Illinois State

[dudeitsaid]

Also note, we were 23-1 against FCS, including many Top 25 teams. And we went 3-9 against FBS, only getting blown out 2 or 3 times. We were the only team that didn't play FBS, because Ball St bought us out of our game this year. But per Sagarin and Massey after 5 weeks of non-conference games had MVFC with the toughest strength of schedule by far. And Massey has all 10 MVFC teams ranked 1-10 in SOS after entire regular season; I think Sagarin does too, just haven't verified it is all 10 yet.

Once again, that 23-1 is as a conference. And please list the "many Top 25 teams" in that supposedly impressive OOC record?

I think the best OOC win was over UM. A team we just beat by more points. But once again, that wasn't the Redbirds that beat UM, or NAU, or Cal Poly. So I don't know why you're claiming credit for that.

 

[dudeitsaid]

Redbirds best OOC win, Massey Rated #36 Eastern Illinois 34-15. Don't know that you would want to point out Miss Valley State or Austin Peay, as they both would barely squeak by the NAIA team we played early in the season.

Our best OOC win, Massey Rated #11 SHSU, a team that has won two playoff games so far, and just took out the 3 seed.

I only hope your coaches and players have taken the same solace in the empty stats of OOC record that the MVFC as a whole as pointed to constantly. Look at the teams the conference played, it wasn't as impressive as it's made to sound.

 

[Redbird 4th & short]

Redbirds best OOC win, Massey Rated #36 Eastern Illinois 34-15. Don't know that you would want to point out Miss Valley State or Austin Peay, as they both would barely squeak by the NAIA team we played early in the season.

Our best OOC win, Massey Rated #11 SHSU, a team that has won two playoff games so far, and just took out the 3 seed.

I only hope your coaches and players have taken the same solace in the empty stats of OOC record that the MVFC as a whole as pointed to constantly. Look at the teams the conference played, it wasn't as impressive as it's made to sound.

You thought we had only won 2 games against teams in upper half of you conference. But MVFC actually won 5 games against teams in upper half of your conference and are now 9-1 against Big Sky. We had 5 teams make round of 16 with first round wins over ranked teams: Mont St and EKU .. both on the road against higher ranked teams supposedly. As for your SHSU win, they also lost to Northwestern St early in season; who lost to Missouri St (1-7). I could go on and on, and have done too much research on this topic usin below resources. It doesn't change our match up with you .. which will be a good one.

But if your interested, just start tracing a few of these links, and you'll see what I mean. All objective sources that compile all the data to produce rankings and SOS. MVFC stands alone, top to bottom the last 3 years for sure, arguably 4 years. FCS selection committee took way too long to figure this out.

Massey: http://www.masseyratings.com/rate.php?s=cf2014&sub=11605" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Sagarin: http://www.usatoday.com/sports/ncaaf/sagarin/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Massey Poll of Polls: http://www.masseyratings.com/cf/compare1aa.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[dudeitsaid]

Redbirds best OOC win, Massey Rated #36 Eastern Illinois 34-15. Don't know that you would want to point out Miss Valley State or Austin Peay, as they both would barely squeak by the NAIA team we played early in the season.

Our best OOC win, Massey Rated #11 SHSU, a team that has won two playoff games so far, and just took out the 3 seed.

I only hope your coaches and players have taken the same solace in the empty stats of OOC record that the MVFC as a whole as pointed to constantly. Look at the teams the conference played, it wasn't as impressive as it's made to sound.

You thought we had only won 2 games against teams in upper half of you conference. But MVFC actually won 5 games against teams in upper half of your conference and are now 9-1 against Big Sky. We had 5 teams make round of 16 with first round wins over ranked teams: Mont St and EKU .. both on the road against higher ranked teams supposedly. As for your SHSU win, they also lost to Northwestern St early in season; who lost to Missouri St (1-7). I could go on and on, and have done too much research on this topic usin below resources. It doesn't change our match up with you .. which will be a good one.

But if your interested, just start tracing a few of these links, and you'll see what I mean. All objective sources that compile all the data to produce rankings and SOS. MVFC stands alone, top to bottom the last 3 years for sure, arguably 4 years. FCS selection committee took way too long to figure this out.

Massey: http://www.masseyratings.com/rate.php?s=cf2014&sub=11605" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Sagarin: http://www.usatoday.com/sports/ncaaf/sagarin/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Massey Poll of Polls: http://www.masseyratings.com/cf/compare1aa.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Once again, we are not playing the MVFC. We are playing a team from the MVFC. This game will be won and lost on the merits and varying factors that come into play this weekend, not on what OOC games other teams in your conference won, because yours aren't making anyone tremble in their boots. Pointing to what the MVFC did in their OOC games has very little bearing on EWU.

