Yeah we played multiple drives with the backups in vs Idaho. Had we left the starters in we could have done more damage. This will be a good game. I just can't help looking at Gueller's other games this season and Idaho is a MASSIVE outlier in terms of performance.

That's good for Josh. Still find it kind of ironic that he left the Aggies to go to big time college football and is now on an 0-5 UCLA team while the Aggies are thriving. Players have to do what they feel is best for them in the long run, but I will always wonder if guys in situations such as these feel any kind of regret.

I'm still thinking about it haha

Tough to say. This is the best team we've fielded in the D1 era for sure. Only other option I was around for was the 2000 team, which was a damn good team.

I understand Hawks sentiment, but I think he's underplaying how disastrous that 4th quarter was. It wasn't just the last little bit, it was an entire quarter of the game and we let a near 40 point lead all but completely dissolve. That's just not acceptable no matter who was on the field.

I was taking a look at the Montana fan forum and they were just saying that the team came out flat. QB was overthrowing receivers and when the ball was thrown nicely receivers were dropping. Losing always hurts when you are in the top 25, but losing to a team that hasn't had a division 1 win since 2016 is going to hurt Montana significantly.

Good thing we also have a great turnover margin this season. Only 1 fumble lost on the season and technically 3 interceptions (although 1 was not thrown by Jake and it was in garbage time). So only 3 turnovers for the starters through 5 games.

We have to be prepared if they decide to go air raid on us like the did on Idaho, but I'm more worried about what they can do on the ground. Madison and Flanagan (their 2 RBs) have both had very good seasons so far and Gueller runs it frequently himself. Gonna have to be prepared for anything.

I think that they are susceptible defensively despite the fact that they have held most teams in check in terms of points. Idaho dropped over 500 yards on them, NAU over 400 (without Cookus), North Dakota was pushing 500 yards on them as was Cal (although I'm less inclined to count this one). Only team that didn't do damage on them yards-wise was D2 Western State Colorado University and I just looked them up... they are 0-6.

So we know that we can put yards up on them, just have to finish our drives.

Gueller's season so far...

vs Western State Colorado University (who???)
- 17/27, 213 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT

vs Cal
- 15/23, 179 yards (63 came on 1 pass), 1 TD, 1 INT

vs North Dakota
- 16/31, 293 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT

vs NAU
- 15/32, 179 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT

vs Idaho
- 19/30, 492 yards, 8 TD, 0 INT

All I'm saying is that the Idaho game was an outlier so far this season. He could very well go on a tear again, but I'm not 100% sold yet.

I think it's worth noting that Gueller was left in this game well beyond when the game was out of reach for the Vandals to make a comeback which ultimately padded the heck out of his stats. Look at every other game the Bengals have played this season and Gueller has been an average QB at best in terms of passing. What makes ISU good is that (outside of this game) they have had a very balanced attack between passing and rushing. Their 2 main running backs are both averaging over 5 yards per carry and Gueller is very mobile himself. In the Massey rankings, our offenses are comparable with our defense being quite a bit better than their's. Massey is also currently (could change throughout the week) giving us a 69% chance of winning. This will definitely be a tough challenge for the Aggies in which they can't have mental lapses. I think that we are still the better team from what I have seen, but I wasn't predicting ISU to be this good. I thought we would have another week before we entered the meat grinder portion of our schedule with the rivalry games, Montana, EWU, and NAU.

GO AGS!

Don't get me started on that again hahaha. I agree that EWU are still the top dogs right now with UCD and ISU nipping at their heels. Next weeks game against ISU is going to have huge implications for the Big Sky.

I still can't shake that 4th quarter. I'm happy with the win, but so much went wrong in that quarter it's tough to be excited about the end result. We had the blowout win in our grasps and losing that could have consequences. Let's saying we get a couple more losses this season and are a bubble team for the playoffs. People can look at that win and say "well, they did barely beat a winless Northern Colorado team". Just frustrating that the players didn't seem interested in maintaining the huge lead and that Hawkins didn't react more quickly to stop the bleeding.

I get what you are saying. Martinez could be a great red zone target with his height, but height isn't everything. Also gotta look at QB to WR chemistry, how good are the receivers hands, how athletic are they, ect ect. Doss and Harrell are firmly our top 2 receivers, but Vaughn was also having a good day.

All the scores have been updated in the original post. Weird week where almost everyone thought these games were going to be cut and dry results and then we ended up with what I would call 3 upsets in Portland State over Montana, Northern Arizona over Weber, and Cal Poly over Sac State. That definitely will throw off some of the rankings.

Poly up 24-14... weird scores in the big sky today

I agree with this 110%. Doss and Harrell were open for days. Screw getting 2 yards rushing. Lob it downfield as often as possible.

100% agree. Glad we got the W, but very upsetting that that is how the depth plays.

That would be a huge loss for Montana. PSU's only win is over College of Idaho...

This might be the angriest I've ever been after a win. Should have been a blowout...

Hawkins really really REALLY needs to put his foot down on whatever that was in the 4th quarter. Guys didn't even look like they were trying... and UNC WITH AN 0-5 RECORD almost got back into it. Just not acceptable on any level. Honestly not just on the players too. Hawkins and company needed to react faster to that debacle. Don't want to get starters hurt, but when you let a team get back into it after leading by 30+ points you have to send a message.