Congrats to USU and NavyBlue

[kemajic]

The Aggies have really established themselves as a consistent competitive program over the last few years. But for the tight losses, they could have been in the BCS picture. A great advance for the program; it was not long ago this forum enjoyed poking at USU and the rest of the WAC. Now they represent the West very well. Great defense.

http://scores.espn.go.com/ncf/recap?gameId=333602459" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[BWahlberg]

They opened 3-4 on the season, never a BCS contender.

They went 9-5 this year and had a great showing last night, the prior year was a solid one too but they lost their coach to Wisconsin after that. Other than that they've still been a fairly mediocre team.

Good for them though, always nice to see western teams do well.

 

[AZGrizFan]

They opened 3-4 on the season, never a BCS contender.

They went 9-5 this year and had a great showing last night, the prior year was a solid one too but they lost their coach to Wisconsin after that. Other than that they've still been a fairly mediocre team.

Good for them though, always nice to see western teams do well.

Yes, and that included a 3 point loss to USC and a 4 point loss to Utah, which I think was kemajic's point. That program is definitely going in the right direction.

 

[ranco]

They opened 3-4 on the season, never a BCS contender.

They went 9-5 this year and had a great showing last night, the prior year was a solid one too but they lost their coach to Wisconsin after that. Other than that they've still been a fairly mediocre team.

Good for them though, always nice to see western teams do well.

Yes, and that included a 3 point loss to USC and a 4 point loss to Utah, which I think was kemajic's point. That program is definitely going in the right direction.

growing on the foundation built by Dennehy.

 

[garizzalies]

growing on the foundation built by Dennehy.

Solid work! You're right, it's kinda like building on a basement foundation: you have to dig yourself into a hole first.

 

[kemajic]

They opened 3-4 on the season, never a BCS contender.

They went 9-5 this year and had a great showing last night, the prior year was a solid one too but they lost their coach to Wisconsin after that. Other than that they've still been a fairly mediocre team.

Good for them though, always nice to see western teams do well.

7-1 in the MWC with 3 and 4 point road losses to USC and Utah is better than "fairly mediocre." They could play competitively with just about anyone in the West besides Stanford, ASU and BYU.

 

[SACCAT66]

They opened 3-4 on the season, never a BCS contender.

They went 9-5 this year and had a great showing last night, the prior year was a solid one too but they lost their coach to Wisconsin after that. Other than that they've still been a fairly mediocre team.

Good for them though, always nice to see western teams do well.

 

[GoldStandardGriz]

Is their coach "our" Matt Wells?

 

[Ursa Major]

The Aggies have really established themselves as a consistent competitive program over the last few years. But for the tight losses, they could have been in the BCS picture. A great advance for the program; it was not long ago this forum enjoyed poking at USU and the rest of the WAC. Now they represent the West very well. Great defense.

http://scores.espn.go.com/ncf/recap?gameId=333602459" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Good post Kem! Nice to see the Aggies doing so well. A real nice win for USU and the MWC.

 

[BWahlberg]

They opened 3-4 on the season, never a BCS contender.

They went 9-5 this year and had a great showing last night, the prior year was a solid one too but they lost their coach to Wisconsin after that. Other than that they've still been a fairly mediocre team.

Good for them though, always nice to see western teams do well.

7-1 in the MWC with 3 and 4 point road losses to USC and Utah is better than "fairly mediocre." They could play competitively with just about anyone in the West besides Stanford, ASU and BYU.

"Other than that" = other than the last two years. And saying fairly mediocre might've been generous.

2013: 9-5
2012: 11-2
2011: 7-6
2010: 4-8
2009: 4-8
2008: 3-9
2007: 2-10
2006: 1-11
2005: 3-8
2004: 3-8
2003: 3-9

Record over the last decade: 50-84

One might argue that their 9-5 record is them coming back from a much better season last year. It will be interesting to see if they can continue to be successful, one might argue they're doing well under the prior coaches players still (we hear that a lot here about certain past seasons).

I hope they continue to do well, don't get me wrong.

Also yeah they had close losses to Utah and USC. They also lost by double digits to BYU and Boise. They're a good team, not a great one by any stretch at all. They were blessed to land a great coach in Gary Andersen and lost him to Wisconsin in the off-season. The new coach, Matt Wells (not the Matt Wells from Grizzly lore) will hopefully work out great.

I'd say that if it were the Griz and they went from 11-2 in one year to 9-5 the next under a new coach there'd be hell to pay, look at all the people that wanted Pflu run out the door after the 2010 season.

 

[NavyBlue]

Thanks, Kem (and others).

I wonder if Mr. Whalberg is aware that our starting QB went down early in the BYU game, and the next game against Boise we were still trying to figure things out. We ended up settling on a true freshman after the backup QB's fiascos against BYU and Boise. We not only lost QB Chuckie Keaton but I think, 5 other offensive starters. The Salt Lake media basically wrote our season off after Keaton (mentioned as Heisman candidate by some, yeah I know...) went out early in the BYU game. I pretty much did too, by the way.

So with breaking in a new coach and numerous injuries to key players, pretty much all Aggie fans would agree that our first year in the Mountain West was a successful one.

It does remain to be seen if Matt Wells can recruit like Andersen did, if he can, we will be fine. We won't have a #16 final BCS ranking every year like last year, but the dark days of Brent Guy are over. We have some good players, but depth has been an issue.

Thanks, again. I appreciate the props.

 

[BWahlberg]

Thanks, Kem (and others).

I wonder if Mr. Whalberg is aware that our starting QB went down early in the BYU game, and the next game against Boise we were still trying to figure things out. We ended up settling on a true freshman after the backup QB's fiascos against BYU and Boise. We not only lost QB Chuckie Keaton but I think, 5 other offensive starters. The Salt Lake media basically wrote our season off after keaton went out early in the BYU game. I pretty much did too, by the way.

So with breaking in a new coach and numerous injuries to key players, pretty much all Aggie fans would agree that our first year in the Mountain West was a successful one.

It does remain to be seen if Matt Wells can recruit like Andersen did, if he can, we will be fine. We won't have a #16 final BCS ranking every year like last year, but the dark days of Brent Guy are over.

Thanks, again. I appreciate the props.

I'll ask Mr Whalberg when I see him

I didnt know that until they said it in the game last night, great turnaround for you guys, congrats on a good season.

 

[NavyBlue]

Sorry for the misspelling. I know everyone has injuries but losing Chuckie Keaton was HUGE for our team, and it took a few games to find an answer. But from where we have been, you listed the records, we are damn happy.

We have a great AD in Scott Barnes (thanks Eastern Washington) and finally a good president who knows the value of a good football team to a university. Barnes has spearheaded many facility improvements, and hired some great coaches. We probably won't be able to keep him much longer, I am amazed he hasn't been snapped up by a BC$ school already, but he has done wonders for us.

We are on an upward trajectory and I hope it continues.

Good luck to the Griz in the future. I never went to school there but since I grew up just outside of Missoula I will always follow them.

 

[Hammer]

They opened 3-4 on the season, never a BCS contender.

They went 9-5 this year and had a great showing last night, the prior year was a solid one too but they lost their coach to Wisconsin after that. Other than that they've still been a fairly mediocre team.

Good for them though, always nice to see western teams do well.

Yes, and that included a 3 point loss to USC and a 4 point loss to Utah, which I think was kemajic's point. That program is definitely going in the right direction.

growing on the foundation built by Dennehy.

I agree. Mick laid the groundwork for this recent success!!!