The MVFC has had a great run. Two of the teams that lost in the playoffs lost to MVFC teams. But EWU has gotten the same song and dance previously in the playoffs about how the CAA, and now the MVFC are just so good as a conference that their teams are in another class, and they are going to win, and we are the underdogs. We heard last year after SDSU hammered NAU that the mighty MVFC playoff team was going to waltz into Cheney an run all over another Big Fluffy team. Check out how that worked out.

You have a good team. I think they are all dang good teams at this point. EWU won't win without playing top notch football. But if you honestly are going to take solace in what your conference has done as if it has anything to do with this game, you are delusional.

 

[kalm]

Redbirds best OOC win, Massey Rated #36 Eastern Illinois 34-15. Don't know that you would want to point out Miss Valley State or Austin Peay, as they both would barely squeak by the NAIA team we played early in the season.

Our best OOC win, Massey Rated #11 SHSU, a team that has won two playoff games so far, and just took out the 3 seed.

I only hope your coaches and players have taken the same solace in the empty stats of OOC record that the MVFC as a whole as pointed to constantly. Look at the teams the conference played, it wasn't as impressive as it's made to sound.

You thought we had only won 2 games against teams in upper half of you conference. But MVFC actually won 5 games against teams in upper half of your conference and are now 9-1 against Big Sky. We had 5 teams make round of 16 with first round wins over ranked teams: Mont St and EKU .. both on the road against higher ranked teams supposedly. As for your SHSU win, they also lost to Northwestern St early in season; who lost to Missouri St (1-7). I could go on and on, and have done too much research on this topic usin below resources. It doesn't change our match up with you .. which will be a good one.

But if your interested, just start tracing a few of these links, and you'll see what I mean. All objective sources that compile all the data to produce rankings and SOS. MVFC stands alone, top to bottom the last 3 years for sure, arguably 4 years. FCS selection committee took way too long to figure this out.

Massey: http://www.masseyratings.com/rate.php?s=cf2014&sub=11605" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Sagarin: http://www.usatoday.com/sports/ncaaf/sagarin/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Massey Poll of Polls: http://www.masseyratings.com/cf/compare1aa.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Good discussion but you're not the only one who looks into this stuff and checks out the various ranking systems.

Massey can be very helpful, especially late in the season, but it's still a computer ranking with some flaws. For example, it has a 5-7 WIU at #14 and a 6-6 SIU at #16 who had zero quality wins and was beat by two or more scores against every quality opponent they faced.

Our SOS's are very comparable with us playing a much tougher OOC slate with some weaker in-conference opponents. The quality wins and losses are pretty damn close too with EWU having one more win against a playoff team, and ISU having a better loss (UNI vs. NAU).

And I'll echo the other comments regarding the MVFC. Terrific conference - especially this year - but not nearly as far out in front of the Big Sky and CAA as the computers or its fans suggest.

 

[clawman1]

Does Ill St have a fan forum?

 

[clawman1]

RB Coprich will get his yards no matter what, especially if QB Roberson is keeping everyone honest. I am guessing this will be a high scoring game.

Ya right, we've heard that before :lol: !

 

[360Eag]

Does Ill St have a fan forum?

http://www.redbirdfan.net/forum/viewforum.php?f=8" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[Seattle Eagle]

Redbirds best OOC win, Massey Rated #36 Eastern Illinois 34-15. Don't know that you would want to point out Miss Valley State or Austin Peay, as they both would barely squeak by the NAIA team we played early in the season.

Our best OOC win, Massey Rated #11 SHSU, a team that has won two playoff games so far, and just took out the 3 seed.

I only hope your coaches and players have taken the same solace in the empty stats of OOC record that the MVFC as a whole as pointed to constantly. Look at the teams the conference played, it wasn't as impressive as it's made to sound.

You thought we had only won 2 games against teams in upper half of you conference. But MVFC actually won 5 games against teams in upper half of your conference and are now 9-1 against Big Sky. We had 5 teams make round of 16 with first round wins over ranked teams: Mont St and EKU .. both on the road against higher ranked teams supposedly. As for your SHSU win, they also lost to Northwestern St early in season; who lost to Missouri St (1-7). I could go on and on, and have done too much research on this topic usin below resources. It doesn't change our match up with you .. which will be a good one.

