Quarters

[Camo_Cat]

It’s an interesting theory. A winless team could be the best team in the nation, by this theory. Is this the first 4-loss team to be better than the four teams that beat it, or have there been others (in either the FCS or FBS)?

I guess in theory that could be true, but not quite the same thing as saying teams like UM and MSU that lose a bunch of games narrowly. If MSU had barely won games against 5-6 teams and gotten blown out in all four losses, people probably wouldn't have this kind of opinion. I know a lot of UM ex-players and fans saying that they could've easily been 10-0 rolling into Cat-Griz last year. Maybe you weren't one of them. There are a lot of Cat fans that, like yourself, consider 8-4 to be 8-4 regardless of how the games played out. Do you think UM wasn't as good as SAC, Weber and Idaho last year? If so, that's your opinion and I don't have a problem with it, but I think UM was better than those teams just had some bad luck with injuries and being on the road or just had a bad day.

I thought if UM lost to SAC, Weber and Idaho, the Griz had to be worse than at least some of those teams. Worse than MSU, too. I’ve never understood the argument that the better team consistently loses games but is better because the losses are “self-inflicted.” The Bobcat radio announcer said during the NDSU game that there were some “uncharacteristic” Bobcat stumbles in that game that were “reminiscent” of the SDSU game, the Idaho game, and the UM game. He was basically talking about a pattern, which usually means characteristic rather than uncharacteristic. How can the better team consistently self-inflict losses upon itself? How is that the better team?

To be fair, the OP did basically say this team is as good as everybody else IF some things happen or happened. In three of those losses you could have made a pretty good argument that MSU was the better team but needed to fix one or two things. And you're right, if it happens enough times, it's characteristic rather than uncharacteristic. Overall I don't disagree with you. Good teams have to find ways to win those close games and not lay an egg in a rivalry game where ON PAPER, there isn't much of a talent gap, if there is one at all. If I'm not misunderstanding the post you were first replying to, he's basically saying this team but cleaning up some mistakes, maybe making a change at OC, and getting a new kicker. Despite a blowout loss and three close ones, I don't think an honest person would say there's a wide gap between the Cats and the four teams that beat them.

I agree that the gap is not wide. But there IS a gap proven by the head-to-head competition and the overall record. I was remarking on the comment by the guy who said “we are just as good or BETTER” than the four teams that beat us. I just think that’s a stretch.

I don't think we're far off here, and I'm probably just being nitpicky, but my take was that he said IF you make a few fairly minor changes, THEN the Bobcats are better than the four teams. So presumably if you don't, then they're not. Even that is up for debate, obviously, and I won't argue with you if you say they're not even after some changes. Obviously ifs and buts don't count.

My take is that as much as Bobcat fans want to believe we were the better team in all four of those loses, the fact is we weren't. I don't care if we lost 3 of those by only a handful of points, or if we would been blown out of every game like the griz game. The fact of the matter is we lost. If were the better team in each matchup, then it should have never come down to a final possession. We should have taken control earlier.

I would rather win ugly than lose gloriously. There's an old adage that says good teams find ways to win close games. Rather, we found a way to lose each. A TD pass too long. A FG missed to the right. A blocked XP. Good teams eventually find ways to win those games. We found ways to lose those games and failed to correct our mistakes in each. Toss in the fact that all four teams we lost to played further into the playoffs than we did, and three of those teams are still playing.

Yes, I have no problem admitting that all four teams were better than the Cats. And if you know me, that's a very, very, very agonizing and hard thing to admit....

[84CatGrad]

I'm having a tough time rooting for Idaho as well, should support the Big Sky but I don't like seeing them advance either. That's a team I feel we would have beaten 9 out of 10 times.

I always root for BSC teams, except for the gris of course, but I'm especially in Idaho's corner tonight, because I want to be able to say that all 4 of our losses were to the 4 semi-finalists. I'll bet that's never happened before, and considering the fact that we easily could have won, in fact probably should have won, 3 of the 4, that makes our premature playoff exit a bit easier to swallow for me. I think that pretty much refutes what some Bobcat fans have been saying, i.e. that we really weren't nearly as good as we thought we were this season. We'd be 0-4 against the 4 best teams in the nation, and been painfully close to beating 3 of them. That tells me we were pretty damn good, but unfortunately found some infuriating ways to lose those games. Missed kicks against UI and NDSU, false start penalties on 1st and goal plays and the questionable call that took away a TD at the end of the SDSU game, some questionable play calling in all those games. In a way, I'm not sure if thinking about it in those terms makes me feel better or worse, but it does make me feel confident that if just a few of those things had gone the other way, we could easily be one of the final four again this year, and that we deserve to be considered one of the top 5 teams in the nation, despite losing out in the round of 16.

