this is probably our biggest FCS challange with the POSSIBLE exception of NDSU. Sac is good on both sides of the ball, and playing confident, smart football. That NAU comeback is the type of thing a team needs to get over the hump and make a run. on the positive side, our defense has played much better of late, outside of giving up timely (bad timing!) big plays. i think we can slow down Dotson, but a healthy Thomson with his receivers might be a bit too much.

can this be the game the offense puts together a complete game? it will have to if we want to win. I saw the odds at Sac -10. looking back, we've been underdogs in two games (NDSU and CAL), along with a pick-em (Weber). the two underdog games may have been our best games, vs the best opponents. is the third time a charm?

I think we’re usually quiet in the early preseason when football is still going on. Especially when we start the season far from home. Tomorrow will be a good barometer with Sac coming off a win over Riverside . I’m driving up and looking forward to seeing this group

i looked at the game notes some time back, and saw alot of younger guys (non seniors) starting. of course, Thomson is listed as a Junior, which makes no sense to me.

look at Dartmouth's stats:

Passing : 194 yards/game (212 in nation)
Rushing : 182 yards/games (84 in nation)

vs. Princeton (big showdown), the passing stats were 5-11 for 68 yards. woody hayes would be proud! heck, Gould would be proud

That got out of hand really fast

For what it’s worth we’re 4 point underdogs. Basically even minus the home court advantage

great analysis. I was impressed that Manjon didn’t panic with the clock running down after the offense broke down. Very mature play. Defensive stop was textbook.

IF (big if) we run the table and Montana beats MSU, I think we’d have a good shot. EWU would be in front of us in standings, but same overall record . Our SOS should get us the fourth BSC berth especially if Sac beats Idaho (they will). Again big IFS.

IF (redundant) we got in, we’d probably host a first round game.

We’ll need a big game from Nuefeld. He struggled last year with fouls but has been fine so far. Had some turnover problems tonight.

According to the game story on ucdavisaggies.com there will be a Facebook live broadcast tomorrow. Link in story

VMI is a team we should beat. I think the same with Arkansas State, although they are at home. be nice to finish the weekend 2-1, or 3-0, and get the season off on the right foot. we got buried last year at 1-4 and never seemed to recover.

nice win....got killed on the boards (they had 12 offensive boards) but our shooting was pretty solid. mooney got hot when we needed him. nice to see 18 out of fuller.

sounds like they can bring pressure on the edges and have a couple of game changers on defense. i expect to see the 2 TE lineup quite a bit (i swear we run it at least 50% of the time) for protection help, and to get the running game going.

down 4 at 8:00.

you wrote down my thoughts exactly about how you expect the game to go. defense will be the key. our good teams had the defense spark the offense (and carry a cold shooting team).

watch out for EWU; they finish with two easy games and could slip into the 4 spot in the BWC. i'd hate to see them sneak in with zero good wins.

i remember that game was televised on some cable channel. light snow falling all game. held them to under 200 yards, and turned them over 3 times. Tony Kays tore them up that day. i remember their broadcasters thinking we were rubbing it in (we scored 7 in the 4th) and that the 'bobcats wouldn't forget that'. and, apparently 8 years later they got their revenge!

that game was painful BUT the MSU offense was something to behold that day. they scored every which way. very impressive.

so....as a fan, if i told you we would gain 610 yards and score 37 points, you'd be pretty happy, right? unless i told you the opponent would gain 737 yards and score 77! we did beat them at the time of possession metric!

Last time they were here (2014) was the infamous 77-37 beat down. I expect a better showing Saturday ; oddsmakers make us a 3 point favorite

if we can force these guys to pass (a BIG IF!), we'll be in pretty good shape. from the highlights i have seen, the passing game doesn't look too impressive.