Latest / The Blue Creek Outdoors Podcast / Ep3107 - Blood, Boots & Playoffs: Hunting Tales and College Football Chaos

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Ep3107 - Blood, Boots & Playoffs: Hunting Tales and College Football Chaos · 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 Blue Creek Outdoors podcast.
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I'm Joe Bartlett. We got Austin Seidler and Les Meyer on here with us,
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and we had a big week, football and otherwise.
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Yeah, there's a lot of stuff that went down exciting and other not as exciting.
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Yeah, we're going to talk about the highs and the lows on and off the football field.
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But we'll start, we'll just give you a teaser here. I did kill a buck this weekend,
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or not this weekend, yesterday, it was Tuesday.
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So we'll kind of talk about that a little bit. We got a verse for the week and,
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another week of college football that leaves us wondering what's going on.
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I don't understand. It makes me more excited for the 2014 playoff in the FBS, I'm not going to lie.
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Because there's going to be possibly multiple 9-3 teams in the 12-team playoff.
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So if that's what's going to happen, you might as well open her up.
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And you know me, if it was up to me, we'd go 48 teams.
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The playoffs would start early November, be over by New Year's.
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And you know what I mean? That's the way it would be. We'll see.
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But let's start with the NAIA here.
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Can you imagine a national championship on New Year's Day? That would just be,
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the biggest app to the season? Yeah, that's the end of it. season of all time.
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That's the end of it. And every conference would have automatic bids.
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No conference game. So you could legitimately tell every single FBS recruit,
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you have a chance to play for a national title.
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You have a chance to make the playoffs. Yeah, that's playing for a national title.
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Yeah. I mean, you can't tell Tulane that he's going to make it to the semifinals.
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No, I didn't know. I wouldn't promise him what round you'd make it to.
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I'm not even promising that you will make it to the playoff.
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I'm saying you have a chance. You have a chance.
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Would you disagree with me right now that if every single FCS team,
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you know, won eight games or 10 games, let's say, they'd go to the playoff,
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every single FCS team could make the FCS playoffs.
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I mean, you have to win those eight games, but we're also looking at a 64 to,
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you know, 84 team playoff.
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I know. I'm just saying every FCS team can make the playoffs.
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That's all I'm saying. What would you look like? So how many games do you play? So four in September?
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Yeah, I just call it four in September, but you could play one in August,
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too. Week zero? Yeah, four.
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So how many games total? Ten? Eleven? You could play a ten game.
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Well, heck, FCS figures it out with 12, right? Do they play 12 or 11?
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Some play 11. They play 12. They play 12.
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And I think they play in between Christmas and New Year's.
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No, the FCS championship's after New Year's. Yeah. It's after New Year's,
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yeah. Yeah, but they have the perfect format. Just copy that one.
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Like the late, great Mike Leach said, many other sports and levels have this figured out.
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FBS is the only one that sits around scratching their head, like,
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oh, I don't know how we would make this work.
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The only level that sits around saying it can't happen.
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But let's talk about the NAIA here really quick.
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You're correct. It's all about the Benjamins. All right, number 25,
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Taylor beat Defiance College 70-19.
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Here's a tongue twister for you. Number 24, Cumberlands lost at home to Cumberland 48-21.
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Number 23, Southwestern won at number seven, Friends, 40-21.
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Number 22, Olivet Nazarene beat Judson, 70-7.
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Number 21, Baker won at Missouri Baptist, 45-14.
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Number 20, Southeastern lost at number four, St. Thomas, 48-13.
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Number 19, Northwestern beat Waldorf, 68-10.
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Number 18, Midland beat Hastings, 21-14. Number 17, McPherson beat St. Mary, 63-7.
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Number 16 lindsey wilson beat andrew 76 to 0,
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number 15 georgetown beat bethel 52 14 number 14 louisiana christian won at
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texas college 69 to 6 i think,
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excuse me i lost my voice because yesterday was brutal but i think number 14
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louisiana christian is getting the shaft a little bit this season in the rankings
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they're 8 and 1 one of those wins is over an fcs team,
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the one loss is to an FCS team and they are beating the brakes off of NAIA teams.
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The last time they were ranked was a long time ago, and they started this season unranked.
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I get that, but I'm just wondering if they get a low seed in the playoffs and.
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They blow the doors off somebody early.
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Somebody high-ranking, you know what I mean? But I'm also going to tell you,
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Texas College over in Tyler, Texas is nothing to shake your stick at.
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No. They're beating the brakes off of already an amateur football team.
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No, I get that. so much but they're beating the brakes off of like that whole conference,
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and that whole conference isn't that weak texas college isn't good but,
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yeah interesting to see number 13 dort beat mount marty 41 to 13 and number
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one or 12 campbellsville and number 11 carroll college had buys number 10 kaiser
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won at weber international 21 to 7 number 9 indiana wesleyan beat madonna 86 to 7
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number 8 marion beat st mary of the woods 73 to 6,
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number 6 morningside beat concordia nebraska 61 21 number five montana tech
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beat mayville state 34 to 20,
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and number three grandview beat culver stockton 47 to 17 number two benedictine
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beat william woods 67 to 0 and
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number one college of idaho beat eastern oregon 63 28 that brings us to,
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the frontier conference where dickinson state is now four and five after beating
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valley city 24 to three any surprises on that.