But if your interested, just start tracing a few of these links, and you'll see what I mean. All objective sources that compile all the data to produce rankings and SOS. MVFC stands alone, top to bottom the last 3 years for sure, arguably 4 years. FCS selection committee took way too long to figure this out.

Massey: http://www.masseyratings.com/rate.php?s=cf2014&sub=11605" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Sagarin: http://www.usatoday.com/sports/ncaaf/sagarin/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Massey Poll of Polls: http://www.masseyratings.com/cf/compare1aa.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I count four wins over teams in the top half of the Big Sky. The others came against a 5-7 N. Dakota, 3-9 S. Utah, a 3-8 N. Colorado, and a 2-10 Weber St. What's the fifth one?

Ndsu over Montana 22-10
Sdsu over Montana St 47-40
S Dakota over NAU 28-21
Sdsu over Cal Poly 48-18

 

[REALBird]

Greetings Eagle fans.

I'm not going to pretend to know anything and everything about EWU, other than I think you guys have a damned good team. I watched your game against Portland State, caught half the game against NAU when VA was injured, and caught a bit of the Montana game. I came away very impressed with #9 (Kupp?) that guy is an athlete. Overall I came away very impressed with your team, and this should be a good game this weekend. Easily the game of the week.

I think this will truly come down to the EWU offense vs. the ISU Defense. If we can gameplan Vernon Adams (no easy task) and keep the game from becoming a track meet I think we will have a chance to win. Obviously going on the road, and playing on "The Inferno" has to be worth a few points to the home team, as I can't see ANYONE coming in there and making an adjustment to that field if you haven't played on it before.

As for our team, I think the only thing I really saw that was out of the ordinary last week was our QB play. I think it had to be a high in completions, attempts, TD's thrown, and the fact that he utilized 7 different receivers......that was probably the one thing that stood out. Roberson didn't transfer until August, so he's REALLY just geting the entire playbook down having missed Spring Ball. While I like what Coprich does on the field, I was happier to see us be more consistent in the run/pass ratio and not be so one dimensional.

I think we need to pass to keep the DEF honest, and run to move the clock. Our biggest task is trying to slow you guys down and see if we can win TOP in a low scoring DEF affair. If the points start rolling up, it definitely plays into EWU's advantage.

Should be a heck of a game. Good luck.

 

[luckyintheorder]

We also expect a very tough game against EWU. But we won 5 games against 4 teams that finished 3rd thru 6th and above .500; and all 4 were competing for Big Sky conference late into season.

- South Dakota (0-8 in MVFC) beat Northern Az (5-3) by 7 and lost to Montana (6-3) by just 8 pts.
- SDSU (5-4) blew out Cal Poly (6-3) by 26 pts, their worst loss of year; then beat Southern UT (3-5) by 20; then just beat Mont St (6-3) at their place by 7.
- NDSU beat Montana by just 12, but stats were pretty lopsided; but had weak showing at Weber St (2-7) winning by just 17
- Missouri St (1-7) beat North Dakota (3-5) by 38, their 2nd worst loss of year
- UNI (5-3) beat Northern CO (2-6) by 39, their worst loss of year.
.

Dude. Without diving into the transitive minutia, ISU played six good teams, EWU played six good teams (not including NAU, who we lost too) to date. Let's call it a push on schedule.

As far as talent level... eye test. Like the size and physicality of the ISU team, but like Eags speed, size and depth in this match up. You might have SDSU to blame for some of this as last year we man handled what looked like a physical running team, just like you did with UNI last week. Anyway, it is the opinion I have and all other things being equal Eags win!

 

[luckyintheorder]

Greetings Eagle fans.

I'm not going to pretend to know anything and everything about EWU, other than I think you guys have a damned good team. I watched your game against Portland State, caught half the game against NAU when VA was injured, and caught a bit of the Montana game. I came away very impressed with #9 (Kupp?) that guy is an athlete. Overall I came away very impressed with your team, and this should be a good game this weekend. Easily the game of the week.

I think this will truly come down to the EWU offense vs. the ISU Defense. If we can gameplan Vernon Adams (no easy task) and keep the game from becoming a track meet I think we will have a chance to win. Obviously going on the road, and playing on "The Inferno" has to be worth a few points to the home team, as I can't see ANYONE coming in there and making an adjustment to that field if you haven't played on it before.

