Terrific senior day win for the Bengals. Dan McSurdy capped his career in style. Congrats to all the seniors who endured the dark days and now get to walk away with their heads held high. Now we wait for the selection committee. I don't think Montana's thrashing of MSU today helped our cause, but we shall see. Off to the Big Sky volleyball championships. It's good to be a Bengal!
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Congratulations!
- Thread starter Skippy
- Start date
boisebengal
Active member
Great crowd on hand and I'm real happy especially for the players and coaches. There's a pretty good player from Bishop Kelly HS in Boise that I met at the game that was here for an official visit, and I certainly hope that he would highly consider coming here.
Congrats to the players, coaches, and everybody else involved! Thank you for a great season!
And at least we're ranked in the final poll!
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And at least we're ranked in the final poll!
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Mike, his staff and the players had a terrific season. They ended a lot of streaks and made the program relevant again. Hopefully Mike picks up a 4th Big Sky Coach of the Year Award.
The next step in the process is to have consecutive winning seasons.
We'll see what happens next year...they've got a tough, tough schedule.
Enjoyed being a part of it this year.
One thing that I did notice in the story released by the Big Sky Conference at their web site was that when talking about ISU, the story said they did not have seven wins against FBS or FCS opponents and that every other team that got in did.
You may remember Mike Kramer bringing up that item in his postgame comments after the loss at Montana State. Apparently it is a big factor with the selection committee.
PBP
The next step in the process is to have consecutive winning seasons.
We'll see what happens next year...they've got a tough, tough schedule.
Enjoyed being a part of it this year.
One thing that I did notice in the story released by the Big Sky Conference at their web site was that when talking about ISU, the story said they did not have seven wins against FBS or FCS opponents and that every other team that got in did.
You may remember Mike Kramer bringing up that item in his postgame comments after the loss at Montana State. Apparently it is a big factor with the selection committee.
PBP
pocatato
Active member
Indiana State's resume was not overly impressive with five losses and only one BCS game. It reinforces the point that if a team wants to play in the post season that team needs to leave no doubt. A coach in the last year of his contract and three losing seasons under his belt needs to build some success into the schedule and I would be surprised if even Coach K thought he would be this good when this schedule was put together. It is also true that there aren't that many opportunities to play FCS opponents in the west that will leave ISU with five home games each year. Our schedule this year left us little room for error and a road game at MSU in extreme weather made it even more of a slim window. Regardless of this playoff slight, the Bengals proved they are for real and deserve our congratulations. Way to go, coaches and players!
up for the challenge
Active member
Congratulations Bengals on a great season! The team selections for the playoffs was not good news for the players, coaches, fans, student body, and alumni. I know the team wanted to compete and show their stuff in the playoffs.
Scheduling will always be a major issue for ISU because of the fiscal realities of the ISU athletic program. As long as they have to play two money games every year -- especially in years when they can only schedule 11 games, ISU is pretty much going to have to go 7-1 in league to get in the playoffs. ISU got a break this year with a relatively light conference schedule and road games with teams having down years. This really was the "perfect storm" we've all been hoping for the past 10 years. And to the Bengals' credit, they took advantage of the opportunities.
In my view the key to sustained excellence is finding enough revenue to drop one of the money games. That not only gives a better opportunity to play winnable games, it also gives ISU 6 home games a year. And a better opportunity to schedule for early season momentum. In no other sport is scheduling so critical to success. No program can completely control their schedules, but those that exert the most control (read Montana) have the best opportunity for success. And that all starts with revenue.
In my view the key to sustained excellence is finding enough revenue to drop one of the money games. That not only gives a better opportunity to play winnable games, it also gives ISU 6 home games a year. And a better opportunity to schedule for early season momentum. In no other sport is scheduling so critical to success. No program can completely control their schedules, but those that exert the most control (read Montana) have the best opportunity for success. And that all starts with revenue.
PBP said:
I agree in that it seems to be the deciding factor, no matter what. The two head scratchers for me are Stephen F. Austin and Sam Houston State. SFA has 7 wins against Division I opponents, but some of those wins are against the likes of Incarnate Word and Houston Baptist. Both are second year FCS, if I'm not mistaken. They also have a win against Weber State, and a loss to Abilene Christian, another second year FCS program. Sam Houston State is worse in many ways. They lost big to EWU, AND lost to a Division II school! None of their other wins were particularly great wins, also against the likes of Incarnate Word, Houston Baptist, Alabama State, and Abilene Christian.
In theory, ISU was penalized for playing, and beating, two Division II opponents, but Sam Houston state was rewarded for losing to a division II program and feasting on some FCS patsies.
pocatato said:
Said very well, pocatato.
If you ask Kramer, I bet he'd still say he is in the process of rebuilding this program. Nobody saw this team doing as well as they did, and scheduling two D2 schools was a way to get home games and build confidence. It bit them in the end, but my guess is the importance of scheduling is finally hitting home with ISU.
pocatato
Active member
I think the health of our athletic program can be measured by the fact that in the last year five Bengals teams have played in a champions game or a game with championship implications. Bengals only won one such contest but two of those Bengals teams hosted a conference tournament. There are still challenges but we are in much better shape. I am proud to be a Bengal. These are my teams.
spudbowl
Active member
One of the best parts of this season for me is the fact that I see Bengal orange, Bengal flags, Bengals signs all over town and I have not seen a BSU Bronco shirt, flag, or sign for weeks. The football team has taken Pocatello back for ISU. Go Bengals!
ps: Congrats and thanks to the ISU volleyball team as well. They fell short in the championship game but they had a great season. The Friday win over NAU was about as good as sporting events can get.
ps: Congrats and thanks to the ISU volleyball team as well. They fell short in the championship game but they had a great season. The Friday win over NAU was about as good as sporting events can get.
