I hate doing this but nothing else going on:

Montana 45 Sac State 35 Closer than expected
Weber 24 EWU 17 Who cares
Idaho 28 Portland State 10 Vandals are reeling
Idaho State 35 NAU 31 Probably the most entertaining of the matchups aside from the Cirque de Sacramento game
Montana State 42 Cal Poly 24 Mustangs will need to open it up and roll the dice to get this close

Aggies 42 Northern Colorado 21 Expect a heavy dose of Fisher and Vargas with CP taking shots down and across the field. The Defense will handle the Bears with a day out of the pass rushers and the DBs locking down.

Quality of life matters to Plough. He gets to watch and coach his kids play baseball in the off-season, among other benefits. How many people would love to work and live in their small college town? He's in a great spot, and has earned it

Agree with Mike, I believe he's talking about kickoff coverage. Our RB room is pretty stacked (our top three can all go), but RBs are versatile and similar to Safeties in their size/speed/ability to cover kicks in most cases. I still venture to say that many of the kickoff woes might be linked to where the ball is kicked compared to where the coordinator wants the ball kicked. Directional kickoffs are an effective tool IF/WHEN your kicker puts it in the right spot. I'm not saying this is the issue, it is merely a possibility.

Dumpster fire, and it is just getting warmed up. Grab some popcorn, sit back, and enjoy the show!

Not sure which thread to get things cranked up on so I'll go here. Bye week behind us and UNC prep really starts today. What we know about the Bears:

They should have beaten Sac. As stated a couple weeks back, these "ascending" programs have players, but those players haven't figured out how to win yet. Cal Poly, Idaho State, Northern Colorado. All elevating, but all still losing games they have opportunities to win.

UNC can throw the football. From the limited highlights I've watched, they get the ball out quick then take vertical shots after they bring you up in the quick game or find a favorable match up. It will be strength on strength with our Corners vs. their WRs. However, the QB threw 4 picks to Sac, including one on 4th and goal at the 3 to win the game. Teams like this snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

Don't sleep on that little Tailback. Watch the Idaho highlights, he's a jet. Their OL is not elite but their O staff does a great job getting the ball out quick and putting the OL in a position to be successful.

Speaking of suspect, their Defense is BAD against the run. They give up over 200 yards per game on the ground which is no bueno, including 300+ against Sac.

All in all, their Offense has given them a chance to win in most games. Their stadium is a dump that sits on the windswept edge of the Great Plains. Their couple home games in 2025 have averaged around 4500+. It is going to be a low energy college football environment. All the makings of an ambush game for the Ags. Great teams win the games they're supposed to win, on the road, when they have to bring their own juice. This is a test...

Spot on.

Great facilities, decent enough town, but YOU CANNOT WIN at CSU. Just like you can't win at OSU. Can you get to bowl games? Sure, occasionally, but you can't sustain success there in today's college football landscape. The days of Sunny Lubick, Dennis Erikson, and Mike Riley are in the rearview mirror. All about the dinero

Everyone have a nice weekend of honey-dos, Costco runs, yard work, hopefully some grilling, church, etc. Going to be a long weekend, let's come out firing on Monday :fire:

Sac is still a possibility if/when we go MWC. They'll have openings on their FBS Independent schedule! Gotta keep winning the rivalry games while we have them so that when they stop, we have the trophies in the building. Will need a new, Tahoe-themed one for Nevada since they're already bitching about that. Maybe the Golden Trout or something

Bottom half of the MWC. Ags can compete with any of those programs on a one game basis but playing all of them consecutively would be the issue. Not to mention the non-conference slate upgrading. One thing to consider is that we're currently in the 63 equivalency scholarship-bracket compared to 105. If we're projecting to be approximately middle of the pack with 63, imagine what we look like as we grown towards 105, pretty exciting!

Or that over the last four games opponents are averaging around 35 pass attempts per game...

Exactly. Post-season awards are stat-driven and lockdown Corners don't get stats because OCs and QBs are scared of them. His impact, and the fact that he is usually covering the opponent's best guy for a large portion of the game, is unquestionable. Maybe Sports Information can help promote his cause because he is making a huge impact. Much easier for our D staff to do their thing when they only have to worry about defending 10 players rather than 11.

Hawaii has the right guy steering the ship (alum QB Timmy Chang), he'll never leave, and he will get guys. When Hawaii stays in it's lane and isn't traveling to the Eastern Time Zone and gets to play seven or eight home games every year with Wyoming and/or New Mexico being their worst trips, they will compete. Nobody really runs their Offense anymore (Run & Shoot) and you don't need 4-star players to execute; you need football players that understand defensive coverages who learn to adjust routes. EVERY route is a sight adjust. They will pick-up some stud transfer WR/TE types because of their location and will be a royal pain to defend. They're comfortable shooting it out with opponents but will naturally have some of the better Front 7 personnel in the conference. Their definition of success isn't predicated on NIL money; it's more like ohana and Island Pride with some renegades and undervalued receivers mixed in.

It appears that we spent the money we had for transfers at DB (and Middle LB) which has proven a wise move. I haven't really looked at the depth chart, but the guys playing the second half at Cal Poly and vs. NAU held-up fine, and that was against a guy like Briscoe at Poly (FCS leader in Receiving TD and Big Sky leader in Receiving Yardage, I think). Cofield limped off the field for a minute vs. NAU but finished and played well. He has been outstanding and might be the best Defensive freshman in the country. With an additional week of recovery, the Secondary should be good to go for UNC, who has a couple pretty good WRs, both listed at 6'2"

UNLV is going to be the standard in that conference. Facilities are unbelievable and there is a lot of money behind them. Mullen is an outstanding coach and a very likeable guy. Air Force is consistently competitive and a nightmare to prepare for so they'll always be in the mix. Their NIL pitch is that every player gets paid anyway, and walks into an $80k job the day he graduates so that is attractive. Northern Illinois beat Notre Dame last year and is mostly good in my lifetime. Those three will be the top tier. In the middle, SJSU is very well run and Kenny has experience getting a lot out of very little. Wyoming was good not too long ago and has great facilities and a wind that never stops blowing. The bottom tier is Nevada, New Mexico, UTEP, and for now, Wyoming, with the Cowboys are probably the closest to getting into that middle-tier of the conference and going to a bowl.

Primary considerations for the seedings: won-lost record, strength of schedule, Regional Advisory Committee rankings/feedback (this is made-up of selected coaches, correct?), and games reviewed by the committee on video.

If I recall, #14 had a nice play on our sideline vs. NAU, right? Nice to see a receiver listed above 6' out there, but the sub-6' dudes have been absolutely dynamite this season

Bye weeks are boring so I'll chime in with a prediction:

Sac State 35
Northern Colorado 17

Too many athletes

I agree 100%. NAU is a solid, solid football team and will likely end up 7-5 or even 8-3 when the dust settles. Their trip to Pocatello will be one to keep an eye on though. From what I can tell, ISU might be better than Idaho this season.

The only rankings that matter come from the NCAA FCS Championships Committee. The rest is just fan fodder