NCAA FCS semi-final: vs Montana State

[salemjack]

What was the temp/wind for the game at Montana State last year???

[Cats2506]

MSU Presser

[MontanaRabbit]

Lujan better have a better game plan this week. Although the weather will be tough, he will need to get the pass game going. Kittens will get their points and if we aren't aggressive on offense, I don't think we can keep pace.

Looking at the stats, Jacks have a big edge in red zone offensive and defensive efficiency. Pretty obvious, but we need to be punching it in unlike last week and hold the Kittens to some field goals.

Everyone will keep saying on here just give it to Davis, it didn't work last year in Bozeman. If the wind isn't horrible, they can use the pass to set up the run. Use your weapons and keep those safeties on their heels instead of flying up in run support.

I don't believe Davis was 100% last year. He took a pounding against Nova the week before. He looks damn fresh this year. I think the 2-week break benefitted him the most.

[Cats2506]

What was the temp/wind for the game at Montana State last year???

24° 5 mph

[AZjack]

Agree on Davis being healthy will be a big plus.

Kittens run offense is better than ours this year, trying to outrun them will lose this game. We don't have as much big play potential in the ground game as msu. Gronowski isn't as explosive as td tommy, but is a better passer. We will need explosive plays because MSU will get theirs.

Jacks have 2 of the top tight ends in the division, Lujan has to get them going. He has wasted their talents this year, he needs to show he can adapt.

This offense isn't as good as it should have been. Time to show this week what it is capable of in the biggest game in Jackrabbit history.

[LetsGoRabbits]

I'm the one that posted the 50% number. Its just a guess, I have no data to support it. the statement is based on the people I sit around and the tailgate area. We drive 160 miles to the games, the road is full of Cat fans. Many towns have a combined tailgate area like our town does (Lewistown), we usually have 30-50 from our town of 12,000. the road back to Billings (140 miles) is solid after the games. Lots of fans travel from Butte, Helena, Great Falls and even Kalispell and Missoula. in addition to the smaller towns across the state. I know of about 15 gris fans that travel from Lewistown to Missoula (270 miles) for their home games.

I don't think the 50% number is unreasonable, I am sure its over 30%.

It just occurred to me that I didn't take into account the students, I think we usually have about 4000 student tickets, my 50% is not counting them so I think it would be closer to 40% travelers (50+ miles) 40% Bozeman area and 20% students

I would say i still have some skepticism but i can also see that it is not something you just pulled out of thin air with no thought at all. moving the mileage number down to 50 i am sure also helps, i think previously you had said from 100-500+ miles, but again i see you are offering some evidence with the hometown tailgates, etc...

i wonder perhaps another difference, how close would you say is the BIG school with the best tradition? i am guessing it has to be oregon, oregon st, or washington. and while all of those schools have had some successful periods, none of them have anything close to the history and tradition of nebraska. i think washington was the most successful historically, while oregon has had the most consistent success in the last 20ish years, but i dont think either had a run of success as long or as successful as the huskers

also i dont know the distance from those schools to montana, but i am pretty sure it is more than the 3.5 hour drive from sioux falls to lincoln or slightly over 4 hours from brookings to lincoln.

i have NO IDEA why the hawkeyes have such loyal followers in south dakota (i could see maybe those who moved from IA to SD but not the others) but the jacks really had a very average football program (some might say that is kind but i think average is not way off) prior to the 2000s and during that time the huskers were dominant, one of the handful of best programs in the country and multiple time national champs.