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No i think this was This is what the Blue Hawks needed after dropping so many
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games in a row. This is going to help them bounce back.
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Granted, I don't think Valley City is the best team in the world,
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but scoring this many points, defense had a good outing. This was positive.
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Yeah, we had Dickinson, you know, all of us did, but it was,
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that's what the score should have been. Right, right.
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Mayville, that leaves Valley City at 1-7, 0-4 in the frontier east.
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Montana Tech travels to Mayville State and beats them 34-20 in a pretty good football game.
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Tech is now 7-1 overall, 3-0 in the east.
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Mayville State is 6-3 overall, 2-2 in the east.
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And Dickinson and Mayville, it looks like Tech's going to run the table in the
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East for the automatic bid.
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But as of right now, it sits that, I think that Northern and Valley City are out of it.
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But there is an outside shot for Rocky, Dakota State, Mayville to secure an,
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at-large bid out of the East.
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But some things are going to have to bounce each one of their ways.
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But Dakota State had a bye this week.
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Rocky Mountain beat Northern 48-14. Rocky's now 4-3. Northern is 0-8.
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There were really no surprises this week. And we'll talk about next week moving
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forward because some of these games start to mean a lot. Go ahead, Les.
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The one thing I would say about the Mayville Tech game is that ended up being
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a pretty good football game. Yeah.
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And Mayville had 79 total plays. 67 of them were on the ground. Wow.
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And Tech just, I think, played the old bend, but don't break.
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I mean, they only gave up 20 points, so the defense did well enough.
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And then the offense is different. The possession was skewed, to say the least.
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Yeah, it was. Tech's time of possession was 20 and a half minutes,
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and Mayville's was 39 and a half minutes. Jeez, that's pretty cool.
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Over in the West, Carroll College had a bye. They're 3-0 in the West, 6-1 overall.
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Southern Oregon hosted Arizona Christian in 1-24-17.
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The Raiders are now 3-5, 2-2 in conference. Arizona Christian's 0-7, 0-3 in conference play.
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Not looking to get much better for the firestorm. We'll see,
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though. But Southern probably could have used a good win at this point in time in the season.
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Yeah, the score was pretty close. and I think all three of us were basically
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kicking Arizona Christian to the curb last week, and then they turn around and play respectable.
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Yeah, hopefully this is more of a building moment rather than a throw-in-the-towel moment.
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And College of Idaho hosted Eastern Oregon. Lopsided there, but I mean,
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Eastern Oregon hung 28 points on them, but they lose to CFI 63-28.
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CFI is 7-0, 3-0 in the West.
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Eastern Oregon's 5-2, 2-1 in the West.
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And obviously Eastern Oregon's good on both sides of the ball,
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but a couple teams have put four scores on them.
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So I think their offense is ridiculous and their defense is good, but maybe just good.
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At the end of the day, if they do want to win, at least make a run in the playoffs,
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I think we all can agree that having a solid run game and a strong defense wins championships.
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Yeah, if you look at the standings, and this won't be about them,
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this will be about Simpson. I don't know if you guys noticed,
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but Simpson's ranked number four in scoring in the conference. Oh, really?
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39.6 points per game, but they're 12th on defense.
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The ones that are lower than them, Arizona Christian and Northern.
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Gotcha, gotcha. And they did put up some points on CFI, so yeah, that makes sense.
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And then that moves us to that Western-Simpson game. We all had picked Simpson.
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They traveled to Dillon and get the win, but that did not happen.
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Western beats them 47-28. Tough place to go play.
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Western, you still can't count them out at this point in time any given week.
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They're 3-5, 1-3 in conference play. They pick up their first win in the conference.
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Simpson is also 3-5, also 1-3 in the West.
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And that brings us to the standings. Oh, let's talk about the standings,
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then we'll talk about this week's games.
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In the East, we got Montana Tech at 3-0, Rocky at 3-0 for 1-2,
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Dickinson at number three is three and one.
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Mayville is two and two. Dakota State is one and two.
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Valley City is one for MSU Northern is oh and three.
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In the west, we got College of Idaho at number one. Carroll College at number two, three and oh.
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Eastern Oregon at two and one. Southern Oregon at two and two.
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Western at one and three. Simpson at one and three. And Arizona Christian at oh and three.
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And this week's Frontier Games here.
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Dickinson State travels to MSU Northern.
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4-5 versus 0-8, and I think the Blue Hawks make that a runaway one-sided track meet.
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I would like to shake things up in the rankings only to help favor the Bears,
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and I don't want to see a team go defeated, and I'm going to pick the lights for this one.
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I think it's about their time. As much as I'd love to see Dickinson play to
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their strengths, I'd like to see Northern squeak one out.
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So, yeah, I'd like to pick the lights also.
