I meant in the context of hearing talk of us “moving up” every year. Let’s see if it’s true. It’s challenging to schedule similar FCS-level opponents because, in reality, there aren’t many that aren’t in our own conference or that we wouldn’t see in the playoffs.
Except for the people making the schedule know moving up is no where in our future as long as they're in charge.
1.) Making playoffs and maximizing seed are good scheduling objectives, but not the only ones.
I disagree on point one wholeheartedly, and would really be curious what your higher priority objectives would be. On point 2, is rarely really worth it? Plain and simple, people didn't run BH out of town because he won 13 games or has been victorious in FBS games.
It has been posted over and over that the highest priority is Championship, so why would you not schedule accordingly based on some other priorities that are secondary? Did scheduling Oregon hurt them, no, but what if the Griz win the Brawl, then yes. Reality, how much does the SOS really hurt a BSC team when it comes to playoffs? Pretty much zero as it boils down to W/L record and a BSC team almost always gets the benefit of the doubt. And sure, they beat UW last time they played, but how did that season play out?
But those games make probably make less money for UM than a home game against a good Div. 2 school (ie, Ferris State, Central , etc).
I'd rather play a game @ San Diego State, Utah, Wyoming etc with the potential upside of an upset, better exposure and a bit of cash. Exposure going forward is going to be very important, arguably just as much as $$ in some cases if we have any aspirations of moving up.
We dont. At least the "we" thats in charge anyway.
i honestly think we could reel a mid tier fbs into coming to a missoula away game. Everybody talks about the atmosphere let’s show it to the next level. I’m not sure about the logistics of that but it doesn’t like something that should be way out of the picture.
Not "a bit of cash." A bit of loss relative to any hoe game. UM needs a minimum of $650,000 for an FBS game and those mentioned don't pay it.
You're assuming UM is afraid of being on the playoff bubble when scheduling. Don't think that's the case. They have some margin for other priorities like this year's QSU game.
Historically, they probably should be afraid of the bubble...unless the goal isn't really championships
Yeah, playoff appearances are rare at Montana. They need to schedule patsies so Nervous Nellies like you can breathe normally.
Except I didn't say playoff appearances are rare. Reading comprehension matters.
I am always confused about the $650k. 2025 my ticket invoice for 2 seats, seats cushions and parking was $845 for 8 games that included UND, Cats, Idaho and EWU. This year same package is $900, and the only marquee game is Idaho. How are prices up and games down if each game is worth $650k? Seems 6,7 or 8 games the season ticket price is the same or more each year and demand is related to the performance of the team and the value of the competition.
A high priority would be making enough money/revenue to continue to fund the program in a high level and help keep it successful. It would also be having many home games to keep local businesses, restaurants and hotels busy and happy.
This is absolutely true.
But they don't have to schedule D2 schools to accomplish that and FBS road games doesn't. Kind of my point that this can be accomplished while playing an all FCS slate with the priority to work towards putting themselves in the best position for a championship.
It is very difficult to play all FCS, because there just aren't enough teams available when UM has open dates. That's one of the reasons UM has to fill in with D2's.