Idaho doesn’t have to win for me to feel the same
concept. Quarter finals did it for me. I’m pretty damn sure we were everything we thought we were. Sometimes the stars just need to align. By that I mean clean up some things, starting with a OC change and place kicking game so on and so forth and we are playing next weekend. We are just as good or better than SDSU, NDSU, Idaho and dUMb..

The stars don’t align often for good teams. I think there were three 100-win teams in MLB this year and all three lost out in their first playoff series. The best teams often lose out in the playoffs or sometimes don’t make the playoffs. A lot of the time average teams get hot at the right time and win it all. Just the way it goes.

And now the dodgers better not go out 3-0 next year.

No kidding!!!

Ohtani will be making $140,000/at bat.

[tetoncat]

It’s an interesting theory. A winless team could be the best team in the nation, by this theory. Is this the first 4-loss team to be better than the four teams that beat it, or have there been others (in either the FCS or FBS)?

I guess in theory that could be true, but not quite the same thing as saying teams like UM and MSU that lose a bunch of games narrowly. If MSU had barely won games against 5-6 teams and gotten blown out in all four losses, people probably wouldn't have this kind of opinion. I know a lot of UM ex-players and fans saying that they could've easily been 10-0 rolling into Cat-Griz last year. Maybe you weren't one of them. There are a lot of Cat fans that, like yourself, consider 8-4 to be 8-4 regardless of how the games played out. Do you think UM wasn't as good as SAC, Weber and Idaho last year? If so, that's your opinion and I don't have a problem with it, but I think UM was better than those teams just had some bad luck with injuries and being on the road or just had a bad day.

I thought if UM lost to SAC, Weber and Idaho, the Griz had to be worse than at least some of those teams. Worse than MSU, too. I’ve never understood the argument that the better team consistently loses games but is better because the losses are “self-inflicted.” The Bobcat radio announcer said during the NDSU game that there were some “uncharacteristic” Bobcat stumbles in that game that were “reminiscent” of the SDSU game, the Idaho game, and the UM game. He was basically talking about a pattern, which usually means characteristic rather than uncharacteristic. How can the better team consistently self-inflict losses upon itself? How is that the better team?

To be fair, the OP did basically say this team is as good as everybody else IF some things happen or happened. In three of those losses you could have made a pretty good argument that MSU was the better team but needed to fix one or two things. And you're right, if it happens enough times, it's characteristic rather than uncharacteristic. Overall I don't disagree with you. Good teams have to find ways to win those close games and not lay an egg in a rivalry game where ON PAPER, there isn't much of a talent gap, if there is one at all. If I'm not misunderstanding the post you were first replying to, he's basically saying this team but cleaning up some mistakes, maybe making a change at OC, and getting a new kicker. Despite a blowout loss and three close ones, I don't think an honest person would say there's a wide gap between the Cats and the four teams that beat them.

I agree that the gap is not wide. But there IS a gap proven by the head-to-head competition and the overall record. I was remarking on the comment by the guy who said “we are just as good or BETTER” than the four teams that beat us. I just think that’s a stretch.

I don't think we're far off here, and I'm probably just being nitpicky, but my take was that he said IF you make a few fairly minor changes, THEN the Bobcats are better than the four teams. So presumably if you don't, then they're not. Even that is up for debate, obviously, and I won't argue with you if you say they're not even after some changes. Obviously ifs and buts don't count.

My take is that as much as Bobcat fans want to believe we were the better team in all four of those loses, the fact is we weren't. I don't care if we lost 3 of those by only a handful of points, or if we would been blown out of every game like the griz game. The fact of the matter is we lost. If were the better team in each matchup, then it should have never come down to a final possession. We should have taken control earlier.

I would rather win ugly than lose gloriously. There's an old adage that says good teams find ways to win close games. Rather, we found a way to lose each. A TD pass too long. A FG missed to the right. A blocked XP. Good teams eventually find ways to win those games. We found ways to lose those games and failed to correct our mistakes in each. Toss in the fact that all four teams we lost to played further into the playoffs than we did, and three of those teams are still playing.

Yes, I have no problem admitting that all four teams were better than the Cats. And if you know me, that's a very, very, very agonizing and hard thing to admit....

I somewhat get your point, but winning team and better team are not always the same. Maybe we have shown a pattern of making the listake to lose the close game. I think some of that vs NDSU and SDSU is the senior leadership they have. SDSU wins championship and multi guys return for 6th year. I thin I saw they have 30 seniors on 2 deep, NDSU had 17. Are we better, maybe not, but we are not worse either. I think we beat Idaho 7 out of 10, Griz and NDSU 5 of 10, and SDSU 2 of 10.

