Several advantages for the CATS on December 4th

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ilovethecats
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Re: Several advantages for the CATS on December 4th

Post by ilovethecats » Sat Nov 27, 2021 11:35 pm

onceacat wrote:
Sat Nov 27, 2021 11:10 pm
imacat wrote:
Sat Nov 27, 2021 10:57 pm
I think the biggest advantage is the week off. Cats were banged up.
Week off, elevation, 14,000 fans, UTM dealing with injuries & a tough travel turnaround.

That’s a nice home field advantage for the Cats.
Agreed. Need the fans to bring it Saturday!



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Re: Several advantages for the CATS on December 4th

Post by tdub » Sun Nov 28, 2021 12:12 am

If I remember right, they can do the a lot more with the first down calls, etc. than they used to. Loosened up restrictions like 3-4 years ago


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Re: Several advantages for the CATS on December 4th

Post by catsrback76 » Sun Nov 28, 2021 12:53 am

The biggest advantage we have is that we lost to the griz last week and we've had 2 weeks to heal physically. I expect to see a "renewed" Bobcat team in the playoffs!



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Re: Several advantages for the CATS on December 4th

Post by TJMoe82 » Sun Nov 28, 2021 2:28 am

catsrback76 wrote:
Sun Nov 28, 2021 12:53 am
The biggest advantage we have is that we lost to the griz last week and we've had 2 weeks to heal physically. I expect to see a "renewed" Bobcat team in the playoffs!
Lost me at crapping our pants against our arch rival being an advantage going forward.



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Re: Several advantages for the CATS on December 4th

Post by Dmsubrew » Sun Nov 28, 2021 2:33 am

TJMoe82 wrote:
Sun Nov 28, 2021 2:28 am
catsrback76 wrote:
Sun Nov 28, 2021 12:53 am
The biggest advantage we have is that we lost to the griz last week and we've had 2 weeks to heal physically. I expect to see a "renewed" Bobcat team in the playoffs!
Lost me at crapping our pants against our arch rival being an advantage going forward.
Griz crap their pants vs ewu. Again. Cats roll. Sorry guy



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Re: Several advantages for the CATS on December 4th

Post by jgrilley406 » Sun Nov 28, 2021 5:22 am

TJMoe82 wrote:
Sun Nov 28, 2021 2:28 am
catsrback76 wrote:
Sun Nov 28, 2021 12:53 am
The biggest advantage we have is that we lost to the griz last week and we've had 2 weeks to heal physically. I expect to see a "renewed" Bobcat team in the playoffs!
Lost me at crapping our pants against our arch rival being an advantage going forward.
Think the biggest advantage he’s trying to get at, is we’re seeded with a more favorable bracket with the loss. If we would’ve won, doubt we jumped SHSU as the #1 seed, so we’d land as #2 and we’re playing SIU instead of UT Martin, and we don’t have NDSU on our side as the #3 seed. Still think us getting to the semi’s is a long shot, but just knowing we don’t have to worry about NDSU, is almost worth the loss to the Griz in itself.



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Re: Several advantages for the CATS on December 4th

Post by GoldstoneCat » Sun Nov 28, 2021 7:11 am

jgrilley406 wrote:
Sun Nov 28, 2021 5:22 am
TJMoe82 wrote:
Sun Nov 28, 2021 2:28 am
catsrback76 wrote:
Sun Nov 28, 2021 12:53 am
The biggest advantage we have is that we lost to the griz last week and we've had 2 weeks to heal physically. I expect to see a "renewed" Bobcat team in the playoffs!
Lost me at crapping our pants against our arch rival being an advantage going forward.
Think the biggest advantage he’s trying to get at, is we’re seeded with a more favorable bracket with the loss. If we would’ve won, doubt we jumped SHSU as the #1 seed, so we’d land as #2 and we’re playing SIU instead of UT Martin, and we don’t have NDSU on our side as the #3 seed. Still think us getting to the semi’s is a long shot, but just knowing we don’t have to worry about NDSU, is almost worth the loss to the Griz in itself.
See, there you go again, with your understanding that a football season is not just 1 single game. I've read on this board recently that at least one poster would be happier at 7-4 with a win in cat griz than be where we
are :-k . I hate losing to them as much as the next fan, but it doesn't define the season when you play as well and win as much as we have all year long. I think we're as well-positioned as we can be for a long run. You're going to have to beat a good team in the quarters no matter what.