As for our team, I think the only thing I really saw that was out of the ordinary last week was our QB play. I think it had to be a high in completions, attempts, TD's thrown, and the fact that he utilized 7 different receivers......that was probably the one thing that stood out. Roberson didn't transfer until August, so he's REALLY just geting the entire playbook down having missed Spring Ball. While I like what Coprich does on the field, I was happier to see us be more consistent in the run/pass ratio and not be so one dimensional.

I think we need to pass to keep the DEF honest, and run to move the clock. Our biggest task is trying to slow you guys down and see if we can win TOP in a low scoring DEF affair. If the points start rolling up, it definitely plays into EWU's advantage.

Should be a heck of a game. Good luck.

Was thinking we had an edge on offensive cohesion just on how long the unit has been playing together with VA at the helm. Roberson impressed last week against an opponent he'd already seen once. The plan is to disrupt those patterns or his timing with pressure. We will see Saturday

 

[Redbird 4th & short]

Redbirds best OOC win, Massey Rated #36 Eastern Illinois 34-15. Don't know that you would want to point out Miss Valley State or Austin Peay, as they both would barely squeak by the NAIA team we played early in the season.

Our best OOC win, Massey Rated #11 SHSU, a team that has won two playoff games so far, and just took out the 3 seed.

I only hope your coaches and players have taken the same solace in the empty stats of OOC record that the MVFC as a whole as pointed to constantly. Look at the teams the conference played, it wasn't as impressive as it's made to sound.

You thought we had only won 2 games against teams in upper half of you conference. But MVFC actually won 5 games against teams in upper half of your conference and are now 9-1 against Big Sky. We had 5 teams make round of 16 with first round wins over ranked teams: Mont St and EKU .. both on the road against higher ranked teams supposedly. As for your SHSU win, they also lost to Northwestern St early in season; who lost to Missouri St (1-7). I could go on and on, and have done too much research on this topic usin below resources. It doesn't change our match up with you .. which will be a good one.

But if your interested, just start tracing a few of these links, and you'll see what I mean. All objective sources that compile all the data to produce rankings and SOS. MVFC stands alone, top to bottom the last 3 years for sure, arguably 4 years. FCS selection committee took way too long to figure this out.

Massey: http://www.masseyratings.com/rate.php?s=cf2014&sub=11605" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Sagarin: http://www.usatoday.com/sports/ncaaf/sagarin/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Massey Poll of Polls: http://www.masseyratings.com/cf/compare1aa.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I count four wins over teams in the top half of the Big Sky. The others came against a 5-7 N. Dakota, 3-9 S. Utah, a 3-8 N. Colorado, and a 2-10 Weber St. What's the fifth one?

Ndsu over Montana 22-10
Sdsu over Montana St 47-40
S Dakota over NAU 28-21
Sdsu over Cal Poly 48-18

Good catch, I accidentally included North Dakota as upper half team.

 

[Redbird 4th & short]

We also expect a very tough game against EWU. But we won 5 games against 4 teams that finished 3rd thru 6th and above .500; and all 4 were competing for Big Sky conference late into season.

- South Dakota (0-8 in MVFC) beat Northern Az (5-3) by 7 and lost to Montana (6-3) by just 8 pts.
- SDSU (5-4) blew out Cal Poly (6-3) by 26 pts, their worst loss of year; then beat Southern UT (3-5) by 20; then just beat Mont St (6-3) at their place by 7.
- NDSU beat Montana by just 12, but stats were pretty lopsided; but had weak showing at Weber St (2-7) winning by just 17
- Missouri St (1-7) beat North Dakota (3-5) by 38, their 2nd worst loss of year
- UNI (5-3) beat Northern CO (2-6) by 39, their worst loss of year.
.

Dude. Without diving into the transitive minutia, ISU played six good teams, EWU played six good teams (not including NAU, who we lost too) to date. Let's call it a push on schedule.

As far as talent level... eye test. Like the size and physicality of the ISU team, but like Eags speed, size and depth in this match up. You might have SDSU to blame for some of this as last year we man handled what looked like a physical running team, just like you did with UNI last week. Anyway, it is the opinion I have and all other things being equal Eags win!

I'm not questioning EWU deserving what they got. I think our conference grind was definitely tougher, but you had nice game against UW. Ball St paid us 300k to buy out our game, so we got stuck playing 2 patsies. Ironically, they kept the Indiana St game .. probably because they were 1-10 last year .. Indy St beat them anyway.

 

[luckyintheorder]

Redbird, where is the smack talk on redbirdfan.net. Ya'll are still talking about UNI and not really anything on your upcoming contest with a top ranked opponent.... Eastern Washington Eagles. Get back there and get those people focused man.

