Nice of them to extend a nice welcome to the opposing coach by playing at “The Hawk”. Odd to find out that UCD is “near Davis”. Maybe I would have gotten better grades if I had gone to the correct campus :-). Some metaphor mixing it seems … always thought it was an “800 lb. Gorilla” and “the elephant in the room” without the need for weight specification of said elephant.

A bit concerned with the kicking game after seeing that line-drive knuckleball kick - yikes! The editor should have probably cut that shot.

correct. Initial conditions always changing in the forecast models.

92 at kickoff and 97 high for next Thursday in Commerce - source Weather Underground. Dewpoint is going to be much higher than Davis though.

The kickoff special teams play was pretty much a disaster at Bozeman last year - never understood the strategy that night. Montana State had a very good kickoff returner. Seems to me the best strategy is jus to pound it far into or out of the end zone. I think most good college kickers can do that. The very strange and short kicks that night didn’t work at all. Anyway special teams and defense are major factors in getting to playoff and further status. I think this year’s defense should be quite good. They were very good last year with the exception of Montana State.

https://youtube.com/shorts/WHjADqJjCok?feature=share

PAC-4 moving to Big Sky?
Funny spot. Sounds like done with chatgpt

one aspect that has not been mentioned is special teams and most specifically kicking and punting. The punting game was inconsistent last year - I don’t think it impacted the season in a negative way as much as it could have. The Aggies also had a solid kicker last year in Isaiah Gomez and I really hope the new guy is good.

safety who is on the “short side” of the field, I.e. closer to the sideline. The other safety position is termed “field safety”.

They beat SELA last year (team that beat Idaho in the playoffs) and seems to have had somewhat of an up and down season. Not a team to be taken lightly.

Idaho is this year’s (at least per-season) media darlings. For them to do better than last year, their defense needs to gat a lot better. Montana State has a rough schedule this year, and as per normal Montana has scheduled pre-season patsies. They will be thinking “return to dominance” until reality hits them. Can’t wait for a Bobby Hauck press conference after a loss.

Get your shamburger then jump in a sham taxi. Problem is you’d have to be in Gothenburg Sweden to hail it.

I saw Frazier make some big plays last year and have wondered why he didn’t have more playing time. When talking to the parents of the Conners twins in Bozeman last fall, they said he was the fastest guy on the team. As I recall, one of his attributes was pass rushing (blitz from a db position).

Sadly funny article by Jason Gay of WSJ on this craziness. Don’t know if link will work without a subscription. One Washington State alum said he wished Wazzu would drop down to FCS. That’s very unlikely but an intriguing idea as we watch the progression to a superconference with the chase for money and eyeballs.

https://www.wsj.com/sports/football/college-sports-pac-12-big-ten-big-12-7b7902a7

I have been enjoying watching a lot of FCS football the past few years (including big sky) with a subscription to ESPN+ during the football season then ditching it. But when is some ESPN exec going to say “why are we showing “low level” college football when nobody is watching it?” There is certainly no incremental profit from ads/subscriptions generated from fans who would otherwise dump it if not for FCS football. I guess it’s being subsidized by all the cage match events or whatever they call that - fans and Red Bull commercials.

it’s now looking like the PAC-4. When I was a kid it was PAC-8.

I think alums (collectives throwing money to pay kids to play - and hopefully win their Alma mater a championship) and TV money are not good things for college sports overall. The horse is out of the barn though, and I understand ADs scrambling tsp they are not left out. I think the NCAA has to set some rules so that it just doesn’t become the school with most alumni money wins. To me it’s almost money laundering with these collectives. The athletes are not commercially worth much money as NIL would imply. They are not all Michael Jordans directly translating their image in massive sales. The collectives are just a rationalized way to pay student-athletes (unfortunately most emphasis on the athlete these days) for playing for your school. Anyway my take.

yah, I kind of thought so too. I thought Harper looked good last year when given opportunities. There was a video time constraint evidently and if so you have to pick and choose.

Hauck gives pricks a bad name. His true character comes out in press conferences after a loss. Some unbelievably poor ones last year. Even treats his own local press like manure. Guess as long as he wins most of his games, the AD and University leaders don’t care. So glad that Davis has class from coaches to players.

USD AD or whomever could have said something like “we have decided to go a new direction” or some other double speak that at least can be deciphered as a “firing”. Saying he retired is just low. Do they teach this stuff in ethics and HR classes these days? It’s all crisis management and PR and lawyers these days and no honesty/humanity.

Could be a bit of age discrimination but wouldn’t be able to prove that. Experience (only obtained over years - and the wisdom of age) is less valued these days.

not to mention lime and fertilizer….

right. That’s why I could handle D1A and D1AA

I read that Deion Sanders was upset with only 1HBCU player getting drafted, so I did a little research:

22 HBCU teams
133 total FBS teams
16.5 percent hbcu

10 FBs drafted
.165 x 10= 1.7 so 1 or 2 if even odds.

With only 10 FBS drafted and the quality of the HBCU leagues not at top tier, I didn’t find it to be too much of a surprise. I also found it a bit rich that Sanders says this after bailing out of the HBCU scene.

I think about 22 FBS players were drafted either last year or the year before. Like others say, the transfer portal may have some effect.