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Re: Several advantages for the CATS on December 4th

Post by TJMoe82 » Sun Nov 28, 2021 10:06 am

Dmsubrew wrote:
Sun Nov 28, 2021 2:33 am
TJMoe82 wrote:
Sun Nov 28, 2021 2:28 am
catsrback76 wrote:
Sun Nov 28, 2021 12:53 am
The biggest advantage we have is that we lost to the griz last week and we've had 2 weeks to heal physically. I expect to see a "renewed" Bobcat team in the playoffs!
Lost me at crapping our pants against our arch rival being an advantage going forward.
Griz crap their pants vs ewu. Again. Cats roll. Sorry guy
I'm not predicting a griz win or a Cats loss this weekend. Sorry guy.

Nor do I think that one game is bigger than the season as a whole. But I refuse to see what happened in Missoula as a positive for this team, regardless of what may be an "easier" second round game because of it.



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Re: Several advantages for the CATS on December 4th

Post by Dmsubrew » Sun Nov 28, 2021 10:39 am

Depends on how the Cats treat that "pants crapping" loss to their rival. If they use it as intense motivation and come out with their hair on fire...then yeah, the loss to umCC could be considered as an advantage. It just depends on how the Cats react to that loss.
An "easier" second round opponent is not as important. I agree with you there. To be the best, you have to beat the best. Wherever and whenever in the bracket.
Does the um loss motivate this team/coaches?
We will see



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Re: Several advantages for the CATS on December 4th

Post by MSU01 » Sun Nov 28, 2021 10:48 am

jgrilley406 wrote:
Sun Nov 28, 2021 5:22 am
TJMoe82 wrote:
Sun Nov 28, 2021 2:28 am
catsrback76 wrote:
Sun Nov 28, 2021 12:53 am
The biggest advantage we have is that we lost to the griz last week and we've had 2 weeks to heal physically. I expect to see a "renewed" Bobcat team in the playoffs!
Lost me at crapping our pants against our arch rival being an advantage going forward.
Think the biggest advantage he’s trying to get at, is we’re seeded with a more favorable bracket with the loss. If we would’ve won, doubt we jumped SHSU as the #1 seed, so we’d land as #2 and we’re playing SIU instead of UT Martin, and we don’t have NDSU on our side as the #3 seed. Still think us getting to the semi’s is a long shot, but just knowing we don’t have to worry about NDSU, is almost worth the loss to the Griz in itself.
But due to regionalization, the bracket would've been set up differently had MSU won against UM and taken the #2 or #3 seed. Likely they'd have still been playing UT-Martin, or potentially the committee would have bracketed MSU with what would've been an unseeded UM team for its second round game. On paper the #8 seed looks like a better spot than the #6 or #7 seed, but I vehemently disagree that it's a better spot than #2 or #3 that would've guaranteed two or three home games, NDSU or no NDSU.



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Re: Several advantages for the CATS on December 4th

Post by 91catAlum » Sun Nov 28, 2021 10:54 am

MSU01 wrote:
Sun Nov 28, 2021 10:48 am
jgrilley406 wrote:
Sun Nov 28, 2021 5:22 am
TJMoe82 wrote:
Sun Nov 28, 2021 2:28 am
catsrback76 wrote:
Sun Nov 28, 2021 12:53 am
The biggest advantage we have is that we lost to the griz last week and we've had 2 weeks to heal physically. I expect to see a "renewed" Bobcat team in the playoffs!
Lost me at crapping our pants against our arch rival being an advantage going forward.
Think the biggest advantage he’s trying to get at, is we’re seeded with a more favorable bracket with the loss. If we would’ve won, doubt we jumped SHSU as the #1 seed, so we’d land as #2 and we’re playing SIU instead of UT Martin, and we don’t have NDSU on our side as the #3 seed. Still think us getting to the semi’s is a long shot, but just knowing we don’t have to worry about NDSU, is almost worth the loss to the Griz in itself.
But due to regionalization, the bracket would've been set up differently had MSU won against UM and taken the #2 or #3 seed. Likely they'd have still been playing UT-Martin, or potentially the committee would have bracketed MSU with what would've been an unseeded UM team for its second round game. The #8 seed looks like a better spot than the #6 or #7 seed, but I vehemently disagree that it's a better spot than #2 or #3 that would've guaranteed two or three home games, NDSU or no NDSU.
Exactly right.


