Unbelievably it is already time for the big websites and publications to start cranking out their 2017 college football previews. It really does feel like the 2016 season only just ended, but with spring practice done and dusted, and with so many teams in the FBS to cover, previews are going to start coming thick and fast even though were are only in early May.
One of the more in-depth previews out there each year come courtesy of SB Nation. Their preview covers the standard offense/defense/special teams, along with a few other gems. One of the coolest aspects of their preview is the offense and defensive radars, graphics that give a great insight as to how Army ranked in a slew of categories against the other FBS squads.
The first thing to note from this preview is that the site has Army finishing 6-6 in 2017 with an S&P+ (schedule and projection) rank of 102 out of the 129 schools. The interesting aspect of this is that Army finished the 2016 season with almost the exact same (101) S&P+ rank despite going 8-5 on the season.
Looking purely at the table that predicts win percentage chances gives an interesting overview of the Black Knights season to come. Army has three games where they are projected with a 70-80 percent chance of victory, those games coming against Fordham, Buffalo, and UTEP. There are also four games that are projected as a 30 or less percent chance of winning, Temple (30), Navy (30), Duke (28) and Ohio State (1). If Army could flip one of those games it would bode well for the season.
The other five games fall between these ranges and are essentially a coin flip. Army did well in such games last season and a repeat would see them better that 6-6 projection by at least one game.
All in all, this is an excellent preview and is well worth the read.
