Latest / The Blue Creek Outdoors Podcast / Ep#106 - Chaos in College Football: Upsets, Rankings & The NIL Debate

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Ep#106 - Chaos in College Football: Upsets, Rankings & The NIL Debate · The Blue Creek Outdoors Podcast

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Welcome to the Blue Creek Outdoors podcast, where we're talking faith,
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family, sports, and the great outdoors.
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Welcome back to another episode of the Blue Creek Outdoors podcast.
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Myself, Joe Barlett, Austin Seidler, and Les Meyer on here. And we're going
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to talk about week seven of college football, which was a doozy.
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There's no rhyme or reason anymore. Up is down, down is up.
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I don't know what's happening, but we're going to talk about all of it.
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And then we'll talk about Austin and I taking off here in a couple of days to go hunt elk.
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And that'll be probably the gist of the show here. But I don't know what's happening
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in the world of college football. We'll start with the NAIA, I guessed here.
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Hey, all I got to say is up is down and down is up. And the Wyoming Cowboys
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are on a three-game winning streak. I know it.
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The Wyoming Cowboys are four and three. Yeah.
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I wish, like on one hand, for Wyoming's sake, I'm pumped that the Mountain West is hot garbage.
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But, like, for the conference sake, I'm not pumped that the Mountain West is hot garbage.
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When the Wyoming Cowboys are 4-3, and technically tied for second in the conference
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right now, we have a problem, ladies and gentlemen.
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Hey, I did tell you that this is the only way that Wyoming could win a conference
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championship. Don't say stuff like that to me. And that's without all the good teams gone.
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I don't even like you all the time. But, alright. Top 25 roundup.
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We did see a top 10 loss in the NAIA this week.
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We saw a total of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 in the top 25. So number 25,
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Cumberland loses at number 13, Campbellsville, 31-14.
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Number 24, Evangel lost at unranked Ottawa, 38-35. Number 23, Baker had a bye.
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Number 22, Southeastern won against Weber International, 35-10.
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Number 21, William Penn, lost at unranked Culver Stockton, 29-28.
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Number 20, Northwestern beat Doan, 46-17. Number 19, Midland won at Mount Marty,
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31-18. Number 18, Lindsey Wilson, and number 17, Georgetown, both had buys.
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Number 16, Olivette Nazarene, lost at number 8, Marion, 31-3.
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Number 15, Louisiana Christian won at Nelson, 31-23. number uh 14 dork won against
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briar cliff 49 to 3 number 12 mcpherson lost at home to number seven friends 48 to 24
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number 11 carroll college won at simpson 45 31 in a pretty good football game
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number 10 indiana wesleyan won at defiance college 53 to 12 i'll save the big one for last.
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Number six, Morningside had a bye. Number five, Montana Tech had a bye.
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And number four, Grandview won at Graceland, 52-20. Number three,
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Benedictine won at Mid-American Nazarene, 59-17.
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And number one, College of Idaho won at Montana Western, 52-7.
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And here's the one that turns the world upside down.
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Number nine, St. Thomas wins at home against number two, Kaiser, 52-7.
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Yeah, crazy. st thomas stays undefeated,
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yes st thomas is undefeated i'm not so much surprised by the win as i am the score,
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i blown away by that kaiser's only loss leading up to this game was to a division two school,
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which a couple years ago when they went undefeated they went like 12 and 2 or
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whatever it was or however many national championship it took them to get
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but they lost two games to top 10 division two teams which was the only two
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games they lost last year they lost the national championship to grandview
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which was their only loss on the season so this is their first loss,
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regular season to an naia team in at least this is the third season we've done
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this show right or fourth it is fourth,
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this is the fourth season we've done this show and i don't think they've lost
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a regular season game to an naia program in that time i don't think so and then
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to lose Halftime was 21-7.
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Right. Pretty decent. Still a game. Still a game at halftime.
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And St. Thomas decided we're done messing around. Which is, I don't get it. Now.
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I have a question that I'm going to pose to both of you at the end of the college football segment.
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It will close out the football portion of the show on this question.
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But that brings us to the Frontier Conference here. And let me see.
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Not what I wanted. All right. So Dickinson State.
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Actually, we'll come back to that one. Never mind. Never mind. We're not going to open.
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We're not going to open with that one. We'll come back to that one.
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We're going to end the segment with that one. Yeah, yeah.
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Mayville State wins on the road at MSU Northern 13-10. Bit of a dogfight up
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in Havre, which kind of surprises me, to be honest with you.
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However, Mayville does hold them to 10 points. They scored 30-something on Western
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when they played. So, you know, maybe Northern's offense is showing some life
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here. But Mayville is now 6-2, 2-1 in the East.
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Northern is now 0-7, 0-2 in the East.
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Montana Tech had a bye. They sit at 6-1, remaining 2-0 in the East Division.
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Dakota State wins at Valley City State, 42-21. They are now 5-3, 1-2 in the Eastern play.
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Valley City is now 1-6, 0-3 in the division.
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And to round out the division now, Rocky Mountain travels to Dickinson State
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and wins 31-10 in Dickinson.
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I'm not going to lie to you. I didn't think they wouldn't beat them.
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I thought they could. I think we picked Dickinson. I picked Dickinson to win.
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You picked Dickinson. Les and I picked the Bears. Yeah, yeah.
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All right. Well, I'm less shocked by the win than I am the score, 31-10.
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So Rocky Mountain now 2-0 in Frontier East play.
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And before we, I'll just go through the rest of the conference before we go
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through the standings. And then we'll go through the standings there.
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But Carroll College wins at Simpson 45-31.
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Good, you know, Simpson put up a game there. Carroll College now 6-1, 3-0 in Western play.
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Simpsons now 3-4, 1-2 in the frontier west.
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Southern Oregon travels to and loses to Eastern Oregon 49-45 and a bit of a shootout there.
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Southern Oregon is now, I said they lost, right?
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Yeah, yeah. 2-5, 1-2 in the west. Eastern Oregon's now 5-1 and 2-0 in western play.
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And I saw the new poll this week. Eastern Oregon is receiving votes in this week's poll.
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Arizona Christian is now 0-6 after losing to Ottawa, Arizona 39-0,
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bringing the Frontiers record against non-Frontier teams to 7-8.
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And Montana Western loses against College of Idaho 52-7.
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CFI is now 6-0, 2-0 in conference play. Western's 2-5, 0-3 in conference play.
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Here are the current standings. In the East, Montana Tech and Rocky Mountain tied at the top at 2-0.
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Mayville State and Dickinson State tied for 3-4 at 2-1.
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Dakota State's at 1-2. Valley City's at 0-3. Northern is at 0-4.
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In the West, we have College of Idaho at 2-0.
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Carroll College at 3-0. Eastern Oregon at 2-0. Simpson at 1-2. Southern Oregon at 1-2.
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Montana Western at 0-3. And Arizona Christian at 0-2. So, surprises.
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I didn't expect Rocky to be tied for first at this point in time.
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I did not expect Montana Western to be at 6th place in the West at this point
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in time in the season. I don't think any of us fully anticipated that,
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but let's talk about this week's matchups.
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Dickinson State, 3-5, plays host to the 1-6 Valley City State Vikings.
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Does Dickinson bounce back, or does Valley City find some traction this week?
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I put my money on Dickinson State bouncing back.
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Yeah, I'm hoping the Blue Hawks over there kind of piece some things together.
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I know they were trying to run the football this last game, but they were just shut down straight up.
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But at the end of the day, they have to play a complete football game.
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They played a good first quarter, and then after that kind of fell off the charts.
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Yeah, in terms of the stats with Rocky Dickinson, Dickinson actually outgained Rocky 356 to 330 yards.
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Quarterback threw two interceptions and lost a fumble. So there's three turnovers,
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and there was a special teams score by Rocky.
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So, I mean, yes, we're all happy with the win in 31-10.
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You can just see by those stats, though, something could have changed quickly.
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Yeah, you can't give the football away.
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Yeah, what is it?
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More games are lost than actually won.
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So anyway, I will pick Dickinson. mayville state is on the or is playing host
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this week to montana tech mayville is six and two tech is six and one mayville
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is two and one in eastern play tech is two and oh,
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in theory mayville gets the win they're tied at two and one which puts mayville
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at the top of the conference i'm going to cheer for the pulse native jared wilson
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with the montana tech or diggers however,
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i wouldn't mind seeing Mayville make this a game.
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I'm choosing Tech, but I'm hoping Mayville plays tough.
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Yeah, I think Tech takes this football game. What kind of blew my mind about
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Mayville State is how much they want to run the football.
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They ran 71 plays this last week and 58 of them were rushing attempts.
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That's why it goes to show they want to control the clock. And I think if they,
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go at it with the same mindset, they might give Tech a run for their money,
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but Tech just has too much talent for them to not score points, I think.
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Yeah, that's what I would say, too, is they're going to have to get some stops.
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And I just, that would be the only thing is if that running in gets going and.