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Re: Several advantages for the CATS on December 4th

Post by jgrilley406 » Sun Nov 28, 2021 11:29 am

MSU01 wrote:
Sun Nov 28, 2021 10:48 am
jgrilley406 wrote:
Sun Nov 28, 2021 5:22 am
TJMoe82 wrote:
Sun Nov 28, 2021 2:28 am
catsrback76 wrote:
Sun Nov 28, 2021 12:53 am
The biggest advantage we have is that we lost to the griz last week and we've had 2 weeks to heal physically. I expect to see a "renewed" Bobcat team in the playoffs!
Lost me at crapping our pants against our arch rival being an advantage going forward.
Think the biggest advantage he’s trying to get at, is we’re seeded with a more favorable bracket with the loss. If we would’ve won, doubt we jumped SHSU as the #1 seed, so we’d land as #2 and we’re playing SIU instead of UT Martin, and we don’t have NDSU on our side as the #3 seed. Still think us getting to the semi’s is a long shot, but just knowing we don’t have to worry about NDSU, is almost worth the loss to the Griz in itself.
But due to regionalization, the bracket would've been set up differently had MSU won against UM and taken the #2 or #3 seed. Likely they'd have still been playing UT-Martin, or potentially the committee would have bracketed MSU with what would've been an unseeded UM team for its second round game. On paper the #8 seed looks like a better spot than the #6 or #7 seed, but I vehemently disagree that it's a better spot than #2 or #3 that would've guaranteed two or three home games, NDSU or no NDSU.
Obviously there’s a lot of unknowns, but I think if we land at 2, we’re playing possibly UM again, and yes we’d be feeling good about beating them again, especially at home this time, but a tough out. Or there’s a possibility they match us up with UCD SDSU winner, which SDSU is a team I wouldn’t want to face right away either, and SDSU was a team a lot of brackets had us matched up with as us being #2. Idk I think we got a really favorable bracket to make a deeper run than us as the 2, even though we lose a home game.



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Re: Several advantages for the CATS on December 4th

Post by ilovethecats » Sun Nov 28, 2021 11:34 am

Dmsubrew wrote:
Sun Nov 28, 2021 10:39 am
Depends on how the Cats treat that "pants crapping" loss to their rival. If they use it as intense motivation and come out with their hair on fire...then yeah, the loss to umCC could be considered as an advantage. It just depends on how the Cats react to that loss.
An "easier" second round opponent is not as important. I agree with you there. To be the best, you have to beat the best. Wherever and whenever in the bracket.
Does the um loss motivate this team/coaches?
We will see
There are countless examples in sports in which a huge loss to either a rival or being upset by an inferior team gets the troops rallied and they turn the season around.

I’m not predicting that’s definitely what’s going to happen with the cats. Obviously I hope it is. I was just pointing out that it’s very common for a bad loss to motivate a team and they string together wins.



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Re: Several advantages for the CATS on December 4th

