The Bobcat Nation

OK, lets be real here. The Griz did get by Northern Iowa this year which is a really good team - they were lucky to beat them but hung on and closed them out. They played a very good Western Illinois team and played them close but lost. But they have been winning the games they are supposed to be winning. They will have a tough game against UC Davis this year. Other than that, they could win the rest of their games unless the Cats step up at the end - but that will be a very competitive game and it's in Missoula. From what I've seen, it's the Cats that need to up their game. The Griz have had automatic games with Eastern Washington every year for years until now because Idaho is back. So they haven't had slam dunk schedules year in and year out but I agree that this year, their record will be better cause of the schedule - should be 9-2 or 8-3.

Bonecrusher wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 01, 2018 5:26 pm

This is probably out the window at this point, but there was some discussion of having a Pacific and a Mountain division of the Big Sky. I think a lot of ADs were against it, and with UND leaving, we're back to an odd number of teams.

Pacific
Eastern
Portland State
Sac State
UC Davis
Cal Poly
Idaho
NAU

Mountain
Montana
Montana State
Southern Utah
Weber
Idaho State
UND
NoCo

There was some discussion of a North and South, but it would have been extremely unbalanced in terms of having all the traditional powers in the North.

I don’t think PSU will be around much longer. That gets us to an even number again.

One problem with this split is that I believe that UI was promised a game against UM every year as incentive to get them back in football.

WalkOn79 wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 01, 2018 9:57 am

91catAlum wrote: ↑

Sun Sep 30, 2018 11:21 am

Cataholic wrote: ↑

Sun Sep 30, 2018 11:07 am

Hard to understand how Griz fans can be trolling. Granted they are 4-1, but they were spotted 14 points by Cal Poly in the initial 10 minutes of the game. Take away those scores and it is 34-28 against the last place team in the conference that was beat 70-14 last week. CP had two backs rush for over 100 yards each and their safety had 17 tackles. That is a lot of second level tackles. I am only looking at the box scores, but those are not real positive indicators.

Dante Olson is a monster LB. We could use a guy like him.

Agreed.

We do have a LB like him (IMO). Unfortunately, we've decided we don't need his linebacking skills.

OK, I know, dead horse...

MSUBOBCAT4LIFE wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 01, 2018 3:21 pm

WalkOn79 wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 01, 2018 11:36 am

91catAlum wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 01, 2018 11:13 am

WalkOn79 wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 01, 2018 11:02 am

mtgrizfankb wrote: ↑

Sun Sep 30, 2018 4:16 pm

CatsNoMatterWhat wrote: ↑

Sun Sep 30, 2018 11:34 am

FCS still loves the Griz. Simple. With that said...conference schedules are indeed somewhat luck of the draw. But there is no question Griz get some benefits other teams don't (not just us).

If that was the case wouldn't the griz have gotten in at 7-4 multiple years over other 7-4 teams? You do realize the Big Sky rotates this stupid scheduling so in the next year you will also miss EWU and Weber. The griz played 2 MVFC teams this year...not sure what else you want there. This post just screams jealousy that the griz are on pace for the playoffs and MSU probably isn't.

Agreed with most of your post except the bolded part. I think we've made a long-term deal with EWU that we will rotate a home and away every year, regardless of whether it counts as a conference game or not. I wish we would do the same thing with Weber.

We did have that agreement in place ever since the league expanded, which is why we played them every year thru 2018. However it's not a forever agreement and this is the last year of it.

That's too bad, IMO, but I'm also of the opinion we should go back to 8 or 9 teams in this league and play em all every year.

fully agree with this. everyone plays the same teams only difference is home and away. There is one league winner, and that is the best way. problem is i dont see them dropping 4 to 5 schools even though i would not mind leaving the California schools and Southern Utah out of the conference.

There are a bunch of pretty easy ways to deal with the 13 team unbalanced schedule. (Power-pairing during the seasons...divisions with everyone getting a game on the "championship" Saturday...) Its just that no-one except the fans seems to care.

I don’t think PSU will be around much longer. That gets us to an even number again.