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You keep the Poulsen native over there on the sideline, then that puts pressure on the offense.
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But I think Tech is extremely talented on the offensive side of the ball. I'm going to Tech, too.
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I really hope, I think this is a great challenge for Tech. I'm really glad they've
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got to go on the road, glad they've got to go to Mayville against a good team.
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They've got to get challenged if they want to make a run in the playoffs they
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gotta get everybody's best shot in.
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Preparation i think it's great yeah yeah absolutely dakota state is sitting
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at five and three one and two in conference play after picking up their first
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win in the frontier east this week they have a bye this week probably not a bad time to regroup,
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and i don't know there is a path
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back to that automatic playoff bid but they're going to need some help
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they need some tech to lose they'd need a couple things to happen but if they
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won out they might be able to creep back in the top 25
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and maybe have an outside shot at a uh at an at large bid so we'll have to see
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what happens there i know i was really gunning for them to make the playoffs
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earlier this season and they just,
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have not done well so far in the in the east but rocky mountain,
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is three and three they play host to MSU Northern this weekend,
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who is 0-7, and this has been a trap game for the Bears in not so distant memory.
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I'm going to go with Rocky, especially coming off a big win against Dickinson
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State, but I very much hope that they,
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in a healthy way, I hope that they don't look at the 2-0 in Frontier East,
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and I hope they look at the 3-3 overall.
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They are not an infallible football team, and I hope they don't look past the Northern Lights.
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Yeah, I think that's a good way to put it is you are a 3-3 team and you need
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to focus on your next opponent.
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And Rocky does have an act for playing to their competition when it comes to Northern.
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I don't think Northern is a true sleeper or dark horse team,
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but don't underestimate them at this point because they have put together a
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couple of really good defensive drives.
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And if their offense catches any sort of fire, then that could be detrimental.
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But, you know, Rocky playing well in all three facets of the football game.
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They just got to keep that up and not have, you know, not have a hangover over
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this last win. Let's go Bears.
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Yeah, echo everything that you guys have said. That would be the one thing.
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Northern has slipped up and bit some people in behind you.
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And Northern has that kind of team this year. This might be,
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you know, a very good team in comparison to other Northern teams in recent memory.
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I like the fact that they played Mayville so tight, 13-10.
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And if you're Coach Bendelow, I think you're looking at that and you're pointing everything.
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Look at what they just did to this team that's what's Mayville's record again.
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Mayville is 6-2. Yeah, 6-2. Look, these guys play the 6-2 team toe-to-toe.
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They should have all their attention and have a great week of practice.
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Beaton Dickinson should come home, feel confident, and just have a great week of practice.
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Well, and Northern played Carroll tougher than we thought they would.
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They played Western tougher than we thought they would.
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They've played some teams, you know, especially those first three weeks of the
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season, we were like, man, we know they're 0-3, but something is clearly different in Haver.
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Now, granted, I can imagine that's hard to sustain through 0-4,
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0-5, 0-6, but clearly they played Mayville tough last week. It'd be interesting
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to see how they come out in this game, but I hope Rocky doesn't look over them.
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Carroll College is 6-1.
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They've got a bye this week. Southern Oregon is at home against Arizona Christian.
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Southern Oregon is 2-5. Oh, go ahead.
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I just would like to give a shout-out to Simpson. Right.
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31 points on Carroll College. 31 points. Yeah. I think the progression they've
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made this year, you know, should be studied.
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Yeah. Albeit, I think a lot of it comes to the recruiting class that they have
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access to or the kids they have access to, which is definitely a big part of
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why I think C of I succeeded so well in their first handful of years and even into now.
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But overall, what the coach has done to bring a team together,
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as a young team together like this, I think it's been cool.
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Yeah, absolutely. Southern Oregon is hosting Arizona Christian this week.
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Arizona Christian, obviously, 0-6. Southern Oregon's 2-5.
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I think there is a pretty big gap between these two teams. I think Southern
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Oregon is the better team, and I think they'll probably get the win on this matchup.
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Yeah, I think Southern Oregon has good offensive production,
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but they're giving up a little bit too much on the defensive side of the ball.
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I mean, that's what's keeping the teams in it.
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Even if you're scoring 30 points a game, you have to make sure your defense
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only gives up 29, and that's been their biggest problem.
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Because last week's a good test, right?
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You lay down 533 offensive yards. Granted, you only give up 400,
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but they're scoring points in the meantime.
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Albeit, I don't know what's going on with Arizona Christian right now.
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They've had a rough go of it. I still think Southern outpaces them and wins the football game.
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But, yeah, SO will win and will win big. To me, this is an Arizona Christian
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problem, and I'm not going to pick them.
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I'm not going to give them any kudos until they become competitive.
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Well, and, you know, correct me if I'm wrong here, but where you're at with
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an NAIA football program,
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in my opinion, there is no reason,
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that an NAIA program in Glendale should not be a good football team.
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I mean, I don't understand. I really don't. I think that's a phenomenal place to recruit too.
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There's a lot of good kids down there. You recruit Southern California,
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Arizona, you know, the statewide Arizona, you can probably creep up into Colorado
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and Utah. And I know there's a lot of FCS football around there. Totally get that.
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But if they're not going FCS,
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and they're not going to Arizona State.
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Where are we doing? Where are we going? They should be holding on.
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I just feel like there's a lot of kids they should be holding on to that they're probably not.
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Because if you look at college football rosters, even NAIA, there's Arizona
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kids littered through those rosters.
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I just feel like there's a lot of NAIA football players. Go ahead, Austin.
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I mean, you could even promote yourself as a commuter school.
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Like, hey, listen, you might not make it to the FCS this year or you didn't have any offers.
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Come play with us for a couple of years. Let's get you honed in and almost be
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like a Blue Bloods program.
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Well, I just feel like there's a lot of NAIA football players that are leaving
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Arizona that they should be hanging on to.
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Yeah, and I want to be clear on my comments. I'm not necessarily blaming coaches,
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or the players they have. There is something that is just not right.
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Yeah, clearly. All the things you just said. Because they've taken a step back
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this year. We actually, I thought they were poised for a bit of a,
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maybe a step forward this year, and that clearly has not happened.
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Yeah, I think, I mean, take the northern resources and location in Arizona Christian.
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Right, right. Like, if you said, hey, I will make you a college head football
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coach tomorrow, but you've got to pick.
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MSU Northern or Arizona Christian.
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If you thought for more than half a second, I'd slap you silly. You know what I mean?
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That's not even a question. Not even close to a question.
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Yeah, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know the answer.
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I really do not. But we'll see. Hopefully they play Southern Oregon tough.
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That's a long road trip. But a good game here this week, too.
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College of Idaho plays host to Eastern Oregon. College of Idaho 6-0. Eastern Oregon's 5-1.
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And man, Eastern Oregon's been putting up some points but so does College of
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Idaho and I think the C of I takes it but again, I just hope Eastern Oregon makes this a game.
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Yeah, I think Eastern Oregon has taken a step forward without Tim Camp there.
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I'm not saying that he was the problem but with a new head coach kind of in
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the helm they've really got a good stride in front of them. I don't think they
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have what it takes to beat the Yotes but they're giving a good go.
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So I'm not going to mark this as game of the week. Our game of the week,
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I think, is the game that we're going to talk about next.
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Yeah, I would, I'm going to, I mean, College of Idaho just seems like I have
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everybody's number right now. And I would pick Tech over Eastern Oregon and
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they, they hunt some points up on Tech.
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And I guess in the end of it all, we will just see how competitive the game
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is and how competitive Eastern Oregon truly is. Let's just see how good of a
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football team you, you actually have. Right, right.
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Well, I don't hate your comment just then Austin. Montana Western at 2-5 hosts
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Simpson, who is 3-4 in Dillon, Montana.
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That's going to be a long road trip. However, if we're going to follow a trend
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line for both teams thus far this season, I would have to give the head nod
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to Simpson to come and get their first win inside the state of Montana.
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Yeah, this is a hard choice for me. I've always leaned towards Western in a
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lot of their football games this season, but they have not given me any sort
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of wow factor in anything.
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They haven't really controlled the football or, or been as, as strong supposedly
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are kind of the wording that I'm, that I'm trying to, to put together as they have been in the past.
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Unfortunately, I think they have taken a step back and I think this is Simpson's
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time to shine and I'm going to, I'm going to go with Simpson in this football game.
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Yeah, I have a lot of respect for Coach Norris there at Western.
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Obviously, I have a lot of respect for Coach Udder and what they're doing at Sinson.
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But the trend line that you just mentioned, and Coach Udder is from Montana,
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so he can prepare the guys for what Dylan looks like and give all the guys the comparisons down here,
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the road trip, all of that will be dialed in.
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I think I've got to go Sinson on this. man I uh man I,
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I don't think I didn't I like I've never thought of all of us choosing Simpson
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over I know now here's the dude here's the worst part about my two biggest passions in the world,
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is that Saturday is opening day of rifle season here in Montana and I I'm not gonna lie to you,
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got to see a college football game this year so I always gotta say I always
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have to see at least one hopefully many more than that but man I want to go to that game,
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That's not going to be possible based on where we're going to be hunting,
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but I would love to go see Simpson play Western this weekend just to get eyes
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on Simpson to see how they are as a team. But, yeah, not going to happen.