Clock is ticking

 

[Redbird 4th & short]

Redbirds best OOC win, Massey Rated #36 Eastern Illinois 34-15. Don't know that you would want to point out Miss Valley State or Austin Peay, as they both would barely squeak by the NAIA team we played early in the season.

Our best OOC win, Massey Rated #11 SHSU, a team that has won two playoff games so far, and just took out the 3 seed.

I only hope your coaches and players have taken the same solace in the empty stats of OOC record that the MVFC as a whole as pointed to constantly. Look at the teams the conference played, it wasn't as impressive as it's made to sound.

You thought we had only won 2 games against teams in upper half of you conference. But MVFC actually won 5 games against teams in upper half of your conference and are now 9-1 against Big Sky. We had 5 teams make round of 16 with first round wins over ranked teams: Mont St and EKU .. both on the road against higher ranked teams supposedly. As for your SHSU win, they also lost to Northwestern St early in season; who lost to Missouri St (1-7). I could go on and on, and have done too much research on this topic usin below resources. It doesn't change our match up with you .. which will be a good one.

But if your interested, just start tracing a few of these links, and you'll see what I mean. All objective sources that compile all the data to produce rankings and SOS. MVFC stands alone, top to bottom the last 3 years for sure, arguably 4 years. FCS selection committee took way too long to figure this out.

Massey: http://www.masseyratings.com/rate.php?s=cf2014&sub=11605" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Sagarin: http://www.usatoday.com/sports/ncaaf/sagarin/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Massey Poll of Polls: http://www.masseyratings.com/cf/compare1aa.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Good discussion but you're not the only one who looks into this stuff and checks out the various ranking systems.

Massey can be very helpful, especially late in the season, but it's still a computer ranking with some flaws. For example, it has a 5-7 WIU at #14 and a 6-6 SIU at #16 who had zero quality wins and was beat by two or more scores against every quality opponent they faced.

Our SOS's are very comparable with us playing a much tougher OOC slate with some weaker in-conference opponents. The quality wins and losses are pretty damn close too with EWU having one more win against a playoff team, and ISU having a better loss (UNI vs. NAU).

And I'll echo the other comments regarding the MVFC. Terrific conference - especially this year - but not nearly as far out in front of the Big Sky and CAA as the computers or its fans suggest.

we're in agreement on EWU. only point is that after EWU, we believe our conference is clearly better. I believe a comment was made earlier about MVFC being over-rated and there was too much talk about our 23-1 OOC record.

The reason for all the chatter about MVFC strength is there are very strong feelings and supporting stats that the MVFC gets way under-represented in FCS playoff the last 3 years. Last year in 2013, we had just 2 teams get in, same as Patriot, NEC, and MEAC .. it was pitiful. This depite having 5 teams ranked in Top 20 by all objective polls. in 2012 we had 7 teams in Top 20 per objective rankings and only got 3 teams in. In 2011 we got just 2 teams in and had 4 teams in Top 18.

I realize this sounds like sour grapes. But we have been doing very well for 4 years now, and it took until this year to get what we feel we deserve., We watch clearly weak conferences for 3 years get same number of bids or more than us .. it was nuts how redicullous it got. So we do have a not so small chip on our shoulder. Just tired of watching average and weak teams take our playoff spots for 3 straight years .. by our, I mean MVFC.

 

[Redbird 4th & short]

Redbird, where is the smack talk on redbirdfan.net. Ya'll are still talking about UNI and not really anything on your upcoming contest with a top ranked opponent.... Eastern Washington Eagles. Get back there and get those people focused man.

Clock is ticking

we like to do post mortems, win or lose, before moving on to next week. we'll get it going shortly.

by the way. love this board .. knows how to respectfully disagree. UNI football program is a class act, but their board is over-run by a bunch of hysterical fans. One week they talk national champions, the next week their making list of players who absolutely suck and which coaches should be fired yesterday.

anyway, EWU has great program and classy fan board.

agree to disagree all you want .. and have some fun doing it.

 

[Redbird 4th & short]

Redbirds best OOC win, Massey Rated #36 Eastern Illinois 34-15. Don't know that you would want to point out Miss Valley State or Austin Peay, as they both would barely squeak by the NAIA team we played early in the season.

Our best OOC win, Massey Rated #11 SHSU, a team that has won two playoff games so far, and just took out the 3 seed.

