I think the upturn starts this season, it's just going to be a wild ride with so much youth.
I think so too. I'm counting Montana, Buffalo, MTSU, UK, and Vandy as probable wins, but I worry-- a lot-- about Cincinnati. It's early in the season and we will be relying a great deal on freshmen and sophomores, which means bumps, and on top of that Cincy has some good players. They rallied to within 2 points of Oklahoma last year despite a poor year overall, and the year before that their only loss was to UF in the Sugar Bowl. I know they're in the 2nd year under a new coach but this is absolutely a team that we can't overlook.
But even if we lose to Cincinnati, I think we knock off one of South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, LSU, or Arkansas to get the 6th or 7th win.
EDIT: FWIW, Ken Massey's rating system predicts 6.5 wins. I think the utility of such computer predictions is low, but it's as good a projection as any (and probably better than most). These are win probabilities:
Montana (95%)
Cincinnati (72%)
Florida (24%)
Buffalo (99%)
Georgia (48%)
LSU (26%)
Alabama (7%)
South Carolina (32%)
MTSU (95%)
Arkansas (12%)
Vandy (88%)
Kentucky (51%)