[Camo_Cat]

It’s an interesting theory. A winless team could be the best team in the nation, by this theory. Is this the first 4-loss team to be better than the four teams that beat it, or have there been others (in either the FCS or FBS)?

I guess in theory that could be true, but not quite the same thing as saying teams like UM and MSU that lose a bunch of games narrowly. If MSU had barely won games against 5-6 teams and gotten blown out in all four losses, people probably wouldn't have this kind of opinion. I know a lot of UM ex-players and fans saying that they could've easily been 10-0 rolling into Cat-Griz last year. Maybe you weren't one of them. There are a lot of Cat fans that, like yourself, consider 8-4 to be 8-4 regardless of how the games played out. Do you think UM wasn't as good as SAC, Weber and Idaho last year? If so, that's your opinion and I don't have a problem with it, but I think UM was better than those teams just had some bad luck with injuries and being on the road or just had a bad day.

I thought if UM lost to SAC, Weber and Idaho, the Griz had to be worse than at least some of those teams. Worse than MSU, too. I’ve never understood the argument that the better team consistently loses games but is better because the losses are “self-inflicted.” The Bobcat radio announcer said during the NDSU game that there were some “uncharacteristic” Bobcat stumbles in that game that were “reminiscent” of the SDSU game, the Idaho game, and the UM game. He was basically talking about a pattern, which usually means characteristic rather than uncharacteristic. How can the better team consistently self-inflict losses upon itself? How is that the better team?

To be fair, the OP did basically say this team is as good as everybody else IF some things happen or happened. In three of those losses you could have made a pretty good argument that MSU was the better team but needed to fix one or two things. And you're right, if it happens enough times, it's characteristic rather than uncharacteristic. Overall I don't disagree with you. Good teams have to find ways to win those close games and not lay an egg in a rivalry game where ON PAPER, there isn't much of a talent gap, if there is one at all. If I'm not misunderstanding the post you were first replying to, he's basically saying this team but cleaning up some mistakes, maybe making a change at OC, and getting a new kicker. Despite a blowout loss and three close ones, I don't think an honest person would say there's a wide gap between the Cats and the four teams that beat them.

I agree that the gap is not wide. But there IS a gap proven by the head-to-head competition and the overall record. I was remarking on the comment by the guy who said “we are just as good or BETTER” than the four teams that beat us. I just think that’s a stretch.

I don't think we're far off here, and I'm probably just being nitpicky, but my take was that he said IF you make a few fairly minor changes, THEN the Bobcats are better than the four teams. So presumably if you don't, then they're not. Even that is up for debate, obviously, and I won't argue with you if you say they're not even after some changes. Obviously ifs and buts don't count.

My take is that as much as Bobcat fans want to believe we were the better team in all four of those loses, the fact is we weren't. I don't care if we lost 3 of those by only a handful of points, or if we would been blown out of every game like the griz game. The fact of the matter is we lost. If were the better team in each matchup, then it should have never come down to a final possession. We should have taken control earlier.

I would rather win ugly than lose gloriously. There's an old adage that says good teams find ways to win close games. Rather, we found a way to lose each. A TD pass too long. A FG missed to the right. A blocked XP. Good teams eventually find ways to win those games. We found ways to lose those games and failed to correct our mistakes in each. Toss in the fact that all four teams we lost to played further into the playoffs than we did, and three of those teams are still playing.

Yes, I have no problem admitting that all four teams were better than the Cats. And if you know me, that's a very, very, very agonizing and hard thing to admit....

I somewhat get your point, but winning team and better team are not always the same. Maybe we have shown a pattern of making the listake to lose the close game. I think some of that vs NDSU and SDSU is the senior leadership they have. SDSU wins championship and multi guys return for 6th year. I thin I saw they have 30 seniors on 2 deep, NDSU had 17. Are we better, maybe not, but we are not worse either. I think we beat Idaho 7 out of 10, Griz and NDSU 5 of 10, and SDSU 2 of 10.

I understand the thought that sometimes the winning team is not necessarily the better team. Upsets happen all the time. But most often than not, those upsets are a one-off, like the NAU victory over the griz. Was NAU a better team than UM? They were on that day, but overall the answer is no. Sure, a team can have an off-day. But when your off-day happens FOUR times a season, you have to sit back and evaluate the quality of your team.

[tetoncat]

It’s an interesting theory. A winless team could be the best team in the nation, by this theory. Is this the first 4-loss team to be better than the four teams that beat it, or have there been others (in either the FCS or FBS)?

