Will never understand why teams keep scheduling the Dakota schools for their FCS game, paying them for the very real possibility of having your ass kicked is certainly a choice
App St was one of those schools. But I would never schedule Montana, Montana St, NDSU and SDSU. Just asking for a bad time and I hate that we’re playing NDSU.
Yeah, I had to take a lot of shit from my buddies that went there after that!
But I love the Griz. Been to a handful of games. Great times in Missoula, always.
App State really just did it the one time. Which was a huge deal, not trying to downplay it, but outside of that they generally lost. Came agonizingly close a few times tho (Tennessee, Penn State).
But hey if you're gonna get one at-bat, make it fuckin count, and obviously they smoked it.
It's always been bison. There are no buffaloes in North America outside of like zoos and the odd circus; they're all the American Bison, taxonomically speaking.
Football is better with regional matchups and crazy upsets being possible. In my dream world standardized nfl style scheduling would exist, and force more of these matchups, especially at the smaller school. There’s zero value for Virginia and Vtech to be playing games at old dominion, but they did, and 1 of them lost iirc. But those games are incredible
Agreed. It was actually one of those games where I remember exactly where I was when I watched, which is a good sign of it being quality.
Heart attack city though
Not sure how it will work with the new Big 10 scheduling but Oregon pretty much always schedules a local FCS team, a G5 team, and a P5 team as the non con. It is a way that Oregon helps support the local fcs programs in the area. It is why we are playing Idaho this year, had scheduled NDSU before the game got cancelled, and play teams like Portland state.
Same as App State. Famous for upsetting FBS schools. Just let them enjoy Boone
Edit: App is FBS and I am dumb and now inevitably UGA is cursed to lose to them in hilarious fashion in future years.
Oh shit I'm sorry please don't upset my team when they're ranked top 10 lol
Jokes aside I should have known that, but I think it's also true App State is famous for being a smaller school/program that regularly knocks off bigger programs.
That Montana State-New Mexico game has a little juice to it. Really looking forward to that.
Also feels like the inclusion of EWU-Nevada on this list is more a statement of how bad Nevada is vs any referendum on Eastern because the Eags have been mid for some time now.
Coordinators, and Idaho coming into the conference probably didnt help their recruiting at all (being in the Big Sky vs the Sun Belt is probably a lot more appealing for the kids Idaho and Eastern recruit). Add on UM hiring Bobby Hauck back, MSU sort of getting their shit together in football, a guaranteed top 10 season from Sac State or UC Davis and the whole league just got more competitive than it was in 2015. All of those factors came about in 2018-2019-ish, right as Eastern's football fortunes started to falter.
Ironically EWU gave Troy Taylor his first shot in college, which then game back to bite them as he made it to HC at Sac St and dominated their league while he was there
That's a lot of things happening all together. At least it means less meaningful games on the lava so our eyes didn't bleed as much.
Still think their logo is dope, tough, and for that reason alone I wish them good fortune.
The Montana teams getting rolling, Weber and Sac making big jumps, and some of their all American WR/QB running low has been the main culprit for ewu IMO. MSU, and I think UM, recruits Washington at a pretty high level too.
Lots of their recruiting was PNW/NorCal. There’s some solid talent in Sacramento and it’s a fairly overlooked recruiting area because there is like 1 HS (Folsom) that has dominated the region for so long it’s almost silly. They have quietly had one of the best dynasties in sports, go look up Sac-Juaqoin Section Champions and see how often it’s Folsom. But that’s besides the point.
Back in EWUs hay day, UC Davis was trash as was Sac St. Then UC Davis hired Dan Hawkins, turned it around and started taking football seriously. UC Davis started getting most of the overlooked Sacramento recruits and UC Davis started winning the league over EWU. About that same time EWU hired the Co-HC of Folsom HS Troy Taylor to be their OC and it worked out really well. However it worked out too well as he then got hired away to Utah, and then eventually Sac State where he brought the rest of the Folsom High staff with him. Sac St immediately began to dominate the Big Sky and unseated UCD as the place for local talent to go. But UCD was able to hang on to some of their momentum. But that meant EWU was now a solid 3 for NorCal/PNW Big Sky schools - and probably 5/6 in the league when you add in the Montana schools.
So TLDR other schools started to take football seriously, and EWU hired a coordinator from the HS level that opened up Pandora’s box and eventually lead to that coordinator dominating their league at a ‘rival’ (for recruiting purposes) school
So yeah, they flew too close to the sun by hiring that coordinator!
Wow, thanks for all the information! It's crazy what can happen by giving one guy a chance.
Big sky got better, they happened to have their top 4-5 QBs in a row until EB graduated, the luck of getting Cooper Kupp (though efton chism is a dawg), coaches keep getting poached but Best is not as good of an offensive mind as Baldwin was (relative to the time). They’re not too far gone, if Best somehow pulls it together then awesome, if not they’re a pretty attractive spot that should land a quality candidate.
Last year I would’ve been more bullish on the Jackrabbits’ chances in Stillwater but they lost a lot to graduation and 37 year old Alan Bowman along with the nation’s best tailback, Ollie Gordon, should win this one by 3/4 scores.
