That's fair. I think this should be a good game. I think the Aggies win it, but that's why you have to play the games on Saturday.

I was watching the game with my brother and we couldn't believe that HR was left in as long as he was. Something was off long before he was pulled. We were seriously wondering why TT didn't get more snaps even from the beginning of the game. When against a very good defense like Weber you got to make plays happen... and just making things happen is his specialty.

Their whole fan base hates their coach which is totally understandable. Petrino has a 31-61 record at Idaho over the span of 9 seasons. In those 9 seasons he has a singular winning season (9-4 in the Sunbelt Conference). So far in the Big Sky he has led them to records of 4-7, 5-7, 2-4, and 1-2 so far this season. So it is true that the coaching is objectively terrible which is why I find their confidence in winning this game so interesting. Hawkins indicated in an article in the Enterprise that HR should be fine. Now I don't know if by "fine" he means he'll be good to go this week or if he means we'll see him again in a couple weeks. That would be the only thing giving me confidence if the roles were reversed, that our QB might be out.

Hahaha I tried to make it as non political as possible given the situation in Idaho.

Other than he used to be at Boise? Outside of that I have no idea if he has extra beef with them.

I'm putting a disclaimer before the rest of my post so no one takes it the wrong way.

I am by no means implying that it is a sure thing Davis will win this game. Idaho proved to be a tough opponent last season and they return mostly the same team and gain some of the players they had out with covid-19.

That being said, I took a look at the Idaho forum and several of their posters are oddly confident that they are going to win for a variety of reasons. They seem to think that for whatever reason Davis is going to be overlooking Idaho as an opponent. I would counter that our guys are more dialed in than ever. This is our first time starting a season 4-0 since 2004. They know more than anyone that they could make it a special season and that means being locked in to going 1-0 every single week.

Another poster indicated that their offense and defense are simply better than ours. Now I will concede we don't really know what our offensive situation is at this moment considering HR's status, but Hastings proved he could put a drive together when things were on the line and we know how deadly TT can be with the ball in his hands. In terms of the defense, who knows. Most metrics that I can find indicate that our defense has been better so far this season and we have the best turnover margin in the country. Tough to say though when their only opponents have been a 0-4 Simon Fraser (division 2) and then 2 FBS teams.

As I mentioned previously, I'm far from saying that this is a guaranteed victory. The Aggies are going to have to come out hungry to bring the W. What I am saying is that some of their fans have more confidence than I would if the roles were reversed. I wouldn't feel confident at all going on the road against a consensus top 10 team, but more power to them I suppose! I hope the stadium is packed and loud!

Aggies at 7 in the AGS top 25 fan poll

https://www.anygivensaturday.com/showthread.php?281382-AGS-Poll-Results-Week-4-2021

Being in the Big Sky there just isn't a ton of space to fit in those types of games. We usually play 1-2 FBS schools which only leaves 1-2 non-conference FCS games. I couldn't tell you specifically what led to South Dakota State becoming a power, but my guess is money, coaching, and good recruiting. SDSU and NDSU are the big fish in the Dakotas and both do an excellent job of recruiting the middle of the country and bringing in transfer studs. A history of success helps bring continued success though. Guys go to NDSU, JMU, SHSU, Montana, EWU, etc. because they win consistently season to season.

Aggies move from 12 to 8 in the STATS Top 25 poll

https://theanalyst.com/na/2021/09/its-a-september-to-remember-in-fcs-top-25-rankings/

Aggies move up to 8 in the coaches poll!

https://www.ncaa.com/rankings/football/fcs/fcs-coaches-poll

Sam Herder at HERO Sports FCS has the Aggies at 7

https://herosports.com/fcs-football-top-25-herder-ballot-2021-4-bzbz/

Craig Haley at Athlon moves us up from 10 to 8 in his poll

https://athlonsports.com/college-football/fcs-rankings-top-25-power-poll-following-week-4-2021

Sure, not all of the polls have the most realistic outlook on what the actual top 10 or top 25 will be, but I personally find it fun looking at where the different models have the Aggies. I never said that I took that particular poll seriously, although I think we will find most of the polls (this one included) are zeroing in on us in the 8-10 range

Aggies remain at 7 in the college sports madness poll

https://www.collegesportsmadness.com/fcs-football/top-25-rankings

Davis stays at 8 in the versus poll

https://www.versussportssimulator.com/FCS/rankings

I couldn't tell you in terms of Josh Davis. I'm sure that they've had some offensive line turnover in the amount of time that he's been there. So far this season, he has the lowest yards per rush average of his career... 2021 - 4.3, Spring season - 5.8, 2019 - 6.2, 2018 - 5.4.

Frankly, so far this season and in the shortened season Dontae McMillan has been their better back. More yards per rush, comparable yards on less carries, more touchdowns. The only thing is Davis provides more in the receiving game. Definitely doesn't look like the same freshman phenom that I remember him being though.

Wow that is some laughable reporting. I agree that the roughing the passer call was soft to say the least, but HR had clearly already released the ball and as you said the defender extended his arm into his chest when contact was completely avoidable. But saying that Hutton fell down on his own? C'mon... that is objectively not true.

Eastern's elite offense versus Montana's elite defense. Should be a very interesting game.

Yeah I noticed that and thought it was strange. He almost single handedly won that game against Eastern for the Vandals.

I think the main thing was they were worried about Shaheed getting behind the cornerbacks. Adds a secondary level of protection against the deep ball to a very fast receiver. Like you said, this leads to a bend don't break philosophy as you give more room for the intermediate passes.

https://www.ncaa.com/stats/football/fcs/current/team/29