The most unofficial Bobcat gameday thread - Portland State

[AFCAT]

It’s crazy that Bobcat fans care so much about Big Sky Football that we are investing time into solving PSU’s problems. Keep the ideas rolling!

Reorient the field in this direction and build a stadium around it. Use the existing Hoffman Hall for the football offices or locker rooms. Problem solved, now they can just pay me a consulting fee and we are done here.



Here is the high school plan that fell apart.
https://www.oregonlive.com/sports/2019/ ... -snag.html

[BelgradeBobcat]

It’s crazy that Bobcat fans care so much about Big Sky Football that we are investing time into solving PSU’s problems. Keep the ideas rolling!

It's what bye weeks were made for!

The Hillsboro facility is very nice. It's a municipal multi-purpose facility, not a high school stadium as it is often derided as (high schools do play there). If it had any bleachers on the opposite sideline it'd be far nicer than EWU and as nice as Northern Colorado in my opinion. The roof over the main grandstand is really cool. It's just that it's two cities and one county away from Portland and the fans they do have just won't travel. I'm sure it kills their recruiting too. Unfortunately, I think PSU is there until they eventually drop football unless they find a sugar daddy to resurrect the program. They need some of that Nike money that goes to the Oregon Ducks.

[PapaG]

We know, we know.. We haven’t played anyone legit.. But this first string defense is playing lights out!

What’s important is that even with the bad teams, we’re holding everybody we play significantly under their average. Even New Mexico.

Idaho is certainly decent. Cats destroyed them. Would have been a 50-0 shutout if the coaches didn't let off the gas.

Maine is 4-3 with a really impressive win over #6 'Nova. Cats would have won that 60-14 if they hadn't subbed in the 2s and 3s.

New Mexico is a middle of the pack MW team (3-4) that will likely finish the season around .500.

None of those teams are bad.

PSU, ISU, UT are all below average FCS teams, but they are all legit D1 programs with D1 athletes who still play with pride, intensity and talent.

Those games also could have been 60-0.

MSUs 2s/3s are probably a middle of the pack BSC team & would contend for a conference title in every conference that isn't the MVFC.

The Cats (through no fault of their own) ended up with a relatively soft schedule this year. True enough. But they've blown the doors off every team they've played (except the FBS team).

Reminds me a lot of the Utah Sugar Bowl team that dismantled 'Bama or the Boise State team that beat Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl: Soft schedule? Sure, but they've dominated every aspect of the game up and down the field the entire way.

This team is LEGIT.

I agree! Just pointing out the stigma, and half reality. We haven’t played anyone good. I also don’t think Idaho was that decent when we played them! They were pretty banged up.

I do think the 2024 Cats are very legit! I also think our strength of schedule is unfortunate.

The Idaho defense was plenty healthy. A defense that was top 10 before we met them. Offensively they were missing Layne and maybe one OL. Even if Layne played, we still smash them. It's ok that we acknowledge Idaho is a good team that we smoked!

When we play a good team with a couple guys out it counts against us but when we lose starters almost every week going back to fall camp that just gets ignored. All we can do is keep winning.

Cats are legit! Just pointing out the back ground noise about our strength of schedule. It isn’t good thus far. Keep winning, and I expect we will, it won’t make a difference. Hope your rooms and tickets for Frisco are in order! Mine are.

Massey has the Cats SOS at #25. #25 out of 150 is perfectly reasonable.

Especially since they can’t play themselves.

[Bocephus]

It’s crazy that Bobcat fans care so much about Big Sky Football that we are investing time into solving PSU’s problems. Keep the ideas rolling!

Reorient the field in this direction and build a stadium around it. Use the existing Hoffman Hall for the football offices or locker rooms. Problem solved, now they can just pay me a consulting fee and we are done here.



Here is the high school plan that fell apart.
https://www.oregonlive.com/sports/2019/ ... -snag.html

Man that would have been a really cool partnership with that High School. Too bad they couldn’t pull it off. Playing in downtown Portland would be a huge recruiting advantage.

[iaafan]

We know, we know.. We haven’t played anyone legit.. But this first string defense is playing lights out!

What’s important is that even with the bad teams, we’re holding everybody we play significantly under their average. Even New Mexico.

Idaho is certainly decent. Cats destroyed them. Would have been a 50-0 shutout if the coaches didn't let off the gas.

Maine is 4-3 with a really impressive win over #6 'Nova. Cats would have won that 60-14 if they hadn't subbed in the 2s and 3s.

New Mexico is a middle of the pack MW team (3-4) that will likely finish the season around .500.

None of those teams are bad.