One problem with this split is that I believe that UI was promised a game against UM every year as incentive to get them back in football.

Well the PSU is a possibility.... But UI and UM being promised was probably just the proposed rivalry matching. But UI decided years ago to drop when they moved all Olympic sports back to BSC. The reality was they were hoping BSC would eventually split and half of the conference move up to BCS. Not happening unless they split the Power 5 off.

onceacat wrote: ↑

Fri Oct 05, 2018 7:46 am

MSUBOBCAT4LIFE wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 01, 2018 3:21 pm

WalkOn79 wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 01, 2018 11:36 am

91catAlum wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 01, 2018 11:13 am

WalkOn79 wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 01, 2018 11:02 am

mtgrizfankb wrote: ↑

Sun Sep 30, 2018 4:16 pm

CatsNoMatterWhat wrote: ↑

Sun Sep 30, 2018 11:34 am

FCS still loves the Griz. Simple. With that said...conference schedules are indeed somewhat luck of the draw. But there is no question Griz get some benefits other teams don't (not just us).

If that was the case wouldn't the griz have gotten in at 7-4 multiple years over other 7-4 teams? You do realize the Big Sky rotates this stupid scheduling so in the next year you will also miss EWU and Weber. The griz played 2 MVFC teams this year...not sure what else you want there. This post just screams jealousy that the griz are on pace for the playoffs and MSU probably isn't.

Agreed with most of your post except the bolded part. I think we've made a long-term deal with EWU that we will rotate a home and away every year, regardless of whether it counts as a conference game or not. I wish we would do the same thing with Weber.

We did have that agreement in place ever since the league expanded, which is why we played them every year thru 2018. However it's not a forever agreement and this is the last year of it.

That's too bad, IMO, but I'm also of the opinion we should go back to 8 or 9 teams in this league and play em all every year.

fully agree with this. everyone plays the same teams only difference is home and away. There is one league winner, and that is the best way. problem is i dont see them dropping 4 to 5 schools even though i would not mind leaving the California schools and Southern Utah out of the conference.

There are a bunch of pretty easy ways to deal with the 13 team unbalanced schedule. (Power-pairing during the seasons...divisions with everyone getting a game on the "championship" Saturday...) Its just that no-one except the fans seems to care.

If there are I may be unfamiliar with them as I am not 100% sure gown power pairing solves the issue that 13 teams can’t play each other in a single year. My thoughts guys are very simple and basic. Each team should play each team to determine a conference winner. When it’s split and some don’t count as conference you get very unbalanced schedules strength wise as well as conference ties about every year which hurts the possibilities for more playoff teams being at large bids. If you have a bunch of easy ways to solve this I would love to hear them in a little more detail because this is an issue with all teams and coaches year after year that are contenders

MSUBOBCAT4LIFE wrote: ↑

Fri Oct 05, 2018 10:10 am

onceacat wrote: ↑

Fri Oct 05, 2018 7:46 am

MSUBOBCAT4LIFE wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 01, 2018 3:21 pm

WalkOn79 wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 01, 2018 11:36 am

91catAlum wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 01, 2018 11:13 am

WalkOn79 wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 01, 2018 11:02 am

mtgrizfankb wrote: ↑

Sun Sep 30, 2018 4:16 pm

CatsNoMatterWhat wrote: ↑

Sun Sep 30, 2018 11:34 am

FCS still loves the Griz. Simple. With that said...conference schedules are indeed somewhat luck of the draw. But there is no question Griz get some benefits other teams don't (not just us).

If that was the case wouldn't the griz have gotten in at 7-4 multiple years over other 7-4 teams? You do realize the Big Sky rotates this stupid scheduling so in the next year you will also miss EWU and Weber. The griz played 2 MVFC teams this year...not sure what else you want there. This post just screams jealousy that the griz are on pace for the playoffs and MSU probably isn't.

Agreed with most of your post except the bolded part. I think we've made a long-term deal with EWU that we will rotate a home and away every year, regardless of whether it counts as a conference game or not. I wish we would do the same thing with Weber.