Post by BleedingBLue » Sun Nov 28, 2021 11:35 am

jgrilley406 wrote:
Sun Nov 28, 2021 11:29 am
MSU01 wrote:
Sun Nov 28, 2021 10:48 am
jgrilley406 wrote:
Sun Nov 28, 2021 5:22 am
TJMoe82 wrote:
Sun Nov 28, 2021 2:28 am
catsrback76 wrote:
Sun Nov 28, 2021 12:53 am
The biggest advantage we have is that we lost to the griz last week and we've had 2 weeks to heal physically. I expect to see a "renewed" Bobcat team in the playoffs!
Lost me at crapping our pants against our arch rival being an advantage going forward.
Think the biggest advantage he’s trying to get at, is we’re seeded with a more favorable bracket with the loss. If we would’ve won, doubt we jumped SHSU as the #1 seed, so we’d land as #2 and we’re playing SIU instead of UT Martin, and we don’t have NDSU on our side as the #3 seed. Still think us getting to the semi’s is a long shot, but just knowing we don’t have to worry about NDSU, is almost worth the loss to the Griz in itself.
But due to regionalization, the bracket would've been set up differently had MSU won against UM and taken the #2 or #3 seed. Likely they'd have still been playing UT-Martin, or potentially the committee would have bracketed MSU with what would've been an unseeded UM team for its second round game. On paper the #8 seed looks like a better spot than the #6 or #7 seed, but I vehemently disagree that it's a better spot than #2 or #3 that would've guaranteed two or three home games, NDSU or no NDSU.
Obviously there’s a lot of unknowns, but I think if we land at 2, we’re playing possibly UM again, and yes we’d be feeling good about beating them again, especially at home this time, but a tough out. Or there’s a possibility they match us up with UCD SDSU winner, which SDSU is a team I wouldn’t want to face right away either, and SDSU was a team a lot of brackets had us matched up with as us being #2. Idk I think we got a really favorable bracket to make a deeper run than us as the 2, even though we lose a home game.
I'm pretty certain the committee would never have the Cats and Griz, or NDSU SDSU play in round 2. The 2 best rivalries in the FCS aren't being played again in round 2. The Griz would have gone to Sac State or NDSU I'd say.



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Re: Several advantages for the CATS on December 4th

Post by utucats » Sun Nov 28, 2021 8:27 pm

ilovethecats wrote:
Sun Nov 28, 2021 11:34 am
Dmsubrew wrote:
Sun Nov 28, 2021 10:39 am
Depends on how the Cats treat that "pants crapping" loss to their rival. If they use it as intense motivation and come out with their hair on fire...then yeah, the loss to umCC could be considered as an advantage. It just depends on how the Cats react to that loss.
An "easier" second round opponent is not as important. I agree with you there. To be the best, you have to beat the best. Wherever and whenever in the bracket.
Does the um loss motivate this team/coaches?
We will see
There are countless examples in sports in which a huge loss to either a rival or being upset by an inferior team gets the troops rallied and they turn the season around.

I’m not predicting that’s definitely what’s going to happen with the cats. Obviously I hope it is. I was just pointing out that it’s very common for a bad loss to motivate a team and they string together wins.
That’s obviously the best case scenario. It really comes down to what we really are. Perhaps early in the year we had lost the Wyoming game and we were feeling mortal and that added some intensity and attention to detail that we started to lose track of as we piled up Ws. Perhaps we needed a wake up call to refocus and get back to playing to our potential.

Other side of the coin is that we aren’t that good and the griz exposed that. With the Ws against Weber and EWU I’d be surprised if this was the case.

I’m hoping that we come out refocused offensively and that we realize that we can’t let our guard down even momentarily. If this team is as good as we all hoped then that loss may prove to be a great learning moment.


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Re: Several advantages for the CATS on December 4th

Post by catsrback76 » Sun Nov 28, 2021 9:53 pm

utucats wrote:
Sun Nov 28, 2021 8:27 pm
ilovethecats wrote:
Sun Nov 28, 2021 11:34 am
Dmsubrew wrote:
Sun Nov 28, 2021 10:39 am
Depends on how the Cats treat that "pants crapping" loss to their rival. If they use it as intense motivation and come out with their hair on fire...then yeah, the loss to umCC could be considered as an advantage. It just depends on how the Cats react to that loss.
An "easier" second round opponent is not as important. I agree with you there. To be the best, you have to beat the best. Wherever and whenever in the bracket.
Does the um loss motivate this team/coaches?
We will see
There are countless examples in sports in which a huge loss to either a rival or being upset by an inferior team gets the troops rallied and they turn the season around.

