SDSU should have thought of that before they went out and lost to Northern Iowa. And....if you swapped them out with Maine....there's still a decent chance the Big Sky gets to Frisco.
Honestly, you guys are still the team to beat. But if you take an objective look at your conference this year....it's not as good as it has been. What's wrong with saying that? For most of the past 5 years, outside of EWU....the Big Sky hasn't sent many threats to the playoff's. However, Weber is now pretty good, UC Davis and MSU are on the rise, and you had Montana/Idaho State on the fringe of being decent. You guys have been on cruise control since the beginning of October....and was the Youngstown score a function of them playing a great game....or you guys coming out flat? During the last 8 years, give me a year that you think the conference was worse than this year.
I have the honor to be Your Obedient Servant - B.Aud
We all live in stories... It seems to me that a definition of any living vibrant society is that you constantly question those stories... The argument itself is freedom. It's not that you come to a conclusion about it. Through that argument you change your mind sometimes... That's how societies grow. When you can't retell for yourself the stories of your life then you live in a prison... Somebody else controls the story. - S. Rushdie
I saw an interesting stat on the MSU web page. NDSU is now MSU's most common playoff opponent, with three games.
The weather in Fargo keeps the undesirables out.....
...Which is why I live near the Twin Cities.
Would like MSU and UM fan to respond. I really thought MSU and UM would be more of force in FCS when NDSU joined especially after we met MSU in 2010 playoffs. Since NDSU joined FCS, those programs have been down and really the Big Sky overall at the championship level. Which to me is surprising given how the rules of football have really started to favor passing teams and wide open offenses more typical of the Big Sky. It doesn’t seem that NDSU and MSU/UM compete for too many recruits and Montana recruits stay in state. So what happened to MSU/UM? Would the championship teams or runner up teams from UM compete with the current Bison teams? Would those programs be better if NDSU had joined their conference - kind of like SDSU has had success just seem to meet NDSU too often and too early in the playoffs.
As far as Montana State goes.....after 2010, they just had some bad recruiting classes where guys didn't pan out....and Ash lost the team (he also started swinging and missing on problem guys from FBS programs). He built a great offense.....but at the end his defense couldn't stop Bozeman High School. I do think Choate has MSU pointed the right direction....and will be able to make more of a game of it next time. As far as Montana goes.....I think their fall coincides with EWU's rise. I think U of M used to have their pick of the FCS recruits in Washington...and now EWU gets a lot of those guys (who knew an ugly red field could be such a good recruiting tool). Also, MSU has been getting more of the in-state guys. In years past, MSU pretty much got only the in-state guys who wanted to go into engineering (or some legacy players). Anyway, now I'd say it's more of a 50/50 deal with instate recruits right now. Everyone is interested to see Choate and Hauk go head to head on in-state recruiting. But, all in all....I think UM has taken a hit from the east and west on some of their recruits. It pains me to admit that Hauck will probably get Montana moving in the right direction too....and I think both MSU/UM will be top teams in the FCS in the not too distant future. As far as MSU goes, they have another good start to their recruiting class....and they have gotten better ever year under Choate...so I would expect them to be better next year as well.
Best player in college football. Used him against SDSU.
Lardsin must go!