This Will Impact UM and Other Western Teams.

[clawman]

As of now, 2015-2018 will be 11 game seasons

 

[Robsnotes4u]

:beer:

How would it look right now if you replaced the Central Washington game with Liberty, and you beat Liberty?

Liberty has played Richmond (look at their schedule), and will play Coastal Carolina to end the season. How much better would your resume look than it is does right now? Not only would the Griz have one more D1 win, but a better SOS, after beating MSU would be a lock at 8-4. 8 D1 wins, with a better SOS.

Playing Marist would have been preferrable to playing CWU from an SOS standpoint. Playing San Diego. Playing Savannah State. Incarnate Word. Houston Baptist. You name it...they're ALL better for our SOS than CWU. ANd all would be guaranteed wins.

I agree the D2 game hurts, based on the NDSU and Wyoming games. Personally, I wish teams would only play in their division.

I rarely agree with you, Rob, but, on this note, we are in total agreement. I always laugh at the people who don't want UM to play a Div. II school, but always want to play an FBS school -- IMO, you can't have it both ways.

Crap, now the next Griz Cat game I get to I have to buy you a beer, or two or three

 

[Silvertip]

Considering that BSC members are the only viable FCS teams this side of the Mississippi they really comprise the only "Western Team" conference that will suffer. You can't schedule down to DII and you can't schedule up - at least for home and home - with the Mountain West or PAC 12 - and virtually every other FBS conference in the country discourages any of their teams playing down.

Montana and MSU are going to find themselves in an increasingly smaller out-of-conference scheduling window. Options are shrinking to slim and none. Get ready to rue the day Montana-Western and Rocky Mountain College fill the void. Grizzly athletics have slowly but surely backed themselves into a dead end alley of their own making.

If you've become disenchanted with the opponents that come into Wa-Griz you ain't seen nothing yet. There's really only one solution, and as of now nobody has seen fit to figure how to make it happen...

 

[grizpack]

I would rather see Rocky / Carroll / Tech / Western than Ft. Lewis. At least we would be watching some Montana kids. I mean if it has to be a shitty game, why not watch some kids we can relate to. And at least our money we pay them would go to a Montana school.

 

[EWURanger29]

This will definitely have an impact. Teams that typically play a D2 would now lose a home game every two years. Basically if there are no D2's left to schedule, UM would either have to pay a lot more $ for a FCS team rather than a D2 for a one game trip to missoula or schedule a home and home with another FCS school. Most teams will probably opt for the home/home, which means 1 less game every other year in Missoula...

Montana is probably one of the few schools that can justify paying a FCS school for a one time game, most other Big Sky schools go the route of a home/home deal.

EWU will still be able to schedule UM-Western again. They are a Frontier Conference NAIA school.......

We play a Pac-12 every year for the foreseeable future, and UNI and NDSU in home and home series the next 4 years. The other game will probably be a BSC team we're not scheduled to play in conference like MSU this year and next. Our upcoming schedules aren't exactly fluff.

The UM-Western game happened because the SHSU game got moved to accomodate the ESPN kickoff classic to start the year off and we needed to find another team to play at home kinda late in the game.

 

[marceagfan5]

This will definitely have an impact. Teams that typically play a D2 would now lose a home game every two years. Basically if there are no D2's left to schedule, UM would either have to pay a lot more $ for a FCS team rather than a D2 for a one game trip to missoula or schedule a home and home with another FCS school. Most teams will probably opt for the home/home, which means 1 less game every other year in Missoula...

Montana is probably one of the few schools that can justify paying a FCS school for a one time game, most other Big Sky schools go the route of a home/home deal.

EWU will still be able to schedule UM-Western again. They are a Frontier Conference NAIA school.......

We play a Pac-12 every year for the foreseeable future, and UNI and NDSU in home and home series the next 4 years. The other game will probably be a BSC team we're not scheduled to play in conference like MSU this year and next. Our upcoming schedules aren't exactly fluff.

