No. 2 Montana State vs. Illinois State, FCS title game - Skyline Sports

[Colter_Nuanez]

Hate to be that guy colter, I know you’re super busy, but is there a chance that Sammy Akem pod could be uploaded on Spotify? I don’t use YouTube too much for listening to stuff. You and Sammy might be my favorite 2-man pod, right along you and your bro.

All good, I need to do it....and it's done! Thanks for reminding me.

[Colter_Nuanez]

[Colter_Nuanez]

[Colter_Nuanez]

[Colter_Nuanez]

[Colter_Nuanez]

[Colter_Nuanez]

Had a fun idea - to catch up with standout Bobcat greats from throughout the last five decades.

I'm going to round up more guys travel pending but here's a set of the first four

Bobcats by the Decade - Paul Dennehy, Kelly Davis, Chad Mayer & Brent Swaggert on the rise of MSU

[Colter_Nuanez]

[Bocephus]

Someone who was around in the 90s enlighten me. I know it’s generally thought of as Kramer being the start of the reemergence of Bobcat Football. But does any credit go to Hysell for changing any culture or mindset? I know he didn’t quite make it over the hump. My freshman year was Kramer’s second year so I didn’t have much exposure before that.

[Augustus]

The only thing Hysell should be credited for is leaving.

[grizzh8r]

The only thing Hysell should be credited for is leaving.

This is simply not true. Hysell righted a listing ship that was taking on water and made MSU competitive again. He rebuilt the high school recruiting bridges in Montana that "The Pearl" burned (scorched earth style). People are so quick to give Kramer so much credit, but in his 7 seasons as HC, he won less than 50% of his games (40-43 record). Hysell went 41-47 in 8 seasons, and had a MUCH harder rebuild job. Sure, Kramer's tenure included the 2000 0-11 season, but he gutted the team inherited from Hysell.

[Colter_Nuanez]

[Colter_Nuanez]

[Colter_Nuanez]

[Colter_Nuanez]

Nuanez Now Hour 1 Friday

https://open.spotify.com/episode/64vHb4 ... Y_6x4hW0Gg

Hour 2
https://open.spotify.com/episode/2bFsVd ... zgTvZUxnog

[Colter_Nuanez]

[Colter_Nuanez]

[BLACKnBLUEnGOLD]

The only thing Hysell should be credited for is leaving.

This is simply not true. Hysell righted a listing ship that was taking on water and made MSU competitive again. He rebuilt the high school recruiting bridges in Montana that "The Pearl" burned (scorched earth style). People are so quick to give Kramer so much credit, but in his 7 seasons as HC, he won less than 50% of his games (40-43 record). Hysell went 41-47 in 8 seasons, and had a MUCH harder rebuild job. Sure, Kramer's tenure included the 2000 0-11 season, but he gutted the team inherited from Hysell.

Kramer was a better promoter, and he ended The Streak, so people tend to give him more credit. Overall his teams were only a little better than Hysell's, but they were a lot more exciting.

Really, all 5 of the last coaches have improved the overall health of the program, which is pretty remarkable. We ought to call that The Streak.

[RedbirdFourthandShort]

Moved this from the earlier Ill St thread.

Hello all .. Redbird Fan here. Yes, the guy who did the drill down on our UCD game vs yours ... please don't shoot !!!!

First of all, congrats on another great season and getting to Natty again. Ive been touting the Big Sky these last 5+ years on Redbird and AGS forums, as right there with MVFC, other than the title teams. Sounds like last year was viewed as a big missed opportunity .. game you could just as easily won. I don't doubt it, and ntoed you guys are back with a much younger roster. So that is impressive by itself.

Been following your board for a few days now. Not hard to see you guys have a great fan base. So thought I would jump on provide some Redbird perspective on anything youre interested in learning about our Redbird team from my viewpoint. Here is quick synopsis of what changed for us in playoffs IMO anyway.

Spack had said in August that the team had a very high ceiling .. at that point, we were very optimistic on offense, but very wary on defense. Our problem all regular season was inconsistency .. that is no great revelation there. But here is main reason .. it was initially mostly due to all new 2 deep in our secondary and no big pass rusher. So we had to scheme very carefully on our defense, so as not to expose them too much too soon. And for most part, we were playing up or down to level competition .. while trying to develop our secondary. Whether it was Oklahoma in game 1 or Bison in game, or UNA/EIU games in nonconf .. we were riding a very frustrating roller coaster of performances all season long. The secondary was slowly getting better, and some games looked pretty strong. But then SIU happened in last game.

