My only question is that if it’s as simple and easy as you make it sound, why haven’t other upper echelon FCS teams been able to do it outside of MSU? If the blueprint is right there, why haven’t schools like UC Davis or Idaho or Villanova or UND been able to break through? Why haven’t schools like Sac State or Richmond or UIW been able to sustain their success year over year?
You’re probably not going to like this either, but guess who has the 2nd highest average finish in the Big Sky since 2019?
So again, you’re painting this picture that we’re a middle of the road team, but we’re seriously behind ONE team in all the things people care about, and it’s the only team we never want to be behind.
This has almost nothing to do with the 'Scats and I couldn't care less why those other programs haven't been able to generate success. I'm not a fan of those teams, and they don't have NEAR the resources/advantages our program has. At the end of the day it doesn't matter if we beat the 'Scats every year, if we're just gonna get our ass handed to us by the XDSU's in the playoffs.
But since you bring it up, the only reason we're 2nd highest since 2019 (notably, you leave our 2018 but whatever) is because other teams (again, the ones I couldn't care less about) come and go. We ARE a middle of the road team--it's just DIFFERENT teams ahead of us in any given year, other than MSU, who is ahead of us pretty much every year and has passed us in just about every aspect as a program. Hell, this year even NAU finished ahead of us. And now Idaho will probably slide backwards now that Eck has departed, much like Sac did with Taylor's departure and be replaced ahead of us by some other program (EWU? NAU again?)
2024 - 5th - Behind MSU, Idaho, Davis, NAU
2023 - 1st
2022 - 6th - Behind Sac, MSU, Weber, Idaho, Davis
2021 - T3rd (EWU) - behind MSU, Sac
2020 - DNP
2019 - T3rd (MSU) - behind Weber, Sac
2018 - T6th (CP) - behind ISU, Weber, MSU, Davis, EWU
So, one 1st, two 3rds, a 5th and a two 6th's in 6 years of Bobby 2.0, including a 5th and 6th in 2 of the last three years. BEHIND MSU 5/6 of those years. Behind Idaho 2 out of the last 3. Behind Davis 2 out of the last 3. That's about as middle of the road as you can get for a once proud program. And 5th place in year SEVEN of a "rebuild"? Come on...And we may have the 2nd highest average, but you wanna talk about averages? In six years, Bobby's AVERAGE finish is 4th. Comical.
And it's really comical watching people defend it. Stitt was so bad that his tenure has convinced a majority of fans that THIS is performance now defines "success". Just MAKING the playoffs. Beating the 'Scats occasionally. The odd run into the quarterfinals. Once in a blue moon catching lightning in a bottle and making the Natty.
When I look at the entire body of work, 2023 becomes the obvious outlier. And maybe this is all that we'll every be going forward.
Doesn't mean I have to like it.