PSU, ISU, UT are all below average FCS teams, but they are all legit D1 programs with D1 athletes who still play with pride, intensity and talent.

Those games also could have been 60-0.

MSUs 2s/3s are probably a middle of the pack BSC team & would contend for a conference title in every conference that isn't the MVFC.

The Cats (through no fault of their own) ended up with a relatively soft schedule this year. True enough. But they've blown the doors off every team they've played (except the FBS team).

Reminds me a lot of the Utah Sugar Bowl team that dismantled 'Bama or the Boise State team that beat Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl: Soft schedule? Sure, but they've dominated every aspect of the game up and down the field the entire way.

This team is LEGIT.

Score wise it was close and the fact we had to come from behind and score on practically the last play of the game isn’t a sign of blowing someone’s doors off. But if people are going to put an asterisk by our record because of the schedule they should put one by the score of that game. Seems like it would’ve been a 42-24 win if not for the two fumble returns.

I’d like to see the list of FCS teams that have put up 567 total yards on a FBS team.

OR
The list of teams that gained 243 more yards than their FBS opponent.

OR
The list of teams who averaged 7.7 ypc vs an FBS opponent.

Then a list of teams that have done all three to an FBS opponent.

[Cataholic]

I watched the game on tv but they never really showed the crowd. However, some of MSU’s highlights you can see a good crowd. How many MSU fans were there?

2/3? Attendance per espn was 3100, so I'd say around 2000

And it was homecoming with special recognition given to some past players. That is embarrassing. PSU admin really needs to get something done about playing back downtown.

If I remember correctly, The Timbers are the ones who told PSU to take a hike. Not sure they'll ever get back downtown.

The Timbers have great fan support and are a solid franchise, but Providence Park is owned by the City of Portland. Portland State University should be lobbying city officials to get them back in there. It could be a huge step towards building the university - not just in athletics, but changes the image of the school.

It won't happen BECAUSE of the Timbers and Thorns. Portland is arguably the most soccer obsessed city in the US. More people attend Thorns women's professional soccer games than would ever attend a PSU game at the same stadium. They need the stadium open on fall weekends for MLS
and NWSL regular season and playoff games, which make the city and community way more money than any Portland State game ever will. I don't see a route for Portland State to ever play at Providence Park again unless they somehow only play on Friday nights.

I do know they were trying to cooperate with a neighboring high school to build a new stadium on the high school's field that they would both use, but that plan fell apart. They also have an on-campus practice field that they could potentially build around if they were able to tear down a building or two, but I doubt that'll happen

I do recognize the popularity of the soccer teams. I will play devils advocate and ask the simple question: “what is more important to the city: a thriving university downtown or a couple of weekends with soccer?” What if PSU was playing at Providence and had some success and were drawing 15,000? Would they have been considered by the Mountain West? Probably good enough basketball program. And definitely large enough media market.

[AFCAT]

I watched the game on tv but they never really showed the crowd. However, some of MSU’s highlights you can see a good crowd. How many MSU fans were there?

2/3? Attendance per espn was 3100, so I'd say around 2000

And it was homecoming with special recognition given to some past players. That is embarrassing. PSU admin really needs to get something done about playing back downtown.

If I remember correctly, The Timbers are the ones who told PSU to take a hike. Not sure they'll ever get back downtown.

The Timbers have great fan support and are a solid franchise, but Providence Park is owned by the City of Portland. Portland State University should be lobbying city officials to get them back in there. It could be a huge step towards building the university - not just in athletics, but changes the image of the school.

It won't happen BECAUSE of the Timbers and Thorns. Portland is arguably the most soccer obsessed city in the US. More people attend Thorns women's professional soccer games than would ever attend a PSU game at the same stadium. They need the stadium open on fall weekends for MLS
and NWSL regular season and playoff games, which make the city and community way more money than any Portland State game ever will. I don't see a route for Portland State to ever play at Providence Park again unless they somehow only play on Friday nights.

I do know they were trying to cooperate with a neighboring high school to build a new stadium on the high school's field that they would both use, but that plan fell apart. They also have an on-campus practice field that they could potentially build around if they were able to tear down a building or two, but I doubt that'll happen

I do recognize the popularity of the soccer teams. I will play devils advocate and ask the simple question: “what is more important to the city: a thriving university downtown or a couple of weekends with soccer?” What if PSU was playing at Providence and had some success and were drawing 15,000? Would they have been considered by the Mountain West? Probably good enough basketball program. And definitely large enough media market.