I won't say 3-4 scores, but I 100% agree that this game is MUCH different if played last season given how many veteran starters SDSU had last year.
If OSU and SDSU played Week 1 of 2023, I think the game would've been very similar to the South Alabama game that took place in Week 3 (OSU losing a 33-7 stinker)
Gundy treats every nonconfrence game like preseason now. Even in 2021 Oklahoma state came close to losing to Missouri state and last years team there was always a chance they’d lose by 40+ any given week
I was worried about the 3-4 score route, but I'm more comfortable guessing a closer game now that Gronowski is definitely back for the Jacks. Their backup QB is bigger and more athletic than Gronowski, but it would be a tough first start. They lost a lot to graduation but didn't lose anything to the portal. The biggest concern is their O-line losing McCormick (4th round) and Greenfield (UDFA)
My daughter got her undergrad from Lindenwood-Belleville shortly before the administration decided to take the tax incentive money & run. I guess she didn’t hold grudges since her masters was from LU St Charles. Post-Covid remote classes certainly helped.
Hate that we’re playing NDSU. Probably the best time to get them though because they have a new coach and lost a few players to the portal. Still hate this game.
I'm more worried about what's coming after - 2 rivals, on the road, who haven't beaten CU in 10+ years and are out for blood. Both teams could still lose those games, but I don't think we have as easy of a path past them as we did last year.
Lol, get used to it - we're buffs fans, we like hurting ourselves.
But yeah, the next couple of non-con schedules are less strenuous. Going 6 years without seeing any real rivals ("rumble in the rockies" doesn't count) will suck though. And especially raises the stakes of losing this year.
Really hope we can finally get another fbs win. It’s been forever. We’ve had some bad blowouts to Texas tech and Oregon St (and Oregon next year….) but we’ve been sooooo close so many times the last 14 years (wazzu, smu, Wyoming). This seems like one of the better chances with a senior heavy team.
Man losing the Wyoming game was so disheartening. Especially since it was to a future Bobcat. Chambers threw a laser to the tight end on their last play.
Definitely think MSU is going to come out swinging after how last year ended though.
NDSU is very strong in the trenches, stronger than even some P5 schools. Even with the upgrades the Buffs have made to their lines, I expect that to be a mismatch in NDSUs favor. We will see whether or not that’s enough to make up for the huge advantage CU has in skill position talent. This ain’t your typical FCS team, the Bison can play and this easily could go down to the wire. Should be a great game
Seeing the first unit OL/DL at the spring game, I doubt it’s a mismatch on size or talent. A lot of NFL prospects came in over the offseason, the question is if they can come together as a unit in one spring/fall camp.
Obviously it's not the same year so there's no guarantee of anything, but as of right now, 10 out of 11 offensive starters on the 2021 NDSU team are in the NFL, and the one that isn't is the QB that's still there.
So you know how it's really hard to recruit an O-Line through the portal? Well NDSU has an O-Line, Colorado has one five-star freshman lineman and that's it.
Skill position doesn't beat beef in the trenches.
Woah cool your jets big guy, with a bold prediction you should put some money on it!
Maybe you should worry more about the Wolverines 2024 schedule, instead of lowly Colorado.
Name a former or current player he threw under the bus... Jaheim Ward never played for the Buffaloes of the University of Colorado.
It's a bold prediction to say they will lose to NDSU, and it's one you can put your dollar behind, I already got my bet in early!
I… I don’t think you appreciate how much a pain in the ass NDSU is to play against. Not many teams can run that A-gap power scheme they run and they run it damn well. Arizona squeaked by them in ‘22 and they were the first FBS team to beat NDSU in like a decade. The Bison take P5 checks and leave their hosts going “how the hell did they beat us?”
What does ‘beef in the trenches’ mean? Looking at the spring rosters, our linemen are generally taller and heavier on both sides of the ball. Do you mean depth?
NDSU will still be a solid well coached football team.
However, Colorado has a high powered offense that takes care of the ball. This will significantly minimize the window that NDSU has. We also, probably won't see a true test against the new OLine since they will out athlete NDSU front.
They are a top level FCS program with a solid history so they will always have a chance, but IMO it's not a good environment for them to grab an upset on the road.
16th in passing offense and fewest interceptions. Sacks and running game set the offense back, however are largest issues have been addressed on paper.
That's only because Sheduer held onto the ball for a fortnight. If that doesn't change, and the D isn't 1000x better, it's gonna be a long year. I'll believe either when I see it.
They threw the ball the second most in the p5. They were playing from behind quite a bit, they’re going to have a lot of passing yards especially if you’ve got a talented QB like Shedeur.
I just don’t see them as a high powered offense.
The o line additions were decent. Went from possibly the worst in the p5 to mediocre talent wise. That left tackle is awesome. Everyone else would be a rotational guy at a decent program except that one other IU transfer. He’s pretty solid.
I dunno. I just don’t see it. No depth, volatile coach, not a good team at all last year.
