Didn't thank you for your writeup on the Wildcat and sweep motions earlier, it was really informative!

Just noticed that the 49ers ended the half with Lance running a very similar Wildcat play to TT's game winner. Also, Oregon State was putting in a linebacker at QB to run TDs in the red zone late last night vs USC.

I know it's recency bias but this weekend has really made me feel like it's almost unbeatable to get a yard or two out of the 'cat if the guy taking snaps is athletic enough. At the same time, I'm conscious that back when CJ was running it a few years ago the results were very mixed

Absolutely, USNWR favors things like selectivity and faculty ratio that actively go against a public school's mission to educate as many qualified students as possible. Not to mention measuring alumni donations but not state budgeted funding -- i.e. giving private schools "credit" for an ordinary part of their business model but not public schools.

I wondered about some of this, this was really informative.

I'm surprised our announcers don't call the fly sweep what it is considering it's a whole (admittedly rare) scheme that Hawk hired the staff to run, but then I also have to remember that even journalists don't dissect things as much as this forum does daily

Technically speaking isn't a direct snap a "formation" (Wildcat) -- I can kind of understand the blurring to call it a "package" but my understanding was absolutely the same that that implies specific personnel

I'm sure it was an error but it's funny to think of this paragraph as throwing incredible shade on UNLV:

This was the Big Sky’s third victory this season over an FBS school, following UCD’s 19-7 win over Tulsa, and Montana’s 13-7 stunner over Washington. — Bob

The double font logo makes perfect sense to me as a header or on the med school stuff but was rightfully replaced for all the athletics branding.

I'd be fine with any gear I buy from here on out having the lemon CA or script Davis honestly, both are timeless. I've noticed a cursive "Aggies" making its way into some branding as well and I like that

I think the first two paragraphs of the initial post are relevant, the last one absolutely isn't. It described events that are not football games and not even in the same county. A better comparison would be to rules at other football stadiums as a compare/contrast thing I think.

I just try to ignore the politics on the non-OT forums, I feel/hope the way to make a platform less useful for stuff that doesn't belong is to just not be part of the audience. Discussion of the latest science is a different matter IMO because it can help to inform folks' decisions on whether they're going to go to the game or how they'll interpret guidelines if any offer flexibility.

The study that found that vaccinated people can get infected and spread COVID-19 (Provincetown) had significant shortfalls -- not due to study design, but self-admission from the authors on the limited facts they actually looked at. Other research shown that mRNA vaccines still do help prevent you from getting sick from Delta in the first place, though obviously with less efficacy than earlier forms of the disease. So there's some assurance that you're less likely to get coughed on by someone who is actively sick with the virus if you're surrounded by vaccinated people, and less likely to catch it if you are exposed.

This one shows that infection-prevention effectiveness fell but was still at 50% in nursing homes during delta -- bear in mind, a very vulnerable population that also got their shots early: https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/mm7034e3.htm

They made it an orientation event and combined it with artificial scarcity (not only with mobile ticketing and "sellout" terminology, but also asking the sophomores to show up two hours early thereby turning it into a can't-miss "EVENT".

I think we'll see a bit of that carrying over to Idaho given the good atmosphere, Aggie win, and first-year stampede coming up. Not sure if the momentum will totally sustain but I'd expect the Sac State game to be bonkers, especially if the title is on the line.

Didn't connect the dots that that was Livingston on the sideline mic. He was pretty good. I did notice the PA seemed a little dry but didn't think much of it. Definitely feels like the game announcer could use more energy.

Yep, good point. This team is absolutely stacked with athletic talent

Asked the merch store at the game; they weren't selling masks of any type.

Meanwhile I think I saw like 4-5 variants of UCD-branded masks on campus yesterday. Very strange.

I thought the wildcat series with TT was actually really slick. 2-3 direct snap runs and then for the scoring play a handoff to LL -- the only time of the night that TT didn't take it himself after receiving the snap. Good to show that there's options there to prevent / deal with teams just selling out to pile up on TT when they see the Magic Package

If you count TT's and HR's legs is this the deepest running corps UCD's had in the D1 era? Certainly I can't ever remember being so confident in the team producing mismatches on the ground even back when Manzanares and Luuga were in the backfield

I ended up sitting near Gomez' friends and family and they were very perplexed by him not making the FG -- multiple people pointed out how it just seemed to halt at the end, so I can totally believe it was wind.

In the past few years, 4th and 20 was the situation where offense would come out and Maier pooch kicked it -- I guess HR and TT don't have practice doing that?

I'd add that some of the graphics were comical. Pixellated, squashed player pictures when introducing the team, the old horse head logo (with the no-longer-used brighter yellow-gold) behind the Aggie player profiles, Dixie State getting referred to as Cal Poly in a graphic, it pretty much was all there.

I also thought the image was SLIGHTLY stretched on at least the sideline cameras but it could have been my imagination, I was tired when I was watching the replay.

It's a good point. I don't want to conjecture too much about the Tulsa game because while I was very reactionary at the time (thought playcalling was too conservative) a massive turnover margin and ability to pound the rock and run out the clock was what won that game. But on the flip side, hindsight is 20/20 -- had Tulsa not fumbled into their end zone we would have complained about not enough explosive plays on offense.

Certainly agree with you that the two FCS games were mismatch-oriented. I also don't mind the idea of sticking to the ground against a team that can score more (were the Ags also letting the playclock run out more or was that my imagination? I remember being surprised to see a few huddles). Coach opinions on TOP as a stat aside, defense will need to stay very fresh against teams like EWU.

I'm betting the band situation was due to them just having such a long time between formal events, and most of the old Band-Uh! members graduating since the last true halftime show. Since move-in was this weekend the band maybe hasn't even practiced together for more than a day or two.

I'm hoping there's a return to form and energy later. The halftime set was a typical one of their ideas (Lin-Manuel Miranda themed) but the overall performance sounded like it needed more reps behind it.

Really feels like Maier needs to be starting somewhere at some level of pro play or start trying to work his way into FA talks in the NFL next year. Would be a shame for him to sit on Calgary's bench when he just kills it every opportunity he gets

Kentucky gets a massive pick six to clutch it out, Chattanooga had a really nice onsides attempt too. So close

Only benefit I know of is being able to play the @ 4th seed instead of @ the 1st seed in the first round. Mattered a little in some years where NDSU was obliterating everyone.

I don't believe the location selection system matters at all if you're seeded; that's a first-round construct only. My understanding is the seeded teams simply have a bye and then always host when they're playing an unseeded team or a worse-seeded team.

Having the distinguishing letter be in the middle of F_S was.... questionable for readability.

Would prefer to just call them the P5, G5, and the Championship (borrowing a page from England's book)