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That's my game of the week right there.
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Going to be an epic week in the frontier. The playoff picture just continues
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to play itself together.
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If the conference would just stop cannibalizing itself for one week or two weeks
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maybe, we could get three, four teams in, but I don't know if that's going to
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happen. We'll have to see.
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I just like to see what they're running offensively and get their formations
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and what their philosophy is.
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Is it different? Is it new? Is it tricky? Are they just good at executing?
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What's their quarterback play like? I just would like to watch it.
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Yeah, absolutely. We'll move over to the FCS where again, the up is down, down is up.
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We had one, two, three, four top
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10 teams lose games this weekend and then 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 of the top 25,
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lost football games this season.
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That's with somebody having a bye to this week. So number 25,
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Yale lost at home to Rhode Island, 41-23.
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Number 24, Morgan State, who that's the first time in the top 25 since we've
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been doing this show that I've said the words Morgan State in the top 25,
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but that was short lived because they lost to tennessee state 25 to 26 so i
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doubt they'll be in it next week,
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and number 23 monmouth won at new hampshire 42 to 21,
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number 22 colgate lost at home to georgetown 27 17 number 21 idaho state lost
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at weaver state 27 to 20 number 20 eastern tennessee state had a buy uh,
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number 19 northern iowa lost at number six youngstown state 35 22 number 18
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mercer won at Samford 31-21.
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Number 17, Harvard beat Holy Cross, 30-7. Number 16, Campbell beat Towson, 24-20.
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Number 15, Tennessee Tech beat Eastern Kentucky, 49-20.
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Number 14, UC Davis loses at Southern Utah, less called it, 38-17.
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Number 13, Illinois State wins at Southern Illinois, 35-14.
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Number 12, Austin Peay wins at West Georgia, 24-10.
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Number 11, North Dakota beats number one, South Dakota State, 21-10.
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Number 10, Lamar loses at unranked Southeast Louisiana, 34-31.
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Number 9, South Dakota wins at Murray State, 48-20.
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Number 8, Northern Arizona beat Portland State, 38-25. And number 7,
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Montana loses at home to unranked Idaho, 42-35.
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Number 5, Montana State beats Eastern Washington, 56-20. No.
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4, Lehigh loses at home to unranked Cornell, 48-38.
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No. 3, Stephen F. Austin wins at Nichols State, 56-0.
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And No. 2, Tarleton State wins against Central Arkansas, 49-35.
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Tarleton State, I just saw the poll today, is the new No. 1 ranked team in the
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country. And the FCS Stats Perform Top 25 poll.
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That brings us to the Big Sky Conference, where Montana State wins at Eastern Washington, 56-20.
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And sort of now looked like what they were looking like early in the season.
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Yeah, I think they're kind of feeling themselves a little bit more again.
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They're done licking their wounds and moving forward with purpose.
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They're now looking forward to the postseason.
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Yeah, I was impressed with the players that stepped in for Montana State anyway,
25:32
when they were gone. I thought they played well.
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I don't think it was a—they're not losing because those were the guys playing.
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It's just sometimes you don't have your best game. And, you know,
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I would expect that type of score with the other guys in.
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Anyway, that's what Montana State is, 56-20 over Eastern Washington.
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I think that's a real score.
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We'll skip over the little Bernstein. We'll come back to that last.
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But Southern Utah beats UC Davis at home 38-17. Les called it.
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I felt like from the beginning of the season, Southern Utah was a top-25 team,
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which I think they cracked it once.
26:10
But they just played the top tier of the Big Sky in the first chunk of the season,
26:16
which is why they were sitting at 2-4, but they beat UC Davis. They're sitting at 3-4.
26:22
Does this say more about Southern Utah or more about UC Davis?
26:26
I think this says more about Southern Utah. I think they entered the game with
26:30
purpose, and you can see that just looking at the box score.
26:34
They ran the football really well.
26:35
They limited penalties, and they didn't have any turnovers. Just fundamental football.
26:40
And that's what it takes to win these big football games. And the Frontier Conference
26:44
is not an easy conference to play in.
26:46
And I think this was good for the team in general, and especially going into
26:50
this latter half of the season.
26:52
Yeah, I think it's both, Joe. You know, is UC Davis who we thought they were,
26:59
you know, at the beginning of the season?
27:03
But to your point, Southern had a tough go of it early on.
27:09
And if a part of those games, if they're separate a little bit,
27:15
then maybe Southern's record is a little bit better than what it is too. Right, right. Right.
27:22
Weber State is now five and three after beating Idaho State 27 to 20.
27:27
Idaho State is now four and three. They have dropped three in a row.
27:32
Number one, what on earth happened in Pocatello?
27:37
And it was not great timing for the Bengals because Weber State is finally getting
27:42
their wheels underneath them. It seems like a little bit rough to start the
27:46
season, but they're They're 5-3 now, 4-2 in Big Sky play.
27:50
They're getting that head coach's first-time college head coach,
27:54
maybe getting his wits about him, getting the rhythm down, those types of things.
27:59
And they beat the Bengals by a score.
28:02
Yeah, I think this one obviously surprised me, I guess, is a decent word.
28:08
I think Weber State's a good football team, and it's cool seeing them catch their stride.
28:12
And unfortunately, Idaho State has fumbled metaphorically and physically.
28:17
And I think it's a little bit of a learning process too, where you do win that
28:23
many football games in a row and you can't let that eat away at you.
28:27
And just to focus on one week at a time at this point.
28:31
Yeah, see, I think, I don't remember what we all picked, but I thought we,
28:34
for the most part, picked Weber.
28:36
And Weber is definitely getting their stride.
28:40
Again, I don't necessarily know how good they are, but they're beating the teams
28:44
that they should be if they want to be, you know, mentioned in the upper echelon,
28:50
of the big sky. Yeah, absolutely.
28:54
Utah Tech had a bye this week, and then another big game was Northern Arizona
28:58
is now 6-2 after beating Portland State, 38-25. Portland State now sticks at 2-5.
29:04
NAU is 5-1 in the conference. Portland State's 2-2 in the conference.
29:08
This game was 14-10 Portland State at halftime. Yeah.
29:14
They went to NAU and played them tough. Yeah.
29:17
Good for them. Yeah. 21 fourth-quarter points by Northern Arizona.
29:22
So, obviously, not a great showing there.
29:26
Entering the fourth quarter of the game was tied at 17.
29:31
Then, uh.
29:32
Northern Arizona went on three scoring drives to make it 38-17.
29:38
Portland State scored with a little under a minute left in the game and just
29:40
couldn't, you know, that was too big to surmount. But massive fourth quarter
29:44
from the Lumberjacks coming back in that game. So good to see that they could
29:48
pull that off late in the game.
29:49
And then another big one during this week, Northern Colorado is now 3-5,
29:55
2-3 in Big Sky play after beating Cal Poly at home 28-18.
30:01
Cal Poly is now 4-4, 3-2 within the big sky.
30:05
And this game, like we've been saying the entire year, how Northern Colorado
30:10
has been playing people tough. But Cal Poly started the season off beating Idaho,
30:14
beating Central Washington, playing San Jose very tough.
30:18
They lost to San Diego, which shouldn't have happened, which kind of confuses
30:21
us. They go beat Eastern Washington.
30:23
So beating teams that they should beat, I guess, probably.
30:26
But then they lost to Weber State in double overtime. So that was a tough game.
30:30
They beat Idaho state on the road.
30:33
Just based on that, I would have given, given them. I think I did give them
30:37
the head nod in this game, but Northern Colorado, again,
30:40
another team that are, they may be starting to, we've, we've said that their
30:44
football this year is markedly better, markedly improved across the board.
30:48
This is a pretty big win for the bears.
30:50
Yeah. I think, you know, when you look at it, they're the best three and five
30:54
team out there at this point, just with what their, their strength of schedule has been.
30:59
And I know I said it last week, I'm just not convinced on Cal Poly yet.
31:04
They have had some good wins, and they're stringing together solid offensive
31:08
play. It's efficient. They're running the ball really well.
31:11
I'm just not there on the Mustangs. And big shout-out to Northern Colorado.
31:18
I think they got what it takes, and they're not turning the ball over.
31:22
Cal Poly did turn the ball over three times, and that doesn't help at all.
31:27
Yeah, I had UNC circled. I don't know if I ultimately picked them or not in
31:31
this game. The disappointing thing was the week before when Northern Colorado
31:38
lost to Eastern Washington.
31:40
But I think we went with the home team in any way. Very happy for Northern Colorado
31:46
over the top with Count Hawley.
31:48
And maybe that's the game. Get you over the hump. Beating teams that you can beat.