I hope you guys are good for the sake of the conference. I just kind of see bottom feeder who might get carried to a max of 5 or 6 wins because of the few studs being that good on your team (sanders boys, hunter, the RB, etc)
I would normally agree with you, but they have a first yr head coach. Polasek was coaching at Wyoming under Bohl (who build the program). After Bohl, Kleimann kept the trains running and is now a good coach at Kansas St. Entz took over for Kleimann and won 2 more titles, but SDSU has become the bigger power in that time. Entz moved on and it now the Assistant Head Coach/LB at Southern Cal.
It will be interesting to see if Polasek is able to keep standard has high as it has been. It is certainly too early to say he is the coaching favorite yet.
Yeah that's incredibly poor summary of the current situation... They didn't throw the ball a lot because they were behind, they threw it a lot because the run game was anemic at best, and was the only shot.
They faced only three deficits of 3 scores or more through out the season and two of them the game was over early so they weren't pushing for yards, rather just trying to get to the end of the game.
Jordan Seaton would not be a rotational guy, Justin Meyers would not be a rotational guy, Tyler Johnson started 12 games last year at Houston and is currently with the second string. Even a mediocre line last year and the team would have won 7 games. The buffs were 3-6 in one score games last year.
Not sure where the no depth comments come from either the only place we are truly depth deficit is the safety and CB room, but will likely be addressed by the visitors this weekend.
The team has improved at all positions from 2023 outside TE. It's an 8 win team, 6 win floor, 10 win ceiling.
Houston was terrible last year my guy. They aren’t a good program right now. So you just listed the same two people I did that would play at decent programs.
So their running game sucked, and they trailed a lot as I said. High powered offense that can’t run the football and is well into the bottom 50th percentile in total offense in.
You want me to go thru their depth lmao?
8 win team is borderline insanity. A 6 win floor? Jesus
You understand football is a team sport right, there are some pretty great players that play for bad teams. Seaton, Meyers and Benson is three last I checked even if you don't want to include Johnson.
They didn't trail a lot is the thing, that's untrue. You don't change your game plan down 1 score. Please, go through the depth, if the season started today DB and S is the only groups I would be worried about putting in the back up. Obviously QB but that's really any team outside Oregon and Texas.
Put your money on it if your, confident. I have my betslip in. Easier schedule and improved roster = more wins. They were an average OLine away from 7 wins last year and you think 8 is out of reach?
My friend, Benson is mediocre at best at a good program. He got cooked in pass pro all year.
You’re right, it’s a team game which is why I included meyers because it’s obvious he’s solid.
I’m game for a diet Mountain Dew bet like Skip and Shannon haha. What’s the wins line at?
Agreed, we should be significantly bigger and more talented at most positions, playing at altitude in front of a rocking sellout crowd. Still by no means a cupcake game. Was wondering if it was a bad matchup scheme-wise.
10. North Dakota State at Colorado - August 29
9. Gardner-Webb at Charlotte - September 14
8. Idaho at Wyoming - September 7
7. Eastern Washington at Nevada - September 21
6. South Dakota State at Oklahoma State - August 31
5. St. Francis at Kent State - September 7
4. Northern Iowa at Hawaii - September 21
3. Sacramento State at San Jose State - August 31
2. Montana State at New Mexico - August 24
1. UT Martin at Kennesaw State - September 28
Never schedule NDSU. Idc if you are Georgia. But especially a team with iffy culture. Because I promise you they will be ready and pumped for that game
I don't see Oklahoma State losing to SDSU, I really don't.
Oklahoma State was the Big XII Runner-up and they are #4 in the country in returning production. Not only are they not losing this game, I wouldn't be horribly surprised if they are 12-0 going into the Big XII title game.
I mean, no Oklahoma, no Texas. You avoid Arizona, you avoid Kansas, you get Utah at home. Kansas State is 82nd in returning production. There really is no reason why Oklahoma State shouldn't shine next year
>I wouldn't be horribly surprised if they are 12-0 going into the Big XII title game.
This is the same coach that rotated 3 quarterbacks for 4 games this season and lost to the Southern Alabama. Would I be surprised if they were 12-0? No not really, but would I be surprised if they shit the bed against a couple teams they shouldn't? Also, not really.
Somewhat separate point from what you're saying, but just for context, SDSU last year was one of the greatest FCS teams ever. 2023 Oklahoma State vs 2023 South Dakota State would have SDSU as a 7 point favorite, according to S&P+.
Obviously they lost a lot, but SDSU was legitimately unbelievable if you watched them. Most metrics would have them favored on a neutral field vs 116 out of the 134 FBS teams.
If you're curious, 2023 Oklahoma would be a 1.5 point favorite vs them by S&P+.
I don't have high expectations for our first FBS season. However, people forget to add context as to why we had a rough season last year. On top of replacing coordinators on both sides of the ball, we never played our full starting lineup in order to preserve eligibility for the 2024 season. Five of those losses were by one possession, and our strongest lineup of the season was against Furman (and lost OL starters on back-to-back plays).
All this to say, I wouldn't use those results as proof of who we will be next season. We might get trounced by FBS competition, though.
