2012 Schedule

[93bird]

Are we still the reigning National Champions or have I slipped into some kind of time warp? If the Montanas and Montana States of the world are so smart to schedule Western State, Drake, and Fort Lewis, why don't they own the title? The fact remains that winning the Big Sky will get you into the playoffs no matter what else happens. We should play teams that make our team better so we have an edge in our conference and win it outright. If we fear playing Idaho and Washington State, we've got much bigger problems than trying to make the playoffs.

 

[marceagfan5]

Winning builds financial reserves in the second method. Scheduling yourself into a bodybag might make you more on the front, but it ain't the way to inspire your donor base.

This....look at our attendance this year and EAA support, higher than it has ever been, why? Because we won the national championship last year. Do you think the offseason support this coming winter and fall for the program will be as high as this past year? I don't, don't get me wrong, Eastern still has my support, but the typicaly fair weather Spokane fan will begin to tune out if we only play 4 games a year at home or 2 FBS games and don't make the playoffs.

Winning goes a long way towards bring in fans and donations to the program and scheduling has a major impact on winning.


Talon....not sure where you are finding that schedule, Ranger's schedule he has posted is the correct one, the only thing on Ranger's schedule could be that Cal Poly might be in November not week 3, but that is not clear yet.

93....I don't think we fear anyone, but putting ourselves in positions to win is a key thing. Playing at south dakota before playing at Montana this year was a joke, Montana had a home game before playing us. Playing 3 straight road games before hosting a top 10 team in MSU at home was a joke, MSU played a D2 school before playing us. Both of those teams set themselves up with easier games or home games before playing a major game that mattered when playing us, we didn't. Could we have won the games anyways, yes, but playing on the road takes a toll on a team.

By the way, we are the national champions, but the Griz played in the championship in 2009 and 2008 and both will be in the playoffs this year and we won't so there is a method to their schedule. Also, we won the national championship when we played a Div 2 opponent.

Lets also look at the recent history

2011 - played 3 non conf games on road - didn't make playoffs
2010 - played a drop down game - made playoffs
2009 - played a drop down game - made playoffs
2008 - played 2 FBS teams - didn't make playoffs
2007 - played a drop down game- made playoffs
2006 - played 2 FBS teams - didn't make playoffs
2005 - played a drop down game - made playoffs
2004 - played a drop down game - made playoffs
2003 - Played 2 FBS teams - didn't make playoffs (we did beat one tho as I belive Idaho was FBS then?)

This is our last 9 seasons and it appears that we do have somewhat of a pattern...

 

[talon38]

marceagfan5
Thanks, guess I need to do some research about upcoming 2012 schedule, got some bad info. Thanks. Where did you get the FIRM schedule? My son, who plays for Eastern doesn't even have the schedule your talkling about! Nor do the coaches? AD, Fill me in??

 

[93bird]

Fair points Marc. I guess I still see things differently and may be wrong. I felt pretty good about our prospects for this season even after the loss to Washington. I didn't see us laying an egg at South Dakota. The effects of travel on playing is something I'll never know and may indeed be the difference this year. I may be crazy too, because I don't think a simple playoff berth is what we're all after. It is deep playoff runs with National Championships that I want. We got our title in part because of the toughness our team showed last year. A toughness earned by playing and learning from better teams. We beat a Villanova team that Montana could not, an NDSU team that handled our conference champion on the road, and Delaware whose opponents averaged 10 points of offense. I like to think the quality of our competition over the years has helped get us to a place other teams dream of.

 

[marceagfan5]

marceagfan5
Thanks, guess I need to do some research about upcoming 2012 schedule, got some bad info. Thanks. Where did you get the FIRM schedule? My son, who plays for Eastern doesn't even have the schedule your talkling about! Nor do the coaches? AD, Fill me in??

Here ya go... http://www.bigskyconf.com/news/2011/4/28/FB_0428110957.aspx?path=football" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

with the 4 teams coming in next year they changed all the schedules last spring summer, so don't worry we all had bad info. I'm sure the info you had was most likely prior to the addition of UND, Cal Poly, SUU, and Cal Davis. The 3 non conference games are Idaho and WSU which were scheduled in advance and are the first 2 weeks and Cal Poly has to return the game that we just played there to Cheney next year. Technically they will be a conference opponent but it is a "non conference" game, crazy I know.