Just checked out their home schedule for the Timbers and they play 20 games/matches this year at Providence, compared to a likely five or six that PSU football would play. Now, most of those soccer games are before football season, but they average 22,000 fans per game/match in 2024. The Thorns add even more games/matches and average 18,000 fans. I'd say that soccer is more important to them than PSU football will ever be. Portland State as a university has 16,000ish students enrolled, so I'd say that it is already decent, even with a sub par football program. I do wish they could make some sort of an arrangement for PSU football though and get PSU a better facility and more successful/competitive team.

[damnyoutuesday]

I watched the game on tv but they never really showed the crowd. However, some of MSU’s highlights you can see a good crowd. How many MSU fans were there?

2/3? Attendance per espn was 3100, so I'd say around 2000

And it was homecoming with special recognition given to some past players. That is embarrassing. PSU admin really needs to get something done about playing back downtown.

If I remember correctly, The Timbers are the ones who told PSU to take a hike. Not sure they'll ever get back downtown.

The Timbers have great fan support and are a solid franchise, but Providence Park is owned by the City of Portland. Portland State University should be lobbying city officials to get them back in there. It could be a huge step towards building the university - not just in athletics, but changes the image of the school.

It won't happen BECAUSE of the Timbers and Thorns. Portland is arguably the most soccer obsessed city in the US. More people attend Thorns women's professional soccer games than would ever attend a PSU game at the same stadium. They need the stadium open on fall weekends for MLS
and NWSL regular season and playoff games, which make the city and community way more money than any Portland State game ever will. I don't see a route for Portland State to ever play at Providence Park again unless they somehow only play on Friday nights.

I do know they were trying to cooperate with a neighboring high school to build a new stadium on the high school's field that they would both use, but that plan fell apart. They also have an on-campus practice field that they could potentially build around if they were able to tear down a building or two, but I doubt that'll happen

I do recognize the popularity of the soccer teams. I will play devils advocate and ask the simple question: “what is more important to the city: a thriving university downtown or a couple of weekends with soccer?” What if PSU was playing at Providence and had some success and were drawing 15,000? Would they have been considered by the Mountain West? Probably good enough basketball program. And definitely large enough media market.

The answer in Portland, Oregon is soccer. Like I cannot understate how much Portlanders love soccer. The Timbers average just shy of 22k per home game, and the Thorns average 19.6K. If you go back and look at attendance from when PSU used the stadium, they averaged 4-6.5k unless one of the Montana schools came to town and then it would be 8-11k. Even playoff games were like 8.5k. The Timbers have 17 home games, Thorns have 13, PSU has ~7. In no scenario is soccer not the main priority for the city and fans.

The university is already thriving, it's a pretty solidly sized commuter school. The problem is that commuter schools don't do well with fan attention or alumni pride. The soccer teams that sell the stadium out every weekend from March to October that the community solidly rallies around are going to take a higher priority than an FCS football program that doesn't have a great fanbase as is.

Even if Portland State pulled a Sac State and became good suddenly, they still wouldn't have enough clout to warrant them getting back into Providence Park as permanent tenants.

I would be willing to bet that the University of Portland Pilots soccer team gets a higher average attendance than Portland State football does now.

[Cataholic]

All good points. I do believe football is a way of generating more interest and publicity in the school. If you have a thriving student body with lots of campus activities, you can attract more students to live on campus. That is good for the city and businesses of Portland, and you don’t have to expend $$$$ in a new stadium to make that happen.

PSU officials have to ask themselves if the football program is even worth continuing. I see the potential with a major market and attractive location in the city, but they are probably just wasting money at this point. Definitely not a D1 program.

[Long Time Cat]

My solution to the problem is have Portland State drop football and join the Big West conference then have UC Davis who now plays their sports other than football in the Big West conference join the big sky as a full-time member? It holds the big west harmless and makes the big sky stronger in my opinion.

[grizzh8r]

My solution to the problem is have Portland State drop football and join the Big West conference then have UC Davis who now plays their sports other than football in the Big West conference join the big sky as a full-time member? It holds the big west harmless and makes the big sky stronger in my opinion.

I like it! Davis is a much better academic peer institution, as well.

[MSU01]

My solution to the problem is have Portland State drop football and join the Big West conference then have UC Davis who now plays their sports other than football in the Big West conference join the big sky as a full-time member? It holds the big west harmless and makes the big sky stronger in my opinion.

I like it! Davis is a much better academic peer institution, as well.

Sounds great in theory but if you look at the Big West schools there's a zero percent chance Davis would leave for the Big Sky as a full member. The Big West has almost all of the UC and Cal State schools who are already academic peer institutions, and the travel costs going back and forth to Southern California are surely far less than it would cost to go to Bozeman, Missoula, Pocatello, Flagstaff, etc. in the Big Sky.

