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Montana State

B

bigskyconf

Active member
Game this Saturday at 1pm in Bozeman, MT. Big test for the Viks as the Bobcats are slowly becoming the top team in the Big Sky, with an appearance in the national championship game two years ago and a semifinal loss last year to eventual champ South Dakota State. The Bobcats only loss of the season so far was a return engagement against the Jackrabbits when the Bobcats had a 10-0 lead at halftime in Brookings, SD, only to fall short 20-16. The Bobcats played their conference opener last week and won at Weber State, 40-0. The Montana TV broadcast is scheduled to be shown live in Portland on KRCW.
 
It sounds like Mellott is out again for them this weekend, but their backup QB (Chambers, Wyoming transfer) is the one who led them to that impressive win at Weber last Saturday. I don't know if they do what the NBA does (out all week, then questionable on Friday and he plays on Saturday), but we could be facing them without their top QB. Bobcat Nation is thinking blowout (most scores I saw had it 44-14 Bobcats win) but I think we can keep it close. A win, however, would be surprising.
 
Correction. The game is NOT going to be shown on KRCW. For some reason, the game was pulled in Montana from their CW stations as well. Cat fans are upset that the CW stations there are opting to show the Griz game at the same time.
 
Bobcats very good. Barnum hinted at Vikings not playing at full strength. Stats not all that bad. We could be very good this year.
 
A parting writeup on this game. Montana State is a good team. They are the closest, nationally, to North Dakota State and South Dakota State, and because of that they have a shot at the national championship every year. We saw what a national championship caliber team looks like. If we are truly looking at going "all in" next year (an overused phrase in this city due to the Lillard circus), that is where we need to be. The Big Sky top to bottom is the toughest FCS conference out there, led by the Bobcats. We cannot expect them to come down to our level. We need to rise to that level of play. We have a lot of work to do in a short amount of time. If we truly want to be there, the work needs to start now, not next year. We saw firsthand what a championship team looks like. That has to be the goal.
 
A playoff-worthy team in a good conference doesn’t celebrate a 16-point loss at the supposed conference favorite.

OTOH, Weber has regressed, Montana has regressed, Sac seems to early in a process of regression, Davis has regressed, so I’m wondering how strong this conference is. Idaho is definitely on an upward progression, arguably EWU is better than last year, but, um, Portland State? Maybe? Hard to say. There’s an opportunity.
 
Pounder said:
A playoff-worthy team in a good conference doesn’t celebrate a 16-point loss at the supposed conference favorite.

OTOH, Weber has regressed, Montana has regressed, Sac seems to early in a process of regression, Davis has regressed, so I’m wondering how strong this conference is. Idaho is definitely on an upward progression, arguably EWU is better than last year, but, um, Portland State? Maybe? Hard to say. There’s an opportunity.
Click to expand...

I agree. The Montana game does not scare me as much as before, nor does Davis (although I would rather have had the Aggies here). Conferences start to feel the pain once they start playing each other. But, with some breaks here and there, we could end the season with 2 or 3 conference losses. That would be something to build on for next season. First priority of course is bringing Chachere back.

I glanced at next year's conference schedule and we have Weber, Sac and the Griz all on the road. That is going to be tough.
 
bigskyconf said:
A parting writeup on this game. Montana State is a good team. They are the closest, nationally, to North Dakota State and South Dakota State, and because of that they have a shot at the national championship every year. We saw what a national championship caliber team looks like. If we are truly looking at going "all in" next year (an overused phrase in this city due to the Lillard circus), that is where we need to be. The Big Sky top to bottom is the toughest FCS conference out there, led by the Bobcats. We cannot expect them to come down to our level. We need to rise to that level of play. We have a lot of work to do in a short amount of time. If we truly want to be there, the work needs to start now, not next year. We saw firsthand what a championship team looks like. That has to be the goal.
Click to expand...

Good point. Solution ?

Year by year conference record under current coach:

2016 - 2-6
2017 - 0-8
2018 - 3-5
2019 - 3-5
2021 - 4-4
2022 - 3-5
2023 - 1-1 so far

That's a cumulative BSC record of 16 wins, 34 losses.

Please, anyone, enlighten me with the name of any BSC coach who has as dismal a record and hasn't been replaced.
And those teams that have replaced losing coaches over the last many years have rebounded.

We can't be sucked into playing against FBS teams every year to break even financially and at the same time NEVER get more competitive with the hope of breaking the cycle!
 
scooter said:
bigskyconf said:
A parting writeup on this game. Montana State is a good team. They are the closest, nationally, to North Dakota State and South Dakota State, and because of that they have a shot at the national championship every year. We saw what a national championship caliber team looks like. If we are truly looking at going "all in" next year (an overused phrase in this city due to the Lillard circus), that is where we need to be. The Big Sky top to bottom is the toughest FCS conference out there, led by the Bobcats. We cannot expect them to come down to our level. We need to rise to that level of play. We have a lot of work to do in a short amount of time. If we truly want to be there, the work needs to start now, not next year. We saw firsthand what a championship team looks like. That has to be the goal.
Click to expand...

Good point. Solution ?

Year by year conference record under current coach:

2016 - 2-6
2017 - 0-8
2018 - 3-5
2019 - 3-5
2021 - 4-4
2022 - 3-5
2023 - 1-1 so far

That's a cumulative BSC record of 16 wins, 34 losses.

Please, anyone, enlighten me with the name of any BSC coach who has as dismal a record and hasn't been replaced.
And those teams that have replaced losing coaches over the last many years have rebounded.

We can't be sucked into playing against FBS teams every year to break even financially and at the same time NEVER get more competitive with the hope of breaking the cycle!
Click to expand...

Have to agree. However, if Barnum is looking at contending next season (and he stated so a few weeks back with his buddy Canzano), that team that we just played is the perfect blueprint of an FCS championship contender. We aren't going to wake up any time soon and say OK we are a contender now, but the drive to contend can't start with fall camp next year either (even Cal Poly and Northern Colorado both had ideas that they were going to contend this year). We just played one of the better FCS schools in the country at their place and lost by 16. That is where we are now. Obviously, we have to improve and get better. Can we? How many conference wins can we get? The Montana game doesn't look as scary as it did at the start. Neither does Davis. NAU at their place looks more daunting but we have two weeks to prepare. EWU will be tough, but it is here. Three conference losses won't get us in the playoffs this year, but it will be a good stepping stone for next year, along with another strong recruiting class and a few high level transfers.

My Griz friends tell me that Hauck's seat is getting warm. If that is the case, you would think Barnum's seat is flaming. I'd say 5-3 will get him back, 4-4 might. Anything less than 4-4, maybe time to pull the plug on BarneyBall.
 
I think PSU has really stepped it up this year. I think ISU and NAU have also improved. EWU has improved from last year but I don't think they are back where we are accustomed to seeing them. I think SAC and UM have fallen back some. Right now I see MSU and UI at the top with UNC and CP at the bottom, Everyone else every game is almost a toss up.

Good luck the rest of the season, I will definitely be rooting for the Vikes on 11/11, from what I saw last Saturday in Bozeman I expect you to dominate in that game.
Honestly I think every game you have from here on out is winnable.
 
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