I guess in theory that could be true, but not quite the same thing as saying teams like UM and MSU that lose a bunch of games narrowly. If MSU had barely won games against 5-6 teams and gotten blown out in all four losses, people probably wouldn't have this kind of opinion. I know a lot of UM ex-players and fans saying that they could've easily been 10-0 rolling into Cat-Griz last year. Maybe you weren't one of them. There are a lot of Cat fans that, like yourself, consider 8-4 to be 8-4 regardless of how the games played out. Do you think UM wasn't as good as SAC, Weber and Idaho last year? If so, that's your opinion and I don't have a problem with it, but I think UM was better than those teams just had some bad luck with injuries and being on the road or just had a bad day.

I thought if UM lost to SAC, Weber and Idaho, the Griz had to be worse than at least some of those teams. Worse than MSU, too. I’ve never understood the argument that the better team consistently loses games but is better because the losses are “self-inflicted.” The Bobcat radio announcer said during the NDSU game that there were some “uncharacteristic” Bobcat stumbles in that game that were “reminiscent” of the SDSU game, the Idaho game, and the UM game. He was basically talking about a pattern, which usually means characteristic rather than uncharacteristic. How can the better team consistently self-inflict losses upon itself? How is that the better team?

To be fair, the OP did basically say this team is as good as everybody else IF some things happen or happened. In three of those losses you could have made a pretty good argument that MSU was the better team but needed to fix one or two things. And you're right, if it happens enough times, it's characteristic rather than uncharacteristic. Overall I don't disagree with you. Good teams have to find ways to win those close games and not lay an egg in a rivalry game where ON PAPER, there isn't much of a talent gap, if there is one at all. If I'm not misunderstanding the post you were first replying to, he's basically saying this team but cleaning up some mistakes, maybe making a change at OC, and getting a new kicker. Despite a blowout loss and three close ones, I don't think an honest person would say there's a wide gap between the Cats and the four teams that beat them.

I agree that the gap is not wide. But there IS a gap proven by the head-to-head competition and the overall record. I was remarking on the comment by the guy who said “we are just as good or BETTER” than the four teams that beat us. I just think that’s a stretch.

I don't think we're far off here, and I'm probably just being nitpicky, but my take was that he said IF you make a few fairly minor changes, THEN the Bobcats are better than the four teams. So presumably if you don't, then they're not. Even that is up for debate, obviously, and I won't argue with you if you say they're not even after some changes. Obviously ifs and buts don't count.

My take is that as much as Bobcat fans want to believe we were the better team in all four of those loses, the fact is we weren't. I don't care if we lost 3 of those by only a handful of points, or if we would been blown out of every game like the griz game. The fact of the matter is we lost. If were the better team in each matchup, then it should have never come down to a final possession. We should have taken control earlier.

I would rather win ugly than lose gloriously. There's an old adage that says good teams find ways to win close games. Rather, we found a way to lose each. A TD pass too long. A FG missed to the right. A blocked XP. Good teams eventually find ways to win those games. We found ways to lose those games and failed to correct our mistakes in each. Toss in the fact that all four teams we lost to played further into the playoffs than we did, and three of those teams are still playing.

Yes, I have no problem admitting that all four teams were better than the Cats. And if you know me, that's a very, very, very agonizing and hard thing to admit....

I somewhat get your point, but winning team and better team are not always the same. Maybe we have shown a pattern of making the listake to lose the close game. I think some of that vs NDSU and SDSU is the senior leadership they have. SDSU wins championship and multi guys return for 6th year. I thin I saw they have 30 seniors on 2 deep, NDSU had 17. Are we better, maybe not, but we are not worse either. I think we beat Idaho 7 out of 10, Griz and NDSU 5 of 10, and SDSU 2 of 10.

I understand the thought that sometimes the winning team is not necessarily the better team. Upsets happen all the time. But most often than not, those upsets are a one-off, like the NAU victory over the griz. Was NAU a better team than UM? They were on that day, but overall the answer is no. Sure, a team can have an off-day. But when your off-day happens FOUR times a season, you have to sit back and evaluate the quality of your team.

Would agree if we were beat soundly or didn't have a chance to win, but we did in all but the Griz game.

[luckyirishguy25]

It seems like a lot of people are trying to equate player talent to team talent and forgetting the coaching aspect that plays a part in a portion of the team. I feel like we have some really good top talent, but there are also holes, big holes that where exploited in every loss. We've got some really good talent but we don't have the level of talent we had in 2021. If we want to get back there we need to hit the portal hard and fill some holes in the linebacking core and secondary.

I'd like to day we are a better team than the 4 that beat us but we're not, we weren't. You're only as strong as your weakest link, and we have several weak links and that's why we lost.

