Commitment to the run wasn’t in evidence until after Harper’s 4th quarter interception. With the score 24-16 Davis had a drive from their own 25 to the UNC 23. On that drive they attempted and completed one four yard pass. That drive took 7 minutes and featured 14 running plays, over 1/3 of all the rushes by Davis in the entire game.

Drew Cofield... what a stud.

Stan Becton has us as an at-large bid with a projected loss - in a toss up game - to Montana State.

https://www.ncaa.com/news/football/article/2025-10-27/2025-fcs-playoff-bracket-predictions-entering-final-month-season?amp

Hero Sports has us seeded.

https://herosports.com/fcs-football-2025-playoff-predictions-1-bzbz/

Echoing this. They are much improved from last year, but I expected a better performance from them, especially at home.

I hear you, and the FG drive was even more impressive because the entire stadium knew they were running the football. Maybe I was using subliminal influencing in hopes to impress my affection for the run game on the powers that be. I just know we ran the ball when we wanted/needed to.

that was a little dig at the article about the local team with a cowboy hat wearing coach!

Sorry - I was in the wrong thread. Thought that was reply to my comment about Colorado.

Here are the cliff notes to the game on Saturday - Wally already posted the full film in the Week 9 Big Sky Score thread:

Always keeping me on my toes, DrMike.

No kidding. The good is Sam and Nate had their best games of the season. Just not sure that translates to a better opponent. Crazy that Fisher seems to have 6 totes into the third quarter each week when the game is close.

Is it because he's about 170 lbs? Maybe trying to keep him from getting banged up? He does have 80 carries on the year which is 10th in the conference (Gillman leads with 142). Vargas has 59 carries, which combined with Fisher puts us right up there at 139 total carries.

remember he had 11 receptions, almost all in the first half.

Good point. That is a lot of action.

A friend sent me the halftime stats. we were 12/18 for 192 yards of passing, and 15 rushes for 102 yards. Pretty good balance.

that means Harper was 3/13 for 24 yards (and two picks) in the 2nd half. kind of reminding me of the Mercer game where we were on fire the first half, and then we got out of sync (and QB might have got a bit uncomfortable() in the second half.

Great call on the Mercer reference, DrMike. Saturday had a similar feel but it just didn't feel like UNC was ever threatening like Mercer was. The second half execution at QB was not good; most of those incompletions were above and/or behind the receivers, many of whom were wide open. I'm no QB guru so I'm not going to speculate as to why he started missing. Plough gave credit to Lamb and their defense, but there were a lot of missed opportunities.

According to Plough, Harper suffered with severe lower body leg cramps in the second half that prevented him from being mobile and planting his feet for passes.
I watched him during the QB competition. He is a very accurate passer when healthy. During spring ball, i thought his deep ball was better than Cadens. I think as long as our QB is healthy, we can take ISU with either one.

Makes sense. I've never been a cramper so no idea what that feels like when trying to throw a football with people chasing me. Kudos to Harper for gutting it out

I think the cramps definitely contributed, but lack of real game experience also played a role - that’s where my Mercer reference came in with regard to Pinnack. With experience, things slow down for the QB….without, the game moves really fast.

Our back-up QB now has some real world experience heading down the stretch, whether we see him this week or need him in a spell for future games. Having 60 minutes under his belt will no doubt slow things down, plus he got to deal with some adversity, and most critically, LED THE TEAM TO VICTORY! Those things build trust and confidence w/teammates and coaches, and improve our depth at the most important position if nothing else.

Agree 100%. And, GOOD FOR GRANT! 5th year guy who has been a great teammate. Great to see him notch a victory!

That's the coolest part and great that Plough acknowledged that and spoke about how the guys rallied around him. He will never forget that day and that feeling. That is what it is all about, and like you said, GOOD FOR GRANT! Go Ags!

I'm all for resting CP and letting Grant get a W in front of a home crowd. Put CP in at the end in garbage time when we're up 20+ to get some reps before Idaho.

can’t take any opponent lightly, anything can happen on Saturdays

I know. Just being overly optimistic!

Fisher had 3 receptions in the whole game. 11 was his rushing number. He’s the best inside zone runner on the team and has been for the last three years. Should have put the game on ice early in that second half but got cute with the pass game and too much Vargas.

thanks for the correction - I knew that sounded too high!

Early in the season I recall Scott Marsh saying that they were targeting Fisher getting about three carries for every two for Vargas, but if that was ever the idea it's been discarded. Fisher has one more carry than Vargas in conference games. Who decided who is in the game.when ? I assume they both practice the same plays.

My non pro eyes say Fisher is a little quicker, and Vargas is much heavier (32 pounds).

I’ve heard Plough say the target for Fisher is 15 carries, 10 for Vargas. So, exactly what you heard