We did have that agreement in place ever since the league expanded, which is why we played them every year thru 2018. However it's not a forever agreement and this is the last year of it.

That's too bad, IMO, but I'm also of the opinion we should go back to 8 or 9 teams in this league and play em all every year.

fully agree with this. everyone plays the same teams only difference is home and away. There is one league winner, and that is the best way. problem is i dont see them dropping 4 to 5 schools even though i would not mind leaving the California schools and Southern Utah out of the conference.

There are a bunch of pretty easy ways to deal with the 13 team unbalanced schedule. (Power-pairing during the seasons...divisions with everyone getting a game on the "championship" Saturday...) Its just that no-one except the fans seems to care.

If there are I may be unfamiliar with them as I am not 100% sure gown power pairing solves the issue that 13 teams can’t play each other in a single year. My thoughts guys are very simple and basic. Each team should play each team to determine a conference winner. When it’s split and some don’t count as conference you get very unbalanced schedules strength wise as well as conference ties about every year which hurts the possibilities for more playoff teams being at large bids. If you have a bunch of easy ways to solve this I would love to hear them in a little more detail because this is an issue with all teams and coaches year after year that are contenders

The short answer is that you don't set the schedule in advance. Each team has 2 in conference games & its non-con schedule set in advance. Each team also knows its home dates & away dates.

You could also keep traditional rivalry games (the Brawl, SUU-NAU, etc) scheduled for the last week of the regular season.

After the first two set games, you pair up an undefeated team with a home game against an undefeated team with an away game. A two loss "home" team pairs up against a two loss "away" team. You keep pairing the top home teams against the top away teams so all the best teams are required to play each other.

There are minor details to work out in the pairing, but it has a long history in pairing tournaments.

The worst thing is for the fans...you don't know where your team is playing its away games until the Sunday morning before...But its no problem for teams, because they do this for the football tournament or March Madness every year.

How many games would a team play if they were to play each and every team in the conference? Just wondering. Then, on the years FCS can play 12 games, schedule an out of conference game. Just sayin...

Cat Grad wrote: ↑

Sat Oct 06, 2018 11:15 am

How many games would a team play if they were to play each and every team in the conference? Just wondering. Then, on the years FCS can play 12 games, schedule an out of conference game. Just sayin...

As fun as that would be it would it would hurt everyone come playoff time.

BleedingBLue wrote: ↑

Sat Oct 06, 2018 12:10 pm

Cat Grad wrote: ↑

Sat Oct 06, 2018 11:15 am

How many games would a team play if they were to play each and every team in the conference? Just wondering. Then, on the years FCS can play 12 games, schedule an out of conference game. Just sayin...

As fun as that would be it would it would hurt everyone come playoff time.

The reality of the matter is the conference record in the playoffs the last 4 or 5 years. The conference is weak. Possibly EWU can do something this year. Maybe even Weber or the Griz, but I'm not going to wager any of my money on whoever the committee selects from this conference.

Cat Grad wrote: ↑

Sat Oct 06, 2018 1:05 pm

BleedingBLue wrote: ↑

Sat Oct 06, 2018 12:10 pm

Cat Grad wrote: ↑

Sat Oct 06, 2018 11:15 am

How many games would a team play if they were to play each and every team in the conference? Just wondering. Then, on the years FCS can play 12 games, schedule an out of conference game. Just sayin...

As fun as that would be it would it would hurt everyone come playoff time.

The reality of the matter is the conference record in the playoffs the last 4 or 5 years. The conference is weak. Possibly EWU can do something this year. Maybe even Weber or the Griz, but I'm not going to wager any of my money on whoever the committee selects from this conference.

Right but I think the Big Sky - Missouri Valley challenge is a lot better for the conference and our bid # at the end of the year.

BleedingBLue wrote: ↑

Sat Oct 06, 2018 1:23 pm

Cat Grad wrote: ↑

Sat Oct 06, 2018 1:05 pm

BleedingBLue wrote: ↑

Sat Oct 06, 2018 12:10 pm

Cat Grad wrote: ↑

Sat Oct 06, 2018 11:15 am

How many games would a team play if they were to play each and every team in the conference? Just wondering. Then, on the years FCS can play 12 games, schedule an out of conference game. Just sayin...

