Vandals Coming to Pocatello for Bracketbusters

[biobengal]

Thanks for posting the video. He tried his hardest to make it sound like this is a rivalry game. I supposed to a certain extent, he's right. Did anyone else notice the dig he made when he said that the Bengals didn't want to play the Vandals? Maybe so, but this is the first time I've heard of that.

This does appear to be true and has been discussed and criticized on this board in some detail. IMO, by avoiding interdivision in state rivals in sports you're missing the point of "amateur" athletics. It was suggested that Joe didn't want to play the Vandals because of a friend on Verlin's staff.

Since you brought it up, Spaz, what is your opinion on whether this is a rivalry game?

 

[boisebengal]

Several years ago I had a nice talk with ISU assistant coach Tim Walsh when he was on O'Brien's staff. And back then ISU wouldn't play Idaho because they had an assistant on their staff with whom they both used to work with when they were at a community college in Iowa -- with whom O'Brien and Walsh were still good friends with. However, this assistant left Idaho just a few years ago and now I don't know why ISU doesn't want to play Idaho. Probably because of their snobbish attitude that they think their so much more superior to ISU and every other Big Sky team, and their insistence of trying to keep up with Boise in FB.

2012 fall enrollment figures

BSU -- almost 23,000 students
ISU -- 14,209 students
Idaho -- 12,493 students

U of I still = dying college

 

[biobengal]

U of I still = dying college

I see you've bought whatever Kustra and the Boise media has been selling. From my experience of having lived in Meridian, a bias exists in the Boise media which perpetuates this idea that the University of Idaho is a failed undertaking... rubbish.

 

[boisebengal]

Nope, I think their FB program is very successful and I think that University Place was a very successful venture which was proposed by many successful U of I alums!

 

[biobengal]

Nope, I think their FB program is very successful and I think that University Place was a very successful venture which was proposed by many successful U of I alums!

Yea, I think you're perfectly illustrated my point.

 

[boisebengal]

I don't think you were able to see the sarcasm in my sentence. At one time the U of I was the major university in the state but that's not the case anymore, although they do have some decent programs up there. Since most of the board members aren't U of I alums, then ISU and BSU have lately received much better support than they had in the past -- rightfully so. Whereas for many years Idaho used to get most of the money, because of the SBOE. And Idaho's been stripped of their flagship status. But no, Idaho will never be the dominant university that they were years ago when my parents went there and like they were about 25-30 years ago. Times have changed. BSU will continue to grow rapidly and become a much better university, and ISU will continue to hold their own as well and continue to grow. The population of SE Idaho is much greater than that of northern Idaho, and therefore ISU has much more potential for improvement and growth than does the U of I. For the most part you'll see ISU providing quality education to the students of SE Idaho, BSU will cater to the needs of SW Idaho students, and Idaho will provide a good education to the northern Idaho students, mainly. The question has long been asked as to why they ever built the land-grant university way out in the middle of nowhere in that barren wasteland of Moscow? And for that football program of theirs, I'm really convinced that the BSU-Idaho rivalry is over with, and you'll see Idaho back in the Big Sky within a few years, along with their olympic sports -- and their rivals will be Montana, EWU, and ISU. And this is what should have happened all along.

 

[biobengal]

Just tuned in, Bengals are playing decent down by 3.

 

[PBP]

It was a good game, just a point or two was the difference with two minutes to go. What cost ISU the game was a very bad exhibition from the free throw line and their zone defense wasn't rotating quickly enough leaving wide open Idaho shooters from the perimeter. And when they were open they didn't miss (and they also were great from the free throw line...)

Like Seton said on the coaches show Wednesday night, "little things mean a lot..." You don't do the little things well, they add up and you lose. That's what happened today.

Lip

 

[spazdog1]

Thanks for posting the video. He tried his hardest to make it sound like this is a rivalry game. I supposed to a certain extent, he's right. Did anyone else notice the dig he made when he said that the Bengals didn't want to play the Vandals? Maybe so, but this is the first time I've heard of that.

This does appear to be true and has been discussed and criticized on this board in some detail. IMO, by avoiding interdivision in state rivals in sports you're missing the point of "amateur" athletics. It was suggested that Joe didn't want to play the Vandals because of a friend on Verlin's staff.

Since you brought it up, Spaz, what is your opinion on whether this is a rivalry game?

First, let me preface this by saying I am not a fan of Vandals. Probably never will be. That's a subject for another thread. I won't go into it now.

Back to whether this is a rivalry between the Vandals and Bengals... I don't think it is. To me, in order for two teams to be considered as "rivals", they have to have:

1. A whole lot in common. Although it's not mandatory, but membership in the same conference is high on the list. Obviously, right now, ISU and Idaho are in different conferences and have been on different paths. With that said, ISU and Idaho have some commonalities, such as being in the same state and competing with other schools for adequate funding from the legislature. But to me, they have more differences than similarities.

2. They should compete against each other on a regular basis and have that "wait 'til next year" feeling when things didn't go as they wanted. That just isn't happening now.

3. The teams and the fans should have an elevated level of passion with respect to their team when they play the other team. How many of us are fired up to play the Vandals? How many of us, while decked out in orarge and black, were passionately, I mean passionately wanting ISU to handily beat the Vandals? How many Vandal fans, decked out in their gold and silver were passionately wanting Idaho to handily beat the Bengals? How many fans had that extra bounce in their step when their team won or the pain in their gut when their team lost?

There may be more, but these things come to mind when you play a rival. At this point, I just don't see Idaho/ISU games as rivalry games. Things could change next year when Idaho brings their non-football sports to the Big Sky. My problem is that I don't believe in the short term that the Vandals will be "rivals" of any BSC team. I believe they will have a hard time coming to grips that their experiment in the Big West, Sun Belt and WAC was less than successful.