Idaho State's 2016 schedule

[Franko]

Idaho State's 2016 schedule

(2014 records in parentheses)

Sept. 3: vs SIMON FRASER (0-9)
Sept. 10: at Colorado (4-9)
Sept. 17: at Oregon State (2-10)
Sept. 24: vs SACRAMENTO STATE (2-9, 1-7)
Oct. 1: at Portland State (9-3, 6-2)
Oct. 8: BYE
Oct. 15: at Northern Arizona (7-4, 5-3)
Oct. 22: vs NORTH DAKOTA (7-4, 5-3)
Oct. 29: vs SOUTHERN UTAH (8-4, 7-1)
Nov. 5: at Montana (8-5, 6-2)
Nov. 12: at Eastern Washington (6-5, 5-3)
Nov. 19: vs WEBER STATE (6-5, 5-3)

11 games
5 at home
6 on the road
2 FBS opponents
1 Division II opponent
8 Big Sky Conference games
7 opponents with winning records in 2015
7 ISU plays the top seven teams in the Big Sky from last season
53-39 record of ISU’s opponents in 2015
40-24 conference record of ISU’s opponents in 2015
62.5% winning percentage of ISU’s ’16 conference opponents in ’15
1-5 Idaho State’s ’15 record versus its ’16 opponents
2 games ISU will be favored in to start the season (Simon Fraser, Sac State)

The good part about Idaho State’s 2016 football schedule is that there’s a good balance between home and away games. The Bengals are on the road for back-to-back road games twice, once in September and again in November. And the bye week is conveniently located between trips to Portland State and Northern Arizona in October.

The good part about Idaho State’s 2016 football schedule is how the Bengals should leave September 2-2 overall and 1-0 in the Big Sky Conference. Obviously playing Colorado and Oregon State is going to be tough, but Simon Fraser will be a blowout and Sac State is as good of an opponent that you can hope for coming off two FBS whippings.

The good part about Idaho State’s 2016 football schedule is that the five home games are winnable, all of ’em. Think back to 2014 Bengals football. Six of Idaho State’s eight wins were in Holt. If the Bengals are going to take a step forward in 2016, it starts with winning at home. Sac State is an absolute must-win game. North Dakota will be very difficult but not impossible. Southern Utah lost its head coach, a senior quarterback and several defensive stars. I’d expect the Thunderbirds to take a significant step back. And then ISU ends the season against Weber State, an improving program and one poised to compete for a Big Sky championship with a favorable ’16 schedule. But if you’re the Bengals and playing your rival at home, you’d better anticipate a victory.

The bad part about Idaho State’s 2016 football schedule is that it will be nearly impossible to make the playoffs. Let’s assume Simon Fraser is a win, the two FBS games are losses and Sac State is a victory. At 2-2 and 1-0, the Bengals, to make the playoffs, would have to A) win the league outright or B) finish 6-1 … maybe 5-2 to earn an at-large bid. Goodness gracious, that would be difficult.

Because the bad part about Idaho State’s 2016 football schedule is that the Bengals’ road games are unbelievably arduous. At Colorado and at Oregon State, yeah, not good. But then there are dates with Portland State, Northern Arizona, Montana and Eastern Washington. Holy cow! Portland State is ready to go with #BarneyBallTheReturn, Northern Arizona has the league’s best young quarterback, ISU hasn’t beaten Montana on the road since 1983 and Eastern Washington is going to be one heck of a difficult place to win. Honestly, ISU’s slate of away games next season is one of the more difficult in the entire FCS.

The bad part about Idaho State’s 2016 football schedule is how the scheduling gods didn’t do the Bengals many favors. Another major factor in Idaho State’s eight-win campaign back in 2014 was a favorable schedule. ISU went 6-2 in the Big Sky and that included TWO victories against opponents that finished with winning records. In that magical 2014 campaign, Kramer’s Bengals didn’t have to play Montana (9-5 in ’14), Northern Arizona (7-5) or North Dakota (5-7). Instead, ISU feasted upon Weber State (2-10), Portland State (3-9), Northern Colorado (3-8) and Southern Utah (3-9).

Now who the heck knows how things will play out in the coming season. But, as things stand today, the fact ISU’s schedule includes the top seven Big Sky teams from 2015 is brutal, utterly brutal.