I think plenty of SD residents who had the desire and the ability to travel to watch live college football became pretty loyal to the huskers and now even though the huskers have sucked for a long time and the jacks just continue to get better, MOST of those people remain loyal to the huskers. i do not think the montana schools have to compete with any other school with ANY meaningful successful football tradition for fans who are willing and able to travel to watch college football

[Cats2506]

OL Interview. when ever one of the OL gets interviewed they all show up and stand with them. This is Perkins our 6'0" center.
"Donjoy Mafia"

[Cats2506]

I would say i still have some skepticism but i can also see that it is not something you just pulled out of thin air with no thought at all. moving the mileage number down to 50 i am sure also helps, i think previously you had said from 100-500+ miles, but again i see you are offering some evidence with the hometown tailgates, etc...

i wonder perhaps another difference, how close would you say is the BIG school with the best tradition? i am guessing it has to be oregon, oregon st, or washington. and while all of those schools have had some successful periods, none of them have anything close to the history and tradition of nebraska. i think washington was the most successful historically, while oregon has had the most consistent success in the last 20ish years, but i dont think either had a run of success as long or as successful as the huskers

also i dont know the distance from those schools to montana, but i am pretty sure it is more than the 3.5 hour drive from sioux falls to lincoln or slightly over 4 hours from brookings to lincoln.

i have NO IDEA why the hawkeyes have such loyal followers in south dakota (i could see maybe those who moved from IA to SD but not the others) but the jacks really had a very average football program (some might say that is kind but i think average is not way off) prior to the 2000s and during that time the huskers were dominant, one of the handful of best programs in the country and multiple time national champs.

I think plenty of SD residents who had the desire and the ability to travel to watch live college football became pretty loyal to the huskers and now even though the huskers have sucked for a long time and the jacks just continue to get better, MOST of those people remain loyal to the huskers. i do not think the montana schools have to compete with any other school with ANY meaningful successful football tradition for fans who are willing and able to travel to watch college football

Yeah, beyond 50 miles is not in the Bozeman area. Big Timber and Three Forks shouldn't really be considered part of Bozeman. Most everything in the 50-100 mile area is smaller towns.

I agree its a long ways to any FBS schools from Bozeman. Washington State would be the closest, they are a lot closer to um (254 mi) than MSU (455 mi). Next closest is probably Wyoming (500+ mi)

[LetsGoRabbits]

Agree on Davis being healthy will be a big plus.

Kittens run offense is better than ours this year, trying to outrun them will lose this game. We don't have as much big play potential in the ground game as msu. Gronowski isn't as explosive as td tommy, but is a better passer. We will need explosive plays because MSU will get theirs.

Jacks have 2 of the top tight ends in the division, Lujan has to get them going. He has wasted their talents this year, he needs to show he can adapt.

This offense isn't as good as it should have been. Time to show this week what it is capable of in the biggest game in Jackrabbit history.

you keep saying all this about them being better. well i say keep in mind who they have played and where they have played them. we played IA and their WAY BETTER defense than OSU, also first game back for grono after a year off and losing Kraft. to be honest if we played iowa today i like our chances. MSU still gets whooped by OSU on the road

we also played MO St on the road when they were still good (remember they BARELY lost to top 10 arkansas on the road the week before we dominated them). we played the bison in fargo and UNI in the unidome

MSU, on the road, has played absolutely exactly NOBODY outside of the OSU game they had zero pressure because zero expectation to win. and in general the big sky defense is not as good as MVFC. the MVFC is still universally rated the best conference and the valley teams all have much higher SOS than MSU and the big sky schools. these things are VERY relevant when you try to compare their statistics to ours

that said i ABSOLUTELY believe they are very good and gonna be tough!!

but ID is healthier than he was last year
i believe our O line is much better than last year
and i believe our pass game is much more threatening than it was at the end of last year

i am all for a balanced attack, but i absolutely hope that this is the week ID gets 25 carries. if he stays healthy this game, we should be able to ride him and then give him 3 weeks off before doing the same thing in friscoe

but giving him 25 carries leaves more than plenty of opportunity to get the pass game going, and i believe only makes the pass game better. but i would probably encourage you to temper your expectations about the pass game. i dont think they want to have much over 20 pass attempts to begin with and the weather conditions are definitely not going to make they say, hey you know what forget that. lets chuck it 30 to 40 times today

i am guessing you are hoping for us to come out aggressive with the pass, pretty much like we did against MO St. obviously the conditions will be much different, but if the coaches decide that is the best way to go, i trust that they will make a good plan and the team is going to execute well this week. i just have doubts that will be the plan they come up with

also, i do respect Mellot and their run game, but i think the HC game is going to look much more like the outlier and not the new normal when everything is said and done

[LetsGoRabbits]

Yeah, beyond 50 miles is not in the Bozeman area. Big Timber and Three Forks shouldn't really be considered part of Bozeman. Most everything in the 50-100 mile area is smaller towns.