So here's the difference in playoffs IMO.. my biggest complaint of Spack has always been how he manages a game when the score is close .. he usually plays to not lose and/or let the game slip away. So he gets very conservative at times .. whether its a good or avg or esp a weaker team .. in any close game in Q3. I found it maddening at times over the many years. As a former athlete, I just hated playing to not lose.

Well the difference in playoffs has been simply because we've been underdogs, and its one and done time .. Spack is playing aggressively and to win. Subtle differences coming from coaches to players. But I view it as players suddenly sensing they can cut loose and play more aggressively. So I truly believe our team has responded to this in ways none of us would have believed after our regular season inconsistencies .. and now maybe we're seeing the high ceiling Spack talked about in August.

And as much as were' being touted as Road Warriors in this playoff, here is Spacks overall playoff record. We've play 18 play off games since 2012, and our overall record is 12-6 .. which is impressive by itself obviously. There were no easy playin games against weak autobids like CAA gets every year out east. But there most impressive part is that weve only played 3 of those 18 games at Home. This is because we've always been paired with higher seeds. So we're 2-1 at Home and 10-5 on Road. So even prior to this season, we were 6-5 on Road against higher seeded teams under Spack.

Anyway, I think (and hope) this will be a great game. Your guys stats are eerily similar in strengths and dominance as Bison. Our challenge is we know the Bison very well. We don't know you guys. We've had great games against legit dual threat QBs and crappy games. Our hands will be full for sure on both sides of ball and in covering your KR and PR teams.

Glad to respond to any questions on Redbird related stuff.

[CatBlitz]

Moved this from the earlier Ill St thread.

Hello all .. Redbird Fan here. Yes, the guy who did the drill down on our UCD game vs yours ... please don't shoot !!!!

First of all, congrats on another great season and getting to Natty again. Ive been touting the Big Sky these last 5+ years on Redbird and AGS forums, as right there with MVFC, other than the title teams. Sounds like last year was viewed as a big missed opportunity .. game you could just as easily won. I don't doubt it, and ntoed you guys are back with a much younger roster. So that is impressive by itself.

Been following your board for a few days now. Not hard to see you guys have a great fan base. So thought I would jump on provide some Redbird perspective on anything youre interested in learning about our Redbird team from my viewpoint. Here is quick synopsis of what changed for us in playoffs IMO anyway.

Spack had said in August that the team had a very high ceiling .. at that point, we were very optimistic on offense, but very wary on defense. Our problem all regular season was inconsistency .. that is no great revelation there. But here is main reason .. it was initially mostly due to all new 2 deep in our secondary and no big pass rusher. So we had to scheme very carefully on our defense, so as not to expose them too much too soon. And for most part, we were playing up or down to level competition .. while trying to develop our secondary. Whether it was Oklahoma in game 1 or Bison in game, or UNA/EIU games in nonconf .. we were riding a very frustrating roller coaster of performances all season long. The secondary was slowly getting better, and some games looked pretty strong. But then SIU happened in last game.

So here's the difference in playoffs IMO.. my biggest complaint of Spack has always been how he manages a game when the score is close .. he usually plays to not lose and/or let the game slip away. So he gets very conservative at times .. whether its a good or avg or esp a weaker team .. in any close game in Q3. I found it maddening at times over the many years. As a former athlete, I just hated playing to not lose.

Well the difference in playoffs has been simply because we've been underdogs, and its one and done time .. Spack is playing aggressively and to win. Subtle differences coming from coaches to players. But I view it as players suddenly sensing they can cut loose and play more aggressively. So I truly believe our team has responded to this in ways none of us would have believed after our regular season inconsistencies .. and now maybe we're seeing the high ceiling Spack talked about in August.

And as much as were' being touted as Road Warriors in this playoff, here is Spacks overall playoff record. We've play 18 play off games since 2012, and our overall record is 12-6 .. which is impressive by itself obviously. There were no easy playin games against weak autobids like CAA gets every year out east. But there most impressive part is that weve only played 3 of those 18 games at Home. This is because we've always been paired with higher seeds. So we're 2-1 at Home and 10-5 on Road. So even prior to this season, we were 6-5 on Road against higher seeded teams under Spack.

Anyway, I think (and hope) this will be a great game. Your guys stats are eerily similar in strengths and dominance as Bison. Our challenge is we know the Bison very well. We don't know you guys. We've had great games against legit dual threat QBs and crappy games. Our hands will be full for sure on both sides of ball and in covering your KR and PR teams.

Glad to respond to any questions on Redbird related stuff.

Appreciate the insight and hopping over!
Always nice to hear from fans from other school that we normally wouldn't.