Shayne_Pickering said:

I'd say being able to move the ball down the field all second half against a top-5 team in the country was a positive. Holden had a good game and they put in plays to get him the ball in space. Being able to get home a couple times in the backfield was also good to see. Need to finish drives and do several things better but they had a lot of good flashes against a top-5 team. The real tests start that matter now however

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Yea, sure, after Ole miss pulled all their starters on defense we were able to get some first downs. Big whoop.

Which I feel like has been the way since we moved to 1-A/FCS. It will just have a name associated with it.

RaiderDoug said:

I'm convinced it's inevitable that us middle tier program (not P4, but not FCS) end up in a middle tier of college football, I just don't know when or who will have the cojones to start it.

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It is time to beat these Goat Toppers. Good grief that record Space posted.......

Also, Space - A fair weather fan you are not. You are THE G.O.A.T.

NIU just beat ND. College football is the same it always has been in terms of upsets. Most P4 teams will beat up on teams at our level and occasionally one of the G5 will knock off a big dog. It is what it is.

I will not be one of these fair weather fans (lol jk). Rain or shine I’ll be there, chowing down on the BR Brat!

There will always be a place for G5 vs P4 games - not every P4 program wants to play 12 straight titanic matchups. Ohio State can do it. But what does someone like Ole Miss's program look like long term if they had to play 12 Ohio State's every season?

As for the G5 holding out for more dough - It's the prisoner's dilemma. If we hold out with our G5 buddies, we all win. But if one guy gives in, he gets the windfall and you get zilch. I highly doubt there's that much fanatic zeal in the G5 (and even FCS teams to this because they get those paycheck games too) to hold strong there.

I think the biggest road block to a revolution is our own administrators at the conference and school level. No one wants to be that administrator that says "hey, this might not be the best path for us". In the short term, it's surely going to lead to consolidation, angry alums, bad publicity, and pink slips for a whole lot of people on the college athletics gravy train.

I'm convinced it's inevitable that us middle tier program (not P4, but not FCS) end up in a middle tier of college football, I just don't know when or who will have the cojones to start it.

FranklinRaider315 said:

Can they still cook the BR brats under the stadium in the concourse??

Asking for a friend. 😂

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The hype about these Brats is Colorado Buffalo-ish. I need to get to one of the upcoming games and try one!

I worry about the future of college football & specifically for us. Seems like not long ago Brent Stockstill had us beating SEC Mizzou, and even dating back to last season when the Mizzou game was a one possession ball game all the way up to the final play of the game & that mizzou team went on to be a top ten team. Then you see the difference just a year makes, a 49 point loss to an SEC power. CFB landscape changes fast. These competitive G5 v P5 matchups are going to be sorely missed, part of what makes college football what it is. I am hoping last Saturday's result was moreso chalked up to misses in the portal/mass roster turnover & not an indication of the future for schools like us. I think we can definitely stay competitive because Coach Stock's 4 win team last year had Mizzou on the ropes, surely we can get back to that at least with new facilities coming & the new staff. I believe in this staff but we have to be better, there are other teams who got hit by the portal hard but have been better than we have been through two games.

Where is our dome?!? Build Blue 2.0!

It is what it is.

I just watched NCST get absolutely annihilated in every facet of the game vs UT. Now, NCSU is not a dog program - Doeren is a solid coach, they have an above average level of talent, a QB that killed the Sunbelt for 3 years - and it looked like the NFL vs high school. UT is a program that is entirely built on NIL (nothing wrong with that, if you have that leverage, use it). But that's going to be the demarcation line between the haves and the have nots.

And NC State - They're just a F****d as we are when it comes to being nationally competitive and they are upper-ish level ACC program.

Football is going to stratify - there's going to be about 20-30 programs, tops, that are going to be competitive on the playoff/national level. The rest of us are going to have to find a new way to make college football have meaning. That's not impossible. I still think the portal will giveth as much as it will taketh away. Few of our peers at our level will have more than we can offer.

I think eventually, someone will come up with something - either a mid-level league/playoff/poll/whatever, or something like that. I just wish we'd hurry up and get there.

MTFAN61 said:

Volunteer fans must be thrilled Tim Banks stayed in Knoxville to coach their defense instead of taking over at MT. Some of the
best defense I've seen from Tennessee since the days of Reggie White & company.

