside for Rumble being named to every preseason awards watch list is that he will also be named as the top priority on every opposing team’s scouting report. Opposing teams will double and triple-team the senior wide receiver to ensure he comes nowhere near his record-setting number of receptions.
With the wealth of receivers at ISU quarterback Kevin Yost’s disposal there will be no need to force any balls to Rumble. The player that Yost will be throwing it to the most will be Richmond.
He will be the main beneficiary of the constant double teams that Rumble will undoubtedly face. Richmond was the no. 2 wide receiver last year before he injured his foot in the season opener at Washington State but not before he caught one pass for 52 yards.
Bold Prediction #3 – ISU will score off of a fake punt this year.
Kramer traditionally employed the roll punt with either his punter or his quarterback.
The roll punt is when the punter veers outside of the line of scrimmage and drop kicks the ball down the sidle line. The roll punt is a way to extend the punt return team and give the defense different looks to prepare for. Also, it gives a team several options off of their punt scheme whether it’s a potential run or pass.
Yost has been staying every day after practicing trying to master the roll punt. When it’s fourth and three and Yost is still on the field it’s going to cause some serious confusion for the team’s opposing defensive coordinators.
Kramer said his goal is to keep the team’s punt coverage team off the field and constantly keep them guessing.
While I am hesitant that Yost will ever master the roll punt what has me excited is punter C.J. Reyes. During spring practice and training camp, Reyes lined up at quarterback and wide receiver.
Reyes played quarterback in high school and Kramer plans to utilize his punter’s versatility. So if even if Reyes is on the field on fourth down Kramer will still have the option of passing or running with Reyes.
While I am predicting disastrous results overall I also am predicting that it will work at least once.
Bold Prediction #4 – There will be at least three additional freshman players that will crack the starting lineup by the end of the season.
ISU’s run defense was the biggest issue last year for the Bengals. By the end of the season Kramer will find the answer to stopping the run in freshman transfer Terrance Carey out of Florida State. Carey is 300-pound nose tackle and is just waiting to be unleashed.
Kramer wants a safety-led defense. Tanner Davis, along with Cameron Gumpton, is on a very short leash. The Bengals have three freshmen waiting to take over. By the end of the season either KW Williams, DeShawn Perkins and Taison Manu will be ready to step in at safety when Kramer needs to make a change at safety.
Kramer plans on splitting running backs Aaron Prier and Dan McSurdy for the 4 or 6 run plays he will call this season. But midway through the season Kramer will realize that freshman Xavier Finney is bigger and faster than the combo of Prier and McSurdy and Finney will take over as the starting running back.
Bold Prediction #5 – Yost will take half as many sacks as he did last year.
Yost was sacked 55 times last season and the majority of the sacks were because of poor offensive line play.
The offensive line will be better for three reasons: they are bigger, more versatile and more experienced.
“We’re bigger and stronger and the recruits that we brought in are bigger,” said offensive coordinator Don Bailey. “We average 6-foot-4 and about 300 lb. with those guys we brought in. I think that’s an improvement, just by our pure size.”
Last year the offensive was decimated with injuries and were plugging in players in positions they were not comfortable playing. This year they’ve made sure every lineman can be plugged into every position on the offensive line.
“We’re trying to get our best five on the field, so we don’t pigeonhole everybody into a specific position,” Bailey said of his offensive linemen.
“We want the best five and to play with some continuity. If somebody goes down, maybe it’s not the position that you normally play, but you have to be flexible enough to play something else.”
For the first time in six years the Bengals will return their offensive line coach. The return of David Roche, the offense line coach will lead to a faster and more composed offensive line that struggled last year.
