SDSU/Montana

[JACKGUYII]

Really excited about this game Saturday against the Griz. No respect for their program as they have refused to play in Brookings after we played regular season games in Missoula in 2005 and 2006 and then they bought out the game out in Brookings. At least the Bobcats with Leon Costello at the helm have scheduled home and home with the Jacks and honored them without a buyout.

[ringthebells]

I am excited to have the Griz in Brookings. The separation between the haves and have nots in the FCS is huge. I like when we get to play teams that have put the resources into their programs to be competitive.

[JACKGUYII]

Any word on Chase Mason status and others who have been injured?

[jakejc795]

Really excited about this game Saturday against the Griz. No respect for their program as they have refused to play in Brookings after we played regular season games in Missoula in 2005 and 2006 and then they bought out the game out in Brookings. At least the Bobcats with Leon Costello at the helm have scheduled home and home with the Jacks and honored them without a buyout.

It would be interesting to learn what the buyout amount was. Looking forward to cheering for the Jacks on Sat.

Hopefully the Jacks fans show up

[Prairiehaas]

Latest forecast Saturday in Brookings is 41 F with light west wind. That combined with cheap tickets and a championship game rematch one hopes would make for a good crowd Saturday.

[ringthebells]

Anybody want to venture a guess on crowd size? Can we get 15,000?

[JackJD]

i just started a thread about the first round of FCS playoffs. I guessed in that thread that we'd hit 13,500 on Saturday. I'll actually be disappointed if that's all the better we'll do. This team is playing like champs right now and deserve a sellout.

[jakejc795]

i just started a thread about the first round of FCS playoffs. I guessed in that thread that we'd hit 13,500 on Saturday. I'll actually be disappointed if that's all the better we'll do. This team is playing like champs right now and deserve a sellout.

I agree that 13.5k would be disappointing. I'm hoping for at least 15k.

It's been mentioned before that Athletics Dept. was savvy in selling regular season tickets at the $10 rate to allow playoff tickets to be sold for that. Can't say ticket prices or weather are an excuse if forecast holds.

[RahRahRabbits]

Which one of you long-timers has the story on the bought-out game? Google doesn't provide much except for some Montana State buying out the NDSU game.

Judging by how the Griz were trying to finish their game against Tennessee State, I was questioning if they were trying to buy out of coming to Brookings again. That 2nd half was downright wild and crazy.

[RahRahRabbits]

Bergen of course is a major danger for returns, but Jacks did stifle him last year. I think TN State's special teams somehow made him look even better than he is. I do find myself a little surprised to see Massey has the Griz defense at #11. Perhaps they aren't all that bad (or maybe the rest of the FCS is just that much worse), but seeing the Griz fans' own postings this year ragging on their defense, I expected that number to be larger.

Stats.NCAA.org shows Jacks leading in most of the major statistical categories. Montana of course has an edge in both kick and punt return yardage, and both their 4th down offense and defense are impressive. Of course, the game of football can be a fickle thing... and Montana will certainly be amped up for a little revenge from the end of last season. Jacks will certainly need to bring their best still.

[jakejc795]

Bergen of course is a major danger for returns, but Jacks did stifle him last year. I think TN State's special teams somehow made him look even better than he is. I do find myself a little surprised to see Massey has the Griz defense at #11. Perhaps they aren't all that bad (or maybe the rest of the FCS is just that much worse), but seeing the Griz fans' own postings this year ragging on their defense, I expected that number to be larger.

Stats.NCAA.org shows Jacks leading in most of the major statistical categories. Montana of course has an edge in both kick and punt return yardage, and both their 4th down offense and defense are impressive. Of course, the game of football can be a fickle thing... and Montana will certainly be amped up for a little revenge from the end of last season. Jacks will certainly need to bring their best still.

Saturday may help illuminate just how influential strength out schedule is on their statistical "leads" in some categories

[Bozemaniac]

Which one of you long-timers has the story on the bought-out game? Google doesn't provide much except for some Montana State buying out the NDSU game.

Judging by how the Griz were trying to finish their game against Tennessee State, I was questioning if they were trying to buy out of coming to Brookings again. That 2nd half was downright wild and crazy.

I believe it was $50k to buy out the game in Brookings on the 2 for 1 contract. The big controversy was that Montana was reportedly paying like $100k guarantees for one-off home games, so they essentially got two home games in 05-06 for 75% off. Moral of the story is: accurately assess the liquidated terms of your contracts.

[JackrabbitGuy]

I agree that 13.5k would be disappointing. I'm hoping for at least 15k.

It's been mentioned before that Athletics Dept. was savvy in selling regular season tickets at the $10 rate to allow playoff tickets to be sold for that. Can't say ticket prices or weather are an excuse if forecast holds.

I am hoping for that too, but our playoff attendance just doesn't support that. Even with last year's historic team we barely managed to crack 12k in the semifinals. And that was our best playoff attendance to date. Perhaps that name opponent in Montana will help a little and the weather will not be a barrier this weekend.

12/02/2023 SDSU vs Mercer - 10,171 attendance
12/09/2023 SDSU vs Villanova - 10,216 attendance
12/15/2023 SDSU vs UAlbany - 12, 265 attendance

Trust me I would love to see 15,000 and more in DJDS for this week's game and I am as always recruiting people I know to experience SDSU playoff football. But I don't think we should be dissappointed in 12 - 13,000.

[bigticket1]

I am hoping for that too, but our playoff attendance just doesn't support that. Even with last year's historic team we barely managed to crack 12k in the semifinals. And that was our best playoff attendance to date. Perhaps that name opponent in Montana will help a little and the weather will not be a barrier this weekend.

12/02/2023 SDSU vs Mercer - 10,171 attendance
12/09/2023 SDSU vs Villanova - 10,216 attendance
12/15/2023 SDSU vs UAlbany - 12, 265 attendance

Trust me I would love to see 15,000 and more in DJDS for this week's game and I am as always recruiting people I know to experience SDSU playoff football. But I don't think we should be dissappointed in 12 - 13,000.

Green Dot Watch tweeted just after 7:00 this morning that there are just shy of 7700 tickets still available, which puts the crowd in the 12,000 range.

[JackrabbitGuy]

Green Dot Watch tweeted just after 7:00 this morning that there are just shy of 7700 tickets still available, which puts the crowd in the 12,000 range.

Okay, well that is a start. It's only Wednesday and hopefully the good weather for December will help push that up in the coming days. Should see an SDSU playoff record crowd then to welcome the Grizzlies.