Speaking of, to give credit where it's due, the production quality has quietly improved to a more or less passable level from what I've seen of the home broadcasts.

I watched some of the first quarter on replay afterwards, and unless there were streaming problems with it live, it looked relatively professional from what I saw. A far cry from the audio and visual problems I remember from ~7 years ago.

Gotta start putting Pioneer teams and Utah Tech / TA&MC on the schedule every year. Committee just does not care about our conference record it seems.

Starting to think the committee would have found a way to exclude Davis in 2021 had we not upset a Tulsa team that we didn't predict would have an army of players suspended

I feel like I could construct an argument that it's no big deal that Davis relies on an individual's talent that much. We can't go shopping in the portal like other schools in the field can. Occasionally some skill players of insane talent who also have the grades like LL, Doss, Gilliam, Manzanares back in the day, etc take an interest in what our program has to offer and pretty much by necessity the ball ends up going to them most plays.

2022 Committee: “No you’re putting way too much focus on SOS and quality losses, the most important thing is to get to 7 wins with at least a good win in there”

2023 Ags: “OK”

2023 Committee: “No not like that”

Weber is only up 6 per the last Google update, not as close as I would like since they’re our only chance at claiming another win against a team with a winning record

Turnout is good for a normal day, great for a rain game

NAU and Weber are putting in work to make our prior schedule seem more respectable going into Causeway week.

At least Weber is going to (likely) finish above .500. I'm still thinking/hoping that next Sat is essentially a playoff audition.

Even with allowing 23 it felt like the most complete game this season

SF needs to pick that guy up sooner rather than later

Thought LL did a very good job with the head fake to at least introduce the tiniest bit of doubt. Then when he sees the hole nothing can stop him

Special teams race to the bottom

Non homecoming, non marquee, non rivalry game when the team hasn’t been doing so hot, I figure attendance was a lost cause. Just gotta figure things out on the field, come into the sac game with a decent record, and attendance will work out for Causeway

Did they change the arrangement for the National anthem? I thought there used to be a high trumpet part and now there’s countermelody from the low brass that I don’t remember from before.

Maybe this arrangement has been in place for a while, I usually don’t get to the games early anymore

maybe someone has posted this question already but how much of Hastings’ insane stats from last season were either against very bad teams or were YAC by Tompkins and the listed RBs?

He’s not untalented and sure winning the games you’re supposed to win and getting the ball to playmakers in space are part of being a good QB, but it feels like he hasn’t really developed since a mediocre first season and is only as good as the talent around him

Accounting for the narrow Weber victory, Massey currently has the Aggies favored in 3/4 of the remaining games (by a TD each for Portland State and NAU and 2 TDs for Idaho State) and actually just slightly an underdog hosting Sac.

https://masseyratings.com/539277/8200

Absolutely nothing on that schedule is a gimme and we know all three of NAU, PSU, and ISU can win. But the point is as much as we're not impressed with the eye test, playoff hopes are very much alive and a 7-win season would not be a particularly surprising outcome or an overperformance. All that especially true if we come out of the bye with a healthy RB corps.

Cody beating EWU with Idaho State before UCD getting its first win ever against the Eags wasn't exactly on my bingo card or possibly anyone's

I believe Fisher has one more game he can play before redshirting under the current rules. In retrospect probably not a good thing for the season prospects that he got carries in the OSU blowout, but hindsight is 2020 and at the time I'm sure it seemed like a low-risk way to give a freshman some reps against talented defenders

Totally agree now that I know more about our RB corps from these past weeks' injuries and media coverage, I wrongly assumed starting the season that there was a room of 4+ guys behind Larison and Perez ready to go back there. It seems like we have talent at receiver, but the ball just isn't being spread around that much compared to the squad Maier was throwing to, which I admit is more of a gut feeling than keeping track of the stats

I seem to remember Plough's offense still running a lot of halfback dives up the middle, but with the difference that there was 1) a lot of talent available at 1st and 2nd string RB and wildcat QB and 2) really solid short passing options to very good receivers and TEs. Maier -> Doss bailed us out of a LOT of 3rd and longs.

So I'd argue it's partly a rushing threat recruiting problem, but also a receiver shortage as well. Except for maybe Hutton I would say there isn't a downfield guy as reliable as even Harrell or Crawford on the roster this year, let alone an all-star like Doss available to bail us out.

Part of my optimism comes from thinking that these games aren't going to be independent events. I'm thinking that if the Ags figure stuff out on offense / get the personnel back in order to beat Weber on the road, then I feel much more confident against NAU. If the Ags beat both Weber and NAU, then barring another injury I think it's looking very achievable to go 2 for 3 against PSU, ISU, and Sac.

If the Ags show some improvement before losing to Weber but then solidly beat NAU with a semi-healthy offense, then I feel somewhat better about building momentum and picking up PSU/ISU wins then everything comes down to the Causeway, and anything can happen there.

Flip side of course is that I'll be much more pessimistic if we get blown out at Weber and there's still no sign of at least one of Larison, Tompkins, or Perez returning to form.

That's a good point, I was really frustrated by the third and long failures. I felt like the D was trying or hoping to force them into some risky situation to make a big play but that only really happened once by forcing the fumble on the long QB run early. I'll admit I don't have a very good eye in a live game for things like missed coverages or getting fooled on QB draws so I don't know where the individual errors were on those plays though