Reflections on 2015 season

[CaseyOrourke]

Watching the last two minutes, even though we lost this one, I'll still damn proud of their accomplishments. In the preseason, nobody thought we had a chance, But coach Barnum has managed, in one season, to turn this team around and accomplish something no coach has in 15 years.


I know we missed opportunities and probably left a lot of points on the field, but we still managed to make a mark on the Big Sky and the FCS. I believe next season will be even better because as winners we will improve in our recruiting, our younger players will mature and this years juniors will continue to lead by example.

 

[bigskyconf]

It wasn't supposed to end this way.

 

[bigskyconf]

As the season started, all we could hear
"Your program is done. We'll give it a year.
With your meager budget and your interim coach.
Face it, Vik fans, your program is toast."
We headed to Pullman, unsure of this team
Hard to be excited, hard to dream.
We stayed close to that Pirate, Mike Leach
Until we realized, victory was in reach.
Idaho State fell and so did W.O.U.
All of a sudden we were thinking of something new.
Soaking the glory, soaking the fame
Until we encountered a bunch of No-Names.
The doubters came back, they started to say
"Your season is done. Go back on your way.
You had a good start but looking at the glass,
A tough slate to follow, a very tough task."
We got back to business, we didn't lose our cool,
And we routed North Texas, an FBS school.
Montana State soon followed, Cal Poly and Montana
And we started our own vendetta.
This season is great, this season is fun.
Come join us all, we'll soon be #1.
But our hopes would be dashed on a field in Greeley
And our fine season would again be reeling.
But Southern Utah fell and so did E-Woo
And the people soon realized, this dream could be true.
All the die-hards looked around and said "Yikes!"
For there were Duck fans, Beaver fans, cheering the Viks.
On to the playoffs, carry out the plan
For the Vikings were the best in the land.
But we met a team who's play was far superior
And we all soon realized that we were inferior.
As the seconds ticked down, nothing left to shout
For it is a sad day in Portland---BarneyBall has been knocked out.

 

[CaseyOrourke]

Let's be positive.

Yes barnyball has stumbled, but given where we were predicted to be at the beginning of the season, we still exceeded all expectations.

We still have a solid core of returning players who still believe in what they accomplished and if they keep up that attitude it will infect our incoming recruits and we WILL become a force to be reckoned with in the FCS.

How soon we forget that Oregon spent a lot of years as the Pac-10 doormat before it became relavent once they found the coach who managed to turn their program around.

I believe we are at that juncture and Barnum is the man who can do just that for us.

We weren't the only seeded team to fall yesterday, James Madison and McNeese State, who were seeded higher than us, also fell.

It happens, remember it, but don't let it define us. Remember what we accomplished, we had 9 wins in the regular season, we beat Washington State in our very first game, we set a record for the largest margin of victory over an FCS team over an FBS team in North Texas, We beat 5 ranked opponents in the regular season. The team has nothing to be ashamed of and can hold their heads high.

If the team let it get to them because they lost a game, this team would have imploded after the games with North Dakota and Northern Colorado, but we came back, kicked butt and took names and earned everything we got. Now that they know they can accomplish something great in the regular season, this is a new beginning for PSU football.

 

[bigskyconf]

You wanted a reflection on the 2015 season and I gave it to you. After having a beer to drown my sorrows and reading "Casey at the Bat", I thought I'd compose a poem.

Seriously, as I pointed out on OLive, one key ingredient towards keeping this thing going is scheduling. 7 DI wins pretty much guarantees you a spot in the playoffs, 7 wins total means you PROBABLY will be in. If we are playing two FBS teams, playing a game with a DII makes the margin for error in the 8 game conference really thin. Unless you can steal a win over one of the FBS teams, you pretty much need to go at least 7-1 in the conference, which means you probably will get the autobid anyway. If we can replace the DII with an FCS counter somehow (and get the win), that creates a cushion, some leeway in case we stumble twice in conference play. With a DII on the schedule, and stumbling twice in conference, we would still have 7 wins, but we would be at the mercy of the committee, and ask North Dakota this year how that works.

As a matter of fact, turn the Wazzu win into a loss, and our resume is similar to North Dakota. In that case, chances are good the committee would have taken UND over us because UND beat us head to head.

If we need to schedule two FBS that is fine. But match that with an FCS game as a counter. Don't hamstring the team right off the bat by scheduling a DII. There is too much at stake.

 

[CaseyOrourke]

Ok, I see your point. Actually I liked the adaption of Casey at the Bat. I chose to dwell on the positives of the season.

Unless that open date in the 2016 schedule has already been filled. we need to start campaigning AD Roundtree to try so score a home and home with another FCS team, hopefully a home and home agreement with a quality non Big Sky team, so we can get a true measure of how well we measure up next season.

 

[bigskyconf]

Ok, I see your point. Actually I liked the adaption of Casey at the Bat. I chose to dwell on the positives of the season.

Unless that open date in the 2016 schedule has already been filled. we need to start campaigning AD Roundtree to try so score a home and home with another FCS team, hopefully a home and home agreement with a quality non Big Sky team, so we can get a true measure of how well we measure up next season.

The Valley is willing to schedule the Big Sky with home and home. NDSU played three Big Sky teams this year, Montana, Weber and North Dakota. UNI played both EWU and Cal Poly. Southern Utah took on South Dakota State and Davis played South Dakota. Really when you look at it, as long as you don't schedule Youngstown, there isn't any trip that is THAT long a plane ride from Portland.

At the end of the radio broadcast last night, Tom Hewitt mentioned that the next game is at home against Central Washington to start the 2016 season, but I have been unable to confirm that so he may have jumped the gun in announcing it.

The scheduling issue is a real one, more than people think. The 2006 season we played three money games against the FBS (New Mexico, Cal and Oregon) and the Big Sky slate. We beat New Mexico who went on to win a bowl game that year. We lost to both Montana and Montana State. We ended up tying Montana State for runner up to conference champ Montana. The committee ended up taking the Bobcats over us based solely on their head to head win over us (the Bobcats had a loss to a DI transitional team that year, but they also had a win over Colorado). Basically, with the three money games on the docket, our chances of making the playoffs were none, unless we won the conference. To this day, I still think that 2006 team was the best team we've had since joining the Big Sky, even better than the 2000 team (or this year's team).