Oh my goodness folks. Considering how many guys we have back, how many exciting new additions we have, and all the fcs movement this could be an exciting year.

Lets go over some of the major changes in the FCS and how they could help the ags:
1. NDSU to the Mountain West. In a move that both weakens the FCS in its very top level of competition, NDSU also opens the door that has been almost completely closed the last 10 years with NDSU dominating the subdivision. Expected to compete year 1 in the MW, NDSU leaving gives our Aggies a much clearer path to a national championship
2. Montana Madness! Montana State loses its OC that has been there the entire Vigen tenure and the Griz lose Hauck to move a position coach into the HC position. These teams both have strong foundations, but leave space for Davis to fill at the top of the Big Sky.
3. Sac State leaves the Big Sky. This has its pros and cons, but takes away a competitive and coinflip game off of the schedule.
4. Southern Utah and Utah Tech join the Big Sky. Southern Utah has had some good seasons but Utah Tech has been atrocious. Seems like an easier addition than what existed before the Sac exit.
5. University of South Dakota gets a new coach.

I can understand your frustration with UC Davis when you try to compare it to FBS schools, however you need to take into the general landscape of college athletics as a whole. The entire college athletics you and I grew up with has changed. This change is still in its infancy.

I find your defense of Cal as hilarious. What has Cal ever won? When was the last time Cal won its conference? When will it win a national championship? Probably never. And you want Davis to follow that model? Yeah....nah. I'm good.

I would much prefer staying at the FCS level and making the playoffs and competing for a national championship vice being in Cal's position. And before you talk about talent, let me remind you the Seattle Seahawks had 9 FCS players on its roster, New England had 9 including our own Lan on the team. So its not about talent.

Davis is building a solid program and it will take time. It will take $$$ too. But don't be in such a rush to join an FBS league that might not even exist in 2029. I keep saying it, Cal and Stanford begged to be in the ACC....don't be surprised if the ACC decides the travel costs and fit just don't work and cut both programs in 2029. Then what? Where is Cal and Stanford going to go? See what I mean? Things are really fluid right now and the best option is to take it slow.

For the all the hub bub about FBS, I find it funny the only school who has made the college football playoffs since FBS joined the playoff format is UC Davis. USC Nope. UCLA Nope. San Diego St. Nope. Fresno St. Nope. Cal Nope. Stanford. Nope. And you want Davis to follow these schools? Nah...I'm good.

I think this hurts our readiness. Motivated backers aren’t so motivated this morning.

Let’s assume one of two things:
- we got first invite/consideration from the MWC to be an ALL SPORT member and we declined which is a little sad to not capitalize on recent energy around the program. It’s a buzzkill. Not even a statement from the AD. Poor.
- the MWC didn’t actually accept our application “first” and/or after giving us “first consideration” decided a school further away with a smaller budget and less reporters would be a better conference fit for the MWC than our full membership.

So either we think we are lame, or the MWC thinks we are lame. If the MWC thinks so, why are we wasting our time with them in other sports? If we think we are lame, what are we doing about it? Killing off ANY energy, and doing so silently, isn’t any way to build.

Understood on Cal Poly not being Sac State, but it is one of Plough's pillar goals every year and I think the people in the building (players, coaches) look at it as a rivalry. As I stated many posts ago, I think the old trophy is buried somewhere in the depths of Cal Poly's existing, pile of crap football dumpster and someone needs to come clean and get that thing back. A BIGGER trophy may create more hatred towards them (joke).

I do disagree, however, on staying put in FCS for a little longer hurting the Aggie Ascent drive. Ascending with a plan > ascending unprepared. Plenty of improvements to be made at the stadium to bring it closer to FBS-ready, plenty of money to be spent to get to a consistent national championship contender (spend it on players, feeding them, summer housing/school, recruiting budgets, etc.). We're probably more prepared than Sac to make the jump today (minus all their newfound money), but not nearly as prepared as NDSU. That will be a decent barometer for us.

Absolutely. Plus the Griz are in transition. The door is open...

