Seems obvious to me, this is just an erosion of sports culture on the West Coast. Football is still big, but it doesn't run towns in the fall like it does out in the midwest and down south. The biggest tv deals are out there, because more people in those areas watch the local teams and the programs are better funded.

What's interesting is that prior to the 2023 season, the Mountain West Conference announced it would eliminate the Divisions and simply let the two teams with the best records play for the championship.

There are currently 12 teams in the MW:
Boise State
Air Force
Fresno State
San Diego State
San Jose State
Wyoming
Colorado State
Utah State
UNLV
Hawai'i
Nevada
New Mexico

could add:

Oregon State
Washington State

This would make it a 14 team conference, which is massive...maybe it would bring divisions back. Could see the following divisions being viable.

The West
Fresno State
Oregon State
San Diego State
San Jose State
UNLV
Hawai'i
Nevada

The East (in the interest of keeping the two new power teams out of the same division)
Boise State
Washington State
Wyoming
Colorado State
New Mexico
Air Force
Utah State

Maybe an at large scheduling is truly what's best for the conference. Article

Inglewood (Calif.) quarterback Damon Wrighster announced moments ago he will be playing his college ball at UC Davis.

Wrighster took his official visit to UC Davis over the weekend and committed to the Aggies before going public with his decision earlier today.

“I’m very excited about my decision,” Wrighster said. “UC Davis recruited me harder than anyone and always showed me the most love.

“They have been very consistent in recruiting me and I’m exited for this opportunity. I think I can go in there and show my talent and show what I can do and it’s a great all around fit for me.”

The Aggies offered Wrighster back in May with QB coach Quinn Shanbour doing the honors.

“I have a really good relationship with coach Q,” Wrighster said. “He was my lead recruiter and I really enjoy talking with him and coach Hawkins.

“Throughout the process, I think they really recruited me the right way. They didn’t just recruit me, they recruited my parents and got to know all of us. They called me before games and made it personal and my family feels really comfortable with them.”

The weekend official visit was Wrighster’s second time on campus. He also visited over the spring following the Sacramento State Camp.

“I really like the campus and the overall vibe a lot,” Wrighster said. “It’s a college town and I like the overall environment.

“Everything is close together and I have a strong comfort level there. It’s a great academic school and that was really important for me. I know you can’t play football forever so I put academics first on my list of priorities. I want to major in Business and a degree from Davis can definitely open a lot of doors.”

Wrighster said making his decision is big weight off his back.

“It’s definitely a sense of relief right now,” Wrighster said. “Now I can just go out and play and not have to worry about where I’m going to college. I can relax and play free and easy.

"I’m on track to graduate early but I’m not sure if I’m going to or not yet. I know there’s advantages to being there for Spring ball but I also think it would be fun to enjoy my senior year. Senior year is one of the best times of your life and part of thinks it would be fun to enjoy that part of my life so we'll see what happens."

He’s a true dual-threat who can really run but has plenty of arm talent as well. We saw him at multiple off-season events and he has strong arm, a tight release and a lot of physical tools that translate well to the next level.

We were actually next to some good Fresno fans for that game, they were an alumni family, they were respectful and understood the game as it was being played between the overmatched Aggies and the hard running Bulldogs (I think they won 8 games that year) --- we were laughing at a lot of the drunk Bulldog fans, and we heard the comment, "You know most of these idiots in here never even graduated from Fresno State." Our group made a point not to fire anybody up on the way out, but then again how could we, when the Aggies got so thoroughly whooped 51-0.

I do remember an exchange in San Jose some years ago, back when 6thman and 05 were still living in the State -- an older salty Spartan alum was talking a lot of s#@! on the way out late in the 4th quarter -- and let's just say 6thman wasn't having it -- the guy threatened us and said he'd be waiting outside the stadium, so we were walking out and I had my belt buckle wrapped up in my fist ready to defend if needed, but alas, the guy was nowhere to be found -- I think he realized there were 5 or 6 of us, and he was just a loner with a big mouth.

Utah Tech @ Montana State, Utah Tech, formerly Dixie State:

They become fishing buddies.

Beavers looking extremely strong.

Here's the highlight reel from San Jose:

EWU @ Bison

Week 1 Butler @ Montana -- thanks to Matthew Loves Ball

Impressed with Butler, they came to play, but Montana just bigger and faster. Montana QB had a bad pick, but Griz ran it effectively and were in the Butler QB's face all day. Butler QB and his receivers were playing at a video game level, made some crazy plays.

Isn't it? Feels like a treading water move until some of the lower division schools come up. However, looking at that circus, makes you feel good that the Aggies are solid in the Big Sky and other California-centric conferences that don't require 5 hour flights every other week.

Haven't seen anything. Watching the film, with as much was made about the west coast boys coming out to Commerce in the heat and humidity, the Aggies looked way more functional for 4 quarters than the Lions did.

WTBT has Sac State @ Nicholls:

Wally the Bronco Too with the hookup, check out Wally's stuff here: Link

Bad start for Hastings --- defensively, looking strong for Davis.

Let's go Cal-David

Good Money

Welcome Mr. Sievers, let's get it.

The good thing for all kickers and punters is to just go somewhere and strike balls, stay in game shape, stay practiced and get all the live/game reps you can. DW was kicking for the XFL, got an honest shot, and is now punting in the NFL.

Nice, embedment has been disabled for those UC Davis Aggies videos. That's actually a good step, not too convenient for us, but whatever.

Link

Nice for Whelan!