The Angelo State football team has been picked to finish the 2008 season in the same place as it finished last season as the Rams were selected fifth in the Lone Star Conference South Division Preseason Poll announced on Thursday. The poll was released as part of LSC Media Day activities.
ASU head coach Dale Carr was one of 13 conference head coaches to participate in Media Day, held at the Crown Plaza Suites in Dallas. Carr is optomistic that his Rams will finish higher this season than predicted by the league's coaches, sports information directors and media representatives.
"There's a lot of excitement in San Angelo," Carr said the attendees of Media Day. "Mainly because we return more seniors, more depth and a stronger and faster team then we have in my previous three seasons. We have 10 seniors. That may not seem like a lot, but we only had five seniors last fall."
The Rams went 2-8 last fall and 1-5 in LSC South play, finishing fifth in the division. ASU collected 43 points in the league's preseason poll, outdistancing last place Eastern New Mexico, the only division team the Rams defeated last year, which received 35 points points. Abilene Christian was chosen to claim the 2008 division title, earning 113 points and receiving eight of 18 first-place points. Three-time defending LSC and South Division champion West Texas A&M finished second in the balloting with 111 points and the remaining 10 first-place votes. Tarleton State was third with 91 points, Midwestern State fourth with 75 points and Texas A&M-Kingsville fifth with 43 points.
"This spring and summer has been very reminiscent of the spring and summer of 2005 which led to a playoff season," Carr continued. "Our players have the mindset that they have to work harder than anyone else because of the record last year. We have a great attitude and a great mindset and we know we have to make a lot of improvement to win in this league. The difference in this team from the 2005 team is that we're stronger, faster and a have more depth. This is easily the best team that we've entered the season with with since I've been here and that's the reason we're so optomistic."
Angelo State also learned on Thursday that its non-division schedule will not be an easy task. The Rams will play the top three teams in the North Division according to the preseason poll. Texas A&M-Commerce, ASU's opponent on Saturday, Sept. 6, was the top choice from the North with 82 points and eight of 16 first-place votes cast. The Rams will also face second-place choice Southeastern Oklahoma, which received 71 points and four first-place votes, and third place Southwestern Oklahoma, which received 58 points and two first-place votes. Central Oklahoma placed fourth in the voting with 47 points, receiving the final two first-place votes, Northeastern State was fifth with 43 points and East Central was picked sixth with 35 points.
The Rams open the 2008 season in less than a month as they visit Texas State Saturday, Aug. 30, at 7 p.m. in San Marcos. ASU will start the season with three straight road games before hosting East Central Saturday, Sept. 18, at 6 p.m. at San Angelo Stadium.