[BFcatfan]

I'm having a tough time rooting for Idaho as well, should support the Big Sky but I don't like seeing them advance either. That's a team I feel we would have beaten 9 out of 10 times.

I always root for BSC teams, except for the gris of course, but I'm especially in Idaho's corner tonight, because I want to be able to say that all 4 of our losses were to the 4 semi-finalists. I'll bet that's never happened before, and considering the fact that we easily could have won, in fact probably should have won, 3 of the 4, that makes our premature playoff exit a bit easier to swallow for me. I think that pretty much refutes what some Bobcat fans have been saying, i.e. that we really weren't nearly as good as we thought we were this season. We'd be 0-4 against the 4 best teams in the nation, and been painfully close to beating 3 of them. That tells me we were pretty damn good, but unfortunately found some infuriating ways to lose those games. Missed kicks against UI and NDSU, false start penalties on 1st and goal plays and the questionable call that took away a TD at the end of the SDSU game, some questionable play calling in all those games. In a way, I'm not sure if thinking about it in those terms makes me feel better or worse, but it does make me feel confident that if just a few of those things had gone the other way, we could easily be one of the final four again this year, and that we deserve to be considered one of the top 5 teams in the nation, despite losing out in the round of 16.

Idaho doesn’t have to win for me to feel the same
concept. Quarter finals did it for me. I’m pretty damn sure we were everything we thought we were. Sometimes the stars just need to align. By that I mean clean up some things, starting with a OC change and place kicking game so on and so forth and we are playing next weekend. We are just as good or better than SDSU, NDSU, Idaho and dUMb..

Just as good or better than the four teams that beat you?

[BFcatfan]

I'm having a tough time rooting for Idaho as well, should support the Big Sky but I don't like seeing them advance either. That's a team I feel we would have beaten 9 out of 10 times.

I always root for BSC teams, except for the gris of course, but I'm especially in Idaho's corner tonight, because I want to be able to say that all 4 of our losses were to the 4 semi-finalists. I'll bet that's never happened before, and considering the fact that we easily could have won, in fact probably should have won, 3 of the 4, that makes our premature playoff exit a bit easier to swallow for me. I think that pretty much refutes what some Bobcat fans have been saying, i.e. that we really weren't nearly as good as we thought we were this season. We'd be 0-4 against the 4 best teams in the nation, and been painfully close to beating 3 of them. That tells me we were pretty damn good, but unfortunately found some infuriating ways to lose those games. Missed kicks against UI and NDSU, false start penalties on 1st and goal plays and the questionable call that took away a TD at the end of the SDSU game, some questionable play calling in all those games. In a way, I'm not sure if thinking about it in those terms makes me feel better or worse, but it does make me feel confident that if just a few of those things had gone the other way, we could easily be one of the final four again this year, and that we deserve to be considered one of the top 5 teams in the nation, despite losing out in the round of 16.

Idaho doesn’t have to win for me to feel the same
concept. Quarter finals did it for me. I’m pretty damn sure we were everything we thought we were. Sometimes the stars just need to align. By that I mean clean up some things, starting with a OC change and place kicking game so on and so forth and we are playing next weekend. We are just as good or better than SDSU, NDSU, Idaho and dUMb..

Just as good or better than the four teams that beat you?

Yeppers yer gettin what I’m sayin. Play football playoffs like
Hockey or Baseball. Best out of 5 or 7. I’m confident Vandals would have fallen, 50-50 on the school of dance in Missoula, Bison would be a 50-50. By 50-50 im saying those series could swing any direction. Better snub up yer tights and polish yer dance shoes when those Bison show up. Because if they bring that same team they had in SD Saturday they roll the school of dance.

[RickRund]

It’s an interesting theory. A winless team could be the best team in the nation, by this theory. Is this the first 4-loss team to be better than the four teams that beat it, or have there been others (in either the FCS or FBS)?

I guess in theory that could be true, but not quite the same thing as saying teams like UM and MSU that lose a bunch of games narrowly. If MSU had barely won games against 5-6 teams and gotten blown out in all four losses, people probably wouldn't have this kind of opinion. I know a lot of UM ex-players and fans saying that they could've easily been 10-0 rolling into Cat-Griz last year. Maybe you weren't one of them. There are a lot of Cat fans that, like yourself, consider 8-4 to be 8-4 regardless of how the games played out. Do you think UM wasn't as good as SAC, Weber and Idaho last year? If so, that's your opinion and I don't have a problem with it, but I think UM was better than those teams just had some bad luck with injuries and being on the road or just had a bad day.