I’m not predicting that’s definitely what’s going to happen with the cats. Obviously I hope it is. I was just pointing out that it’s very common for a bad loss to motivate a team and they string together wins.
That’s obviously the best case scenario. It really comes down to what we really are. Perhaps early in the year we had lost the Wyoming game and we were feeling mortal and that added some intensity and attention to detail that we started to lose track of as we piled up Ws. Perhaps we needed a wake up call to refocus and get back to playing to our potential.

Other side of the coin is that we aren’t that good and the griz exposed that. With the Ws against Weber and EWU I’d be surprised if this was the case.

I’m hoping that we come out refocused offensively and that we realize that we can’t let our guard down even momentarily. If this team is as good as we all hoped then that loss may prove to be a great learning moment.
THIS!



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Re: Several advantages for the CATS on December 4th

Post by onceacat » Sun Nov 28, 2021 10:24 pm

utucats wrote:
Sun Nov 28, 2021 8:27 pm
ilovethecats wrote:
Sun Nov 28, 2021 11:34 am
Dmsubrew wrote:
Sun Nov 28, 2021 10:39 am
Depends on how the Cats treat that "pants crapping" loss to their rival. If they use it as intense motivation and come out with their hair on fire...then yeah, the loss to umCC could be considered as an advantage. It just depends on how the Cats react to that loss.
An "easier" second round opponent is not as important. I agree with you there. To be the best, you have to beat the best. Wherever and whenever in the bracket.
Does the um loss motivate this team/coaches?
We will see
There are countless examples in sports in which a huge loss to either a rival or being upset by an inferior team gets the troops rallied and they turn the season around.

I’m not predicting that’s definitely what’s going to happen with the cats. Obviously I hope it is. I was just pointing out that it’s very common for a bad loss to motivate a team and they string together wins.
That’s obviously the best case scenario. It really comes down to what we really are. Perhaps early in the year we had lost the Wyoming game and we were feeling mortal and that added some intensity and attention to detail that we started to lose track of as we piled up Ws. Perhaps we needed a wake up call to refocus and get back to playing to our potential.

Other side of the coin is that we aren’t that good and the griz exposed that. With the Ws against Weber and EWU I’d be surprised if this was the case.

I’m hoping that we come out refocused offensively and that we realize that we can’t let our guard down even momentarily. If this team is as good as we all hoped then that loss may prove to be a great learning moment.
Except that Weber wasn’t remotely good. They were lucky to finish with a winning record.

EWU maybe was good? Tough to say since they lost a home game to Weber…but they didn’t get a seed, so obviously the committee didn’t think they were top 8…

It keeps coming back to this: Cat fans seem to think that our #2 win was impressive. Literally no one else anywhere thinks that. Hanging your hat on a Weber road win is a sure sign that this Cat squad has really never been tested other than the UM game. Even the close loss to a bad Wyoming team is looking less impressive.

The 2019 team started believing it’s own hype…and got b*** slapped by Sac & UND. That got their attention & the team played well down the stretch.

I hoping the meltdown in Missoula provides the same reality check to this years guys who seem to think they were all that after beating up on the little sisters of the poor.



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Re: Several advantages for the CATS on December 4th

Post by utucats » Mon Nov 29, 2021 5:06 am

onceacat wrote:
Sun Nov 28, 2021 10:24 pm
utucats wrote:
Sun Nov 28, 2021 8:27 pm
ilovethecats wrote:
Sun Nov 28, 2021 11:34 am
Dmsubrew wrote:
Sun Nov 28, 2021 10:39 am
Depends on how the Cats treat that "pants crapping" loss to their rival. If they use it as intense motivation and come out with their hair on fire...then yeah, the loss to umCC could be considered as an advantage. It just depends on how the Cats react to that loss.
An "easier" second round opponent is not as important. I agree with you there. To be the best, you have to beat the best. Wherever and whenever in the bracket.
Does the um loss motivate this team/coaches?
We will see
There are countless examples in sports in which a huge loss to either a rival or being upset by an inferior team gets the troops rallied and they turn the season around.