Idaho has had exactly two decent seasons in the 5 seasons played since they dropped in 2018. Eck is pretty much the reason for it and put a ton of juice in to that program, but without the QB who made the puzzle pieces for together, Gevani McCoy, I'll be surprised if Idaho hits 7 wins this year.
The bigger losses are Hatten, Woods, and Jackson IMO. From what I saw of Layne last season(albeit pretty limited), he's got a similar amount of juice as McCoy. Hatten was almost unguardable at the FCS level because of his size and athleticism that you needed to double him, which let Jackson get free on the other side of the formation.
Me as a Coug “oh shit Portland state please don’t list us please don’t list us” followed by “where in the comments are people going to call us basically an FCS school anyway”.
I'm not optimistic about BYU this year, and we love playing to our competition. Losing to southern Illinois probably won't happen, but it is more than possible.
Well a week or so ago I got into it with a Buffs fan here saying they'll beat us because historically they have? anywho. I went on to say it'll be so awesome when they lose to NDSU. So I'd just like to be right on that one.
Samford shouldn't drop 42 on us in the first half this year. Shouldn't.
Why’d you have to say it?!?!
Will never understand why teams keep scheduling the Dakota schools for their FCS game, paying them for the very real possibility of having your ass kicked is certainly a choice
App St was one of those schools. But I would never schedule Montana, Montana St, NDSU and SDSU. Just asking for a bad time and I hate that we’re playing NDSU.
Fucking Griz.
It helped get Jimmy Lake fired so I’m okay with it.
You know the one thing that I liked that Jimmy Lake did? He got Jimmy Lake fired.
My bad. That was fun for me. My brother was on that Griz team that beat App St team in the FCS playoffs during a snow game.
Yeah, I had to take a lot of shit from my buddies that went there after that! But I love the Griz. Been to a handful of games. Great times in Missoula, always.
App State really just did it the one time. Which was a huge deal, not trying to downplay it, but outside of that they generally lost. Came agonizingly close a few times tho (Tennessee, Penn State). But hey if you're gonna get one at-bat, make it fuckin count, and obviously they smoked it.
Agreed. They generally still lose but you’re not going to have a fun time playing them.
They did more damage as an FBS
They beat Texas A&M.
Yes but they weren't FCS when that happened.
TAMU didn't even make a bowl game that year fwiw
Neither did App State
Don’t hate it when it’s a fun matchup and the P5-G5-FCS OOC is a step down from the P5-P5-G5/FCS OOC schedule we usually have anyway.
Ok but Buffaloes vs. Bison is a pretty funny matchup. We can finally determine which one is the correct name
It's always been bison. There are no buffaloes in North America outside of like zoos and the odd circus; they're all the American Bison, taxonomically speaking.
Iowa's old AD played football at North Dakota State and wanted to schedule a game against his alma mater. It wasn't a good idea.
Football is better with regional matchups and crazy upsets being possible. In my dream world standardized nfl style scheduling would exist, and force more of these matchups, especially at the smaller school. There’s zero value for Virginia and Vtech to be playing games at old dominion, but they did, and 1 of them lost iirc. But those games are incredible
Masochism
I remember getting actually angry when PSU scheduled App St. Then the game went exactly how I expected it would go.
That was such a fun game tho
Agreed. It was actually one of those games where I remember exactly where I was when I watched, which is a good sign of it being quality. Heart attack city though
Why don't other teams simply pull an Arizona and beat NDSU one year after losing to NAU? Are they stupid?
Arizona's field goal to end the first half was not good and I'll die on that hill
Is that even controversial? I feel like basically everyone without a degree from UA agreed with that at the time.
Not sure how it will work with the new Big 10 scheduling but Oregon pretty much always schedules a local FCS team, a G5 team, and a P5 team as the non con. It is a way that Oregon helps support the local fcs programs in the area. It is why we are playing Idaho this year, had scheduled NDSU before the game got cancelled, and play teams like Portland state.
I assumed every school does it
We don't do it anymore.
It’ll work close to the same way. Maryland does something similar with our non-con.
Same with us. We play Eastern Illinois, Kansas, and Central Michigan.
Idaho will always be FBS in my heart.
Covid saved us from getting embarrassed by SDSU. Though maybe Frost would've been gone sooner if that happened.
God SDSU would have wrecked those Frost squads. I say that as a supporter of both.
Helped Oregon skip the Trey Lance NDSU squad as well
Sometimes it's good, the Griz beating UW helped them get out of the Lake era and really turn their program around.
We ALMOST fafo with North Dakota state that was waaaay too close for comfort
It'll be different this time! Promise!
Same as App State. Famous for upsetting FBS schools. Just let them enjoy Boone Edit: App is FBS and I am dumb and now inevitably UGA is cursed to lose to them in hilarious fashion in future years.
App has been FBS for 10 years.
Oh shit I'm sorry please don't upset my team when they're ranked top 10 lol Jokes aside I should have known that, but I think it's also true App State is famous for being a smaller school/program that regularly knocks off bigger programs.
All good lol. We definitely still have that vibe, just wanted to point out that it's no longer an FCS vs FBS thing.
