I was a little shocked that the Murray State football team was picked to finish the conference in eighth place out of nine teams. Head coach Matt Griffin said the Racers deserved it after their 2-9 performance last season.
Personally, I feel the start of the season will be rough — likely a 1-3 start — but if the Racers can avenge last season's rout against Tennessee-Martin, I think they'll be OK for the rest of the season. I predict at least five wins, although a .500 season could be possible.
Remember, the games against this season's top three — Eastern Illinois, Eastern Kentucky and Jacksonville State — the Racers showed progress. The Racers were a touchdown away from a win against EIU and had some lapses on defense and special teams for unanswered scores with the other two. A win on the road against any of those three and they're looking good.
Jacksonville State was picked to finish the conference first, but that doesn't mean anything right now in the OVC. No team picked to finish first in the pre-season has done it since EIU did it in 2002. The championship prediction in 29 years has only been right 41.4 percent of the time.
So my question is, who has the best chance this season to get the title? Check out the poll to your right.
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