I agree with SochorField about not being scary. Yet. You saw flashes in the first half of Mercer and the second half at Dixie College. Good week to put one together.

I will interpret Coach Fitzgerald's coachspeak from the interview and save you 38 minutes:

"UC Davis opted to not finish the Mercer game for some reason, spent all that money for not, and I don't respect that. I'll use that to inspire my team. The QB and RB are not nearly as good as what they had last year. The QB is short and mobile, which might be an issue. The OL is OK but not very big or physical. Their receivers don't scare me. Neither does their tempo. The defense is good though."

He has to be concerned by his defense and knows they haven't stopped the run yet. They've allowed nearly 200 yards per game rushing so it is an issue. If you watch the highlights from NAU, they're undersized in the front 7 and just clog the middle. Run the ball on the edges with tempo and move our QB around and let him run too. Run the ball + stop the run = win most games, especially this one.

Scrolling back through this thread the luxury boxes are a must. Keep the cost reasonable, offer good customer service, and they will sell. Include beer, wine, and soft drinks in the purchase price, maybe a bunch of sandwiches and popcorn. The professional sports model that I've experienced (only a few times) is that a company or individual pays for the suite, then the suite renter has to cover the bar and food tabs. I'd try to build it in at our level, or give them a set number of cases/keg and bottles. Include a couple big screens in there with the Ags on one and the ESPN Ocho late game on the other and you have a great Saturday night with a view

Suites can be rented in the off-season as conference rooms to both on- and off-campus entities. Won't make anything from that but it might help drive demand and bring potential donors to campus. Recruiting and marketing events, etc.

Just spitballin and spending other people's money, beats work. Come on Saturday

I love this; you guys get the actual politics of the NCAA, and also know where to access the names of the selection committee. Great being with people who care-

Totally agree. The best scenario would be to dash their playoff hopes by beating them on that last Saturday. Would be a proper sendoff to FBS independence

Them at 8-4 this year = playoff bid. Not sure at 7-5 but not out of the realm of possibility given the Big Sky cred

It also means that they can realistically only afford two more losses. @ Weber, Montana, @ EWU, and Idaho are all capable of finishing them off before we get to them. Going to be interesting to see how 70 transfers run that stretch

Back to the Thunderbirds: Looking at their numbers/film, RB #28 is a dude. UTEP transfer, Payton Watchlist for 2025, etc. He had 28 carries in the win over Idaho State (180 yds/2 TD) and 25 carries vs NAU (171 yds/4 TD). I'm going to go out on a limb to say that his 8 carries (for whatever reason) was why they lost in San Diego. Two things are happening when your tailback is touching the ball 25+ times: you believe in your running game and your offense is rolling. Stop the run, stop SUU

One 7-5 made it in 2024 (Central Connecticut).
A bunch of teams made it in the 2023 and 2022 tournaments, but that was also when FCS played an 11 game schedule. Playing in the Big Sky will help any team in that boat.

My guess is that seat fees go to Athletics/operations budget since they run the stadium

Great call on their part. Scheduling for success on the first night that students are there is also a very wise marketing strategy. Nothing negatively impacts student attendance in 2025 more than kids thinking their team sucks. Find ways to make the game interactive with their cell phones and the scoreboard and you're on to something

Brock, just wanted to say nice job by you and Dwight. I appreciate your work-

I agree with you, they should be 4-0 or 3-1 heading into the meat of their schedule. Their game @ Weber State will tell us a lot about who they really are, and Cheney, WA is never a picnic. Their S.O.S. may actually work against them in the selection process, quality does matter to some extent.

SoCal Aggie is spot-on:

It's all about creating an "experience". As much as we love Aggie Football, the average person needs a reason to go to the game.

Giveaways, theme nights, all that. There is drawing power in a free t-shirt, especially with the student section. There should be items handed-out at every game, interactive giveaways like tuition, books, big screens, gift cards, all that. Continue to bring-in the families, the youth sports organizations, various community activities, etc. Out-market Sac in Sac, draw an hour's drive radius on the map and promote like hell. I'm not sure if the University has a specific football marketing department, but if we're growing, we need one.

A great beer garden is a must... take a look at Colorado State's New Belgium Porch (https://csurams.com/facilities/the-new-belgium-porch/2058) located in one of the end zones. Great set-up. There are plenty of breweries in the area, even up to Sierra Nevada in Chico, that might jump on it. Get our own brewing department involved. Cal Poly does something on a much smaller scale down on their scoreboard end, and I think 805 is the title sponsor there.

The wine garden is a great call. With Mondavi, the proximity to Napa/Sonoma, etc. and the fact that nobody in the country has one that I'm aware of, this could be a cute little gimmick.

Start with the experience, grow the fan base, then add on to the facilities.

No expert on State or Title IX law, but my understanding is that there has to be equal opportunities to raise funds, scholarship proportionality, etc. (that's why there are so many more women's sports; they're additional for women and must be roughly equal to the number of football roster spots), but budget money doesn't have to be equally distributed.

There are campaigns and events to raise money for every sport. One is happening right now, so if you want to support football (or another sport), here's the link:

https://giveto.ucdavis.edu/schools/UniversityofCaliforniaDavis/champion-aggies-challenge-2025/pages/football

I'm sure Plough would be stoked if 700 people donated $1000!

Mercyhurst plays in a lower-tier conference (not a single, ranked FCS team in the NEC) with a bunch of former non-scholarship FCS programs. Sac should have beaten them worse if they're truly a Top 25-caliber team. Kudos to Mercyhurst for the schedule they play, they are not afraid to schedule-up (Youngstown, Sac, MSU, SDSU).

He won't mention Sac by name once, mark my words. Probably not even during game week!

I would look for Plough to do things to get #12 off to a fast start against Southern Utah. Easy throws, some things to get him onto the perimeter where he can take off, etc. Also, let's get #20 a few more carries. There was nothing they were going to do to run the ball on UW, but if USD can go for nearly 300 on the ground against SUU, the Ags should have some success. That will also make life easier for #12.

You can do a lot with $31m. The Husky RB is as good as any RB I've seen in college football this season, and their o-line plays and looks like a Big10 o-line. Glad that one is behind us, hopefully women's lacrosse and gymnastics, the cross country teams, and the indoor track program et al. appreciate what the football team did for them and get out to the game Saturday night! Go Ags!

Thank you! As the kids like to say, "blessed and honored"

AggieFinn: this will be by far the worst defense we've faced so far, run it up! QB needs a game where he can go off

Does Royer get paid to write about college football?! That list is humorous, every one of those jobs, including Sac State, is better than UCLA right now. Anyone who leaves a bigtime job for Westwood is insane. They'll find someone who is sitting out this season or a name from the past. No up-and-comer will risk it at UCLA if they smart. Can't win there.

And regarding Washington, their NIL payroll is likely north of $15-20m for football. They signed a basketball kid for $2m last year and nobody cares about UW hoops. Davis took that one in the chin to fund the rest of the Athletic Department; Big10 guarantee + Big10 Network money. On to real season, Go Ags!

Southern Utah is a typical middle-of-the-pack UAC team that doesn't play well on the road but can give anyone a game at home on a Saturday night. Very similar to UT Tech. NAU was a semi-rivalry game for S. Utah so they had some juice, but they won't replicate that on the road against a Top 10 opponent coming off a bye and with Plough's experience. Any scholarship team that loses to San Diego is a joke; they're a glorified D3 team. SUU is good enough offensively to put a scare into anyone but they won't hold up. Ags roll...