[onceacat]

We know, we know.. We haven’t played anyone legit.. But this first string defense is playing lights out!

What’s important is that even with the bad teams, we’re holding everybody we play significantly under their average. Even New Mexico.

Idaho is certainly decent. Cats destroyed them. Would have been a 50-0 shutout if the coaches didn't let off the gas.

Maine is 4-3 with a really impressive win over #6 'Nova. Cats would have won that 60-14 if they hadn't subbed in the 2s and 3s.

New Mexico is a middle of the pack MW team (3-4) that will likely finish the season around .500.

None of those teams are bad.

PSU, ISU, UT are all below average FCS teams, but they are all legit D1 programs with D1 athletes who still play with pride, intensity and talent.

Those games also could have been 60-0.

MSUs 2s/3s are probably a middle of the pack BSC team & would contend for a conference title in every conference that isn't the MVFC.

The Cats (through no fault of their own) ended up with a relatively soft schedule this year. True enough. But they've blown the doors off every team they've played (except the FBS team).

Reminds me a lot of the Utah Sugar Bowl team that dismantled 'Bama or the Boise State team that beat Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl: Soft schedule? Sure, but they've dominated every aspect of the game up and down the field the entire way.

This team is LEGIT.

Score wise it was close and the fact we had to come from behind and score on practically the last play of the game isn’t a sign of blowing someone’s doors off. But if people are going to put an asterisk by our record because of the schedule they should put one by the score of that game. Seems like it would’ve been a 42-24 win if not for the two fumble returns.

I’d like to see the list of FCS teams that have put up 567 total yards on a FBS team.

OR
The list of teams that gained 243 more yards than their FBS opponent.

OR
The list of teams who averaged 7.7 ypc vs an FBS opponent.

Then a list of teams that have done all three to an FBS opponent.

I agree. If I'm making a "power ranking" I put the Cats at #1 right now...they are playing better by far than anyone else in FCS. And the Jacks are #2 despite the close loss in Fargo.

If I'm doing a ranking, I'm keeping NDSU #1 Cats #2 and SDSU as #3 based on actual performance.

[onceacat]

I watched the game on tv but they never really showed the crowd. However, some of MSU’s highlights you can see a good crowd. How many MSU fans were there?

2/3? Attendance per espn was 3100, so I'd say around 2000

And it was homecoming with special recognition given to some past players. That is embarrassing. PSU admin really needs to get something done about playing back downtown.

If I remember correctly, The Timbers are the ones who told PSU to take a hike. Not sure they'll ever get back downtown.

The Timbers have great fan support and are a solid franchise, but Providence Park is owned by the City of Portland. Portland State University should be lobbying city officials to get them back in there. It could be a huge step towards building the university - not just in athletics, but changes the image of the school.

It won't happen BECAUSE of the Timbers and Thorns. Portland is arguably the most soccer obsessed city in the US. More people attend Thorns women's professional soccer games than would ever attend a PSU game at the same stadium. They need the stadium open on fall weekends for MLS
and NWSL regular season and playoff games, which make the city and community way more money than any Portland State game ever will. I don't see a route for Portland State to ever play at Providence Park again unless they somehow only play on Friday nights.

I do know they were trying to cooperate with a neighboring high school to build a new stadium on the high school's field that they would both use, but that plan fell apart. They also have an on-campus practice field that they could potentially build around if they were able to tear down a building or two, but I doubt that'll happen

I do recognize the popularity of the soccer teams. I will play devils advocate and ask the simple question: “what is more important to the city: a thriving university downtown or a couple of weekends with soccer?” What if PSU was playing at Providence and had some success and were drawing 15,000? Would they have been considered by the Mountain West? Probably good enough basketball program. And definitely large enough media market.

The answer in Portland, Oregon is soccer. Like I cannot understate how much Portlanders love soccer. The Timbers average just shy of 22k per home game, and the Thorns average 19.6K. If you go back and look at attendance from when PSU used the stadium, they averaged 4-6.5k unless one of the Montana schools came to town and then it would be 8-11k. Even playoff games were like 8.5k. The Timbers have 17 home games, Thorns have 13, PSU has ~7. In no scenario is soccer not the main priority for the city and fans.

The university is already thriving, it's a pretty solidly sized commuter school. The problem is that commuter schools don't do well with fan attention or alumni pride. The soccer teams that sell the stadium out every weekend from March to October that the community solidly rallies around are going to take a higher priority than an FCS football program that doesn't have a great fanbase as is.