31:56
They've come up on the short end of the stick on the teams that they can be,
32:00
here finally they beat somebody that they could be right right well sitting
32:06
here the standings as of right now.
32:09
I just saying this out loud is going to be it just makes me chuckle,
32:15
tied for number one and number two at four and one in the conference we have
32:20
no more no more zeros in the last category in the big sky,
32:24
Northern Arizona and Weber State tied for number one and number two at four
32:29
and one in conference play number three sits alone with Montana State with three
32:33
and one in conference play
32:35
four and five are tied at three and two with Montana and Cal Poly,
32:40
we have a four-way tie for six seven eight and ninth place with Southern Utah,
32:46
UC Davis Idaho and Portland State all at two and two.
32:52
Within the 10th place slot alone is Northern Colorado at two and three.
32:55
Idaho State sits at 11 at one and three. Eastern Washington sits at one and
33:00
four at number 12 and 13 is Utah Tech at 0 and four.
33:03
I don't think Utah Tech's going to pick up a conference win this year,
33:06
so they're going to be in the zero category there. But,
33:09
Keeping those standings in
33:10
mind, we're going to move forward here for the Big Sky Games of this week.
33:15
And Weber State travels to Bozeman to play Montana State. Weber State's 5-3
33:21
overall. Montana State's 6-1.
33:24
Oh, hold on. Before we talk about that, I did want to talk about,
33:28
we didn't talk about Montana and Idaho.
33:30
How dumb of me. Montana's now 5-3.
33:33
Idaho's now 2-5.
33:36
Idaho is 2-5. and their two wins are against top 10 programs.
33:45
In the state of Montana. Both in that they are undefeated against the state of Montana this year.
33:51
And I don't know what makes it worse. I don't know if both Montana teams cheer
33:56
for them to not win another game this season, or if that would make it exponentially
34:01
worse if they do not win another game for the rest of this season. Yeah.
34:06
They put up 42 points on the Grizz, and Austin, you were there.
34:09
Give us a report of the game.
34:10
Man, it was a heck of a football game from both teams.
34:15
I thought it was more bittersweet for the entirety of it.
34:20
But overall, I think the Grizz came out a little flat. They looked a little
34:24
discombobulated, and they were down 14-0 at the end of the first quarter.
34:28
And that's not an easy thing to overcome. But if you look at the stat sheet,
34:33
I mean, they're even in all categories.
34:35
Whether or not it's turnovers, rushing yards, pass yards, they were dead even.
34:40
Unfortunately, Idaho, or fortunately, I don't even know at this point.
34:47
Got to rep the home state a little bit. But I was wearing maroon and silver,
34:51
so I was rooting for the home team.
34:53
But they played a good football game I don't know how else to put it But unfortunately, if you don't get,
35:04
Certain plays don't go your way Whether or not it's a penalty or it's a first
35:07
down It's a game of inches,
35:12
The Idaho's leading rusher only rushed for, well, it was the quarterback.
35:15
He rushed for 85 yards and threw for 335.
35:20
So obviously, they put up 493 yards of offense, but the Grizz also put up 481.
35:26
Each team had a turnover.
35:28
The big one, now here's where I'm a little perplexed.
35:32
Idaho was 11 of 14 on third down. That is abysmal for the Grizz defense,
35:37
but the Grizz were four for nine.
35:39
So Idaho's time of possession was 35 minutes. It was almost 36 minutes.
35:47
Now, they were getting them to third down, the defense it sounds like.
35:52
They got them to third down and could not get off the field.
35:57
There were so many third and short opportunities, and a majority of the time
36:02
they decided to run the football on those conversions.
36:05
And that is just, you're put into
36:08
a blender. It's a grinder in the home stretch when it comes down to it.
36:12
I do have to say Montana's defensive line played outstanding.
36:16
Their interior defensive line got really good penetration. There was pressure
36:19
on the quarterback for a lot of his throws, but what was not working towards
36:24
him is he is more of a dual-threat quarterback, so he could extend the play a little bit more.
36:29
One thing I did think was a little disheartening is the way Montana decides
36:34
to distribute the football.
36:36
Gilman, obviously, he's an All-American running back.
36:40
He's going to get yards on every single time he touches the football.
36:43
But passing, they passed to, I think Brooks Davis is his name, number three.
36:47
Their first seven passes were in his direction.
36:52
He is a fantastic football player, but at some point, you have to look elsewhere
36:57
in order to score points.
37:00
Yeah, it was just disappointing to see. And kudos to Idaho, obviously,
37:04
to be able to come in there and play at the level that they played to, so kudos to them.
37:11
The secondary of Montana has been decimated with injuries, and it sounds like
37:19
that's a low blow to the guys that are playing, but there's a reason there are
37:23
starters and then non-starters.
37:25
And I think all of that being said, that impacts the way you call a game.
37:32
And the kid from Idaho is playing. He played very, very well. And I don't know.
37:39
Obviously, he hasn't been that consistent over the course of the season.
37:43
But he played very well in that game. He just was on fire, running and throwing.
37:50
Well, maybe not a bad time for a bye for the Grizzlies this week.
37:54
Northern Arizona, Montana, and I just looked at Eastern Washington.
37:57
I'll have buys this week, leaving five Big Sky games all on Saturday.
38:02
The first one is Weber State at Montana State. I think the Bobcats.
38:06
I think Weber plays tough for two, maybe even three quarters,
38:09
and then the Bobcats run away with it.
38:12
Yeah, I think Weber State's definitely going to score points,
38:14
but I don't think they have what it takes to go the distance.
38:18
Yeah, that would be the one thing. I don't know that anybody's going to be able
38:22
to really stop Montana State when they're on offense.
38:27
I do think they have an Achilles heel on defense.
38:30
I don't necessarily know we'll find out how good Weber is actually on offense,
38:37
but I do think Montana State is going to be a 3-4 score win when it's all said and done.
38:45
Right, right. Utah Tech travels to Cal Poly.
38:49
Man, as much as the Trail Blazers are fighting hard, they are getting a rude
38:53
awakening as new members of the Big Sky, and I think that continues in San Luis Obispo.
38:58
So, yeah, being a home game, coming off a loss, I think Cal Poly is looking
39:02
to make a little bit of a statement here and maybe rest some guys,
39:07
hopefully, in the stretch.
39:09
I'd love to go for Utah Tech. You'd just probably root for them, but Cal Poly will win.
39:15
Right, right. Now, probably in my opinion, one of the more interesting,
39:19
maybe the most interesting game of the week, maybe not the most competitive,
39:22
maybe not the game of the week, but the most interesting, Southern Utah at Idaho.
39:27
In any regular circumstance, I would have given Southern Utah the head nod,
39:31
and I still am going to. However, Idaho's two wins this season were against
39:37
top 10 programs in the country.
39:39
And I don't think Southern Utah is a top 10 program in the country,
39:42
but I think they're better than Idaho.
39:44
And it will just be which Idaho team shows up. It will be the question.
39:51
Will it be the Idaho team that has beaten both Montana State and Montana?
39:57
You know, obviously while the Bobcats were number one in the nation,
39:59
or is it going to be the Idaho team that has lost to Cal Poly,
40:02
lost to Lamar, lost to Abilene Christian, lost to Weber State?
40:08
Is it that team that's going to show up or is it going to be the team that apparently
40:12
just knocks off top 10 programs but i am going to go with southern utah in this game,
40:17
yeah i think if they're looking to to build their resume then they have to lose
40:22
and hope that their next opponent is is ranked at least in the top 25 to make it competitive.
40:28
So i don't know man this one this one's a hard choice because i like the momentum
40:32
that southern utah has but i'm hoping Idaho,
40:35
goes in the film room and convinces themselves that they can rinse and repeat
40:40
these performances week after week.
40:43
And like you said, it's just roll the dice on which team you're going to get.
40:47
I'm picking Idaho just out of pure loyalty. I think they're going to do good,
40:51
but it's not going to surprise me if Southern Utah wins the football game.
40:55
Yeah, I think it's a difficult choice. I really do. Obviously,
41:00
Idaho has some very good football players.
41:05
When you're playing with those Montana and the Montana State,
41:08
even if you don't win those games, which they did, and they're that competitive,
41:13
obviously you have good players.
41:16
The question becomes the maturity of those players because even if they went
41:19
and beat Montana State, and then they turn around and go lay an egg the next
41:23
weekend, They beat Montana.
41:26
Fine. What is going to happen this weekend? And I know the coach is going to
41:31
hit on it. I mean, they know they're going to drill it.
41:34
But I just feel...
41:36
I feel that Idaho is more talented. I feel that Southern SUU is going to be
41:43
more disappointed, and I'm going to go with Southern Utah.
41:48
There we go. There we go. We'll see what Thunderbirds pull off there in Moscow.
41:53
Another just kind of an interesting game this week again in Idaho is Portland
41:58
State at Idaho State. Portland State is 2-5. Idaho State is 4-3.
42:04
The difference being or the same thing with each one is they've both won two of their last five.