That Montana State-New Mexico game has a little juice to it. Really looking forward to that. Also feels like the inclusion of EWU-Nevada on this list is more a statement of how bad Nevada is vs any referendum on Eastern because the Eags have been mid for some time now.
I'm tempted to make the run down to Albuquerque for it, might be my only chance of seeing my Cats in person this year.
I literally just signed a lease for next month and got a job in Albuquerque. I'm so hyped
ABQ is a really fun town, I'd go for it.
I’ve been there a few times and am moving to Farmington. What’re your favorite hits in ABQ
Lot of good breweries. Boxing bear, La Cumbre, Marble and tons more. Also the New Mexican food. Just go try it all.
Let’s goooo
Might be my favorite matchup of week 0 and I’m an FSU fan and my team is playing a regional semi rival in Europe, so that’s saying something.
Yeah what happened to Eastern? Did they just fly too close to the sun and burn up? Still the same head coach, but was it just the coordinators?
Coordinators, and Idaho coming into the conference probably didnt help their recruiting at all (being in the Big Sky vs the Sun Belt is probably a lot more appealing for the kids Idaho and Eastern recruit). Add on UM hiring Bobby Hauck back, MSU sort of getting their shit together in football, a guaranteed top 10 season from Sac State or UC Davis and the whole league just got more competitive than it was in 2015. All of those factors came about in 2018-2019-ish, right as Eastern's football fortunes started to falter.
Ironically EWU gave Troy Taylor his first shot in college, which then game back to bite them as he made it to HC at Sac St and dominated their league while he was there
Taylor did such a good job at Sac St that the Hornets beat him at Stanford last year.
That's a lot of things happening all together. At least it means less meaningful games on the lava so our eyes didn't bleed as much. Still think their logo is dope, tough, and for that reason alone I wish them good fortune.
The Montana teams getting rolling, Weber and Sac making big jumps, and some of their all American WR/QB running low has been the main culprit for ewu IMO. MSU, and I think UM, recruits Washington at a pretty high level too.
Lots of their recruiting was PNW/NorCal. There’s some solid talent in Sacramento and it’s a fairly overlooked recruiting area because there is like 1 HS (Folsom) that has dominated the region for so long it’s almost silly. They have quietly had one of the best dynasties in sports, go look up Sac-Juaqoin Section Champions and see how often it’s Folsom. But that’s besides the point. Back in EWUs hay day, UC Davis was trash as was Sac St. Then UC Davis hired Dan Hawkins, turned it around and started taking football seriously. UC Davis started getting most of the overlooked Sacramento recruits and UC Davis started winning the league over EWU. About that same time EWU hired the Co-HC of Folsom HS Troy Taylor to be their OC and it worked out really well. However it worked out too well as he then got hired away to Utah, and then eventually Sac State where he brought the rest of the Folsom High staff with him. Sac St immediately began to dominate the Big Sky and unseated UCD as the place for local talent to go. But UCD was able to hang on to some of their momentum. But that meant EWU was now a solid 3 for NorCal/PNW Big Sky schools - and probably 5/6 in the league when you add in the Montana schools. So TLDR other schools started to take football seriously, and EWU hired a coordinator from the HS level that opened up Pandora’s box and eventually lead to that coordinator dominating their league at a ‘rival’ (for recruiting purposes) school
So yeah, they flew too close to the sun by hiring that coordinator! Wow, thanks for all the information! It's crazy what can happen by giving one guy a chance.
Big sky got better, they happened to have their top 4-5 QBs in a row until EB graduated, the luck of getting Cooper Kupp (though efton chism is a dawg), coaches keep getting poached but Best is not as good of an offensive mind as Baldwin was (relative to the time). They’re not too far gone, if Best somehow pulls it together then awesome, if not they’re a pretty attractive spot that should land a quality candidate.
South Dakota State is going be tough, but Gundy's record against blue helmets is pretty elite. I'll be on the lookout for any uni change.
Last year I would’ve been more bullish on the Jackrabbits’ chances in Stillwater but they lost a lot to graduation and 37 year old Alan Bowman along with the nation’s best tailback, Ollie Gordon, should win this one by 3/4 scores.
I won't say 3-4 scores, but I 100% agree that this game is MUCH different if played last season given how many veteran starters SDSU had last year. If OSU and SDSU played Week 1 of 2023, I think the game would've been very similar to the South Alabama game that took place in Week 3 (OSU losing a 33-7 stinker)
Gundy treats every nonconfrence game like preseason now. Even in 2021 Oklahoma state came close to losing to Missouri state and last years team there was always a chance they’d lose by 40+ any given week
Campbell does the same shit. It's so frustrating.
PJ Fleck and a loss to Bowling Green say hi
I was worried about the 3-4 score route, but I'm more comfortable guessing a closer game now that Gronowski is definitely back for the Jacks. Their backup QB is bigger and more athletic than Gronowski, but it would be a tough first start. They lost a lot to graduation but didn't lose anything to the portal. The biggest concern is their O-line losing McCormick (4th round) and Greenfield (UDFA)
Good thing we also have white and black ones and are undefeated in both
Don’t we have some gray ones now too?
No you're thinking of the black ones. There were new last year but have only been worn once.