I only hope your coaches and players have taken the same solace in the empty stats of OOC record that the MVFC as a whole as pointed to constantly. Look at the teams the conference played, it wasn't as impressive as it's made to sound.

You thought we had only won 2 games against teams in upper half of you conference. But MVFC actually won 5 games against teams in upper half of your conference and are now 9-1 against Big Sky. We had 5 teams make round of 16 with first round wins over ranked teams: Mont St and EKU .. both on the road against higher ranked teams supposedly. As for your SHSU win, they also lost to Northwestern St early in season; who lost to Missouri St (1-7). I could go on and on, and have done too much research on this topic usin below resources. It doesn't change our match up with you .. which will be a good one.

But if your interested, just start tracing a few of these links, and you'll see what I mean. All objective sources that compile all the data to produce rankings and SOS. MVFC stands alone, top to bottom the last 3 years for sure, arguably 4 years. FCS selection committee took way too long to figure this out.

Massey: http://www.masseyratings.com/rate.php?s=cf2014&sub=11605" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Sagarin: http://www.usatoday.com/sports/ncaaf/sagarin/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Massey Poll of Polls: http://www.masseyratings.com/cf/compare1aa.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Good discussion but you're not the only one who looks into this stuff and checks out the various ranking systems.

Massey can be very helpful, especially late in the season, but it's still a computer ranking with some flaws. For example, it has a 5-7 WIU at #14 and a 6-6 SIU at #16 who had zero quality wins and was beat by two or more scores against every quality opponent they faced.

Our SOS's are very comparable with us playing a much tougher OOC slate with some weaker in-conference opponents. The quality wins and losses are pretty damn close too with EWU having one more win against a playoff team, and ISU having a better loss (UNI vs. NAU).

And I'll echo the other comments regarding the MVFC. Terrific conference - especially this year - but not nearly as far out in front of the Big Sky and CAA as the computers or its fans suggest.

Since you suggested MVFC isn't as strong as we think, i will respond.

Putting EWU aside where we have no argument .. a few weeks ago, you had Cal Poly, NAU, Montana sitting tied for first in your conference .. we did very well against these 3 teams, as well as the middle and lower tier teams.South Dakota beat NAU by 7 and lost to Montana by 8. Then went 0-8 in MVFC losing by average of 22 points per game. SIU is certainly an unusual example, but since you are saying MVFC is over-rated by Massey, I will have to again say, we are 9-1 against Big Sky with some large margins where our teams with less wins in conference are beating your teams with more wins in your conference. That has to speak to our superiority and depth top to bottom, putting only EWU aside. Montana had some very weak outings this year in and out of conference. Northern AZ, exact same thing. Cal Poly showed life beating Montana and Mont St but SDSU beat them badly. Last year, Big Sky got 4 teams while we got just 2 .. and quickly had 3 teams sent home. SDSU lost to EWU where you pulled away 2nd half.

Saw some posts on Zenner being over-rated. Your defense figured out how to contain Zenner last year, but he has lit up many very good FCS teams. Every great RB has an off day. His numbers against Big Sky and MVFC speak for themselves. This year, he put 250 on Mont St, 200 on Cal Poly and 150+ on Southern UT. Last year he ran for 296 on North Dakota, and 249 on NOrthern AZ, before EWU held him in check. Got to give credit where its due. Look at every great back at every level, there is always a down day or two.

 

[marceagfan5]

Illinois State looks good but I think they are overrated. The MVFC gets more credit than it deserves because of NDSU, who else from that conference has really made a run in the playoffs the last couple of years?

As far as Ill State, they have only played 4 road games this year. Two of them against cellar dwellers in their conference, one against UNI which they lost, and they had a good win against a 7-5 Indiana State on the road. They didn't play the best team in their conference, NDSU, so we really don't know how good they are. They only played 11 games this year, played a dog crap OOC schedule, and haven't proved they can beat a good team on the road.

I think Eastern wins big here. We have faced a MVFC team in our last 3 playoff appearances, all at home, and we won all 3. Beat NDSU by 7 in 2010, Ill State by 16 in 2012, and SDSU by 24 last year. The MVFC teams don't play against teams like EWU all year, they don't see our speed and our style and it bodes well for us. I think its a shootout but we dominate and really pull away in the 2nd half. The one thing the Red Birds have going for them is they have the type of QB that has hurt us before...

Should be a great game....I'm sure we will all be Chattanooga Fans Friday night...

 

[Screamin_Eagle174]

I'll just leave this here...

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw3XYaffu00[/youtube]