what gives? Why would they not? They’ve thrown effectively in the past even as an option team. This QB incapable? Or were they just trying not to lose by 60?

Those are the guys. The color guy kept saying Davis was playing without a safety and that they had to throw. He said that repeatedly in the 1st half. Also wanted more runs outside the numbers

Were those guys on the broadcast regular Poly broadcasters? Didn’t seem like they were that familiar. At one point the color commentator forgot the full backs name.
Poly this year is a one trick pony on offense and can’t stop the run on defense. Their coaching staff doesn’t think they can throw the ball. Since they have in prior years why don’t they this year? One suspects the coaches and the guys in front might know something the commentator doesn’t,about the Poly players.

Good luck to you and your son.

Tehran Thomas was a freshman last year who really came on in the final game against Sac, he’s got speed and will run right over people, The surprising thing is he’s not our primary back because Gilliam is so versatile. O line has theee first year starters and now opens some holes. True Frosh is a mentioned as being
All Big Sky.

Walsh has been successful before.
Despite occasional blowouts this is usually a very competitive rivalry.
We are a lot better than we’ve been of late becase we have so many offensive weapons. Example was toward the end of first half where we would all be expecting pass plays we had a series of runs in a long drive. It’s all coming together for us, pass protection, a QB who has four or five guys to throw to or two quality backs, and a defense that is now respectable overall and tough against the run in particular.

I wonder what your son would have thought if only saw the last three quarters,
He may be right though. I think we are improving as our new players establish themselves. We have a lot of young players. So hopefully we’ll be a better team yet by the time we play EW

Their mountains are nice.

Highest level of athletics in the state. We’d be like that in California if we didn’t have the NFL,NHL,NBA,PAC12,Mountain West, and Major League Soccer. Hard to imagine.
Edit left of major league baseball

In many of the rankings it’s not a poll, it’s an algorithm or an average of multiple algorithms based on the matrix of all games and all scores. It is based on who you’ve played, how you scored and how they scored against other opponents, That excludes reputation, history etc. The coaches poll is subjective and reflects reputation, as do any writers polls, or Internet polls. Based on our performance we’re somewhere in the top 10. Based on our reputation where not. If we continue to win we’ll be higher ranked in the coaches and writers polls next year. On one of the radio broadcasts the question was raised on who fills out the coaches ballots. Probably not the coaches who are otherwise occupied.

In reply to Idaho State being better than Northern Iowa; In Sagarin rankings, Northern Iowa is ranked #74 , we’re #106, and Idaho State is #137.
On a neutral field Northern Iowa would be favored over Idaho State by two touchdowns

I see we’ve allowed fewer sacks than any other team in the Big Sky only statistics. The rebuilt offensive line is doing a great job.

Thanks.... The good thing about all these is they are based on actual scores; using an algorithm defined before the season. So they aren’t polls in the sense of collcting people’s subjective opinion.

Suani our true freshman heavyweight D lineman started and played a lot of snaps, Is that a first for him?
Got to like all the young defensive players making their presence felt.

I think the coaches poll is the worst of the FCS rankings. I wonder if whoever fills out the ballots for the coaches knows anything about other conferences.
I like computer rankings based on wins and comparative scores of all games. Sagarin shows us #9 of the AA teams. At least that isn’t subjective.

The only objection to such a high ranking at this point is we haven’t beat anyone of note, Teams that looked tough prior to the season haven’t done well, for example Idaho. Our top win is probably Idaho State, which preseason looked easy. So we still are a little untested.

Montana has defeated a tougher team than anyone we’ve beat, Northern Iowa. That’s kind of scary.

Maybe they should just recommend that recruits look elsewhere. Seems reasonable.

perhaps it’s relevant that they were better after those guys left in 2016?
Sac State has always seemed to have large recruiting classes. Can’t keep that up unless players leave..

Hopefully still true after today, our rushing defense is ranked second in the Big Sky,
RUSHING DEFENSE G Att Yards Avg. TD Yards/G
1. Weber State 3 108 266 2.5 2 88.7
2. UC Davis 3 128 427 3.3 5 142.3
3. Portland State 4 151 608 4.0 8 152.0
4. Idaho State 4 153 741 4.8 6 185.2
5. Montana State 3 122 567 4.6 9 189.0
6. Eastern Washington 4 214 777 3.6 5 194.2
7. Northern Arizona 3 128 591 4.6 8 197.0
8. Idaho 4 156 845 5.4 5 211.2
9. Northern Colorado 4 183 883 4.8 14 220.8
10. Cal Poly 3 87 795 9.1 9 265.0
11. Southern Utah 3 123 831 6.8 8 277.0
12. Montana 4 233 1124 4.8 11 281.0
13. Sacramento State 3 153 1072 7.0 13 357.3