Even if Portland State pulled a Sac State and became good suddenly, they still wouldn't have enough clout to warrant them getting back into Providence Park as permanent tenants.

I would be willing to bet that the University of Portland Pilots soccer team gets a higher average attendance than Portland State football does now.

Agree with all of that. Also, if you enjoy college football more than pro soccer, theres a decent program FBS less than 100 miles away...And a national champion contender as well.

[onceacat]

My solution to the problem is have Portland State drop football and join the Big West conference then have UC Davis who now plays their sports other than football in the Big West conference join the big sky as a full-time member? It holds the big west harmless and makes the big sky stronger in my opinion.

I like it! Davis is a much better academic peer institution, as well.

Sounds great in theory but if you look at the Big West schools there's a zero percent chance Davis would leave for the Big Sky as a full member. The Big West has almost all of the UC and Cal State schools who are already academic peer institutions, and the travel costs going back and forth to Southern California are surely far less than it would cost to go to Bozeman, Missoula, Pocatello, Flagstaff, etc. in the Big Sky.

Travel costs are really only a concern for Mens & Women's BB and Women's VB.

All the other "Olympic" sports are played under different formats with far fewer travel issues.

[Monymony]

We know, we know.. We haven’t played anyone legit.. But this first string defense is playing lights out!

What’s important is that even with the bad teams, we’re holding everybody we play significantly under their average. Even New Mexico.

Idaho is certainly decent. Cats destroyed them. Would have been a 50-0 shutout if the coaches didn't let off the gas.

Maine is 4-3 with a really impressive win over #6 'Nova. Cats would have won that 60-14 if they hadn't subbed in the 2s and 3s.

New Mexico is a middle of the pack MW team (3-4) that will likely finish the season around .500.

None of those teams are bad.

PSU, ISU, UT are all below average FCS teams, but they are all legit D1 programs with D1 athletes who still play with pride, intensity and talent.

Those games also could have been 60-0.

MSUs 2s/3s are probably a middle of the pack BSC team & would contend for a conference title in every conference that isn't the MVFC.

The Cats (through no fault of their own) ended up with a relatively soft schedule this year. True enough. But they've blown the doors off every team they've played (except the FBS team).

Reminds me a lot of the Utah Sugar Bowl team that dismantled 'Bama or the Boise State team that beat Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl: Soft schedule? Sure, but they've dominated every aspect of the game up and down the field the entire way.

This team is LEGIT.

Score wise it was close and the fact we had to come from behind and score on practically the last play of the game isn’t a sign of blowing someone’s doors off. But if people are going to put an asterisk by our record because of the schedule they should put one by the score of that game. Seems like it would’ve been a 42-24 win if not for the two fumble returns.

I’d like to see the list of FCS teams that have put up 567 total yards on a FBS team.

OR
The list of teams that gained 243 more yards than their FBS opponent.

OR
The list of teams who averaged 7.7 ypc vs an FBS opponent.

Then a list of teams that have done all three to an FBS opponent.

I agree. If I'm making a "power ranking" I put the Cats at #1 right now...they are playing better by far than anyone else in FCS. And the Jacks are #2 despite the close loss in Fargo.

If I'm doing a ranking, I'm keeping NDSU #1 Cats #2 and SDSU as #3 based on actual performance.

Soft schedule isn’t that bad. Come Nov and Dec when injuries can kill teams we should have our best 2s and maybe some hidden gem 3s getting real time with massive improvements thanks to the “soft schedule”

[Bobcat Sig]

Another thing to remember with PSU is the make-up of the ~16k students. Not only is it largely a commuter school, but most of those students are non-traditional. As in, they are not your typical 18-22 year old college kids. Many of them are aged in their late twenties or thirties, trying to complete their degree. PSU does not have a core of students like most other schools in the Big Sky to get the push behind their athletics. There's so little student life on their urban campus. It's plagued them for decades.

[AFCAT]

Found these high lites of MSU against Portland from back in 2015 when the Cats didn't believe in playing defense. Anyway, the game was played in downtown Portland and you can see and hear the difference. Attendance 8,110.

[BelgradeBobcat]

Found these high lites of MSU against Portland from back in 2015 when the Cats didn't believe in playing defense. Anyway, the game was played in downtown Portland and you can see and hear the difference. Attendance 8,110.

Good find. I was there. Such a frustrating game...and season. Could not stop anybody. Liked PSU's look then with the helmet logo and darker green. Whatever you're watching, Providence Park is an incredible venue, right in the middle of downtown. Timbers games are just an incredible experience, unfortunately, they haven't been very good the last few years.