 

[marceagfan5]

Fair points Marc. I guess I still see things differently and may be wrong. I felt pretty good about our prospects for this season even after the loss to Washington. I didn't see us laying an egg at South Dakota. The effects of travel on playing is something I'll never know and may indeed be the difference this year. I may be crazy too, because I don't think a simple playoff berth is what we're all after. It is deep playoff runs with National Championships that I want. We got our title in part because of the toughness our team showed last year. A toughness earned by playing and learning from better teams. We beat a Villanova team that Montana could not, an NDSU team that handled our conference champion on the road, and Delaware whose opponents averaged 10 points of offense. I like to think the quality of our competition over the years has helped get us to a place other teams dream of.

93, I think we both want the same thing (to keep winning) and I do agree with and you make a lot of good points. I think we can make the playoffs and should have a really strong team next year if we can have someone step up at QB, and I think we have a couple capable QB's in the waiting.

 

[LDopaPDX]

Fair points Marc. I guess I still see things differently and may be wrong. I felt pretty good about our prospects for this season even after the loss to Washington. I didn't see us laying an egg at South Dakota. The effects of travel on playing is something I'll never know and may indeed be the difference this year. I may be crazy too, because I don't think a simple playoff berth is what we're all after. It is deep playoff runs with National Championships that I want. We got our title in part because of the toughness our team showed last year. A toughness earned by playing and learning from better teams. We beat a Villanova team that Montana could not, an NDSU team that handled our conference champion on the road, and Delaware whose opponents averaged 10 points of offense. I like to think the quality of our competition over the years has helped get us to a place other teams dream of.

OR
another way to look at this might be that we won the national championship because we played 3 times at home in the playoffs. We schedule a second FBS game and lose last year, and finish 8-3, we don't play any games at home and likely don't win the national championship. After reviewing the last several FCS national champions it is interesting to note how few teams with 8 wins (no one with fewer has) ever won the national championship. I only see 2 8-3 teams that did it.

 

[kalm]

My guess, and I could be wrong, is that Chaves is very much aware of all the issues that Dopa brings up. I think that if a viable FCS home and home was possible at this time it would happen. But I would also like to think that is something Chaves is still working on. The wildcard here is the finances. If Dopa's analysis is close, even a $90,000 difference between Idaho and a WOU might be too good to pass up given the current financial constraints. There might even be pressure from above to go this route.

Of course there is "pressure from above" to go this route. Given the choice, do you think our President wants the athletic department to run in the black or in the red? The unfortunate reality is that most ADs run in the red... only about 10 in the entire country at any level actually make money... we are a Gov't Instituion for God's sake; that alone ought to tell you were not in the business of making money!

That said, there are two ways to make money in college sports... the topline revenue method (such as running a program in the black) and the much more common revenue stream of tax-free receivables (donations). Winning builds financial reserves in the second method. Scheduling yourself into a bodybag might make you more on the front, but it ain't the way to inspire your donor base.

Do you think it's a coincidence that we've gone this schedululing route not only since Chaves took over but since the economy crashed. Of course they will run in the red but how much is the question and there's a bunch more pressure - especially on smaller institutions - to make it less.

 

[vetteman]

Winning builds financial reserves in the second method. Scheduling yourself into a bodybag might make you more on the front, but it ain't the way to inspire your donor base.

This....look at our attendance this year and EAA support, higher than it has ever been, why? Because we won the national championship last year. Do you think the offseason support this coming winter and fall for the program will be as high as this past year? I don't, don't get me wrong, Eastern still has my support, but the typicaly fair weather Spokane fan will begin to tune out if we only play 4 games a year at home or 2 FBS games and don't make the playoffs.

Winning goes a long way towards bring in fans and donations to the program and scheduling has a major impact on winning.


Talon....not sure where you are finding that schedule, Ranger's schedule he has posted is the correct one, the only thing on Ranger's schedule could be that Cal Poly might be in November not week 3, but that is not clear yet.

93....I don't think we fear anyone, but putting ourselves in positions to win is a key thing. Playing at south dakota before playing at Montana this year was a joke, Montana had a home game before playing us. Playing 3 straight road games before hosting a top 10 team in MSU at home was a joke, MSU played a D2 school before playing us. Both of those teams set themselves up with easier games or home games before playing a major game that mattered when playing us, we didn't. Could we have won the games anyways, yes, but playing on the road takes a toll on a team.

