ISU is strong up front defensively, Davis returns most of their starting offensive line...Pinnick can move. The battle of the day is up front when Davis has the ball, that's my 2 cents.

NCAA takes a stab at "re-ranking" all the remaining teams based on their current play and trajectory vs. their upcoming opponents:

https://www.ncaa.com/news/football/article/2025-12-08/re-ranking-final-8-fcs-playoff-teams-quarterfinals?amp

I'll just say that Coach Spack is a class act. Never too high, never too low, just expects great preparation and a high effort on gameday and let the gameplan do the work. He's got to be liking his chances this season - so who's gonna flinch on Saturday??? Because neither team flinched in the second round.

It's just crazy, NDSU really put together the best regular season - just to let the Redbirds take that season away.

Going to be a lot more fun watching the FCS playoffs starting this weekend, the two Dakota States are out as well as the Fighting Hawks, the only representative left is doing prep work this week in Vermillion, and they look damn good. Wide open quarterfinals, let's go!

Better option

Not saying it out loud, but feel like the return is dependent on how the Aggies finish this post-season.

I imagine you do, I mean - it's a big day and a designated walk time right? I remember taking an 8 am final (the FINAL final), meeting my folks at home around 10:30 am, then walking at 1 pm...it was a long ass ceremony for Engineering.

Tarleton has the max potential to run away with it if they get hot - they can be extremely explosive offensively, and I was impressed how they handled UND defensively, they were very physical and looked well prepared.

Interesting that HC at Tarleton Todd Whitten is in his 3rd stint at the University there. They must have a very solid relationship. The 'Slow Mesh RPO' offense they run is unique at most levels of football...I think in D1 only Wake Forest runs a similar concept. We've seen Plough run a couple of variations of it with Pinnick, especially on goal line, when we pop to the Tight End, but it isn't the core philosophy of the Offense.

You are correct about the cell service - it's impossible to post anything inside.

Appreciate your service too - got in a relatively polite verbal argument at the game with a lady next to me who was bashing the Salute to Heroes montage during the game as something "we're only do because we're on ESPN tonight."

Brought my Uncle, who is US Army retired to the Sac State game, and I thought it was Salute to Heroes night, but there was really no ceremony or acknowledgment all game during Causeway, so was glad to see it on Saturday vs. Rhody.

Yeah me too, none of those make sense to me - even Montana State looked a little vulnerable vs. Yale -- though Vigen kept it very vanilla all game.

Nova's at 12.8% after squeaking by Lehigh?

Wasn't he committed to BYU? The Cougars are shelling out that kind of dough for Ryder Lyons -- and mind you he won't start competing for a starting job until 2028 after mission.

The veracity of these numbers is unclear, but these are Oregon's Top 10 Earners according to SI.com:

No. 1 - Redshirt sophomore quarterback Dante Moore ($1.5 million)
No. 2 - Redshirt senior offensive lineman Isaiah World ($1.2 million)
No. 3 - Redshirt senior inside offensive lineman Emmanuel Pregnon ($914,000)
No. 4 - Junior defensive back Dillon Thieneman ($813,000)
No. 5 - Junior tight end Kenyon Sadiq ($748,000)
No. 6 - Junior outside linebacker Matayo Uiagalelei ($692,000)
No. 7 - Redshirt junior defensive lineman Bear Alexander ($572,000)
No. 8 - Freshman quarterback Akili Smith Jr. ($545,000)
No. 9 - Senior wide receiver Evan Stewart ($542,000)
No. 10 - Freshman wide receiver Dakorien Moore ($497,000)

Keep pushing everyone - Bay Area, Bay Area, Bay Area - get carpools and vans lined up - we should have organized buses for crying out loud for Aggie fans.

Arguing about restrictive tailgate rules vs. just getting people to show up to tailgate - not the worst problem to have.

RB Julius Davis at Montana State is playing in his 7th year of college football. Call Bozeman and get their lawyers to give us some pointers. His first redshirt year was in 2019 at Wisconsin for God's sake.

Spending that money wisely.