I agree its a long ways to any FBS schools from Bozeman. Washington State would be the closest, they are a lot closer to um (254 mi) than MSU (455 mi). Next closest is probably Wyoming (500+ mi)

yeah, i did not even consider including Wyoming in the conversation. they have had the odd good season here and there but they are not and never have been really nationally relevant in any way. and to be honest WSU has never had any consistent success either. Oregon, OSU, and UW have by far the most relevant history and none of them compares to the huskers. they are actually probably all a pretty good comparison to the hawkeyes, but all of them are much further away from Bozeman than Lincoln is from Brookings

anyway, it will be interesting to see how many MSU fans will make the trip. from what i could see there was not too much of a Griz fan presence in Fargo for their playoff game

[jakejc795]

MSU Presser

Thank you for posting this. I enjoy hearing what the opposition is saying prior to games.

I am also interested in how the Jacks handle the dual QBs.

[jakejc795]

you keep saying all this about them being better. well i say keep in mind who they have played and where they have played them. we played IA and their WAY BETTER defense than OSU, also first game back for grono after a year off and losing Kraft. to be honest if we played iowa today i like our chances. MSU still gets whooped by OSU on the road

we also played MO St on the road when they were still good (remember they BARELY lost to top 10 arkansas on the road the week before we dominated them). we played the bison in fargo and UNI in the unidome

MSU, on the road, has played absolutely exactly NOBODY outside of the OSU game they had zero pressure because zero expectation to win. and in general the big sky defense is not as good as MVFC. the MVFC is still universally rated the best conference and the valley teams all have much higher SOS than MSU and the big sky schools. these things are VERY relevant when you try to compare their statistics to ours

I wish the "doom & gloomers" would acknowledge the bold text. That's one thing I'm excited to see on Sat. -- whether the Jacks' defense exerts its will. Can't wait for Sat.

[LetsGoRabbits]

OL Interview. when ever one of the OL gets interviewed they all show up and stand with them. This is Perkins our 6'0" center.
"Donjoy Mafia"

Interesting interview! sounds a lot like what i would expect one of our players to say. gonna be a battle of two well prepared good football teams, as it should be at this time of the year. i guess all of this means that you are planning to make the trip to brookings? maybe you already said that? i dont recall

[LetsGoRabbits]

I wish the "doom & gloomers" would acknowledge the bold text. That's one thing I'm excited to see on Sat. -- whether the Jacks' defense exerts its will. Can't wait for Sat.

well to be clear, i believe the things i said about WHO they have played and about the MVFC vs big sky, but that is FAR from saying that i think their rushing numbers are some kind of mirage!!

i think they are a REALLY good football team and this game is gonna be a battle. that is exactly what anyone should expect in the semifinals, but when people want to compare statistics, they need to realize that stats do not tell the entire story

are they a FAR better running team than NDSU? i doubt that, especially the NDSU team we played with a healthy O line and RB group

at the same time, we are VERY used to the running game that the bison play. MSU runs a different scheme and they run it very well !!! everyone should definitely expect them to make some plays!! but i expect the jacks D is also gonna show up and probably with a bit of a chip on their shoulder after the HC game

gonna be a good one!!! gonna be fun!!! in the words of bart scott, CANT WAIT!!!! is it saturday yet?? dang it!!

[Cats2506]

Interesting interview! sounds a lot like what i would expect one of our players to say. gonna be a battle of two well prepared good football teams, as it should be at this time of the year. i guess all of this means that you are planning to make the trip to brookings? maybe you already said that? i dont recall

No, I am not gonna be there, It will be fun though. Actually I have been saving up for a trip to TX, if Frisco isn't in the cards it will be a hog hunt in March.