A few thoughts going into what has become a big game for us.

1. After the Louisiana Tech game and with the way Grayson James had performed the last 5-6 games there was no way I thought we’d be sitting at 3-1. Granted the competition hasn’t been great but there’s no doubt we’re a different/better team with Jenkins at the helm.
2. Keyone Jenkins was a recruiting steal for us at the most important position on the field. He doesn’t have prototypical size for the position, he’s not a speedster and he doesn’t have the biggest arm out there but he seems to do everything well. He goes through progressions, makes the right play most of the time, he’s a leader and just seems to make things happen.
3. The defense looks better. It’s not great. It’s not good either. But it’s passable. We still get gashed on the ground and commit too many stupid penalties but tackling, gap coverage, communication seem to have improved.
4. Remaining schedule. Call me crazy, but I think we have a chance against Liberty. It might not be a great chance but being home helps. Liberty will be easily the best team we’ve played this season and will be a good measuring stick for how far we’ve come and what we can expect for the rest of the season. I’m hoping we squeak one out. My mind says we lose by 7-10 points. Before the season, I had us ending 6-6 (4-8 worst/8-4 best). Assuming a loss against Liberty, I have us winning at NMSU, against UTEP, @ Sam Houston (though their defense is legit), vs JSU. And losing at MTSU (cause it always happens), at Arkansas, and vs WKU. That leaves us at 7-5 in year 2 under coach MacIntyre with a bowl game. A win against Liberty and I’d say there’s a chance for 9 wins. I’m saying 6-6 at worst at this point and anything less would be pretty disappointing.
5. Conference USA. It’s early but so far I like this iteration more than the CUSA of last year. FIU has been bad for years so I’m not taking shots at anybody. But the schools the American took have underperformed and it’s par for the course as those schools underperformed for years in this conference. They all committed to spending more so maybe it’s temporary then again USF is in the American and they’ve won I believe 1 FBS game in the last 3 years. I could see JSU and Sam Houston being as consistent as WKU/APP/Coastal/Liberty or other smaller market teams and I think that’s a change for the better. Charlotte/UAB are larger markets but they’re not drawing eyes away from UNC and Auburn just as an example so it’s really flawed logic.
6. The Uniforms. I don’t know what happened but huge improvements here. 4 games and 4 different variations. All of them good. Hopefully we start to see some money hit the stadium. We desperately need to improve the facade.
Anybody else? Thoughts?