I thought if UM lost to SAC, Weber and Idaho, the Griz had to be worse than at least some of those teams. Worse than MSU, too. I’ve never understood the argument that the better team consistently loses games but is better because the losses are “self-inflicted.” The Bobcat radio announcer said during the NDSU game that there were some “uncharacteristic” Bobcat stumbles in that game that were “reminiscent” of the SDSU game, the Idaho game, and the UM game. He was basically talking about a pattern, which usually means characteristic rather than uncharacteristic. How can the better team consistently self-inflict losses upon itself? How is that the better team?

To be fair, the OP did basically say this team is as good as everybody else IF some things happen or happened. In three of those losses you could have made a pretty good argument that MSU was the better team but needed to fix one or two things. And you're right, if it happens enough times, it's characteristic rather than uncharacteristic. Overall I don't disagree with you. Good teams have to find ways to win those close games and not lay an egg in a rivalry game where ON PAPER, there isn't much of a talent gap, if there is one at all. If I'm not misunderstanding the post you were first replying to, he's basically saying this team but cleaning up some mistakes, maybe making a change at OC, and getting a new kicker. Despite a blowout loss and three close ones, I don't think an honest person would say there's a wide gap between the Cats and the four teams that beat them.

I agree that the gap is not wide. But there IS a gap proven by the head-to-head competition and the overall record. I was remarking on the comment by the guy who said “we are just as good or BETTER” than the four teams that beat us. I just think that’s a stretch.

It's not. If you don't think Cats are at least just as good as the 3 teams that narrowly beat them not sure you have paid much attention to sports. Tom gave you examples. Sports and momentum are funny. Get some breaks early and a lead some games vs even teams turn into blowouts. Play poorly on road and get behind its a big task to catch up. Play even home team sometimes wills a way to win. Make crucial mistakes hard to win.

Bills are not better than Chiefs, but a WR being lazy and lining up offsides cost them lead and maybe the game. Those things happen in sports.

Wasn't that Kelce that lined up offsides. But yes, how the heck does that happen?

And what the heck was Mahomes so ticked off about? Something about the officials costing them the game???

[thefrank1]

It wasn't Kelce.

[tetoncat]

It seems like a lot of people are trying to equate player talent to team talent and forgetting the coaching aspect that plays a part in a portion of the team. I feel like we have some really good top talent, but there are also holes, big holes that where exploited in every loss. We've got some really good talent but we don't have the level of talent we had in 2021. If we want to get back there we need to hit the portal hard and fill some holes in the linebacking core and secondary.

I'd like to day we are a better team than the 4 that beat us but we're not, we weren't. You're only as strong as your weakest link, and we have several weak links and that's why we lost.

Yep those gaping holes that led to those blowout losses we had to NDSU, SDSU, and Idaho.

[GoGriz1023]

Agreed! I'm actually pulling for Idaho right now. I want to see the Big Sky represent. I have no patience for whiny ass Cat fans...you lost, get over it, support the Big Sky and move the F%$K along....and just fyi, I have no patience for whiny ass Griz fans under the same scenario.

Apparently you can’t just move forward since you’re still posting on the MSU board a week after their season ended. I hope NDSU throttles you solely because of WalMart fans like you, but I will say it’s nice the Gris finally held up their end with Montana schools now being represented 4 years in a row in the semifinals.

First semis since 2009? I don’t count the cheating season.

And your board is still posting about 'what ifs'? I hope we kick the ****** out of the Bison so I can run back to your board to tell you how it's supposed to work...

[RickRund]

It wasn't Kelce.

I saw the writeup on FOX Business and that is was not Kelce... Shame on Mahomes reaction... Yes, FOX Business...

Was coming on to edit my response.

[onceacat]

It’s an interesting theory. A winless team could be the best team in the nation, by this theory. Is this the first 4-loss team to be better than the four teams that beat it, or have there been others (in either the FCS or FBS)?

I guess in theory that could be true, but not quite the same thing as saying teams like UM and MSU that lose a bunch of games narrowly. If MSU had barely won games against 5-6 teams and gotten blown out in all four losses, people probably wouldn't have this kind of opinion. I know a lot of UM ex-players and fans saying that they could've easily been 10-0 rolling into Cat-Griz last year. Maybe you weren't one of them. There are a lot of Cat fans that, like yourself, consider 8-4 to be 8-4 regardless of how the games played out. Do you think UM wasn't as good as SAC, Weber and Idaho last year? If so, that's your opinion and I don't have a problem with it, but I think UM was better than those teams just had some bad luck with injuries and being on the road or just had a bad day.