42:10
Idaho State has dropped their last three in a row after picking up some several
42:15
key ranked wins, an FBS win, and then losing to NAU, Cal Poly,
42:20
and Weber State. Three football teams that have proven to not be at all bad.
42:25
And then Portland State, they lost to NAU this last week. They beat Utah Tech,
42:30
but they also beat Weber three weeks ago. So I don't know.
42:36
So my heart and my brain want to go with the Bengals, especially in Pocatello,
42:41
but can you ignore the last three weeks? I don't know.
42:47
I don't think you can, but I want to. Yeah, this one's hard because Portland
42:53
State is not as bad of a football team as what we thought they were going to be.
42:58
They have been in some dogfights, But the games they have lost have been,
43:03
you know, not necessarily close, you know, probably put them,
43:07
you know, average two possessions, whereas with Idaho State losses,
43:10
they've been with one possession.
43:12
So maybe if they clean some things up, then they have a chance.
43:16
I'm leaning towards the Bengals for this one. I'm hoping that they can clean,
43:20
clean it up a little bit and, you know, just change the momentum or,
43:25
you know, slow it down and get back to neutral.
43:28
Hmm. Yeah. I would like to flip my last pick to of Idaho and SUU.
43:34
I'm going to go with Idaho.
43:36
Oh, in the Kibbe Dome.
43:39
And then I think Portland State can upset Idaho State. I just can't. Well, they can't.
43:46
I just can't see Idaho State losing. This would be four in a row,
43:49
wouldn't it? Yeah, it'd be 4-4 after losing 4-0.
43:54
And then Portland State has just played everybody tough.
43:58
Almost like I have more faith in Portland State than I do Idaho State.
44:04
But I'm going to – I'm picking Portland State.
44:08
There you go. There you go. I like it. We'll keep an eye on that game as well.
44:13
Hopefully, we'll have some cell phone service this weekend. We'll be glassing
44:15
and keeping tabs on some scores there.
44:18
But last big sky game this week is northern colorado at uc davis northern colorado
44:24
is three and five uc davis is four and three,
44:27
northern colorado has won three of their last five uc davis has lost three of
44:31
their last five they have two common opponents
44:33
they both lost to montana they have both also played eastern washington uc davis
44:39
beat eastern washington eastern washington beat Northern Colorado. So interesting there.
44:45
But I'm going to go UC Davis on this one, but I think the Bears could go beat the Aggies.
44:54
I don't think that would be the world's largest upset in the history of football.
45:00
I got the Aggies, you know, not completely convincingly, but I think the Aggies
45:06
go and win, but they're going to have to play all three facets of the football game.
45:10
I just think that UC Davis' talent is outweighing Northern Colorado in this one.
45:15
And not that you can win football games on pure talent alone,
45:20
but you get enough of them on the football field and they'll put something together.
45:23
Northern Colorado. There you go. There you go. Yeah, there you go.
45:28
I like it. Wow. That's awesome. That's awesome. Man, I didn't, you know what? Mic drop.
45:36
Do they do parlay bets on FCS football and NAIA football? Because I'm just going
45:40
to, like I said, I'm just going to start writing Les's picks down.
45:43
And I'll split the winnings 20% because we'll all retire on a $5 parlay on all of Les's picks. Yeah.
45:54
We'll see there you go we'll uh move over to fbs football now,
46:00
again one two three four five of the top eight teams lost the ap poll has existed
46:10
for 90 years and that has never happened before.
46:16
Down is up up is down and we'll go through it here and so there's eight and
46:22
then 1, 2, 3 so 11 top 25 teams lost this weekend.
46:27
So number 25 Northwestern won at Michigan State 24 21.
46:31
Number 24 SMU beats Virginia 23 to 13. Number 23 Boise State timeout, timeout Les says.
46:40
Have you guys watched or seen any of the formations Northwestern is running with Chip Kelly?
46:47
I have not watched a Northwestern game. Chip Kelly is literally bringing in
46:51
like arena call a Canadian football style of formations and motions.
46:57
It's awesome.
47:00
It's wild. They'll have receivers 10 yards off the line of scrimmage.
47:05
When you first look up the clip, you think it's cover two. No, wait a minute.
47:08
They're on offense. Yeah, it looks like he's running a tag or two.
47:11
No joke. I do watch and listen to Danny Cannell on CBS Sports a lot,
47:16
and he did mention last week that Chip Kelly's just having fun at Northwestern.
47:20
And I guess I meant to look into it, did not yet. So I'm going to have to watch
47:25
Northwestern games, sounds like. Five and one.
47:28
They are five and one. They are five and one with an incredible new football stadium.
47:32
So somebody decided to make Northwestern compete in the Big Ten,
47:35
and I'm here for it. So at number 23, Boise State had a bye.
47:39
Number 22, LSU wins at home against number 16, Mississippi State, 31-0.
47:45
Number 21, Wake Forest wins at Cal, 41-7. Shout out to Jake Dickert.
47:49
I loved Jake Dickert when he was the DC at Wyoming for a short time.
47:54
I've been kind of a fan of him.
47:56
And as a head man there at Wake Forest, I'm glad Wake Forest is doing well.
48:00
Number 20 Houston wins at home against Oklahoma State who is number 18 35 32
48:06
number 19 USC had a buy number 17 Iowa had a buy,
48:09
number 15 Kentucky wins at Oklahoma 21 to 13 and here's what I want to say about Kentucky
48:16
when we were in college playing NCAA 12 I remember Austin just started a dynasty
48:23
as Kentucky because it was one of the hardest teams in the game to create a
48:28
winning program with because they were so bad.
48:33
And now Kentucky is 6-1. They were 15 last week, and I'm sure they'll go up from there this week.
48:40
Hey, I do have to say I won 12 national championships in a row.
48:44
And the highlight, I played every down in that dynasty. I didn't care.
48:49
And my highlight is kicking a 67-yard field goal. That's awesome. That's awesome.
48:56
I also played, I think, 35 seasons with the Wyoming Cowboys in that game.
49:02
And I only won eight national championships.
49:06
So it's somewhat depressing there, but yeah. It took me a long time to get there.
49:10
Yeah. Oh, I played that dynasty for years.
49:14
I didn't even buy the new game that came out. I just kept riding with that one.
49:17
And that's another thing. I keep like, there's days that I wake up and I want
49:21
to buy a PlayStation 5 so I can continue to play NCAA football.
49:26
And then there's days I wake up and I feel like I'm turning into a grumpy old
49:29
man. And I'm like, I have stuff to do. Like, why would I spend my money on a PlayStation?
49:34
But there are days, I'm not lying, there's days that the kids are in bed,
49:38
maybe Bree's reading a book or whatever, and I'm like, man, I want to play NCAA right now.
49:45
Dude, I go through that same progression, literally.
49:49
Wow. Number 14. Oh, go ahead.
49:54
You don't have it? You don't have it? What? Okay. Did you play football video
49:58
games when you were a kid, Les?
50:02
Okay yeah so there yes there was there's such thing there was the one with the
50:09
little red dots there was the little red dots you had to dodge them through
50:13
the i still have it there you go it's a little i want to call it,
50:18
oh what the heck no no no that was took what is a sega,
50:22
no it was a little,
50:25
i'd have to find it anyway you'd play the buttons and you'd move it up you'd
50:28
let the defense move then you'd go down and you'd just yeah yeah exactly that's
50:32
the one exactly yeah yeah was that Tecmo I came here was playing but I have
50:36
it too it's in my drawer my nightstand,
50:39
there you go that's how you do it well would even be later because Tecmo was
50:43
Bo Bo was Tecmo Bo Jackson who knew that uh who knew that that little handheld
50:50
video game would be where the Fairfield dynasty got its start right there yeah,
50:55
all the inspiration.
50:59
Oh, man. What is it? I'll show it to you. Oh, yeah, let's see it.
51:06
Yeah, that's the exact one. Yep, right there. Yeah, yeah. Mattel Electronics. Yep.
51:11
Yeah, you could punt. Now, here's the crazy thing. Here's what I didn't know.
51:15
I have that exact same one. My dad had one from when he was a kid, but it was two players.
51:20
Like, it was a longer one, and there was a keyboard on each end.
51:23
So you played against each other.
51:25
Wow. And I have scoured the internet, and I cannot find one like that.
51:31
I'm still scouring the internet. I want to find one really bad.
51:34
But my brother and I used to play that for hours yeah but back to the back to
51:40
the top 25 uh madness this weekend here number 14 Tennessee adult conversation.
51:47
That is an adult car nostalgia counts as an adult conversation,
51:52
number 14 Tennessee wins at home against number six Alabama 26 to 10
51:57
number 13 missouri loses at number nine old miss 31 to 3 number 12 ucla beats
52:04
wisconsin 17 to 7 can ucla win the big 10,
52:09
i just i'm not buying what they're selling yet but obviously they're they're,
52:13
way better than they've been you know what i mean good right yeah,
52:17
yeah six and oh bowl eligible also six and oh is now utah after beating colorado
52:21
27 to 24 number 10 texas tech beats arizona state 53 25,
52:28
number eight byu beats number two notre dame 28 to 24 in provo down there number
52:35
yeah we'll just skip over that one for a lesson's sake there,
52:39
number seven texas loses to unranked florida 27 24 number five indiana loses
52:46
at home to number four ohio state 19 15 and miami at number three,
52:52
beat Florida State 43-35.
