they are broadcasting on the Montana area sports network also - I wonder if that’s part of it.

unless we flop the next two games, we’re home after a bye

i think having a fully healthy defense allows Plough to be a bit more creative in his offensive play calling. earlier in the year, when we were VERY thin, especially on the road, i think he had to be more conservative to drain clock and try to keep the defense off the field.

that's what they said yesterday during our zoom. We will need it!

Fanduel has us as 7.5 underdogs. Had us 6.5 underdogs last week!

Apparently some 1500 tickets sold to Montana st folks. To combat that, we have 3 player parents (thompkins, Dixon, Larison) who purchased 1500 cowbells!

damn auto correct FRATS!! Grays would be the Team Aggie tent

I think there will be a big turnout on the practice field. That’s where they hosted the grays and there’s one donor who is VERY active over there.

yep, held out of
UNC to preserve redshirt year

thanksgiving was early in 2018 (11/28) so no excuse for low turnout. My memory is that the place was pretty full., certainly not 1/4 below ‘capacity’. Of course. My memory might be faulty!

one of our donors bought the student tickets. NCAA prohibits free student tickets for playoffs. Not sure when Thanksgiving was that year, but that’s why a bye is critical; else, we’d play the holiday weekend

I think it was just a case of playing together. It’s basically an all new OL with a couple transfers in there. Takes awhile for a group to mesh, especially with practice restrictions in this era. They were the unsung heroes on Saturday. They’ve gotten better and better with each game, particularly since Big Sky play started. Having Ian Simpson back has helped a lot - he’s a VERY physical presence

This guy is a really good coach, and seems like a decent guy. Hard to dislike him like we do certain coaches (like from our last two road victories!).

the answer to #2 should be Poutine!

this was a ‘fanboy experience’. I won a contest sponsored by university credit union that was on social media some time back. Found out about it Tuesday night. Tried to get AgAlum to be my plus one but he couldn’t make it.

i didn't see slabs of beef, but there were tailgates as far as the eye can see. we drove in on a bus following the team buses, and when you cross the bridge from downtown into the campus, it was electric. You are greeted with the stadium lights, and tailgates and fans everywhere.

my experience was similar to those above, in terms of their fans. we had someone in the travel party with connections with a company in Montana, so we were invited to their tailgate. Fans were very welcoming, incredibly knowable about both teams, and not as confident as i would have thought. I meet with the son of former Giant pitcher Rob Nen and we shared a long talk AND a gunrock (part of someone's luggage).

Only blemish was when a young lady came across and loudly and profanely berated me for wearing a blue/yellow ski jacket. Apparently too close to Bobcat colors. During the tirade, Mr Nen quietly walked away leaving me to fight my own battle! So, if you saw a guy on the sideline holding his ski jacket all night, that was part of the reason; the other part was, once we went ahead, I wasn't going to tempt the football gods by putting it on!

Pregame, we went up to that Company's suite (50 yard line). They have private suites from the 10 to the 10 on both sides of the stadium! Incredible.

Atmosphere during the game was crazy. We had only a couple hiccups with the noise, otherwise, the poise of the players was something to marvel at. Miles seemed to be under control the whole night and the offense fed off it. I thought a HUGE play was following those hiccups. We got to their 10 in the 2nd quarter, facing that big endzone bleachers. False start, delay of game, false start....and....now we're facing a 42 yard field goal into the hostile crowd. Hunter Ridley CALMLY nailed it. A miss would have stoked them even higher. After i congratulated him on the huge kick. He said thanks and 'excuse me, what's your name again?'. I told him and he replied 'nice to meet you, Mike, thanks for coming'. Gave me confidence if we had to have a late game FG!

Second half was complete domination except for the TD following the pouch kick. Defense destroyed them. I was standing by Biggs and Daniel Alfaro most of the night, and they kept mentioning how their QB's just eyeballed their intended receiver the whole way. i think Coombs was able to confuse him with different looks, stunts, etc. which allowed the DL to get some pressured. they were in trouble once they had to rely on the pass. They seemed to just about give up the ghost with about 8 minutes to go, after our last FG.

OL was outstanding. In that noise, to be able to protect the QB (Montana ran a bunch of stunts and pressures counting on the noise to lead to communication issues) AND average 4 yards a carry was a special effort. This is quite a turnaround from the first part of the season!

And what more to say about Hastings. I think Plough and Shelton have been great mentors for him. He is so well prepared for the opponents, and handles issues that come up in the game with no panic (look at Idaho and Portland State).

I could have ‘sprinted’ on the field faster, and I’m 64 with two fake hips!

someone close to the team. I’d heard the Borra news from another very credible source.

I think it would be against us. If you sub on offense, defense has to have chance to sub. Offense has to sub early enough in clock to allow it. I think a combo of the noise (communicating need to sub out) and DELIBERATE pace of guys jogging in and off, led to that situation. I thought they stood on the ball once when we subbed during a timeout - they shouldn’t get time to respond to that

he walked Frat row last week with tickets and entry to Tailgate Town. Biggest turnout ever in TT; unfortunately, almost none of them stayed for the game!

Apparently injuries are effecting our current routine. Mani has a sprained ankle, and Cooper should be returning soon. As for Borra and Robertson, I believe their seasons are done - for Francisco, that would bd a career ender.