By the way, we are the national champions, but the Griz played in the championship in 2009 and 2008 and both will be in the playoffs this year and we won't so there is a method to their schedule. Also, we won the national championship when we played a Div 2 opponent.

Lets also look at the recent history

2011 - played 3 non conf games on road - didn't make playoffs
2010 - played a drop down game - made playoffs
2009 - played a drop down game - made playoffs
2008 - played 2 FBS teams - didn't make playoffs
2007 - played a drop down game- made playoffs
2006 - played 2 FBS teams - didn't make playoffs
2005 - played a drop down game - made playoffs
2004 - played a drop down game - made playoffs
2003 - Played 2 FBS teams - didn't make playoffs (we did beat one tho as I belive Idaho was FBS then?)

This is our last 9 seasons and it appears that we do have somewhat of a pattern...

After looking at the above, is it ok to say we wont be in the 2012 playoffs. Maybe we shouldnt even go through the motions.
I say B/S bring on the two FBS teams and lets go tackle the schedule that is in front of our young men. I hear so much crying about the schedule, and yet I dont see Baldwin or Chaves asking for our opinion on this topic.

I'm so glad that coach Baldwin and staff are preparing my young man the correct way, and making him not afraid to face difficult challenges that lie ahead. In the perfect world we would pick all the second tier FCS schools and play them all at home. We would never travel before a Montana game, and schedule only D11 nobodys. That is not realistic. Lets cheer our young men on to victory and quit sounding like doomsday is near. How can we start writing off the 2012 season when we have 10+ months before we play a game.

 

[Spoeagle]

Vetteman - Very good comments from an Eastern dad who wants the best football experience for his son.

 

[93bird]

Last year Eastern and MSU were both 9-2 entering the postseason. MSU was set to host 3 straight playoff games with EWU being their second opponent. They lose, we win, and the rest is history. So, both teams have the same record, MSU has home field advantage throughout, yet Eastern beats a team MSU can't. While nice, home field in the playoffs isn't all it's made out to be. The 1st, 2nd, and 4th seeds in last years playoffs won a total of 1 game, while 2 of the final 4 teams were unseeded and won 4 games to get there.

 

[marceagfan5]

I am in no way writing off our schedule or team next year, I am just trying to show that we haven't made things easy for our team and players. We have a TON of returning talent and should have a fantastic year. I agree we need the bring it on mentality, but we will be starting a brand new QB next year and we open with 2 FBS teams, we will also play at MSU who will most likely be ranked in the top 3 to start the season next year.

The bring it on mentality this year cost us the playoffs, the drop down game last year gave us a playoff seed and home games throughout the playoffs. I'm all for the "bring it on mentality" but it needs to be done right. I have no idea what goes on with the scheduling so I am in no way telling Chavez what to do, I'm sure scheduling FCS games out west is a nightmare, I am just trying to state that 2 FBS games is not a receipe for success.

We are all on the same team here and I think at this point we need to agree to disagree.

 

[93bird]

Agree to disagree? Oh hell no. How are we ever going to match Egriz with that kind of well-reasoned approach?

 

[LDopaPDX]

Don't get me wrong, I'm not opposed to playing up or challenging the team... but I am in favor of taking a proven approach and not taking an approach that is more risk than reward.

Giving the team a week to work against a weaker team helps in a lot of ways... working through the rotation, staying healthy, etc. Montana and Montana State are going to the playoffs; guess what they have in common, and in common with last year's national champion? And they played at Tennessee and Utah this season, as well as a tough conference slate, and now are preparing for a single-elimination playoff run. I doubt they'd tell you they didn't challenge themselves this season, but they did play a schedule that gave them the best chance of success while we did not and apparently plan on repeating next year.

 

[LDopaPDX]

BTW, unless smoeone wants to suggest that our players are just plain wimpy, it would be hard to look at what we did this year and call it a good approach based solely on the number of injuries we sustained.

I just can't see two sides to this issue. One method is a proven winner, the other method is a proven failure. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.

 

[LDopaPDX]

My guess, and I could be wrong, is that Chaves is very much aware of all the issues that Dopa brings up. I think that if a viable FCS home and home was possible at this time it would happen. But I would also like to think that is something Chaves is still working on. The wildcard here is the finances. If Dopa's analysis is close, even a $90,000 difference between Idaho and a WOU might be too good to pass up given the current financial constraints. There might even be pressure from above to go this route.