52:54
That was a game until the fourth quarter.
52:57
Yeah, I watched that one. I watched that one too. Second overtime.
53:00
Yeah, that was nuts. And then Georgia, number one, loses to unranked Auburn 27-24.
53:10
So we got Miami, 6-0, BYU, 6-0, Texas Tech, 6-0.
53:16
That's the only unbeatens that finished out the top 10 that finished unbeaten.
53:21
We got Utah, 11, UCLA at 12.
53:25
Yeah, that's our unbeaten top 25 so far. I know there's a couple group of six
53:29
schools that are unbeaten, but there it is. And that brings us to what? I got two questions.
53:34
Okay, what's your question? First one, have you looked at the new rankings that
53:39
have come out for this week? And do you agree with them?
53:42
All right, let's see it here. I will pull up this week's top 25.
53:46
And let's see here. All right, this week's AP poll.
53:51
Number one, Miami, 6-0. Number two, BYU, 6-0.
53:56
Number three, Ohio State, 6-1. Number four, Notre Dame, 6-1.
54:01
Number five, Georgia, 6-1. Indiana, 6-1 at number six. Number seven, Ole Miss.
54:07
At number eight, Texas Tech at 6-0. number nine, UCLA at Texas at six and oh,
54:12
number 10, Utah at six and oh.
54:14
Everyone else has a loss after that, but 11, Tennessee, 12, Kentucky,
54:18
13, Alabama, 14, Houston, 15, Iowa, 16, USC.
54:24
17, Wake Forest, 18, LSU, 19, Texas, 20, Florida, 21, Boise,
54:31
22, Mizzou, 23, SMU, 24, Northwestern, 25 Arizona.
54:36
Okay, here's my immediate flaw.
54:38
Didn't Florida just beat Texas? Yep.
54:42
So how is Florida at 20 and Texas at 19?
54:47
Florida was unranked going into this football game. I get that.
54:50
But, like, if Texas was still, like, in the top 10 or 12 and Florida came in
54:57
at, like, 22-20, all right, like, I sort of get that.
55:00
They're right next to each other, and Florida has the head-to-head.
55:05
Like, what are we even doing right now? I'm not going to lie to you.
55:08
I stopped caring about this until the college football playoff poll comes out.
55:12
Until the CFP poll comes out, I, like – The AP poll's a joke. The voters are jokes.
55:20
I want to do the top 25 roundup because that keeps us in the loop of what's
55:23
going on around college football.
55:25
But if you're an AP voter, you should take a bath with a toaster.
55:30
You know what I mean? Like, seriously. I don't even know how else to put it.
55:36
It's wild to me that that is. You know, and,
55:42
is UCLA a top 10 team in the program? You know what I mean? a top 10 team in
55:45
the country. I don't know.
55:47
I don't, yeah, I don't know if I agree with some of these things.
55:51
Arizona's five and one. Are they a top 25 program? I don't know the answer to that either.
55:55
How is Oregon still receiving votes? That's mind boggling. I don't understand.
56:00
Yeah, I don't know. I don't understand. Oregon state's receiving votes.
56:03
What's going on here? I know they're good, but like, I don't know.
56:08
The, the coaches poll has Florida at 24 and Texas at 18.
56:16
So that one, I guess whatever. But I mean,
56:21
I guess when it comes down to it, as much as this pains me to say,
56:26
because I don't necessarily approve of this football program,
56:30
I think BYU got shorted with them taking down a No.
56:35
2 team and not jumping to No. 1. I understand that's a lot of slots to go.
56:39
You think they should jump Miami?
56:42
Miami just squeaked it out to Florida State. They're 6-0, and their resume is
56:47
better than BYU. Has one top 25 win.
56:51
What's BYU's top 25 wins? They have Arizona.
56:59
Now, TCU. TCU's not a top 25 team. TCU's garbage. I thought they were top 25 at one point.
57:06
No. No? All right. Well, then they have Utah coming up.
57:11
Coming up. I guess that's it. Who have they beat? That's what I want to know.
57:14
No, that's it. That's it.
57:15
According to this poll, number two in the country, The only conference that
57:20
BYU would not win Is the ACC according to this poll,
57:25
You're telling me right now that BYU wins the Big Ten No, but that was going
57:29
to be my second question You're telling me that BYU wins the SEC Of course not,
57:33
Shorted you say Of course not Get out of here I'm just basing it off of who they have beat No,
57:41
You said the AP poll doesn't matter So why not just give it to them Because
57:45
that would be further reasoning for that it doesn't matter. Like.
57:52
I don't know. All right, let's talk about how this trash of a Mountain West Conference.
57:57
All right, let's talk about the Mountain West Conference here.
57:59
All right, now, a very exciting game in Fargo.
58:03
North Dakota State is now 6-1, 3-1 in the conference play after beating Nevada 31-17.
58:08
What was the score at halftime? Was it 14-11 Nevada?
58:12
Yeah, well, I don't remember the halftime score, but it was... Let me see.
58:18
It was the kick six. Right, yeah, the kick six. Three extra points.
58:23
North Dakota State put that kid down there at the goal line, and he caught it.
58:27
Linebacker from Nevada took it, you know, on his pursuit, took the inside route.
58:32
Should have fought pressure with pressure. Come over the top.
58:34
Maybe he makes a tackle. Maybe he doesn't, but he makes that kid stutter, and they tackle him.
58:40
But he was right down there, and he just went with the pressure.
58:45
Ah, it was terrible. That was, yeah.
58:49
Nevada went up 11-0 Yeah In the beginning of the football game They score a
58:54
touchdown, they get the two-point conversion They score a field goal early in the second quarter,
58:59
And then Second quarter, in the final six minutes Of the second quarter North
59:04
Dakota State scores 19 points,
59:07
They score a touchdown Failed on the two-point conversion They scored another
59:10
touchdown, had the kick blocked So it was 12-11,
59:15
And then with As time expired a 100-yard field goal return reminiscent of the
59:21
Iron Bowl several years ago.
59:24
That was a heartbreaker. And then after that, Nevada did score again right after
59:27
halftime to bring it 17-19.
59:30
But then after that, North Dakota State just kind of turned it on after that.
59:34
Air Force beats. Go ahead. Sorry. Yeah. In the end of it all,
59:38
I think that does show how competitive the Mountain West is.
59:43
Oh, it's super competitive. North Dakota State is probably the better team. Thank you.
59:48
But if they don't give up the kick six, they don't give up the kick conversion.
59:55
Then they're up 11-0. You know what I mean? I'm not saying Nevada's going to
1:00:01
win, but they had a chance to win that game.
1:00:04
Yeah, they did. Yeah, they did. That was a heck of a football game.
1:00:07
You know how ESPN does the little... An insane interception.
1:00:11
Yes. You know how ESPN does the little win probability graph in the app?
1:00:16
Have you ever seen that during the games?
1:00:18
Early in the second quarter, it did peak across the line, and Nevada had a 55%
1:00:25
chance to win the football game at, let's see what the time mark there was.
1:00:29
It was at 10.45 left in the second quarter. So, I mean, the fact that it even
1:00:33
crossed the line, that's a big deal. That was kind of a cool thing there. Yeah.
1:00:38
As far as turning the conference upside down a little bit, Air Force beats UNLV
1:00:42
at home 41-31. Air Force is now 5-1, 3-1 in conference play.
1:00:47
UNLV is now 4-3, 2-1 in the Mountain West.
1:00:50
The UTEP loses at home to San Jose 24-11.
1:00:54
Northern Illinois is now 0-6 after losing at Wyoming 41-23.
1:01:01
I saw a graphic of top offensive performances in the country this week,
1:01:06
and Wyoming's quarterback was like number three.
1:01:10
Wyoming put 510 yards of offense up, which is pretty wild.
1:01:14
The quarterback threw for 196 and ran for 183.
1:01:18
So, I mean, now two things are true at once. Phenomenal game, great job.
1:01:25
Northern Illinois' defense is legitimately terrible.
1:01:30
So, good win, but there we go. New Mexico wins on the road at Hawaii.
1:01:35
Hawaii went up 10-0 in that game, and then New Mexico scored 21 answers to win it.
1:01:41
And that does the Mountain West right now. Now, so here's the part that's going to blow your mind.
1:01:46
Mountain West Conference standings
1:01:47
right now. Alone at the top of the conference at 2-0 is New Mexico.
1:01:52
A three-way tie for second, third, and fourth is North Dakota State,
1:01:55
Air Force, and Wyoming, who are all 3-1 in conference play.
1:02:00
5-6 are a tie at 2-1 with San Jose and UNLV.