Be where our feet are... the allure of "FBS" and "playing more recognizable teams" is not what it's cracked up to be. A bunch of 5- and 6-win seasons (at best) and possible playing in some crap bowl game in a stadium filled 1/3 to capacity will get old in a hurry. People will blame the coach. You know where it goes from there. Then we're back on here crying for the "good old days" of losing in the Quarters with a team ranked in the Top 10 every year. Let's take care of our business, save some money, build a monster, and enjoy the ride.

Sac State was 7-5 or something this year with a much more talented roster than what they have today. Sure, we sell out the Causeway game and it's fun to whip their ass and take that ugly trophy, but they are toxic. The team to the south and the little horseshoe trophy now moves to game 12 and we'll sell that one out. We do not need Sac State.

I’m not even going to argue that sac moving to the MAC makes any sense, but they already left the big sky. That is our biggest FCS game off the board. Now we are going to play in a weaker FCS, with a weaker conference and expect the hype to continue building at the same rate? I totally think if we make a FCS CHAMPIONSHIP push this year that would be awesome, but I just don’t get this joining the MW thing and then seeming to be full steam ahead in another direction in the FCS.

I am so happy to be playing more recognizable teams for every other sport. Now I would like that football football too.

If UCD moves up, we'll also be ineligible for two years.

California Memorial Stadium was also build directly on top of the Hayward Fault so the renovation was made as much or more for safety reasons than game related. They also did it piecemeal because of concerns it would block views from Panorama Hill (fancy homes) or Tightwad Hill where people watch for free.

And lose hundreds of millions like UCLA and Cal? Pile up debt, lower academic standards? No thank you. Nobody knows what will happen in 5 years, we're on a good path, not like the Stingers down 'leaders'.

Young coaches are in the wings, Cody Hawkins one example. I'm OK if FBS poaches 1-2 players per year, that's reality.

Unless Mrak expands the stadium and moves up soon, I envision us either being 1) competitive until Plough leaves or 2) just being a farm program for FBS indefinitely 3) the program goes the way of every other non-FBS program in California (ceases to exist)

Move up already.

Has there been any reporting on this situation vis-a-vis us? Is it generally understood that we declined this time?

it was comical. Turner was irate, flailing his arms yelling ‘what did I do? What the f—- did I do!’ over and over. Pasternik, all 140 LBs of him, wanders up to half court to poke his nose into it. It then looked like an Irvine coach said something to him at which point he went nuts. He COULD have charged the Irvine coach but kind of let his assistants surround him and keep him from an altercation. It did earn him a T

I just turned it on with SB up 18 - Turner got two T’s, snd Pasternik got one while Turner was yelling at the refs. Pasternik had to be restrained by his many assistants - comical.

I love this photo of Rocak, Cooper and Amzil reacting to Sevilla's 3 pointer to put us up 4 with 4 minutes to go. The photo is by Mick Dunning.

repeat of info above so deleted

It sounds like Miro Little is a key player for them at PG.

The Gauchos (15-8, 8-4) were the hottest team in the Big West but were missing starting point guard Miro Little and key reserve Marvin McGhee IV in Thursday’s 10-point loss at UC Davis. Head coach Joe Pasternack simply said the players “were not able to play tonight…that’s it.” UCSB is 2-5 when Little doesn’t play.

https://bigwesthoops.substack.com/p/mystery-theater?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=2973109&post_id=187174754&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=31ratq&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email

Montana State Defensive Coordinator leaving + NDSU potentially going mountain west seems like things that favor us greatly moving forward.

Oddsmakers have us at 5.5 point favorites (looked like it started at 6.5). One site has its simulated games show us with about 80% chance of winning with a score of something like 84-76. I hope we can hold them to under 80 and score like the first half down there.

Should be a decent size crowd today. Hope the football team is in the ‘barn’ again

I don't think we are, especially without doing stadium renovations. I do think we would get more people watching a uc davis vs nevada or unlv game than vs a southern utah or northern colorado. What I am saying is its just interesting pr. I stand by my opinion we should move to the mw for football once we renovate, but I do think that's more of a move by 2028-2030. The MW for every other sport I think is a good move already. My posts are more just pointing out the complicated pr of our annoying split conference affiliations (even more as we move to an FBS conference for everything but an FBS sports) and the watering down of the big sky. I agree with what others have said that moving by say 2030 gives us a window for a FCS championship (even more without NDSU lol) and allows for renovations to happen.