Of course there is "pressure from above" to go this route. Given the choice, do you think our President wants the athletic department to run in the black or in the red? The unfortunate reality is that most ADs run in the red... only about 10 in the entire country at any level actually make money... we are a Gov't Instituion for God's sake; that alone ought to tell you were not in the business of making money!

That said, there are two ways to make money in college sports... the topline revenue method (such as running a program in the black) and the much more common revenue stream of tax-free receivables (donations). Winning builds financial reserves in the second method. Scheduling yourself into a bodybag might make you more on the front, but it ain't the way to inspire your donor base.

Do you think it's a coincidence that we've gone this schedululing route not only since Chaves took over but since the economy crashed. Of course they will run in the red but how much is the question and there's a bunch more pressure - especially on smaller institutions - to make it less.

No doubt. But anyone with even a lay understanding of university spending will tell you that the school wastes about as much money as it spends well.

 

[marceagfan5]

Agree to disagree? Oh hell no. How are we ever going to match Egriz with that kind of well-reasoned approach?

The good thing is we are all looking out for the same team, we may have disagreements on how to get there, but in the end we all want and are supporting the same team and goals.

We have a long way to go before we reach egriz status... :lol:

 

[clawman1]

Reality is it is all about the money. Eastern does more with less than most all other FCS schools. Just because we want to schedule other non conference schools does not mean they are going to come because we invited them. We do not have the money to make their trip worthwhile. Now if we had 10 fans who wanted to join the EAA and make a 10k donation, or 100 fans who would make a 1k donation, or 1000 fans who would make a 100 donation we could have our wishes. But until then we will have to continue to play games where and when we do not want to.
Which reminds me, is everyone here a member of EAA? Stepping up your membership goes a long way to winning teams.

 

[EWURanger]

There's no doubt about what home field advantage will do for you come playoff time. It's HUGE. The reality is that our chances last year would have been greatly diminished had we been forced to go on the road. Montana has had great success in the playoffs, but has anyone looked at their road playoff record? It's horrible.

So how do you get that home field advantage? First off, by winning the conference. Secondly, your OOC schedule will go a long way in determing that. I think a Division II game would have benefited us this season and it's hard to ignore the fact that we've played a Division II every time we've made the playoffs in the past several seasons. I went back and looked at our pre-2004 playoff appearances and the same is true. In 1997 when we made the semi's, we played Rocky Mountain College AND Eastern Oregon. In '92 we played Portland State when they were still Division II, and Sonoma State, whoever they are. In '85 we played juggernauts Fort Lewis Cal St-Chico....you get the picture. That said, I don't think there's ever any justification for two drop-down games, but I don't think one hurts.

I was initially in favor of the USD game this season, but I think if we had played at home instead of going on the road the week before we played Montana, we would have been in a better position to win that game. Every previous playoff team we've had played a Division II team, and I'm not sure why anyone felt that the 2011 version of the Eagles were any LESS capable coming off of a championship season than all the previous teams we had that made the playoffs.

I don't think that next year's schedule is too bad because as I said previously it doesn't involve lengthy travel. But in the future I think the correct formula for OOC games is 1 x FBS, 1 x FCS, and 1 x Division II home game. :twocents:

 

[LDopaPDX]

Ranger nails it... I like playing a BCS game every year, but playing two FBS games is just dumb. There really should be a rule of thumb that we only play temas that

A. Will pay out $350k for a game or more, and no more than once per season
B. Play us in a home/home scenario
C. Will take a paydate and play us in Cheney only

I can't see any scenario that makes sense if it doesn't fit into these categories. Washington and WSU fit nicely, but Idaho and South Dakota are alrmingly far from any category. I think we only got $200k for Nevada last year, but it wasn't a bad deal because Oregon State had to buy us out of that same date for $250k and we didn't have another big FBS/BCS game already on the sked (I could have the $200k and $250k mixed up, but it all equals the same).

At this point, for $50k we could make a profit on a D-II early in the year. This isn't the late 80s when we averaged 3,000 per game and faced the worst budget crunch in EWU history (yet still managed to play D-II teasm at home...). It really doesn't give us any kind of financial excuse for being in a different place.