Matt

A system in which the season ticket holder is under a more binding commitment to the program in any given season more so than the AD, coaching staff, or players will be doomed to fail. Whatever I think of the restrictions that used to be in place, this pendulum swing is destructive in the opposite direction. Having absolutely no boundaries in place is no more healthy than having far too rigid ones. im not contributing to a system which perpetuates this garbage. If this is now a feature of the system and not a bug, then count me as one that will be giving no more commitment than is required of them. I’ll watch on tv. I may attend in person if it’s convenient for me. But I’m not committing anything long term to this garbage until they restore a few guardrails to this.

This team feels like it is right there but I’m thinking that’s my bias clouding my view because a team that doesn’t win a single conference road game isn’t “right there”. That indicates a wider gap but I don’t know how that gap gets filled without an MSU style coaching change or an all American QB landing in your lap. Neither of those seems likely to happen, nor am I convinced either of those are the final answer here either. Glad I’m not responsible for figuring it out because I don’t know the answer.

Don't misunderstand, it's not like they're unbeatable, but their track record as a program tells me they don't drop off much from year to year despite graduation losses.

When was the last time EWU fell off after graduation losses? They didn't after losing Bo Levi Mitchell, Taiwan Jones, Vernon Adams. Hoping that program will drop off seems more wishful thinking to me.

No room for that next year. The psychology of this game ending plus the 2017 schedule won't leave room for slow starts.

This is the kind of loss that can continue to beat you if you let it. Doubt your ability to hold a lead, your ability to defend your home playoff field, giving up explosive plays. How this team starts the 2017 schedule will be critical to burying some demons.

smart opponents don't return them. They let them sit empty.

In Brookings for an outdoor game, I didn't think they'd draw that many.

I will be very surprised if there is any venue at less than 50% capacity this week. Thanksgiving makes all the difference.

Listening to 740 this morning I heard "UND Sports Today" with Tim H. Gave a full report on the hockey weekend vs MSU and interview clips with coach B (which is understandable given the FB team was idle), and finished by letting me know there's a game at MSG vs BC on Saturday. No mention of FB home playoff game. Missed opportunity to start the week.

When Eastern wins the national championship Poly and Weber will be a footnote

I don't think those hockey first, everything else distant second, people need an excuse to watch the hockey game. I just hope the number of those fans aren't big enough to impact attendance.

I think they would slide past 4. They were 4 at one time with 1 loss.

I agree with that, except the committee has shown themselves to be schizophrenic from week to week. The rankings have made little sense. I'll throw another curve ball at you: What happens to the rankings if ndsu loses this week? That could knock someone out even with a win (or a bye) as the line shifts downward. i"ll hang up and listen.

I tend to agree with you but the committee this year seems to be more concerned with who you beat than the quality of your loss (last year's committee). With that in mind, Sam hasn't beaten anybody of note. But again, will the committee look on their loss to a highly ranked UCA team as one which shouldn't drop them out of the top 8? Who knows? When it comes to SDSU and UND for seeding, I would absolutely not put the Jacks ahead of UND (if they beat UNI). Yes, their win is better but they would have 3 losses with one of those losses coming at home to someone UND has beaten. Your W/L record has to be the first criteria, then you start parsing the details after that. Also, we aren't talking about which team is the last team in the playoff field here...we are talking about seeding. Otherwise we would be REALLY arguing about SOS and whose wins are better. As it stands, the Jacks will still have any opportunity to prove it on the field.