I can see NDSU joining in 2027 and us joining in 2029 or 2030.

It's crazy to me that you have 10m laying around (allegedly?) and your first thought is "yeah lets use that to bribe an FBS conference to let us in" versus, you know, investing in infrastructure to make Sac State FB a program worthy of an FBS invite.

Sac State offering $10m to the MAC and MWC to "pretty pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease" let them into an FBS conference for 2026. And they won't even take a dime of your TV revenue for the season. Several questions:

1. Where are they getting the money? Perhaps they raised enough from the lil' Yachty concert or from savings from a failed stadium project.
2. If that happens, what happens to Mississippi Valley State (Jerry Rice's alma mater), Youngstown, Rio Grande Valley, North Alabama, Maine, Tarleton, and Southern Utah games already scheduled? I'm sure the Stingers don't get out of those games for free. Where's that money coming from? Probably their guarantee money from Fresno State :rofl:

The ineptitude and decision making by the circus clowns running Sac State is truly unlike anything I've witnessed in college athletics. Keep it rolling!

you’re right about the quick hands - they got two steals in a row leading to fast break buckets that stretch a thin lead into something more comfortable. Defense also shut down Methany over the last 10 minutes or so after he had hit 3 3’s.

Chappell was much better off the bench today; Copper’s fast 2 fouls limited him. I think Les likes Stokes out there for his physical play on defense and around the boards - keep the opponent from getting a quick start. That will be critical Saturday since Poly has been approaching the 100 point mark with regularity.

Football players in the ‘barn’ brought a lot of energy….didn’t rub off on the good size student section! Need a Darius to amp them up.

Pasternik’s antics in the first half were crazy. Yelling at his coaches, throwing clipboards and, I think, engaging with gestures at the barn. We bring out the worst in him (like we do with Turner). I found myself watching him instead of the game!

Let's friggin' do it then - this window won't stay open forever - big programs, with lots of money and support will simply pop right back up, Griz and Cats won't have problems finding great players for their programs and great coaches will want to go there. However, I think the Aggies have more gel internally, so they gotta cash in with their gameplans and returning personnel.

i think we need to see Cooper back in the starting lineup, Chappell also. They don't look as comfortable off the bench, where Daugherty seems to be able to bring instant offense within minutes of getting into the game. I feel like the Stokes/Daugherty lineup was for defense and rebounding, but our offense didn't seem very smooth at the beginning of the half last game.

I'm a bit of an eternal optimist and, consequently, I generally believe that our best game is yet to come. We seem to play to the level of our competition with the exception of a couple of games this season. We've only been "blown out" a couple of times: at Oregon and, most recently, at CSUN. We lost at Colorado by double digits too but we actually led in that one with 9 minutes to go before we faded down the stretch.

We're a young team and I feel like we are still learning game by game and there are some important stats that indicate that we are trending in the right direction:

- We force 14.55 TO's per game, 40th in the nation and 2nd in the Big West
- We share the ball: 16.3 assists per game, 63rd in the nation with an assist-to-field-goal-made-ratio of
61.3% which is 23rd in the nation
- We are a very unselfish team: we have 6 players averaging 9.5 ppg or more

Like Mike said, we have to be disruptive on defense and and "muck" things up a bit and, to be able to do that, we'll need some good minutes from the bench so that we can keep up the defensive intensity. Good offense can sometimes simply be better than good defense and, when that happens, you just have to tip your hat to the opponent. However, we can't have numerous defensive breakdowns against a team playing as well as the Gauchos are playing right now; we have to make them "earn their points" in order to have a chance to win this one.

Your annual football recruiting topic is one of the most popular threads on our forum. The suspense of who the coaches are trying to get and who we lose is always fun to follow. Thanks for keeping us thoroughly informed each year. Go Ags!

apparently. Love the timing.

https://footballscoop.com/2026/02/04/bobby-hauck-to-resign-montana-head-coach

Yeah. It looks like a better than expected media deal. I also like that the legacy members don't see a drop-off in payout.