Gosh dang, that’s negative. Ending on a positive note, then, here’s something Idaho State fans can tell themselves: If we go 4-1 at home and pull off an upset or two on the road, our team will have shown a massive improvement from the disastrous year we had in 2015.

 

[up for the challenge]

4 - 7.

 

[bengalcub]

5-6 best case.

 

[JJB]

I'll beat the horse to death if I have to, but the two FBS yearly games have to go. ISU didn't regularly play 2 yearly until 2008, when Tingey took over and probably figured it was a way to pull the department out of the debt which Bubb left. Unfortunately, the extra FBS game became too easy to rely on.

 

[Skippy]

This is the conundrum: ISU will probably never make the playoffs as long as they continue the current practice of playing two money games and one lower division team every year. That's two loses and one "non-counter," which means you're probably going to have to go undefeated or lose just one game in conference to get in the playoffs.

The other side of the conundrum is that ISU barely balances the budget these days, even with two money games. If they dropped one they'd likely go in the hole for that fiscal year. Now ISU does have a million bucks in the bank as reserve. So theoretically you could schedule just one money games a couple of seasons in an effort to get in the playoffs those years. But you'd have to make those decisions several years in advance and your team may not be good enough when those seasons come around to make any difference.

Tough decisions. Right now it's good that ISU has a source of funding through money games. Many FBS leagues are moving away from scheduling FCS teams and that is a source of revenue ISU relies upon to consistently balance the books.

 

[bhumble]

dump the Div. 2 game and schedule another FCS team in their place and survive on 1 FBS game instead of 2. Until we do that or something similar we will never make the playoffs.

 

[Skippy]

dump the Div. 2 game and schedule another FCS team in their place and survive on 1 FBS game instead of 2. Until we do that or something similar we will never make the playoffs.

You can only get by on one FBS game for so long. In the last five years ISU has averaged $820 k per year in game guarantees from football -- an average of about $410 K per game. During that same time period ISU's average net income per year has been just over $33 k. So if you play only one money game a year, the athletic department would be losing an average of $377 K per year -- unless you cut costs or found other sources of revenue. At that rate you'd exhaust the current reserve fund in about four years.

 

[PBP]

It always revolves around money doesn't it? And right now ISU seems to be between a rock and a hard place. Don't know if there is an easy answer to this one.

What I do know is that the schedule for next football season is about as difficult as you can make it.

PBP

 

[up for the challenge]

Selling out Holt Arena would help but that will not happen until the team starts winning games.

 

[NewBengFan]

Selling out Holt Arena would help but that will not happen until the team starts winning games.

And we wont win games until we get a decent schedule like 2014. It is a vicious cycle.

 

[clawsout]

...6 and 5 only because I'm feeling optimistic today.....

 

[bhumble]

dump the Div. 2 game and schedule another FCS team in their place and survive on 1 FBS game instead of 2. Until we do that or something similar we will never make the playoffs.

You can only get by on one FBS game for so long. In the last five years ISU has averaged $820 k per year in game guarantees from football -- an average of about $410 K per game. During that same time period ISU's average net income per year has been just over $33 k. So if you play only one money game a year, the athletic department would be losing an average of $377 K per year -- unless you cut costs or found other sources of revenue. At that rate you'd exhaust the current reserve fund in about four years.

So, you have 4 years to make the playoffs, and hopefully advance, which draws more people, better recruits and therefore more revenue

 

[JJB]

 

[up for the challenge]

Selling out Holt Arena would help but that will not happen until the team starts winning games.

And we wont win games until we get a decent schedule like 2014. It is a vicious cycle.

What would be a decent schedule in the Big Sky? The good teams want to play good teams. You have to win against the good teams to make the playoffs.

 

[notabengalalum]

You can't be serious! (To quote John McEnroe)

"The good part about Idaho State’s 2016 football schedule is that there’s a good balance between home and away games. The Bengals are on the road for back-to-back road games twice, once in September and again in November. And the bye week is conveniently located between trips to Portland State and Northern Arizona in October."

Yeah, that three week stint of no home football will do wonders for fan and student interest. Just like last year and times before that - especially if the team is having a struggle with the "W" column. Piss poor scheduling! :thumbdown:
Can you say "Ground Hog Day?"

 

[PBP]

I'd be curious to learn who and how the schedules are done for football and basketball. I'm guessing the schools have a little input but not much overall. Conference probably has the majority of the call on this one.

PBP