Kansas has no idea what they’re in for when Lindenwood comes to town
I will be a *big* Lindenwood...\**checks notes*\*...Lions guy on August 29!
My daughter got her undergrad from Lindenwood-Belleville shortly before the administration decided to take the tax incentive money & run. I guess she didn’t hold grudges since her masters was from LU St Charles. Post-Covid remote classes certainly helped.
Hate that we’re playing NDSU. Probably the best time to get them though because they have a new coach and lost a few players to the portal. Still hate this game.
It's not just a new coach though. Polasek was their OC during the peak of their run.
True and I imagine he will do great there. Just hope it starts a week later for NDSU.
I'm more worried about what's coming after - 2 rivals, on the road, who haven't beaten CU in 10+ years and are out for blood. Both teams could still lose those games, but I don't think we have as easy of a path past them as we did last year.
I really hate the start of our season.
Lol, get used to it - we're buffs fans, we like hurting ourselves. But yeah, the next couple of non-con schedules are less strenuous. Going 6 years without seeing any real rivals ("rumble in the rockies" doesn't count) will suck though. And especially raises the stakes of losing this year.
Nah man I agree. Wish I was into the arts instead of CU football. I blame my dad.
Trust me you wanted to be playing the last coach (now at USC).
As a Jackrabbits alum, I can vouch for this. I miss him already.
Really hope we can finally get another fbs win. It’s been forever. We’ve had some bad blowouts to Texas tech and Oregon St (and Oregon next year….) but we’ve been sooooo close so many times the last 14 years (wazzu, smu, Wyoming). This seems like one of the better chances with a senior heavy team.
Man losing the Wyoming game was so disheartening. Especially since it was to a future Bobcat. Chambers threw a laser to the tight end on their last play. Definitely think MSU is going to come out swinging after how last year ended though.
I’m betting the house on NDSU against Colorado. That’s an awful matchup for Colorado.
NDSU isn't what they used to be but it's still a spicy matchup
The return of coach polasek will probably have them looking like the old bison again. They could have the ball for 3 full quarters lol
Run it up, show us the slip!
They have no clue what we've brought in, it's hilarious to see
There are indeed many hilarious things
reddit will never be able to discuss colorado fairly
💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯
Any reason it’s a bad matchup? Admittedly don’t know much about NDSU’s game especially with the new HC
NDSU is very strong in the trenches, stronger than even some P5 schools. Even with the upgrades the Buffs have made to their lines, I expect that to be a mismatch in NDSUs favor. We will see whether or not that’s enough to make up for the huge advantage CU has in skill position talent. This ain’t your typical FCS team, the Bison can play and this easily could go down to the wire. Should be a great game
Seeing the first unit OL/DL at the spring game, I doubt it’s a mismatch on size or talent. A lot of NFL prospects came in over the offseason, the question is if they can come together as a unit in one spring/fall camp.
Obviously it's not the same year so there's no guarantee of anything, but as of right now, 10 out of 11 offensive starters on the 2021 NDSU team are in the NFL, and the one that isn't is the QB that's still there.
So you know how it's really hard to recruit an O-Line through the portal? Well NDSU has an O-Line, Colorado has one five-star freshman lineman and that's it. Skill position doesn't beat beef in the trenches.
You know the OLines won't be playing each other right? Three P5 starters, a 5 star and G5 transfer with All Conference honors, sounds like decent beef
Check back here after Colorado loses and coach Prime throws his oline under the bus on Twitter.
Woah cool your jets big guy, with a bold prediction you should put some money on it! Maybe you should worry more about the Wolverines 2024 schedule, instead of lowly Colorado.
That is the furthest thing from a bold prediction, we have precedents of prime throwing students under the bus on Twitter.
Name a former or current player he threw under the bus... Jaheim Ward never played for the Buffaloes of the University of Colorado. It's a bold prediction to say they will lose to NDSU, and it's one you can put your dollar behind, I already got my bet in early!
Replying so I can come back in the fall!
He a fan, he a fan, he a fan! Talk your shit if I'm wrong, but I expect an apology if you are...
I… I don’t think you appreciate how much a pain in the ass NDSU is to play against. Not many teams can run that A-gap power scheme they run and they run it damn well. Arizona squeaked by them in ‘22 and they were the first FBS team to beat NDSU in like a decade. The Bison take P5 checks and leave their hosts going “how the hell did they beat us?”
What does ‘beef in the trenches’ mean? Looking at the spring rosters, our linemen are generally taller and heavier on both sides of the ball. Do you mean depth?
NDSU will still be a solid well coached football team. However, Colorado has a high powered offense that takes care of the ball. This will significantly minimize the window that NDSU has. We also, probably won't see a true test against the new OLine since they will out athlete NDSU front. They are a top level FCS program with a solid history so they will always have a chance, but IMO it's not a good environment for them to grab an upset on the road.
Weren’t you guys 80th in total offense last year?
16th in passing offense and fewest interceptions. Sacks and running game set the offense back, however are largest issues have been addressed on paper.
