I-AA West Previews - Schmidt

[ralph]

I-AA West Previews
Kent Schmidt, I-AA Western Columnist

Previews of the Big Sky, Great West, and Southland Conferences as well as rankings, where I believe the teams will finish are included...

[Rabbitlivinginverm]

Re: I-AA West Previews - Schmidt

Great artilce. Guess the Rabbits will have to prove you wrong, huh. Couple of corrections though....1) I believe this will be our 3rd meeting with UC-Davis, not our first and 2) Brad Nelson not an all-american hopeful???

Here's a question...If the Jacks were 7-4 last season (2 close losses, Winona and UND, and 2 outright losses, NDSU and uno) and the Bison were 8-3 last year why are they (Jacks) expected to do so much worse than the Bison. I know the Jacks non-conference schedule is incredibly tough but why is everyone not expecting them to be able to compete with Great West foes???

I think they may suprise a few people this season.

[jackmd]

Re: I-AA West Previews - Schmidt

Correct, we have played UC-Davis twice. Each team won on the road. I believe it was '97 and '98. NDSU and UNC have dominated the recent match-ups with SDSU with the exception of NDSU at Coughlin (where we play them this year). That said, someone has to be picked to finish last. I don't really see the difference. Heck, last place may be a 3-way tie and as they say, 2nd place is the first loser.

The only teams vying for a playoff spot are SUU, Davis and Poly, correct? UNC and the SU's are in the re-classification phase. I really cannot add any intellegent facts to the conversation about who will place where. It is my hope that all the GWC teams do well outside of the conference.

I think SDSU has a legitimate chance to finish 3-2 in conference although 2-3 or 1-4 are more likely with 4 road games and a tough NDSU team at home. Assuming a 3-0 performance against DII teams (big assumption) that leaves 3 games, on the road, against tough I-AA schools. 1 win would be great. That leaves us with a 7-4 record (best case) or a 5-6 record (worst case). I'll take either of these. Any win over a I-AA school this year will be a big one IMHO. Predictions aside, lets just go out and play our best every game, regardless of the opposition.

[Bison_Kent]

Re: I-AA West Previews - Schmidt

If you base things on paper, SDSU has to rank the lowest. SDSU has yet to beat a I-AA team.

This is just a prediction. Maybe the Jackrabbits will prove me wrong but most will agree that having 4 of 5 conference road games will not be an easy hurdle to jump.

Come by the Bison Chat tonight to discuss things further:

http://freepop.parachat.com/freepop/...oom=Bison_Chat

[SDSUFAN]

Re: I-AA West Previews - Schmidt

If you base things on paper, SDSU has to rank the lowest.  SDSU has yet to beat a I-AA team.  



http://freepop.parachat.com/freepop/...oom=Bison_Chat

Recently SDSU has not played a D1AA team. The last one played was Montana 1993 52-48, and if you want to go back further in 1979, SDSU beat Idaho 27-13 to get into the D2 playoffs.

I think you need to qualify your statement by explaining what years you are referring to in not beating a D1AA team.

That said, SDSU may be labeled last for now, but we have a schedule to play which I would hope would prove you wrong. See you in the chat room.

[Bison_Kent]

Re: I-AA West Previews - Schmidt

I hope I am wrong too. I really want to see SDSU do well. Just judging talent, scheduling, and any like opponents (which is few and far between), SDSU on paper is just not as good as the teams above them.

Of course, this is my opinion. We will see where it counts--on the field in just days.

See you at the chat tonight.

[jackmd]

Re: I-AA West Previews - Schmidt

Another story from Sports Network: Again SDSU gets the shaft. He calls the top 5 GWC teams good match-ups for the rest of I-AA. We need to earn some respect.

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?n...3122&rfi=6

Great West Good News: The top five teams in the conference match up well, and since there is no record to go on it�s hard to say which will emerge as the cream of the crop. All the teams have already proven to be competitive against some top I-AA competition and get their chance again this season. Bad News: There isn�t a standout top 25 team in the bunch. Northern Colorado and Cal Poly are the closest to the poll, but they aren�t quite there yet. Other programs are in a transitional phase and aren�t quite as good now as they will be in the future. Top Games Against I-AA Teams: 9/11: Northern Colorado at Maine; 9/18: Cal Poly at Montana State; 9/25: Northern Colorado at Montana; 10/16:Stephen F. Austin at UC-Davis; 10/30:Northwestern State at North Dakota State. In the End: The conference will pull off a few upsets in its first year. All six teams have numerous games against the Big Sky, and expect at least a few teams to post a win or two against the higher ranked squads in that league. The Great West is not a power conference, but in its inaugural season is already better than a number of established leagues.

[jackrabbit1979]

Re: I-AA West Previews - Schmidt

I tend to agree with Rabbit in Verm on this post, I don't think we are going to be nearly as awful as everyone expects. The lack of returning defensive personnel problems scares me the most. I think our biggest obstacle this year is our schedule. I like our thinking on the non-conf schedule but the Great West did us no favors in its inauguaral year. One home game which will seem pretty even keel with the amount of Bison Fans that will follow their team to the closest road game they have. It still will be better than playing in Fargo where we never seem to play well or catch a break. Anyone remember the game a few years back with the three false starts in a row at the end of the game as we were trying to kick the winning FG.