I’m not predicting that’s definitely what’s going to happen with the cats. Obviously I hope it is. I was just pointing out that it’s very common for a bad loss to motivate a team and they string together wins.
That’s obviously the best case scenario. It really comes down to what we really are. Perhaps early in the year we had lost the Wyoming game and we were feeling mortal and that added some intensity and attention to detail that we started to lose track of as we piled up Ws. Perhaps we needed a wake up call to refocus and get back to playing to our potential.

Other side of the coin is that we aren’t that good and the griz exposed that. With the Ws against Weber and EWU I’d be surprised if this was the case.

I’m hoping that we come out refocused offensively and that we realize that we can’t let our guard down even momentarily. If this team is as good as we all hoped then that loss may prove to be a great learning moment.
Except that Weber wasn’t remotely good. They were lucky to finish with a winning record.

EWU maybe was good? Tough to say since they lost a home game to Weber…but they didn’t get a seed, so obviously the committee didn’t think they were top 8…

It keeps coming back to this: Cat fans seem to think that our #2 win was impressive. Literally no one else anywhere thinks that. Hanging your hat on a Weber road win is a sure sign that this Cat squad has really never been tested other than the UM game. Even the close loss to a bad Wyoming team is looking less impressive.

The 2019 team started believing it’s own hype…and got b*** slapped by Sac & UND. That got their attention & the team played well down the stretch.

I hoping the meltdown in Missoula provides the same reality check to this years guys who seem to think they were all that after beating up on the little sisters of the poor.
I disagree with most of what you said. Weber was “remotely good”. They managed to beat EWU and are coming off multiple conference titles. To act like it is no big deal to beat them on the road is just not accurate in my opinion.

You seem to give credence to us being tested against UM but that is giving them a lot of credit while being iffy on EWU’s ability. Especially since Eastern beat UM.

I think we had a tough schedule at the end of the year and the team has shown the ability to win tough games. Beating EWU in Cheney when they have arguably the best QB in FCS takes a lot of something.

I think our Cats have been tested and we let ourselves get smoked by the griz by not dealing with glaring issues on offense because we had managed to continue winning. I’m hoping that we have been humbled and we will see some serious work on that side of the football.


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Re: Several advantages for the CATS on December 4th

Post by MSU01 » Mon Nov 29, 2021 6:26 am

BleedingBLue wrote:
Sun Nov 28, 2021 11:35 am
jgrilley406 wrote:
Sun Nov 28, 2021 11:29 am
MSU01 wrote:
Sun Nov 28, 2021 10:48 am
jgrilley406 wrote:
Sun Nov 28, 2021 5:22 am
TJMoe82 wrote:
Sun Nov 28, 2021 2:28 am
catsrback76 wrote:
Sun Nov 28, 2021 12:53 am
The biggest advantage we have is that we lost to the griz last week and we've had 2 weeks to heal physically. I expect to see a "renewed" Bobcat team in the playoffs!
Lost me at crapping our pants against our arch rival being an advantage going forward.
Think the biggest advantage he’s trying to get at, is we’re seeded with a more favorable bracket with the loss. If we would’ve won, doubt we jumped SHSU as the #1 seed, so we’d land as #2 and we’re playing SIU instead of UT Martin, and we don’t have NDSU on our side as the #3 seed. Still think us getting to the semi’s is a long shot, but just knowing we don’t have to worry about NDSU, is almost worth the loss to the Griz in itself.
But due to regionalization, the bracket would've been set up differently had MSU won against UM and taken the #2 or #3 seed. Likely they'd have still been playing UT-Martin, or potentially the committee would have bracketed MSU with what would've been an unseeded UM team for its second round game. On paper the #8 seed looks like a better spot than the #6 or #7 seed, but I vehemently disagree that it's a better spot than #2 or #3 that would've guaranteed two or three home games, NDSU or no NDSU.
Obviously there’s a lot of unknowns, but I think if we land at 2, we’re playing possibly UM again, and yes we’d be feeling good about beating them again, especially at home this time, but a tough out. Or there’s a possibility they match us up with UCD SDSU winner, which SDSU is a team I wouldn’t want to face right away either, and SDSU was a team a lot of brackets had us matched up with as us being #2. Idk I think we got a really favorable bracket to make a deeper run than us as the 2, even though we lose a home game.
I'm pretty certain the committee would never have the Cats and Griz, or NDSU SDSU play in round 2. The 2 best rivalries in the FCS aren't being played again in round 2. The Griz would have gone to Sac State or NDSU I'd say.
Never say never, NDSU and SDSU were bracketed together in both 2014 and 2015 and they played a second round game in '14 after SDSU beat MSU in the snow.