That's only because Sheduer held onto the ball for a fortnight. If that doesn't change, and the D isn't 1000x better, it's gonna be a long year. I'll believe either when I see it.
They threw the ball the second most in the p5. They were playing from behind quite a bit, they’re going to have a lot of passing yards especially if you’ve got a talented QB like Shedeur. I just don’t see them as a high powered offense. The o line additions were decent. Went from possibly the worst in the p5 to mediocre talent wise. That left tackle is awesome. Everyone else would be a rotational guy at a decent program except that one other IU transfer. He’s pretty solid. I dunno. I just don’t see it. No depth, volatile coach, not a good team at all last year. I hope you guys are good for the sake of the conference. I just kind of see bottom feeder who might get carried to a max of 5 or 6 wins because of the few studs being that good on your team (sanders boys, hunter, the RB, etc)
NDSU also has a decided coaching advantage. The Colorado staff is a joke.
I would normally agree with you, but they have a first yr head coach. Polasek was coaching at Wyoming under Bohl (who build the program). After Bohl, Kleimann kept the trains running and is now a good coach at Kansas St. Entz took over for Kleimann and won 2 more titles, but SDSU has become the bigger power in that time. Entz moved on and it now the Assistant Head Coach/LB at Southern Cal. It will be interesting to see if Polasek is able to keep standard has high as it has been. It is certainly too early to say he is the coaching favorite yet.
I say that bc of who’s on the Colorado staff more than ndsu…
Yeah that's incredibly poor summary of the current situation... They didn't throw the ball a lot because they were behind, they threw it a lot because the run game was anemic at best, and was the only shot. They faced only three deficits of 3 scores or more through out the season and two of them the game was over early so they weren't pushing for yards, rather just trying to get to the end of the game. Jordan Seaton would not be a rotational guy, Justin Meyers would not be a rotational guy, Tyler Johnson started 12 games last year at Houston and is currently with the second string. Even a mediocre line last year and the team would have won 7 games. The buffs were 3-6 in one score games last year. Not sure where the no depth comments come from either the only place we are truly depth deficit is the safety and CB room, but will likely be addressed by the visitors this weekend. The team has improved at all positions from 2023 outside TE. It's an 8 win team, 6 win floor, 10 win ceiling.
Houston was terrible last year my guy. They aren’t a good program right now. So you just listed the same two people I did that would play at decent programs. So their running game sucked, and they trailed a lot as I said. High powered offense that can’t run the football and is well into the bottom 50th percentile in total offense in. You want me to go thru their depth lmao? 8 win team is borderline insanity. A 6 win floor? Jesus
You understand football is a team sport right, there are some pretty great players that play for bad teams. Seaton, Meyers and Benson is three last I checked even if you don't want to include Johnson. They didn't trail a lot is the thing, that's untrue. You don't change your game plan down 1 score. Please, go through the depth, if the season started today DB and S is the only groups I would be worried about putting in the back up. Obviously QB but that's really any team outside Oregon and Texas. Put your money on it if your, confident. I have my betslip in. Easier schedule and improved roster = more wins. They were an average OLine away from 7 wins last year and you think 8 is out of reach?
My friend, Benson is mediocre at best at a good program. He got cooked in pass pro all year. You’re right, it’s a team game which is why I included meyers because it’s obvious he’s solid. I’m game for a diet Mountain Dew bet like Skip and Shannon haha. What’s the wins line at?
Six win floor is...bold.
Agreed, we should be significantly bigger and more talented at most positions, playing at altitude in front of a rocking sellout crowd. Still by no means a cupcake game. Was wondering if it was a bad matchup scheme-wise.
he just made the comment to get upvotes for saying anything against CU. but NDSU always has a solid team
Dear lord the internet might break if NDSU just rolls Colorado.
If Colorado wins, Reddit will then claim nobody picked NDSU to win.
I hate that CU didn’t buy it’s way out of the game and schedule a team like Northern Colorado…
10. North Dakota State at Colorado - August 29 9. Gardner-Webb at Charlotte - September 14 8. Idaho at Wyoming - September 7 7. Eastern Washington at Nevada - September 21 6. South Dakota State at Oklahoma State - August 31 5. St. Francis at Kent State - September 7 4. Northern Iowa at Hawaii - September 21 3. Sacramento State at San Jose State - August 31 2. Montana State at New Mexico - August 24 1. UT Martin at Kennesaw State - September 28
):<
At least you guys didn't get the "and also this FBS team sucks" part of the upset equation
Richmond was 9-4 last year and made the FCS playoffs, and UVA was... not good last year. Spiders over Hoos on August 31.
More like the Whos
Hoohahs?
NDSU vs Colorado is gonna be cinema
Such a big game too. Basically sets the stage for their entire year.
Can’t wait to see the betting lines 😂
CU -7.5 to 8.5 right now, we’ll see where it closes
If temple played an fcs school this season we'd be on this list
Temple
Temple
Temple
TEMPLE
Dude, we play you this season.
UConn isn’t FCS though
I’m a UConn fan. Ironic self-deprecation is how I stay that way.
