I think they'll be tough for sure. I never thought Tate was that good so replacing him won't be too hard. They lose Burnet or whatever his name is but still have lots of DL. They might lose an OL (Long?) but I'm not sure. All in all I think they'll definately be competitive.
They'll win their first five for sure. Then I think they have a definate shot at payback against OSU. They might lose one or two in conference I don't see more than 3 losses on that schedule. I don't think 7-5 is very realistic at all let alone optimistic. At worst I say they go 9-4 again.