Eason’s roster bio says he didn’t make an appearance last year. Not that they keep reliable stats. Scott Nixon a 6’2” receiver wearing 24 was being used as a blocker in last half of season before being targeted in the later games.. I searched and couldn’t find any posts mentioning Eason playing.

I think there is a big unknown as to how effective the defense will be as a unit. Have to replace Psyk’s pass rush and fix the huge vulnerability the team had defending run plays. Defense has to improve by about ten points a game to match Montana State’s. The way they played starting with the Idaho State game may all be because of injuries, but the first game is an opportunity to make that case.

In early season games the number of veteran players familiar with the system is a big factor, and Davis clearly has that advantage. Davis players are not going to be overlooking anyone in the first game. The question is how new players and players in new roles perform and how well the coaches anticipate and how quickly they adapt to what the unfamiliar opponent does. Both the head coach and defensive coordinator are from Central Washington, so they probably will look like Central Washington.

I need glasses

PSU have somewhere around 42 new players, They have some transfers, not a huge number. A almost 4 star (89) redshirt freshman linebacker from Washington huskies, Jonathan Epperson, They have a transfer from Hawaii who passed for 1600 yards last year, 56% completions 4TD, but 16 interceptions. Appears to be a decent freshman class.
Central Washington scored 17 points in the first half against Montana last year.
Speaking of big jumps, Weber’s head coach is jumping up from high school. 3 of his sons are on the roster, as is a QB he had in high school who was Cal’s backup qb last year. One of his sons was on Webers team last year but injured after 3 catches. 10.6 100 yard speedster

Plough said he’s confident whoever rises to the top out of the QB room would be talented with guys behind him ready to go and ran through the offensive weapons the team has mentioning Williams by name, which i thought was an indication Williams is likely to be recovered.
In whole Plough continues to be relaxed about the QB.
I’m curious about the previously unseen freshmen. Big recruiting class and everyone now has five years of eligibility.

I watched it on espn+.
Its probably still going on, Davis was about 2 hr and 52 minutes into the show.
Its on demand.

Plough said today at the Big Sky kickoff that the QB position will be decided after two or three weeks of camp.

By all reports two players are competing for the qb position, Pinnick and a player who was on the team as a freshman last year. Their first game is Sept.6, so fall camp starts about a week later than ours.

I remember Plough making a similar comment but i think it may have been about the 2018 game.
In 2024, Davis gave up a touchdown and the lead after an exchange of punts gave Montana a possession in UCDs side of the field. Davis took the lead back near the end of the 3rd quarter. Davis dominated the 4th quarter.

Everyone has five years now. Used to be five years to play four, now its five years to play five. Lots of 19 year olds straight out of high school because parents start them in school late for athletic ambitions.

New eligibility rule applies to all athletes beginning school this fall.. Previously enrolled students are covered by whichever rule benefits them most.

Rutchena’s listing by the Sac Bee follows him being listed on the Spring roster during the winter, which was then repeated by FCS football central.
The roster published by Davis has too many errors. It is the authority for who is on the roster, and they don’t take it seriously.

bad teams usually have bad attendance

To avoid being bad at the Mountain West level Davis needs to have sources of funding to fund 50% more scholarships (from 63 to at least mid 90s), $2 million to $3 million budget for revenue sharing for football to match the average in the mountain west, some NIL arrangements to market players, whatever is required in increased coaches and salaries, plus the FBS conversion fees. Staying where they are and implementing the parts of that list that improve the quality of the team will enable them to win at the FCS level and build the fan base and grow revenue better than prematurely moving up to be a cellar dweller.

There are 105 scholarships allowed in the Mountain West, as there are in FCS unless limited by the conference. The NCAA has discarded the distinction between full and partial scholarships, now that they allow revenue sharing they just limit the roster size. Distinguishing between a scholarship and revenue sharing was a distinction without a difference. Scholarships can be full or partial.
When comparing tuition you might factor in that many of the schools recruit heavily out of state, more so than California schools, due to distribution of high school prospects.

There has clearly been a change in the 2027 class in the number of players with stars awarded and i believe that is due to a more limited number of prospects scouted. They are not rating many FCS prospects.
Montana State has two of its 19 commits rated, Montana one of 19. Idaho 2 of 12

LeFan posted that many of the 247 staff that did the ratings moved on. The guy who gave Dukes an 87 rating for Rivals had just prior been with 247

Whatever Dukes’ rating, he attended a UCD camp in 2025, in addition to his latest visit, so bith sides are making a well informed decision.

Sounds like Dukes is a special talent.
This sentence is an example of the foolishness of taking player rankings at face value. “ the Rivals Industry Ranking has him as the No. 1716 overall prospect nationally, the No. 127 running back, and No. 174 player in California“. What that doesn’t tell you is that only one service in the industry ranked him, rivals, and the others in the ranking , 247, and espn didn’t evaluate him. So the one evaluation he has was super high, an 87, but the non evaluations brought down his rating. It is meaningless to average evaluations that weren’t done.

. I think that is just the local reporter’s analysis, not something he was told. The Pac-12 option hasn’t made sense since Davis joined the Mountain West.

Player commits mean so little that I’ve seen a players social media post announcing his commitment include a notice that he was still open to recruitment,

It appears to me that 3 star ratings are less numerous than in recent years. Guys who have multiple offers, including some lesser FBS teams don’t have ratings . I wonder if 247 cut back on the number of player evaluations they do. I notice on FCS Football Central that they are writing articles about recruits that don’t have ratings.