I thought this discussion brought up some fundamental and germane issues with conference re-alignment. They start with Sac State and NDSU but also move on to analogous cases at higher levels. A much more thoughtful discussion than say the Big Mountain podcast guys who just generally parrot what biased sources tell them - not dissing them for that as they just need content without needing to do much of any research, other then beer, given their budget.

One interesting highlight discussed is that Nebraska may be the only fan base that has retained its allegiance and dedication to football, due to long-established culture, after joining the big-10 and losing some former rivalries and dropping precipitously in winning percentage.

Illinois State gets a nice donation from an “anonymous former quarterback”

https://goredbirds.com/news/2025/12/23/redbird-athletics-announces-2-5-million-gift-to-football-program.aspx

A friend who is an Illinois State grad told me they had received $25M but evidently he moved the decimal point over a digit.

So, yeah, I still feel good.

@RollOnYouAgs (mixed metaphor?). I’m fine too. If Sac does end up in the MAC it seems like a desperation move with no financial or geographical sense. Not sure where the money comes from - pledges don’t mean anything until it hits a bank account.

Amen to that. I think we are luck to have such a guy who not only provides program stability, but also is such a good face/spokesman for the University - and is also a very good coach.

and played at a ranked Stanford team two weeks later in front of a friends and family crowd.

. It was a friends and family crowd for both teams in 2018. Early start time didn’t help but both Stanford and Cal have had woeful attendance in recent years. I think UCD is on a better attendance trend relatively speaking in part due to winning more games. It still not an easy task to increase attendance or donations in the regional culture of college football in Northern California compared to what North Dakota State has going for it.

correct. Progress towards degree is (should be) enforced but with college football these days why consider the academic side (unfortunately).

I think part of the reason he decided to retire was the pending leadership change at the University. I could never figure out why the AD or president didn’t put a stop to his petulant press conferences in which he belittled the local media. I guess he won enough games that it didn’t matter but it was a bad look for the university. Man, what a difference in PR between him and Plough (and Hawkins). The timing was such that any preferential outside hires were pretty much off the table as I am sure the blue-chip ones would have been snatched up. They hired from within which isn’t bad, but it seems to be sort of the plug the dike hire. Don’t know the guy so should reserve my opinion.

The varieties were given names such as UC - 82. Besides being fleshier (tougher) they are a determinate set type so they ripen mostly all at once which is important for contracts with canneries. I worked at a Contadina plant in Riverbank summers while going to school. I could hardly believe I was making the grand wage of $4/hr back in the late seventies. To this day I pick out Contadina sauce and paste at grocery stores (even on east coast) for old times sake.

is in the #20 tv market in the USA, the biggest one without a pro football or FBS team.

. The issue is that when one strategies that by market viewership sector, in this case those interested in college football, it would not rank as high. As @LeFan states community apathy and culture is difficult to overcome. When I attended the University of Tennessee (decades ago) everyone was either at the game or listening to it - heck they even piped it in at Krogers (even though hardly no one was there shopping due to game being played. When I was walking around Savis prior to the Rhode Island game - I saw hundreds of students - many in coffee shops on computers but all seemingly totally ignorant that a football game was about to be played. Not much different from my days at UCD when it seemed all students were at the library.

Major differences in culture re: college football. And in northern cal. that extends to Cal and Stanford.

+1 for keeping the CA logo. Hawkins brought this back after being totally buried. My guess with the banishment to be “more hip” and disassociate with any ag implication. Both CA and script Davis are traditional and both should be kept.

I did my subscription through the Spotify app (not a Spotify subscription but only to tje podcast). There may be a locked icon on this show and just use that. When I did mine I scrolled down and got a link to subscribe. It doesn’t show up as a subscription on my iPhone. It comes as “Spotify for creators” or something like that in emails at billing cycles.

I can’t get this episode to play on Spotify on any of my devices? Goes one second and stops. Then shows an error. Don’t see it posted on YouTube yet.

Never mind. Got it on iPad. Likely something on my end. Maybe a video syncing issue - no video but audio.

Rex has a nose for the ball. I think that makes up for any 40 speed”deficit” assuming your stated 4.6 is his speed - (I am not on the know about an acceptable safety speed on the NFL.). The bigger issue at this point is full recovery from his injury as far as his pro prospects.

Agree with the basic premise that kids need to get on with their life. It’s beginning to be absurd with some of these players. Obviously in some or many cases money (agents/parents/players with unrealistic hopes) fuel this seemingly never ending train of expanded eligibility.

I just thought ISU showed a lot more gumption on their comeback. Pretty tough to lose on lousy kicking - but they all count. Aggie special teams were not stellar this year.

Monkey off Vigen’s back. I’m sure posters are going g from fire him to “he’s great”. Sort of like the hot seat Dr Pepper commercial.

Illinois State really deserved to win.

I knew they were going to dowler

Yah. Tough to lose a game due to 2 missed kicks especially an extra point.

Can you believe this. I was thinking might go for two - especially to put more pressure on MSU.