The UM-Western game happened because the SHSU game got moved to accomodate the ESPN kickoff classic to start the year off and we needed to find another team to play at home kinda late in the game.

Yep, we loaded up on cupcakes out of conference the next two years:

2015 - Oregon, Northern Iowa, MSU
2016 - Wazzu, Northern Iowa, NDSU

 

[biga75]

This will definitely have an impact. Teams that typically play a D2 would now lose a home game every two years. Basically if there are no D2's left to schedule, UM would either have to pay a lot more $ for a FCS team rather than a D2 for a one game trip to missoula or schedule a home and home with another FCS school. Most teams will probably opt for the home/home, which means 1 less game every other year in Missoula...

Montana is probably one of the few schools that can justify paying a FCS school for a one time game, most other Big Sky schools go the route of a home/home deal.

EWU will still be able to schedule UM-Western again. They are a Frontier Conference NAIA school.......

We play a Pac-12 every year for the foreseeable future, and UNI and NDSU in home and home series the next 4 years. The other game will probably be a BSC team we're not scheduled to play in conference like MSU this year and next. Our upcoming schedules aren't exactly fluff.

The UM-Western game happened because the SHSU game got moved to accomodate the ESPN kickoff classic to start the year off and we needed to find another team to play at home kinda late in the game.

So EWU vs. MSU is non-con again next year? What a joke this new set up is. To me it would've made more sense to have the newer conference members be the rotated non-con games i.e. SUU, CP, UND

 

[Grizinmyyard]

Playing conference opponents for your non-conference games does have its benefits. There is a drawback also.
1. Scheduling only your conference teams leads to a more closed environment
2. Scheduling outside of the conference gives a clearer picture of SOS across the country.

This year Montana could be up against a team such as Liberty for playoff selection. If you play an OOC with them, hence their network of games, then anyone in their conference could be compared SOS, SRS, etc., to the BSC. An SOS of 60 in one conference would be equal to a 60 in their conference, and the conferences they play. A huge benefit come selection time for the playoffs.

It might be best, from a playoff selection standpoint, to schedule OOC FCS teams.

All these teams (UND, UCD, SUU, CP) were OOC games 5 years ago. What's the difference?

I will put it in different terms for you.

Say you live in Westby, MT. You are the top dog in the pool world, there nobody can beat you. The perception is you are amazing, your rating in everyone's eye is 100. Everyone in your league is rated according to you, as that is all we have.

You listen to how good you are so you head to the state tourney for 8 ball. Not one person in your league in Westby has ever attended. It is a closed environment.

Your first match you draw Jeff Boucher, arguably the best in Montana from Kalispell. He demolishes you, and it affects your rating. Later on you play Wade Thompson from Great Falls, same result. You then play in the second chance bracket getting beat by TR Olson from Havre, and Jim Winters from Billings. (Bad draw as they are all the top players in Montana)

Your new rating is a 60. You go back home. The guy who was an 80 before you left is no longer an 80, but maybe a 40. Everything is adjusted an now correct. Now you can compare yourself to anyone across the state that is involved in the system You played 4 different leagues, Kalispell, Great Falls, Havre, and Billings.

Now the perception of you being a 100 is gone, the reality is you are an 80, and every game everyone plays will affect your rating if you don't even play.

Yes and in this scenario, Jeff has played the best in United States, as he does travel to National tourneys, and has played SVB. (true)

Playing FCS games outside gives you the most realistic picture of where you sit on the FCS stage.

Edit: I am by no means saying there are not benefits to playing the conference opponents. In my opinion, for playoff selection, it would have been better playing FCS.

Very nice my friend. Great analogy.

And a real eye opener into todays world of Montana pool. I once shot a bit...

 

[kurtismichael]

It'd be nice to see SFA, Nicholls St, Central Arkansas, McNeese St or SHSU on the schedule. Guess it's a money issue with travel there though too.