FBS also had more depth due to the COVID year but they didn’t need it as much. So it relatively helped the FCS teams more. Tulsa had some 7 year(s) guy if I recall correctly. Three Graduate transfers as well.

Maybe we should have had had Whelan try a sixty yard field goal. I read he kicks them in practice.
Here is a 72 yarder in high school practice:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qv0p0pWpnmc

Just to be clear I’m not recommending moving to the MWC.
While we should logically be able to compete with Fresno and San Diego State, they have a history that we don’t. I was a student at San Diego Stats in the seventies and they played in the same stadium as the Chargers. I think SDSU outdrew the Chargers.
The logical progression is we win consistently and build a fan base.

I’m sure they would. No downside for them. But their stockpiling players isn’t to the players benefit, it helps to preserve the power 5 supremacy by denying talented players to lower tier conferences.
It’s an equity issue.

my point is it’s a gradient. What does the median Mountain West coach make?
Has to do with programs money making capacity, not whether it’s FBS.

It’s a gradient, not all 100+ FBS teams pay that. Do you think being in FCS means your coach can’t be lured away? It’s not a FBS FCS distinction.

Hawkins let Idaho States best player beat us in the first quarter. Maybe he and the defensive coordinator should learn from that.

While we’re dreaming, my favored outcome would be if the NCAA gives up the two tier division 1. I think it’s a failed experiment. 85 scholarships are not required to field a football team with enough depth to put a good product on the field. The NCAA recognized this with their attempted rebranding from 1AA to FCS. It would be good for the sport if the scholarship limit was around 70. I think FBS teams are going to have an increasing difficulty holding on to players given that athletes who don’t play can more easily transfer now.

I think the subdivision creates a barrier to marketing, recruiting and fundraising for the lower subdivision, which has incurred 75% of the cost. It taints the rest of the schools athletic programs in the public image.
Personally I’m happy where we are conference wise. Just tired of the FBS FCS distinction.

But the attendance is apparently required per Wikipedia.
“FBS schools must have an average home attendance of at least 15,000 (over a rolling two-year period). An FBS school must sponsor a minimum of 16 varsity intercollegiate teams (including football), with at least six men's or coeducational teams and at least eight all-female teams.”
I think attendance would be an issue for us to maintain that average.

Regarding TV money I think Sacramento area, and Northern California in general is a attractive market.

As you point out there are two decisions, should we want to and would they want us.

Hawaii is a football only member. But why the added expense since the rest of our sports are D1? We have seventeen sports.

I think it’s pretty simple. If we were assured we would average 15000 fans per game then it would make sense. That would likely pay for the extra 20 scholarships and I think the stadium was designed to allow that level of expansion. Not sure 15000 would show up on average.
Cross that hurdle and it makes sense if we were in the same conference as SJSU, Reno Fresno and San Diego State. Some natural rivalries there.

I see Weber’s Barron is back at QB. and Weisser broke his leg against Cal Poly. Barron practiced during the bye week. I I like their chances against Montana State. Weber has played a much tougher schedule so far, and their two FCS losses were with their QB out. The 14 point turnaround single play by the backup qb was a huge factor in that loss, and we were lucky to beat them.

Its been said that it’s hard to win two games against a team in a season.
An example would be us playing Eastern in playoffs after getting blown out in regular season.
If this is true, the same effect would likely be seen in playing opponents we played in the spring, Weber, Eastern, Idaho, Idaho State and Cal Poly. We beat Weber in the rematch, beat Idaho in a tougher than expected game and lost to Idaho State, so maybe there is some validity to it, in all three games so far the loser in the spring would have at least covered the spread, and won two out of three outright.

Obviously in retrospect it was a bad call. The Titanic should have gone further south.
However the choice was punt and probably give them the ball at the 20, or try to get a first down with slim chance of making it. And give them the ball at the 43. Note: We’re down two touchdowns.

Looks really stupid because defense gave up six straight completions. Who’s to say they wouldn’t have got a touchdown if they had to go twenty yards further?

The Sac Bee would still cover us like a backwater, and Dunning would write. That we need to be in Pac12

The gamble of going for it on 4 and 17 was unorthodox, but it was our last possession of the half and the assumption is that your defense can keep a team from going half the field in a little over a minute. Perhaps the loss will lead to a reassessment of strategy on both units. Hard to make changes sometimes when having success.

Bob’s column shows the pernicious effects of the two subdivisions. He seems to think that the comparison is to USC and Penn State if we move up. Its not, it’s to San Jose State. Is there going to be huge enthusiasm about a San Jose State level program? Is it going to be more exciting to have a slim chance at a minor bowl than it is to have a playoff game?

My preferred outcome would be if the NCAA ditched the distinction between FCS and FBS as far as Scholarships are concerned. Both divisions should have something like 70. Then when the two division members play you wouldn’t hear the constant “from the FCS” talk. I watched part of the Grambling Houston game and I didn’t hear FCS mentioned, with the same commentator that made that his key storyline in our game with Tulsa. Teams aren’t divided by a sharp line, it’s a gradient.

No different than basketball but basketball has uniform rules, football should too.
Does Bob think that our basketball team is now a peer of UCLA? Is there a demand for more seats like Pauley Pavillion?

Hays was a freshman starting his first game against a top 10 team, but not his first start.

Four down territory?

Nice tackle by Rodrigues. Was that the guy who was a running back last week?