FAVORITE TEAMS

Hey guys, it’s been over a week and a half since my last posting. I’ve had plenty of stuff going on outside of here, but I’m glad to be back to post for you all.

Anyway, Week 9 of my Underrated Stock will be my very last post before I announce who my 2019 Underrated Teams are. I already have a few teams that are locked, but I’m weighing my options on the rest. There isn’t much to discuss but I’ll give you an overview of teams that moved up or down or made an appearance.

No change in these current picks, but not all of them are set in stone yet.

Minnesota – My interest in the Golden Gophers continues to rise each day. Coach P.J. Fleck’s direction with this program has been positive and I’m more confident in them. They’re in a very close race with Nebraska. It’ll be the toughest decision that I have to make in the five years I’ve done the Underrated Teams.

Miami (OH) – This team is the most interesting and the most unpredictable team of 2019…in my opinion. Here’s the positive, Miami returns skilled players and three offensive linemen, and this defense should still play as well as last year, even with a few new starters mixed with veterans. The negative? Expect the Redhawks to start 1-3 non-conference because…most MAC teams are less successful against Power 5 teams in non-conference. Most notably, there’s no decision on a new quarterback yet. I expect Miami to compete in the MAC once again, but it’s hard to say whether I can risk unseating Ohio for them. Decisions. Decisions.

Northern Illinois – With less than a week to go, the Huskies pop into an opportunity to be the MAC West Underrated team for the second straight season. They’re potentially in a 3-way race with Western Michigan and Toledo for the division. However, they lost Sutton Smith to the NFL and he accounted for the majority of the defense’s issues, and this offense was less than impressive (scored 30+ twice in 2018 and averaged 20 points per game). Their appearance here might be short-lived, but maybe not if the offense takes a big step forward…

Ball State – The Cardinals dropped to a near-end, but they’re currently in a 3-way race with Central Michigan and Kent State with Northern Illinois behind all of them. It’s not over for the Cardinals, but its difficult to figure them out. They have plenty of returning players at each level, but the backfield and the defensive front are the biggest questions. Quarterback Drew Plitt seems like an ideal starter but maybe needs to improve on the touchdown/interception ratio (6 – 8). Running back Caleb Huntley ran for 1,000 yards before he sat out the last six games with a foot injury. His health factors into how this offense plays. All the starters on the defensive front return, but their size may be the reason their run stoppers allowed over 240 yards on the ground. Not good…

I want to thank you all for checking out my profile and all my crazy, stupid, “what the heck” opinions on these teams. I try researching as much as possible to be as well-informed about each team. Researching 130 teams doesn’t seem like work, but I enjoy the challenge of getting to know each program’s background. This will be my 5th year doing this, but this will be my first providing this information through posting and through upcoming videos in the 2019 season. I hope you all continue to drop by and check out my postings.

I’ll announce the Underrated Teams hopefully by the end of this week or early next week so I can start on the 2019 Underrated Season and hope for the best from all 21 of them. Again, thank you all who checked out my postings and have a great rest of your week! BOOMER SOONER!