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Banks and Mack were never leaving for MT

SpaceRaider said:

I'm at the point with my health and age that I know I can't stay out in the rain and do well. Use to sit out in the rain and bemoan the fair weather fans, now I have become one.

At least have to wonder if MT wanting to run will give an edge to the Raiders in this particular game.

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Yeah. I ain't sitting in no rain or snow

SpaceRaider said:

I'm at the point with my health and age that I know I can't stay out in the rain and do well. Use to sit out in the rain and bemoan the fair weather fans, now I have become one.

At least have to wonder if MT wanting to run will give an edge to the Raiders in this particular game.

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Very understandable, same situation here.

MTFAN61 said:

Not to bring bad news but just checked weather report for Saturday. Rain & storms expected on Friday with 60% odds going into Saturday. Two weeks in a row really sucks.

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I'm at the point with my health and age that I know I can't stay out in the rain and do well. Use to sit out in the rain and bemoan the fair weather fans, now I have become one.

At least have to wonder if MT wanting to run will give an edge to the Raiders in this particular game.

MTFAN61 said:

Not to bring bad news but just checked weather report for Saturday. Rain & storms expected on Friday with 60% odds going into Saturday. Two weeks in a row really sucks.

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Not only is it rain, it’s supposed to be from the hurricane that’s about to form in the gulf. Not good news at all!

Not to bring bad news but just checked weather report for Saturday. Rain & storms expected on Friday with 60% odds going into Saturday. Two weeks in a row really sucks.

This is the one folks; we should have a much better idea of what kind of team we have and how we will compete in conference (which looks pretty bad this year) after this game.

BlueraiderSC said:

We need them more than they need us.

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This is sad, but true. They know it, we know it.
But if we piss them off, they will kick us to the curb. And both parties know this.

I still think a split will happen sometime in the next decade. If the cases don't get settled and go to trial, it could be sooner. But when it does, we will still have a place in a fine group. Not all current P4 schools will make it and will be lumped in with us.

Even if a split doesn't happen, I still think we will have a seat at the table, just a small one as we do now. One CFP spot, probably with an even smaller money piece. I used to think the G5 should just split themselves, but I no longer think that. We all are FBS and should fight.

Me personally, I would get all the G5 conferences & schools together and revamp though. Possibly restructure based on geography to save costs and kill one of the conferences.
It is stupid to have 1800 miles between teams in a G5. That is major money spent. From Army to TX St or Liberty to NMSU.

I'd make the current 64 G5 teams 4 conferences, each with 16 teams with 4 pods each.
8 conf games/4 out
3 vs your pod
4 vs another pod that rotates each year
8th game is pod 1 vs pod 2 / pod 3 vs pod 4
Those champs play for conf champ.

Then have a 4 team G5 "play-in" where the champ gets the CFP spot.

It would create more revenue with each conference having its own "playoff" and then the G4s having a "play-in" all while still not voluntarily shutting ourselves out. People would watch to see who gets in.

The G5 peeps have got to think outside the box to create their own revenue sources and to grow their brand. Remember, we are only contractually guaranteed a CFP spot this year and next. After that, nothing is finalized but a TV deal.

If wanting more money from the P4 schools is "dumb" I suppose the super smart thing to do would be to charge even less.

SpaceRaider said:

MT 1-8 the last nine years

2015 L 58-28 A
2016 L 44-43 (OT) H
2017 L 41-38 (OT) A
2018 W 29-10 H
2019 L 31-26 A
2020 L 20-17 H
2021 L 48-21 A
2022 L 35-17 H
2023 L 31-10 A


Stockstill didn't give a damn about the series

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Bruh. That’s ugly! I don’t know that he didn’t care about this series in particular, I don’t think he cared at all.

SpaceRaider said:

MT 1-8 the last nine years

2015 L 58-28 A
2016 L 44-43 (OT) H
2017 L 41-38 (OT) A
2018 W 29-10 H
2019 L 31-26 A
2020 L 20-17 H
2021 L 48-21 A
2022 L 35-17 H
2023 L 31-10 A


Stockstill didn't give a damn about the series

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I've said it before. I'd have a permanent timer in the locker room counting down to this game like OSU/Michigan do. I despise them that much.

BlueraiderSC said:

We need them more than they need us.

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Call it inflation!