We’re better in pass defense efficiency,
Not great but better than Montana.
PASS DEFENSE EFFIC. G Comp Att Int Pct. Yards TD Effic.
1. Weber State 4 64 134 8 47.8 758 4 93.2
2. Northern Arizona 4 67 134 8 50.0 735 6 98.9
3. Montana State 4 82 135 6 60.7 877 0 106.4
4. Eastern Washington 4 61 107 3 57.0 670 2 110.2
5. Portland State 4 64 115 4 55.7 828 4 120.7
6. Sacramento State 4 56 90 1 62.2 551 3 122.4
7. Idaho State 4 114 189 5 60.3 1234 12 130.8
8. UC Davis 4 78 134 4 58.2 1052 7 135.4
9. Northern Colorado 5 78 126 6 61.9 939 8 135.9
10. Montana 4 53 91 2 58.2 824 5 148.0
11. Idaho 5 82 139 2 59.0 1066 12 149.0
12. Cal Poly 4 81 131 3 61.8 1023 12 153.1
13. Southern Utah 4 73 118 0 61.9 997 8 155.2

yep, but only in yardage. Teams have thrown more against us bexause they are behind. We are #2 against the run because there are relatively less run plays.

A lot of discussion about strength of schedule.
From eastbayaggie on another thread.

Stanford #24
UC Davis #98
Eastern Washington #105
Idaho State #130
Montana #147
Idaho #152
San Jose State #154
Northern Arizona #172
Cal Poly #187
San Diego #189
Sacramento State #199
Northern Colorado #206

If you buy the Massey rankings, the Montana competition is at the same level as Idaho and San Jose state.
So the venue and fans are the new elements plus the long distance road game.

Have to admit Stanford stopped us until garbage time. We looked like we belonged on the field with them but got 3 points.
But the good thing is we are not going to see a level of athleticism that we haven’t seen before. Or anything close.

I agreee we’re far from perfect even though we have a nearly perfect record. I don’t think we should be the 8.5 point favorite that they quote on the Montana board.
I’d rather that we came in overlooked and underestimated. I don’t think a loss would be the huge upset they seem to view it as in Montana.
I think this will be a close game but we’ll pull it out because we’re better at the skill positions. We’re undefeated except for Stanford and an undefeated team has an edge because they expect to win.

It was viewed as a schedule where we could be improved and still have a worse record.Two FBS teams and a transitioning from FBS team etc. San Jose State, Idaho and Cal Poly didn’t play up to their billing; but some of that was us.
We are in the tough home stretch so we won’t count our scalps yet. Just a couple more wins and we will have exceeded expectations; if we haven’t already,

If we had coach Walsh’s philosophy we wouldn’t have bothered to pass.

You can count on it, I think. Plough related in the Montana radio show how the noise messed up Northern Arizona and how he was not popular on the flight home

Big Sky Statistics
CalPoly gives up 9 yards per rush attempt.

RUSHING DEFENSE G Att Yards Avg. TD Yards/G
1. Weber State 4 142 434 3.1 4 108.5
2. Portland State 4 151 608 4.0 8 152.0
3. Idaho State 4 153 711 4.6 6 177.8
4. UC Davis 4 203 731 3.6 6 182.8
5. Northern Arizona 4 165 737 4.5 9 184.2
6. Montana State 4 166 754 4.5 13 188.5
7. Eastern Washington 4 214 777 3.6 5 194.2
8. Northern Colorado 5 231 1087 4.7 16 217.4
9. Idaho 5 209 1247 6.0 7 249.4
10. Cal Poly 4 113 1027 9.1 10 256.8
11. Southern Utah 4 168 1031 6.1 9 257.8
12. Montana 4 233 1124 4.8 11 281.0
13. Sacramento State 4 206 1552 7.5 18 388.0

what gives? Why would they not? They’ve thrown effectively in the past even as an option team. This QB incapable? Or were they just trying not to lose by 60?

Those are the guys. The color guy kept saying Davis was playing without a safety and that they had to throw. He said that repeatedly in the 1st half. Also wanted more runs outside the numbers

Were those guys on the broadcast regular Poly broadcasters? Didn’t seem like they were that familiar. At one point the color commentator forgot the full backs name.
Poly this year is a one trick pony on offense and can’t stop the run on defense. Their coaching staff doesn’t think they can throw the ball. Since they have in prior years why don’t they this year? One suspects the coaches and the guys in front might know something the commentator doesn’t,about the Poly players.

Good luck to you and your son.

Tehran Thomas was a freshman last year who really came on in the final game against Sac, he’s got speed and will run right over people, The surprising thing is he’s not our primary back because Gilliam is so versatile. O line has theee first year starters and now opens some holes. True Frosh is a mentioned as being
All Big Sky.

Walsh has been successful before.
Despite occasional blowouts this is usually a very competitive rivalry.
We are a lot better than we’ve been of late becase we have so many offensive weapons. Example was toward the end of first half where we would all be expecting pass plays we had a series of runs in a long drive. It’s all coming together for us, pass protection, a QB who has four or five guys to throw to or two quality backs, and a defense that is now respectable overall and tough against the run in particular.

I wonder what your son would have thought if only saw the last three quarters,
He may be right though. I think we are improving as our new players establish themselves. We have a lot of young players. So hopefully we’ll be a better team yet by the time we play EW

Their mountains are nice.

Highest level of athletics in the state. We’d be like that in California if we didn’t have the NFL,NHL,NBA,PAC12,Mountain West, and Major League Soccer. Hard to imagine.
Edit left of major league baseball

In many of the rankings it’s not a poll, it’s an algorithm or an average of multiple algorithms based on the matrix of all games and all scores. It is based on who you’ve played, how you scored and how they scored against other opponents, That excludes reputation, history etc. The coaches poll is subjective and reflects reputation, as do any writers polls, or Internet polls. Based on our performance we’re somewhere in the top 10. Based on our reputation where not. If we continue to win we’ll be higher ranked in the coaches and writers polls next year. On one of the radio broadcasts the question was raised on who fills out the coaches ballots. Probably not the coaches who are otherwise occupied.

In reply to Idaho State being better than Northern Iowa; In Sagarin rankings, Northern Iowa is ranked #74 , we’re #106, and Idaho State is #137.
On a neutral field Northern Iowa would be favored over Idaho State by two touchdowns