1:02:04
Nevada sits at number seven at one and two we've got Northern Illinois oh and
1:02:08
two UTEP at oh and three Hawaii at oh and four
1:02:12
in conference play and that brings us to week eight which could get things real
1:02:17
interesting real quick North Dakota State is at New Mexico,
1:02:23
North Dakota State six and one three and one in the Mountain West New Mexico
1:02:26
five and one two and oh in the Mountain West and ESPN has this at a,
1:02:32
let's see here. Oh, I clicked on the wrong one.
1:02:35
This is Saturday night at eight o'clock, by the way. So we're going to have
1:02:38
to find some phone service for this one.
1:02:40
Here's what surprises me. ESPN has New Mexico at a 79.4% chance to win the football game.
1:02:51
And I am also going to lean to the Lobos, but that seems excessive to me.
1:02:56
Yeah, I agree. They also have New Mexico at four and a half point favorites. I don't know, man.
1:03:04
I think this is very much the game of the week in the Mountain West.
1:03:09
And as apprehensive as I have to root for the Bison making the switch into the
1:03:16
Mountain West, I'm picking up what they're putting down when it comes to competitive play.
1:03:21
I think they've taken a very strong step forward, which is fantastic.
1:03:25
I think it's really good for the conference, really good for the program,
1:03:28
but I'm more convinced on the Lobos wanting to win a conference championship here.
1:03:33
And this might be a prequel to the conference championship game.
1:03:38
Yeah, after just putting eyes on North Dakota State, I think they're a good
1:03:41
football team. I think the quarterback's a good player.
1:03:43
The quarterback threw two interceptions, I think, against UNLV in that loss,
1:03:47
and I thought he really bounced back well.
1:03:49
With all of that being said, I'm going to New Mexico.
1:03:54
It just seems like New Mexico is maybe the team to beat.
1:04:02
And I think the other, some of the wins by North Coast State may be a little bit underwhelming.
1:04:09
But they could go to, it wouldn't surprise me if they went down there and they
1:04:12
won too, but going to Mexico.
1:04:14
Well, from the best game in the conference to arguably the worst,
1:04:18
Hawaii is at Northern Illinois. Hawaii is 1-6. Northern Illinois is 0-6.
1:04:24
In the past, we've seen some 5-7 teams get into bowl games.
1:04:28
So, you know, technically both of these programs could, in theory,
1:04:32
survive one more loss and still make it to the postseason.
1:04:36
I don't think that's highly likely, but it is possible.
1:04:39
So, now here's the deal. I think Hawaii is probably a better team,
1:04:44
but they've got to travel to DeKalb, Illinois, and play football,
1:04:49
which I don't know how easy that will go.
1:04:51
They proved they can't travel to Laramie very effectively, which, you know, I get that.
1:04:58
But out of the spirit of, I'm like in a mature mood this evening,
1:05:03
you know what I mean? As opposed to the spiteful version of me that comes out sometimes.
1:05:08
I would like to see everyone win a game.
1:05:12
You know? So I'm going to go for
1:05:15
the Huskies on this one. I'd like to see them get a W in the win column.
1:05:19
I mean, that would be cool to see, but I still have faith in the Rainbow Warriors on this one.
1:05:24
And this is, I was going to bring it up if you didn't, but this is one heck
1:05:28
of a road trip slash boat trip slash plane trip. Yeah.
1:05:34
Participation rib and jelly.
1:05:38
Hey, hey, if you win a college football game, that's not a participation trophy.
1:05:42
That's you earned it right right now.
1:05:45
I will say this, having hung out with a few college coaches,
1:05:49
you know, once in a while on occasion, I will admit that I will say this.
1:05:54
I always chuckle to myself.
1:05:55
You'll always get a college coach, especially, especially, especially the younger staff.
1:06:01
And then they outgrow this, but there's always this continuous phrase or not
1:06:06
a phrase but like a subject that always comes up and,
1:06:10
a lot of college football coaches they're always going to have a conversation
1:06:12
about like man winning winning a football game is just a hard thing to do you know what I mean,
1:06:17
like they're gonna say that at that conversation just come up winning football
1:06:21
games is a hard thing to do so if northern and I don't disagree with it it's
1:06:25
just funny how that that comes up frequently when you're hanging out with coaches.
1:06:30
But if they travel there, or I mean, if Northern Illinois could get a win in
1:06:34
front of their home crowd, beat a Hawaii team, that's a.
1:06:38
On the grand scheme of things, as in the 100 whatever teams there are,
1:06:42
probably not the hardest task in the world.
1:06:44
Still an accomplishment. So it's not a participation trophy.
1:06:48
I'm not getting super soft over here. I hope they go earn a win. That's what I'm saying.
1:06:56
If I was feeling sad, had Wyoming lost to them last week, I'd have been like,
1:07:00
I hope they don't deserve a win, and I hope they go winless or whatever.
1:07:04
I hope, whatever. But I hope they earn a win because Wyoming beat them.
1:07:08
That's part of it, right? We're past that.
1:07:11
And yeah, I hope they earn a win. So think of this.
1:07:15
So think of the first time somebody from Montana, you know, they're 18,
1:07:22
19 year old and they have not been outside the borders of Montana.
1:07:25
The biggest town that they've ever seen is Billings.
1:07:28
There you go. And then they go to, you know, they go to Los Angeles.
1:07:33
They go to New York City. They go to Washington, D.C., and it's like this,
1:07:37
holy cow, and everything like that.
1:07:40
Think about the Hawaii rainbows going to northern Illinois and getting a wow factor there.
1:07:48
Yeah. Where'd they get all this corn? Yeah.
1:07:52
I don't know that it's a wow factor so much as a, like, they play college football here. Oh, my God.
1:08:01
So the psychology of both items here. Right, right. So ultimately, who gets the win?
1:08:08
And I'm in a hole. I think it's a tough, tough travel. Yeah.
1:08:13
For the rainbows. And you're working that hard to get to DeKalb.
1:08:17
Like, you're not even working that hard to get to Honolulu, right?
1:08:20
Like, I would argue that traveling to Hawaii to play is tough,
1:08:23
but you're going to Hawaii. Like, there's got to be something mental to that.
1:08:28
Like, oh, this is cool. I get to go play football in Hawaii.
1:08:30
No one is traveling to northern illinois and thinking to themselves i this is
1:08:37
a really cool place i get to go play football yeah,
1:08:40
so i think they should leave on monday and they should do instead of doing the
1:08:44
island hopping they should hop the united states well see the sights,
1:08:50
yeah practice practice at ucla then go to go to wyoming because they've been
1:08:55
there practice there on on Tuesday. That'd be cool.
1:08:59
Go, you know, get activated and, uh.
1:09:04
There you go we'll see i uh i hope the huskies get a win there we'll we will
1:09:08
see so what are you going austin the warriors for sure there you go what'd you say less,
1:09:16
yeah i saw rainbows rainbows there you go all right all right well the four
1:09:20
and three san jose state spartans travel to the two and four nevada wolf pack
1:09:25
and honestly i just think the wolf pack gets a win in reno on saturday,
1:09:31
yeah i agree with that they're playing they're playing good football unfortunately,
1:09:34
it just hasn't gone their way, and I think they pull it out at home. ESPN thinks so as well.
1:09:41
68%. I really like quarterback play that Nevada have, and they actually played
1:09:47
about as clean of a game as they have played minus those huge special team blunders.
1:09:56
Right, right. Yeah, I'm going for the... Obviously, I'm going to be biased, so going for the back.
1:10:02
Well, okay. So they've only won one out of their last five games.
1:10:05
However, they lost to Montana state, arguably should not have if they'd,
1:10:10
if they'd clean some things up, they lose to middle Tennessee by a score on
1:10:14
the road, arguably should not have.
1:10:16
They lose to air force in double overtime, arguably should not have.
1:10:20
They then beat you tap. And then they play NDSU super tough.
1:10:23
They are one in four in their last five. And in my opinion, they could almost
1:10:27
just as easily be four and one. Yeah. Yeah.
1:10:32
Uh, And San Jose has not impressed me at all.
1:10:35
They are three and two in their last five. They beat Cal Poly.
1:10:38
They lost to Fresno. They beat Hawaii, which hasn't proved to be tough.
1:10:42
They lose to Wyoming, and then they beat UTEP. So their three wins are Cal Poly,
1:10:47
Hawaii, and UTEP. I'm not impressed.
1:10:50
That's out of their last five games. So I think the Nevada Wolfpack gets it done.
1:10:55
Friday night, probably, you know, an interesting game. Definitely not the game
1:11:00
of the week because of North Dakota State, New Mexico, but Air Force at Wyoming.
1:11:03
Air Force is five and one. Wyoming is five and three.
1:11:07
Air Force is heavily, heavily favored to win this game. They've won four of
1:11:12
their last five. They lost to NDSU September 12th.
1:11:16
Wyoming's on a two-game win streak, maybe catching a little bit of stride here.
1:11:21
Didn't they win three in a row? No, they lost to NDSU October 3rd,
1:11:26
and then they beat San Jose and they beat NIU.