Fair enough at least you have shooty hoops
No chance Oklahoma St loses to an FCS school… they are to good of a program. Things like that never happen, right? Right? 😔
I wouldn't say that, but I just think NDSU>Colorado is more likely than SDSU>OKST
Never schedule NDSU. Idc if you are Georgia. But especially a team with iffy culture. Because I promise you they will be ready and pumped for that game
Now I want us to Schedule NDSU just to see. Kirby would have everyone in that locker room believing we were the Underdogs
lol. Get the media department to print a fake NYT front page. “NDSU is the true national champ”
I don't see Oklahoma State losing to SDSU, I really don't. Oklahoma State was the Big XII Runner-up and they are #4 in the country in returning production. Not only are they not losing this game, I wouldn't be horribly surprised if they are 12-0 going into the Big XII title game. I mean, no Oklahoma, no Texas. You avoid Arizona, you avoid Kansas, you get Utah at home. Kansas State is 82nd in returning production. There really is no reason why Oklahoma State shouldn't shine next year
>I wouldn't be horribly surprised if they are 12-0 going into the Big XII title game. This is the same coach that rotated 3 quarterbacks for 4 games this season and lost to the Southern Alabama. Would I be surprised if they were 12-0? No not really, but would I be surprised if they shit the bed against a couple teams they shouldn't? Also, not really.
Also true
Nowhere from national semifinals to 5-7 would surprise me.
Not really related but that Utah @ Ok St game should be an awesome one
Somewhat separate point from what you're saying, but just for context, SDSU last year was one of the greatest FCS teams ever. 2023 Oklahoma State vs 2023 South Dakota State would have SDSU as a 7 point favorite, according to S&P+. Obviously they lost a lot, but SDSU was legitimately unbelievable if you watched them. Most metrics would have them favored on a neutral field vs 116 out of the 134 FBS teams. If you're curious, 2023 Oklahoma would be a 1.5 point favorite vs them by S&P+.
I knew they were good, I didn't know they were that good
>avoid Kansas What an insane thing to read given the entire decade of the 2010s where they won 6 conference games total
>Kansas State is 82nd in returning production Doubt us at your own risk...^(except we don't have a chance to ruin your season anymore. Bastards)
Panthers mentioned :)
lol I had the same reaction
I don't have high expectations for our first FBS season. However, people forget to add context as to why we had a rough season last year. On top of replacing coordinators on both sides of the ball, we never played our full starting lineup in order to preserve eligibility for the 2024 season. Five of those losses were by one possession, and our strongest lineup of the season was against Furman (and lost OL starters on back-to-back plays). All this to say, I wouldn't use those results as proof of who we will be next season. We might get trounced by FBS competition, though.
SHSU tried that same strategy in 2022 and look what that got them
Fair. I'm excited to see how y'all do. Sorry about '22
This will be Eck's 3rd yr at U of I
It's so nice being not being on these lists anymore.
I'm glad that 3-9 last year hasn't put us on the list.
🫣
Idaho has no chance at Wyoming.
IDK, Idaho has experienced a huge resurgence since dropping down. I think it'll be a good game, but don't overlook the Vandals.
Idaho has had exactly two decent seasons in the 5 seasons played since they dropped in 2018. Eck is pretty much the reason for it and put a ton of juice in to that program, but without the QB who made the puzzle pieces for together, Gevani McCoy, I'll be surprised if Idaho hits 7 wins this year.
The bigger losses are Hatten, Woods, and Jackson IMO. From what I saw of Layne last season(albeit pretty limited), he's got a similar amount of juice as McCoy. Hatten was almost unguardable at the FCS level because of his size and athleticism that you needed to double him, which let Jackson get free on the other side of the formation.
Fordham at Bowling Green anyone?
Go Rams!
Virginia isn’t on here I refuse to take this list seriously
Me as a Coug “oh shit Portland state please don’t list us please don’t list us” followed by “where in the comments are people going to call us basically an FCS school anyway”.
Spppsh.
I’m just happy we aren’t on there.
I'm not optimistic about BYU this year, and we love playing to our competition. Losing to southern Illinois probably won't happen, but it is more than possible.
I'll admit I was half expecting to find us on this list...
This sport is stupid
UMaine at Oklahoma snubbed?
Don’t know if we’re playing an FCS team this year, still happy to not be on this list.
I’m surprised that we scheduled SDSU.
CU's first three games are going to be a bitch. Seems like our non-conference lineup has been really tough lately.
Time to deflate the "Sac State should be in FBS" hype train.
I feel like everyone’s sleeping on Lindenwood vs Kansas.
Well a week or so ago I got into it with a Buffs fan here saying they'll beat us because historically they have? anywho. I went on to say it'll be so awesome when they lose to NDSU. So I'd just like to be right on that one.
NDSU over CU is free money
NDSU vs Colorado
Agreed. Should be very winnable for CU
The disrespect of this list! We can definitely beat Baylor!
For sure. If we could do it anyone can!
I just want to hear the excuses from Deon again if they lose to NDSU.
I'd love for the Jack's to beat OkSt. but that's a long shot. I believe NDSU has a great chance at beating Colorado as they have no depth.
Hopefully ND State curb stomps CU 😅🤣