It's tough to predict what would've happened this year, mainly because EWU likely would've been seeded if MSU had beat UM and Missoula is pretty much exactly halfway between Bozeman and Cheney.



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Re: Several advantages for the CATS on December 4th

Post by catatac » Mon Nov 29, 2021 11:21 am

utucats wrote:
Mon Nov 29, 2021 5:06 am
onceacat wrote:
Sun Nov 28, 2021 10:24 pm
utucats wrote:
Sun Nov 28, 2021 8:27 pm
ilovethecats wrote:
Sun Nov 28, 2021 11:34 am
Dmsubrew wrote:
Sun Nov 28, 2021 10:39 am
Depends on how the Cats treat that "pants crapping" loss to their rival. If they use it as intense motivation and come out with their hair on fire...then yeah, the loss to umCC could be considered as an advantage. It just depends on how the Cats react to that loss.
An "easier" second round opponent is not as important. I agree with you there. To be the best, you have to beat the best. Wherever and whenever in the bracket.
Does the um loss motivate this team/coaches?
We will see
There are countless examples in sports in which a huge loss to either a rival or being upset by an inferior team gets the troops rallied and they turn the season around.

I’m not predicting that’s definitely what’s going to happen with the cats. Obviously I hope it is. I was just pointing out that it’s very common for a bad loss to motivate a team and they string together wins.
That’s obviously the best case scenario. It really comes down to what we really are. Perhaps early in the year we had lost the Wyoming game and we were feeling mortal and that added some intensity and attention to detail that we started to lose track of as we piled up Ws. Perhaps we needed a wake up call to refocus and get back to playing to our potential.

Other side of the coin is that we aren’t that good and the griz exposed that. With the Ws against Weber and EWU I’d be surprised if this was the case.

I’m hoping that we come out refocused offensively and that we realize that we can’t let our guard down even momentarily. If this team is as good as we all hoped then that loss may prove to be a great learning moment.
Except that Weber wasn’t remotely good. They were lucky to finish with a winning record.

EWU maybe was good? Tough to say since they lost a home game to Weber…but they didn’t get a seed, so obviously the committee didn’t think they were top 8…

It keeps coming back to this: Cat fans seem to think that our #2 win was impressive. Literally no one else anywhere thinks that. Hanging your hat on a Weber road win is a sure sign that this Cat squad has really never been tested other than the UM game. Even the close loss to a bad Wyoming team is looking less impressive.

The 2019 team started believing it’s own hype…and got b*** slapped by Sac & UND. That got their attention & the team played well down the stretch.

I hoping the meltdown in Missoula provides the same reality check to this years guys who seem to think they were all that after beating up on the little sisters of the poor.
I disagree with most of what you said. Weber was “remotely good”. They managed to beat EWU and are coming off multiple conference titles. To act like it is no big deal to beat them on the road is just not accurate in my opinion.

You seem to give credence to us being tested against UM but that is giving them a lot of credit while being iffy on EWU’s ability. Especially since Eastern beat UM.

I think we had a tough schedule at the end of the year and the team has shown the ability to win tough games. Beating EWU in Cheney when they have arguably the best QB in FCS takes a lot of something.

I think our Cats have been tested and we let ourselves get smoked by the griz by not dealing with glaring issues on offense because we had managed to continue winning. I’m hoping that we have been humbled and we will see some serious work on that side of the football.
Lol, ya... all this. People can discount the body of work this Bobcat team has produced all you want, that's your prerogative. But to say, meh... not sure if EWU is any good? That's just flat out dumb. They have a decent chance at making it to Frisco IMO.


Great time to be a BOBCAT!

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