I thought if UM lost to SAC, Weber and Idaho, the Griz had to be worse than at least some of those teams. Worse than MSU, too. I’ve never understood the argument that the better team consistently loses games but is better because the losses are “self-inflicted.” The Bobcat radio announcer said during the NDSU game that there were some “uncharacteristic” Bobcat stumbles in that game that were “reminiscent” of the SDSU game, the Idaho game, and the UM game. He was basically talking about a pattern, which usually means characteristic rather than uncharacteristic. How can the better team consistently self-inflict losses upon itself? How is that the better team?

To be fair, the OP did basically say this team is as good as everybody else IF some things happen or happened. In three of those losses you could have made a pretty good argument that MSU was the better team but needed to fix one or two things. And you're right, if it happens enough times, it's characteristic rather than uncharacteristic. Overall I don't disagree with you. Good teams have to find ways to win those close games and not lay an egg in a rivalry game where ON PAPER, there isn't much of a talent gap, if there is one at all. If I'm not misunderstanding the post you were first replying to, he's basically saying this team but cleaning up some mistakes, maybe making a change at OC, and getting a new kicker. Despite a blowout loss and three close ones, I don't think an honest person would say there's a wide gap between the Cats and the four teams that beat them.

I agree that the gap is not wide. But there IS a gap proven by the head-to-head competition and the overall record. I was remarking on the comment by the guy who said “we are just as good or BETTER” than the four teams that beat us. I just think that’s a stretch.

I don't think we're far off here, and I'm probably just being nitpicky, but my take was that he said IF you make a few fairly minor changes, THEN the Bobcats are better than the four teams. So presumably if you don't, then they're not. Even that is up for debate, obviously, and I won't argue with you if you say they're not even after some changes. Obviously ifs and buts don't count.

My take is that as much as Bobcat fans want to believe we were the better team in all four of those loses, the fact is we weren't. I don't care if we lost 3 of those by only a handful of points, or if we would been blown out of every game like the griz game. The fact of the matter is we lost. If were the better team in each matchup, then it should have never come down to a final possession. We should have taken control earlier.

I would rather win ugly than lose gloriously. There's an old adage that says good teams find ways to win close games. Rather, we found a way to lose each. A TD pass too long. A FG missed to the right. A blocked XP. Good teams eventually find ways to win those games. We found ways to lose those games and failed to correct our mistakes in each. Toss in the fact that all four teams we lost to played further into the playoffs than we did, and three of those teams are still playing.

Yes, I have no problem admitting that all four teams were better than the Cats. And if you know me, that's a very, very, very agonizing and hard thing to admit....

This is silly.

If the better team won every game, there would never be upsets.

And it leads to really circular scenarios like "NAU is a better team than the Griz, but MSU is better than NAU, but the Griz are better than MSU"

Or the Griz lost to NAU but NAU lost to Utah Tech, and so on down until you find a D2 team thats 'better than the Gris". (No, I didnt follow that all the way down the rabbit hole, but its pretty obvious where that goes)

[ghobs95]

Agreed! I'm actually pulling for Idaho right now. I want to see the Big Sky represent. I have no patience for whiny ass Cat fans...you lost, get over it, support the Big Sky and move the F%$K along....and just fyi, I have no patience for whiny ass Griz fans under the same scenario.

Apparently you can’t just move forward since you’re still posting on the MSU board a week after their season ended. I hope NDSU throttles you solely because of WalMart fans like you, but I will say it’s nice the Gris finally held up their end with Montana schools now being represented 4 years in a row in the semifinals.

First semis since 2009? I don’t count the cheating season.

And your board is still posting about 'what ifs'? I hope we kick the ****** out of the Bison so I can run back to your board to tell you how it's supposed to work...

"I hope we kick the ****** out of the Bison so I can run back to your board"

If this doesn't tell you all you need to know...

[luckyirishguy25]

Agreed! I'm actually pulling for Idaho right now. I want to see the Big Sky represent. I have no patience for whiny ass Cat fans...you lost, get over it, support the Big Sky and move the F%$K along....and just fyi, I have no patience for whiny ass Griz fans under the same scenario.

Apparently you can’t just move forward since you’re still posting on the MSU board a week after their season ended. I hope NDSU throttles you solely because of WalMart fans like you, but I will say it’s nice the Gris finally held up their end with Montana schools now being represented 4 years in a row in the semifinals.

First semis since 2009? I don’t count the cheating season.

And your board is still posting about 'what ifs'? I hope we kick the ****** out of the Bison so I can run back to your board to tell you how it's supposed to work...

Dude... get a life. You're just coming off super sad right now, if running back to our board to tell us how it is keeps you going... that's just super sad.

Maybe you should find a girlfriend, but we all can tell that maybe difficult for you.

