Bobcats picked third by coaches, media in preseason Big Sky polls

[Colter_Nuanez]

[The Butcher]

The griz ahead of the Cats again? I guess it will take 5 in a row for people to recognize the Cats are better than the griz.

[iaafan]

Wow, pressure on Bobby. If he doesn’t finish second and loses to MSU is he out?

[ibleedblue]

I can understand the picks. The schedule for the Cats is more of an uphill grind than that of the Griz. They have to take that into account.

[iaafan]

Yeah, the ranking is understandable.

[Cledus]

MSU could have run the table last year and returned everyone on both sides of the line and they would still be voted third. For reasons I don't understand, the Cats just don't have that sex appeal others in the league have.

I'd bet anything one of montana's first place votes came from Choate.

[BleedingBLue]

Choate 100 percent gave a 1st place vote to the Griz.

I can see an argument for both teams being where they are, and being swapped. The Griz don't know who their QB is. Humphrey was meh last year so there will be a competition. They lost Olson and a few others on D. Their O line still stunk. But they return 2 All American type WRs, Knight, Jace Lewis who I think is overrated but good.

We lost our top 2 WRs, Brott, Marks, Sterk and a lot of the secondary. But we return 2 experienced QBs, a 3rd with some experience. The deepest RB room in the FCS nation which includes the conferences best RB, SOLID FBs and TEs especially blocking which is important for our run game. Even though we lost secondary starters, there is still a lot of experience out there. And let's not forget O'Reilly, Williams and Benson anchoring the front 7.

[coloradocat]

Even though Missoula has to replace 700 tackles the order is probably correct based on schedules. If they can win in Cheney and Flagstaff (both tough places to play) they should be undefeated in conference games headed into Cat-griz. We'll have to beat EWU and WSU to be in the same position. At least Missoula will be on the road two straight weeks before our game.

[ilovethecats]

Even though Missoula has to replace 700 tackles the order is probably correct based on schedules. If they can win in Cheney and Flagstaff (both tough places to play) they should be undefeated in conference games headed into Cat-griz. We'll have to beat EWU and WSU to be in the same position. At least Missoula will be on the road two straight weeks before our game.

Yep. Tough schedule and unsettled qb position is more than enough to have us third.

I don't think the team will look at it that way though. Good motivation for them.

[FTG247365]

MSU could have run the table last year and returned everyone on both sides of the line and they would still be voted third. For reasons I don't understand, the Cats just don't have that sex appeal others in the league have.

I'd bet anything one of montana's first place votes came from Choate.

Dark Pink = Sex appeal. I would rather have a chip on our shoulder all season.

[MSU01]

MSU's schedule - coaches' poll rankings in parentheses:

Home vs UNC (13), ISU (11), Cal Poly (10), Idaho (9)
Away vs PSU (8), EWU (4), UM (2), Weber (1)

UM's schedule:

Home vs Sac State (5), Cal Poly (10), SUU (12), MSU (3)
Away vs EWU (4), Idaho (9), UNC (13), NAU (7)

MSU has a brutal road schedule but UM's isn't a cake walk by any means with trips to Cheney and Flagstaff. MSU has about as weak of a home schedule as it could possibly have, at least based on the preseason rankings, and UM's home schedule presumably got a lot easier to manage with Kevin Thompson leaving Sac State. It sure looks to me like if things go mostly as expected and a full conference schedule is played, the Cat/Griz game will determine which of the two teams finish higher in the standings this year. Anyway, I bet the MSU players are a whole lot more motivated by a desire to repeat last year's ass-kicking of UM than by being ranked one spot behind them in a poll.

[superbobcat]

And yet again another snub......... we will just have to beat it out of them again.

[thefrank1]

If the California schools don't travel, we are one home game short and UM is short two home games. Makes the schedules almost even.

[allcat]

What did Colter's ballot look like?

[TomCat88]

Wow, pressure on Bobby. If he doesn’t finish second and loses to MSU is he out?

If they make the playoffs and lose to MSU he’s okay. If they don’t make playoffs and beat MSU he’s okay. Do neither and he’s gone.

[saintcat40]

Did all the coaches and media forget 48-14?

[catsrback76]

What did Colter's ballot look like?

He said he reversed MSU and um!