SoldierGriz said:I believe 4 of 5 seasons the Griz have fallen short of pre-season polling?
Is that right?
If true, that contributes to the expectation deal.
RTD was dumb from the start - very surprised Hauck fell into that. A very good brand, but reeks of overpromising.
Preseason polls are a joke. FCS has less than 5 reporters nationwide that really dedicate any amount of time covering the entire nation. And I would say most of those are regionally biased. Even preseason polls in the Big Sky are irrelevant when not everyone plays each other. Then throw in the transfer portal. You never know how well some of these players will fit in. And do you think any of these small handful of reporters that cover FCS can give a run down of the redshirt freshman that each school has that will see the field this year? They don't go back and analyze games from previous year. They look at player stats and who is returning and they read what others are saying and find a few teams to bandwagon on. This year it is Idaho along with usual teams. The Griz were rated high preseason last year because they ended the previous season playing well (including thumping the Cats) and had Lucas Johnson coming in. Lucas had bad luck with health and that was key in at least two games the Griz lost last year for sure. I believe the Griz addresed a lot of the issues they struggled with last year (ie depth at QB and play calling) and so I think Griz have a much better squad than #14 in the nation. I was listening to ESPN Radio yesterday and one Bama fan called in and was saying it was time for Saban to step down because they haven't won the national title in two years and the game has passed him by.