[cats2506]

Agreed! I'm actually pulling for Idaho right now. I want to see the Big Sky represent. I have no patience for whiny ass Cat fans...you lost, get over it, support the Big Sky and move the F%$K along....and just fyi, I have no patience for whiny ass Griz fans under the same scenario.

Apparently you can’t just move forward since you’re still posting on the MSU board a week after their season ended. I hope NDSU throttles you solely because of WalMart fans like you, but I will say it’s nice the Gris finally held up their end with Montana schools now being represented 4 years in a row in the semifinals.

First semis since 2009? I don’t count the cheating season.

And your board is still posting about 'what ifs'? I hope we kick the ****** out of the Bison so I can run back to your board to tell you how it's supposed to work...

"I hope we kick the ****** out of the Bison so I can run back to your board"

If this doesn't tell you all you need to know...

Little brother mentality

[GoGriz1023]

Agreed! I'm actually pulling for Idaho right now. I want to see the Big Sky represent. I have no patience for whiny ass Cat fans...you lost, get over it, support the Big Sky and move the F%$K along....and just fyi, I have no patience for whiny ass Griz fans under the same scenario.

Apparently you can’t just move forward since you’re still posting on the MSU board a week after their season ended. I hope NDSU throttles you solely because of WalMart fans like you, but I will say it’s nice the Gris finally held up their end with Montana schools now being represented 4 years in a row in the semifinals.

First semis since 2009? I don’t count the cheating season.

And your board is still posting about 'what ifs'? I hope we kick the ****** out of the Bison so I can run back to your board to tell you how it's supposed to work...

"I hope we kick the ****** out of the Bison so I can run back to your board"

If this doesn't tell you all you need to know...

Little brother mentality

And 'little brother' is playing for the chipper! Tell me again who the 'little brother' is? Win or lose, the Griz are most definitely 'Big Brother'....wait, I've been told numerous times the Cats are just as good! Are they though?

[cats2506]

Agreed! I'm actually pulling for Idaho right now. I want to see the Big Sky represent. I have no patience for whiny ass Cat fans...you lost, get over it, support the Big Sky and move the F%$K along....and just fyi, I have no patience for whiny ass Griz fans under the same scenario.

Apparently you can’t just move forward since you’re still posting on the MSU board a week after their season ended. I hope NDSU throttles you solely because of WalMart fans like you, but I will say it’s nice the Gris finally held up their end with Montana schools now being represented 4 years in a row in the semifinals.

First semis since 2009? I don’t count the cheating season.

And your board is still posting about 'what ifs'? I hope we kick the ****** out of the Bison so I can run back to your board to tell you how it's supposed to work...

"I hope we kick the ****** out of the Bison so I can run back to your board"

If this doesn't tell you all you need to know...

Little brother mentality

And 'little brother' is playing for the chipper! Tell me again who the 'little brother' is? Win or lose, the Griz are most definitely 'Big Brother'....wait, I've been told numerous times the Cats are just as good! Are they though?

I'm disappointed in the way our season turned out but am confident the MSU has the better program and most certainly school. I am also pretty sure that um will fall back into another 10 years of mediocracy after they get clown stomped by the Jacks.

[jgrilley406]

Agreed! I'm actually pulling for Idaho right now. I want to see the Big Sky represent. I have no patience for whiny ass Cat fans...you lost, get over it, support the Big Sky and move the F%$K along....and just fyi, I have no patience for whiny ass Griz fans under the same scenario.

Apparently you can’t just move forward since you’re still posting on the MSU board a week after their season ended. I hope NDSU throttles you solely because of WalMart fans like you, but I will say it’s nice the Gris finally held up their end with Montana schools now being represented 4 years in a row in the semifinals.

First semis since 2009? I don’t count the cheating season.

And your board is still posting about 'what ifs'? I hope we kick the ****** out of the Bison so I can run back to your board to tell you how it's supposed to work...

"I hope we kick the ****** out of the Bison so I can run back to your board"

If this doesn't tell you all you need to know...

Little brother mentality

And 'little brother' is playing for the chipper! Tell me again who the 'little brother' is? Win or lose, the Griz are most definitely 'Big Brother'....wait, I've been told numerous times the Cats are just as good! Are they though?

Last 20 years the series is 10-9 griz favor. The last four cat/griz games for whatever reason have all been blow outs. the closest being 19 points and the largest 34 (x2). I’m not gonna say cats are just as good this year cause hard to argue it losing by 30, but they’re better than what the brawl game showed, just as the griz weren’t 34 (x2) points worse than the cats those years either. in the last 2 decades though they have been just as good. But as a griz fan, got to admit you lose the big sky’s all time leading tackler and your defense somehow looks better than they were last year.