1:11:30
So that was their last two. But they beat Hawaii the week before they lost North
1:11:34
Dakota State. So yeah, it'll be a, as much as I don't want to go against the
1:11:38
Cowboys, I don't think that they, I hope to make it tough. I hope it's a good
1:11:42
game. I think Air Force gets the win here.
1:11:45
I think we, and this is myself included, have not been giving Air Force enough
1:11:51
credit this season. I mean, they are five and one.
1:11:55
Granted, they, you know, probably haven't won convincingly, but I think they've
1:12:00
been stringing together enough consistent football for us to take notice.
1:12:05
What do we think about them beating UNLV? I think it's awesome. By two possessions.
1:12:11
I mean, it shocked me to be honest. I don't care how they did it.
1:12:13
Because I did not pick them in that football game.
1:12:15
No, no, neither. I don't think any of us did. They're taking NDSU to a one-possession
1:12:20
football game. They beat Nevada in double overtime. And they beat Navy by a possession.
1:12:26
You know, I think, you know, we can't count them out when it comes to being
1:12:31
in the top three or four of the conference right now. Thank you.
1:12:36
I mean, it seems like we should go work with Air Force.
1:12:39
But at the same time, I mean, look at all those scores. They could have been,
1:12:44
the other way. You know what I mean?
1:12:46
Right. If we're just looking at odds, a majority of these football games are
1:12:51
considered to be a four-and-a-half-point spread.
1:12:55
Yeah. Which is, that's close football.
1:12:58
Granted, what the prediction might be, you know, whether or not it's an 80%
1:13:01
odds of one team to win or 50%, 55%, that's still very close one-possession football games.
1:13:09
Yeah, I mean, are you going to pick Wyoming or are you going to pick Nevada?
1:13:13
Probably flip a coin on that game. You know what I mean? Dang,
1:13:16
yeah, you got it. That's good. And Nevada, I think we all felt that Nevada actually
1:13:21
should have beaten Air Force. Yeah, they should have. Yeah.
1:13:26
I don't know. I mean, maybe the wise pick is Air Force. Fine,
1:13:30
I'm going with the pokes.
1:13:32
You know, you talk me into it. Thank you.
1:13:36
Put your $5 down.
1:13:39
Well, here's the unfortunate part. That game kicks off at 7 o'clock Friday night,
1:13:42
and that kicks off the weekend.
1:13:44
Our last regular season game here in Polson kicks off at 7 o'clock Friday night.
1:13:48
And here's what I have not yet decided, Austin.
1:13:51
We got to drive about five hours to get to where we are going to hike into.
1:13:56
Now, we're going to play a very interesting map game, I guess,
1:14:01
with the public land, private land situation.
1:14:04
There's enough public land. is like a kind of a peninsula of it,
1:14:07
but we got to hike through like a skinny portion of it to get to a big portion of it.
1:14:12
It's not far. Like the, the, the main area is two, two and some change miles.
1:14:19
Yeah. The main area that I want to glass from is like two miles from the truck.
1:14:25
Now there's a, we could kind of hook around that mountain and camp in like a
1:14:31
back section of public land that doesn't screw with where I want a glass, if that makes sense.
1:14:38
So we're not going to be hiking for, I mean, we're going to be hiking for,
1:14:42
I don't know, if we're hiking for two hours, I'd be surprised. So that being said.
1:14:49
We win our last regular season game, and do we get some sleep?
1:14:55
Now, granted, I'm hoping it's a running clock so we can come watch Wyoming play,
1:15:00
zip back to the house, and then watch Wyoming play.
1:15:03
Do we leave and sleep at the trailhead in the truck Or do we sleep a couple
1:15:09
hours And then leave and hit the ground walking,
1:15:13
That's a really good question because that's the dilemma we have. Yeah.
1:15:17
In the back of my mind, I guess I was, I was thinking that we would just leave
1:15:22
right away and we would camp at the trailhead.
1:15:24
Now, with that being said, it is nice getting,
1:15:29
you know, a few hours, the same amount of sleep that we would get right after
1:15:34
the Wyoming football game to then, you know, go there and, you know,
1:15:39
we're already up and moving around and then hit the trail running. So, man.
1:15:44
Well, here's the deal. I go the other way. You go the other way. Football game.
1:15:50
You're amped up. Not going to sleep anyway. Oh, yeah, you're right. And get on the road.
1:15:57
At some point, you'll get sleepy and all that kind of stuff.
1:15:59
But there's two of you and you can figure that out. But I would go.
1:16:03
I don't want to dump on the team we're playing, but we could probably sleep
1:16:06
during the game and be fine.
1:16:08
Yeah. It's just that you're going to be outside. I think it might rain that night Yeah.
1:16:15
Legal shooting light is 7.15 in the morning That morning-ish It's going to be around then I've,
1:16:24
got received Pins and pictures From a buddy of mine that's been scouting it,
1:16:29
Where the exact place we're going I've not hiked into before,
1:16:33
So I don't necessarily Think it's a great idea to bomb off Of that ridge Pre-
1:16:40
shooting light. I mean, I agree with that. Yeah.
1:16:43
So it's not like, so we would need to, if we were going to drive,
1:16:48
if we were going to get some sleep and then drive, we would need to leave here
1:16:51
at two and then we'd get there and go, or we leave right away and sleep for
1:16:57
probably three or four hours.
1:16:59
That's might be the move. Yeah. I think that's the, that's the right way to do it. That's the move.
1:17:04
All right. We hike in, we get to our knob and we just glass for morning and
1:17:08
we go from there that's the plan we have four days four days two elk tags and
1:17:13
two deer tags a piece bear tags.
1:17:18
We'll see a tag and a wolf tag there you go heck yeah it's all in my pocket,
1:17:23
yeah i've got a wolf tag ever been here before so we're gonna see something,
1:17:27
yeah i am confident something's gonna die i just don't know what it is yet so
1:17:32
well we'll go from there so well we'll be with all that being said i'm going
1:17:36
to air force just because of
1:17:37
that quarterback there you go yeah yeah he's kind of a dude isn't he yeah,
1:17:42
well we'll be back you know it's not even if we kill something we'll come back
1:17:46
we might have one person's run a meet run back to the back to home if we need
1:17:51
to but with all those tags that gets that need filled i'm not,
1:17:55
convinced that hunt until dark on tuesday is not the right answer,
1:17:59
so maybe we plan on recording next wednesday evening and we will recap the this
1:18:04
coming weekend of college football
1:18:06
and And hopefully a decent four days of hunting and filming as well.
1:18:10
We need to make a good video out of this trip too. So appreciate everybody for listening.
1:18:13
It's been a good episode. And man, I, like we say, every time we say this,
1:18:17
getting closer to the postseason football. Now we're going to be into week seven
1:18:21
here and the bowl picture, the playoff picture. Oh, all right.
1:18:24
Here's another thing too.
1:18:26
I'm glad I said this because I thought I've said this at the very beginning
1:18:29
of the episode. This is what I want to end the episode on the question wise.
1:18:33
Do you think that the topsy-turvy, up-is-down, down-is-up madness that we're
1:18:40
seeing in college football now, is that a result.
1:18:46
Of NIL leveling the playing field to an extent?
1:18:51
I just think this is the nature of college football. Well, you could say that
1:18:56
for sure because there always have been upsets.
1:18:58
I just feel like on a week-to-week basis, we're seeing something happen that
1:19:03
wasn't supposed to happen and it's happening consistently enough that I'm wondering
1:19:08
if there's programs that are getting players to come in because of NIL,
1:19:13
that they maybe wouldn't have gotten before or their or players are making more
1:19:18
money at a lower program than they would have made by just being on the roster
1:19:22
at a at a different program,
1:19:24
and are we seeing a leveling of the playing field to an extent like not massive but to an extent.
1:19:31
I would say, to an extent, with certain teams.
1:19:35
So, meaning your SMU last year, maybe your Indiana the last two years.
1:19:41
Now, maybe they're here to stay, but NIL brought them to where it's at.
1:19:47
You take them Vanderbilt last year, too. That was, I don't know if it's a flash
1:19:51
in the pan, but they're not there this year. You know what I mean?
1:19:55
Where's TCU now? They've been there.
1:19:59
In terms of this year, though, if you look at the top 15 teams,
1:20:05
there really doesn't seem to be one of those offshoot teams in the top 15.
1:20:13
Yeah, that makes sense for sure.
1:20:15
In top 20. Right. Right.
1:20:18
Well, we'll see what happens this week. We'll leave you with the verse for the week for this episode.
1:20:22
And here we got Proverbs 21, 21. Whoever pursues righteousness and unfailing
1:20:27
love will find life righteousness and honor and good luck to everybody on opening weekend here in montana,
1:20:34
we'll talk college football and results here uh next week and we'll see you
1:20:37
then i appreciate you gentlemen,
1:20:39
yeah thank you guys good seeing you again and we'll see you next week,
1:20:43
see you guys thanks.