Could we move up in post season rankings as some playoff teams get crushed?

At minimum very helpful, or a home run. We have all the tools now needed to recruit top FCS talent.

My hunch.

1. Montana has the "name" and game day experience.
2. The powers that be know what $$$ Montana will offer to host a game.
3. Montana is #2 in FCS attendance, and set their own record (over 25,000 per game).
4. Their AD is on a couple of FCS committees?
5. At in person meetings, I'm sure the Montana AD is sharing meals, drinks, and selling 1-3.

https://herosports.com/fcs-football-2022-attendance-leaders-bzbz/

A lot of factors created JS' success. Getting Foster and Biggs wasn't luck, maybe Coach Arp was. How much active recruiting did Sochor and Foster do? At Coach Sochor's memorial, O'Brien said Sochor had to recruit him 3x. (He was always loaded - Moroski, Speck, Peterson.) Soch apparently dropped the ball the first time. It seems nobody pushed to improve Toomey or the "weight room" for decades, not Soch or Singleton. The FB / AD at Reno pushed big time for their advancements.

$$$ talks.

Toke, we're 4-1!

Men's hoops just won by 11. Don't panic. Their coach has hot feet, and recruited several players w only one year of eligibility.

Anigwe 22
Pepper 24, 8 Rbs, 8 Assists
Johnson 11
Milling 14, ... 5 of 6, 9 Rebounds

OL Parks and Amoah graduate?

WR transfers Kraut and Crump never saw the field? Hawk was high on both, so does that mean he was saving eligibility as maybe Kraft and Poerio move on?

53-47 Sac, 12 minutes left.

53-51.

59-57 - Ags, 6:56!

Have you guys seen this article?

406 MT Sports: Big Sky Notebook: Questions swirl around FCS playoff selections

Montana

"Herder and other FCS experts thought the Griz would miss the playoffs after their Brawl loss. Instead, UM was one of the last two in.

"Truax [Bucknell AD] provided several reasons for UM’s inclusion in an interview with the Missoulian’s/406mtsports.com’s Lucas Semb. The main factors: the Griz had a tough schedule (all four losses were to ranked teams), finished with seven Division I wins, played without starting quarterback Lucas Johnson for all or most of two losses and challenged themselves in cross-conference matchups.

"Unseeded teams place bids to host playoff first-round games, and the higher bid usually gets a home game (more on this below). That’s why the Griz will face Southeast Missouri State in Missoula on Saturday. While the committee doesn’t know bid figures until after it makes playoff selections, that element “does factor in” to the committee’s decision-making, Truax said. UM has a history of placing high bids...."

UC Davis

"UC Davis wasn’t even one of the first four teams out of the playoffs, despite having an arguably better resume than UM’s.

"Both teams have four FCS losses, all to ranked teams. Like the Griz, Davis lost one-score games to Sacramento State and Weber State and suffered a multiple-score loss at Bobcat Stadium (MSU beat Davis 41-24). The Aggies also fell at South Dakota State 24-22 and at the Pac-12’s Cal 34-13.

"Both Davis and UM played Idaho. The Griz lost to the Vandals 30-23 at home, while the Aggies rolled 44-26 in Moscow, Idaho.

"It’s not just UM’s selection that Davis could quibble with. UND has no win as impressive as an 18-point win at Idaho, and other teams with more wins played softer schedules than Davis did. The committee has selected 6-5 teams before, including Gardner-Webb this year, although the committee had no choice there. Gardner-Webb got an automatic playoff bid because it won the Big South Conference title.

"Ultimately, the Aggies were punished for their tough nonconference schedule.

“In a crowded field, it was hard when you only have six D-I wins,” Truax told Semb. “UC Davis made a late push to get in there … and while they showed well, they only finished with six D-I wins … every other team we were talking about had seven.”

https://406mtsports.com/college/big-sky-conference/montana-state-university/big-sky-notebook-questions-swirl-around-fcs-playoff-selections/article_0a554efa-6a0d-11ed-8980-7b6c0d4f24ff.html

I took a quick look at Montana's schedule.

Their first two opponents have a combined record of 6-16. And MSU killed them.

And Montana rides on reputation and connections.

FAMU not in w 9-2 record?

Edit: 7-1 in league.

Sac chewed up almost 4 minutes on the last drive. No spike at 13 seconds... ugh. The collision w 212# RB Marcus Fulcher hobbled King. Their WR making clutch catches at the end, in traffic, is 6'2".

Items new to me.

CBS Sports: "During McCaffrey's tenure, players alleged that he tampered with scholarships in ways disallowed by the NCAA and showed favoritism to FBS transfers, according to the Loveland Reporter-Herald. The staff also reportedly did not get scouting reports on upcoming opponents and often installed plays one or two days before games. Twenty-eight players transferred from the program after McCaffrey's first full season, ranking for the third-most among FCS teams."

"In another bizarre incident, offensive coordinator Max McCaffrey -- Ed's son who was hired without any previous coaching experience -- was reprimanded after throwing a broken clipboard into the stands and hitting a fan during a game against Montana State. An MSU fan told the Denver Post that he heckled McCaffrey about his pants size after the coach broke a clipboard following an interception."

https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/northern-colorado-fires-ed-mccaffrey-former-all-pro-wr-went-6-16-in-three-seasons-marred-by-controversy/

So the Sac athletic department AD, Associate ADs, facilities management failed. I was in that throng. The only empty spot in the stands I saw was when our band went down to perform. There were a few seats here and there available.

I have no idea where that mass went after halftime. Back tailgating? The whole 2nd quarter and halftime felt unsafe, where was the Fire Marshall?

There appeared to be enough parking and porta potties. Also smartly cut off beer sales at the end of halftime. Doubling staff for admission should have been a no brainer, and adding food trucks somewhere. There were a group of 6 guys on edge, another guy provoked by a drunk. One fight would have been ugly.

They knew this was coming 2 weeks in advance.

The new twist included a heavy set, possibly transgendered Sac State student, holding a sign: "UC Davis Sucks but I SWALLOW."

A couple of fools - two different groups - were arguing at the beer tent, agitating for a fight. The end zone was packed from the time I entered, until after halftime.

The food truck lines were ridiculous, many probably took upwards of two quarters to get food. Same for getting into the venue - took me almost 30 minutes to get inside. Two young ladies checking people in at one major entryway.

"A column in the Denver Post published Sunday night appeared to aptly sum up the state of the franchise, with the headline: “Broncos need to end the madness. Fire Nathaniel Hackett. Make defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero the head coach.” ..."

"It’s a legitimate question as the Broncos dropped to 3-7 and last place in the AFC West with the home loss. Under Hackett, Denver is the lowest-scoring offense in the NFL, averaging 14.7 points per game. It gets even worse when you consider that they are also one of the best defenses in the league – only allowing 17.1 points per game. If they had scored just 18 points in regulation in every game this year, they would be 9-1."

https://nypost.com/2022/11/21/calls-for-nathaniel-hacketts-firing-intensify-after-broncos-loss/

These fans had the subset who wore "FUCD" tshirts.