Army Preview: Scout.com

Scout's preseason preview came out yesterday.

Pretty legit synopsis in 7 paragraphs. Scout notes the wave of optimism that Army followers have been riding this offseason.

They touch on the 8 returning offensive starters, and mention the 8 returners from last year's 16th ranked defense. The totally unheralded return of Richard King is also brought up.

Another thing that gets mention is the light, light schedule. Last year's light slate certainly contributed to the #16 national ranking for the defense. The way Scout puts it, not only is the schedule similarly soft - but the team has improved in turn.

Schedule:
There are six very winnable games scheduled for 2010, not considering the other service academies. Last year’s team would have won 5 of these games. The home schedule, aside from the Air Force game, is a farce. Assuming even modest improvement, Army should compete in 10 of the 12 games. The second half of the season is going to be very challenging for this Army team: Rutgers at the new Meadowlands Stadium, a breather against VMI, Air Force, at Kent State, Notre Dame at Yankee Stadium, and Navy - but you play the games for a reason. If they can earn a split of these six games, it will be a hugely successful season. Anything more than a split, and a successful season will become a great season.

They allude to some of Ellerson's flawed calls last year, which I had -to this point- blocked from my memory.

I was riding pretty high tonight when I visited @Sal Interdonato and looked back at his 2010 prediction this spring of 7-5.

Imagine my surprise when I saw Scout's prediction for Army's 2010 campaign...

9-3 with a trip to the Bell Helicopter Bowl.

Another very positive preview. I'm a pretty optimistic football fan but with so many extremely positive previews, I'm actually getting a little uncomfortable with the level of optimism flowing around.