It's great to see all the "little" positive things that are starting to emerge as a result of Idaho State's successful football season: Mike Kramer getting national recognition; Justin Arias and Mario Jenkins also nominated for national awards. The Idaho Statesman has been actually producing staff-written articles about ISU this year, with a recent feature on Madison Mangum the latest example. They also are adding local "tops" to wire stories about ISU games which feature the exploits of Boise Valley athletes like Mangum, Dan McSurdy and Hagen Graves. On Sunday, even after ISU lost to MSU, their game story got good display at the top of page 3, and mentioned the contributions of those Boise Valley players. (Idaho's loss, by comparison, was relegated to a short, one-column piece on the same page).
None of these developments by themselves is a "game changer," but you put them all together, and it adds to the positive "aura" that is starting to develop around the program. When the e-grizzers are debating Kramer as a potential next coach, that can only be a good thing.
Here's hoping the Bengals keep the positive momentum going with a big win over Weber State Saturday. After doing some more in-depth research and hearing from people like Jeff Tingey, who certainly knows much more about the situation than I, I'm moving off my stance that Idaho State is "done" as far as playoff possibilities are concerned. I still think they are a long shot, but even if they don't get in, a win over Weber makes ISU's emergence more "real" to recruits, media pundits and other "opinion makers." And that can only be a good thing.
There are still some very real challenges that this program faces, beginning next season with a much tougher conference schedule, the loss of one "gimmy" win, and, of course, the graduation of key players like Justin Arias, Mitch Beckstead, Austin Graves, etc. But finishing 8-4 would sure give the program a lot more positive momentum to meet those challenges.
None of these developments by themselves is a "game changer," but you put them all together, and it adds to the positive "aura" that is starting to develop around the program. When the e-grizzers are debating Kramer as a potential next coach, that can only be a good thing.
Here's hoping the Bengals keep the positive momentum going with a big win over Weber State Saturday. After doing some more in-depth research and hearing from people like Jeff Tingey, who certainly knows much more about the situation than I, I'm moving off my stance that Idaho State is "done" as far as playoff possibilities are concerned. I still think they are a long shot, but even if they don't get in, a win over Weber makes ISU's emergence more "real" to recruits, media pundits and other "opinion makers." And that can only be a good thing.
There are still some very real challenges that this program faces, beginning next season with a much tougher conference schedule, the loss of one "gimmy" win, and, of course, the graduation of key players like Justin Arias, Mitch Beckstead, Austin Graves, etc. But finishing 8-4 would sure give the program a lot more positive momentum to meet those challenges.