Chief,
Your concern about the injuries is certainly legitimate, but remember that we do not play in a vacuum. I look at our opponents and see four teams that play little defense: Western Illinois, Southern Illinois, South Dakota, and Indiana State. Winning those four and taking care of Northern Iowa at home gets us to 7. And beating South Dakota State or Illinois State on the road will be difficult but not beyond our capabilities. Nobody at the FCS level has comprehensive depth, so it is time for our redshirt freshmen and sophomores to assert themselves. That is exactly what happened on the Tressel teams of the 90s.