As fun as that would be it would it would hurt everyone come playoff time.

The reality of the matter is the conference record in the playoffs the last 4 or 5 years. The conference is weak. Possibly EWU can do something this year. Maybe even Weber or the Griz, but I'm not going to wager any of my money on whoever the committee selects from this conference.

Right but I think the Big Sky - Missouri Valley challenge is a lot better for the conference and our bid # at the end of the year.

The only problem with that, in my opinion, is we don't have a real conference champion--and let's get real. That's all we can reasonably expect our "champion" to get. As much as I'd personally like to see EWU make a serious run in the playoffs, I just don't see it happening. Maybe they'll surprise everybody but as I stated, I'm not willing to bet any money on them unless they seriously revamp their offense. They have the line to do it and their defense is more than adequate, especially their front seven. We'll see in a couple of months.

Portland State is leading the high and mighty Griz 19-14 with 12 minutes to go in the 4th.

Catgotmytung wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 03, 2018 6:37 am

OK, lets be real here. The Griz did get by Northern Iowa this year which is a really good team - they were lucky to beat them but hung on and closed them out. They played a very good Western Illinois team and played them close but lost. But they have been winning the games they are supposed to be winning. They will have a tough game against UC Davis this year. Other than that, they could win the rest of their games unless the Cats step up at the end - but that will be a very competitive game and it's in Missoula. From what I've seen, it's the Cats that need to up their game. The Griz have had automatic games with Eastern Washington every year for years until now because Idaho is back. So they haven't had slam dunk schedules year in and year out but I agree that this year, their record will be better cause of the schedule - should be 9-2 or 8-3.

2-3 UNI = not good

Wonder how many "in the bag, no problem" wins the griz have now!!!!!

TomCat88 wrote: ↑

Sun Sep 30, 2018 4:39 pm

I was talking to Colter yesterday and he said UM will probably go 9-2 this year. I have to agree. At first I said SUU and Idaho might be better than their records, but he pointed out that teams that don’t have much to play for tend to roll over. SUU is now 0-4. And Idaho only beat PSU 20-7 at home.

And the lesson here is that very knowledgeable sports writers are no better at predicting outcomes of college football games than the rest of us average Joe's. It doesn't matter what you pencil out on paper looking at schedules. THAT'S WHY THEY PLAY THE GAMES! Upsets happen. Favorites don't always win.

91catAlum wrote: ↑

Sat Oct 06, 2018 6:46 pm

TomCat88 wrote: ↑

Sun Sep 30, 2018 4:39 pm

I was talking to Colter yesterday and he said UM will probably go 9-2 this year. I have to agree. At first I said SUU and Idaho might be better than their records, but he pointed out that teams that don’t have much to play for tend to roll over. SUU is now 0-4. And Idaho only beat PSU 20-7 at home.

And the lesson here is that very knowledgeable sports writers are no better at predicting outcomes of college football games than the rest of us average Joe's. It doesn't matter what you pencil out on paper looking at schedules. THAT'S WHY THEY PLAY THE GAMES! Upsets happen. Favorites don't always win.

Who honestly thought NAU would beat Weber today?

Cat Grad wrote: ↑

Sat Oct 06, 2018 7:07 pm

Who honestly thought NAU would beat Weber today?

WOW. No kidding. Had not seen that.

dUMb's schedule;
UNI @ um...... 23-26 W
Drake @ um... 16-48 W
um @ WIU..... 27-31 L
SSU @ um ..... 34-41 W
um @ CP........ 48-28 W
PSU @ um...... 20-22 L
um @ UND
BYE
UCD @ um
um @ SUU
um @ UI
MSU @ um

They're 4-2 overall and 2-1 in BSC. I think this game will be a game all of um's opponents will dissect on how to defend/attack their offense. PSU's DL dominated their OL big time. Let's face it......if they can lose to PSU at home, they can get beat by anyone.