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But they haven't really – remember the beginning of the season,
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they were playing everybody tough, and then they went to Dickinson and just
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got phoned. We thought maybe there would be a chance there. So I just don't
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have any faith in them right now. So I'm going to Dickinson.
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Yeah, they have a little bit of momentum on their side. So hopefully they've
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found something as much as we do want the lights to do something. Yeah, yeah.
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Did he not like our picks? Yeah, I guess not.
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Joe, who do you got? The Blue Hawks or the Lights? No, I said the Blue Hawks
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are going to win. Oh, the Blue Hawks got it? Okay. Yeah, but I stepped away really quick.
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My throat's just scratchy. I had to go get something to drink.
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But I heard you say you were hoping the rankings get bounced in favor of the Bears.
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Does that mean you're hoping Northern wins? Yes, that's exactly what I said.
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Did you pick Northern to win or did you just say Northern to win?
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Picking Northern to win.
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It's a home game, and I don't want to see a team go defeated on the season.
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I don't either, but you're off your rocker. I don't know. The cheese slid off
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the cracker. You put your money where your mouth is. What did you say, Les?
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At this point, I don't have any faith in Northern. Yeah, no way.
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As much as I want them to win, I just don't have any faith in them. Yeah, fair enough.
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All right, Mayville State at 6-3 is traveling to Dakota State at 5-3.
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Dakota State's coming off a bye.
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I think this is going to be a very, very good football game.
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Dakota State's coming off a bye, but Mayville's been playing very well.
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I think Mayville pulls this one out in an absolute, I mean, I think this one
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makes for absolute cinema. I think this one is,
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An insanely good game. Whoever buys tickets to this game, I think,
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is going to get all of their money's worth. But I think Mayville squeaks it out.
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Yeah, this is 100% my game of the week. And coming off the bye week,
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a little bit of rest, I'm picking Dakota State.
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Wow. I'm going Mayville, too.
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There's a lot of picks this week that I could be talked in and out of.
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And this is one of them. Same. This is one of them.
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And I'm going to pick Mayville from the standpoint of, other than how I think
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this was a slugfest against Tech, if they came out of it healthy,
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I think they played a Tech team that's good.
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And they should carry that as confidence going into kind of a rivalry game for them.
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Absolutely. Yeah, I think that's going to be a good one. Here's another big one for the week.
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Valley City State, we'll just say this has a bye for the week.
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But Rocky Mountain 4-3 is at Montana Tech 7-1.
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I think that Tech pulls this one out, but I think that Rocky has the ability
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to play them very tough. They are both 3-0 in Frontier East play,
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and I think Rocky punches above their weight for this game.
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I don't know that they win, but I think they give the oar diggers a fright of
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their lives, more so than Mayville did, in my opinion.
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Yeah, these last couple of weeks, I've been pretty impressed with what the Bears,
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have pulled together in all facets of the game.
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It does pain me to say, I just think the talent of Tech,
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is going to project them to a win this week, albeit if Rocky still plays to
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their strengths and continues to build on the good things that they've done
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in the last couple of weeks,
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this is going to be a nail-biter.
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I like the score of 48-14 over Northern. Granted, they had a couple of pick
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sixes, but I like that score.
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How about Jordan Legg, Jordan the kicker, Jordan Legg the kicker.
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I don't know that they can necessarily score touchdowns all the time on tech.
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They can move the ball and get into some field goal ranges. We have a good kicker.
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Keep it close and get to the halftime within striking distance.
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Just be within a touchdown or less than a touchdown in halftime.
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Moving over to the west side of the Frontier Conference, Carroll College has
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a bye this week. They are 3-0 in conference play.
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I'm sorry, they just came off a bye. They are hosting Southern Oregon. Southern Oregon's 3-5.
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That, as good of a win as Southern gets last week, coming off it feeling good,
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they're going to be back where they were the last few weeks against Carroll.
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I think Carroll wins this one big.
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Yeah, Carroll College at home, I think this is kind of a no-brainer. Saints pull it out.
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Yeah, and just looking back, I think Carroll's won five games in a row.
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So I don't know if they're still at tech level or CFI level, honestly.
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But they do have a good offense, and they have scored over 40 points or more
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in their last five games. Right, right.
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Arizona Christian plays host to College of Idaho. That is 7-0 versus 0-7.
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And I think it goes, I think College of Idaho is going to be 8-0,
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and Arizona Christian is going to be 0-8.
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I don't think there's much to say about this football game. See if I hopefully
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has a fun road trip down there.
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Eastern Oregon is playing host to Montana Western this coming week.
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Eastern Oregon is 5-2. Western is 3-5.
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Simpson also has the buy this week.
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But I think Eastern Oregon, I think this could be a dogfight. It could be a tough game.
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But I think Eastern Oregon comes back from a loss last week and beats the Bulldogs at home.
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Yeah, I think at this point in the season, I've picked Western too many times
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in some of these matchups because I'd like to think that they are something that they're not.
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And it's unfortunate to say. And I think the Mountaineers are going to pull this one out.
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I'm going to go the other way. We all picked Simpson over Western.
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That is a surprising score based on the trending line of Simpson and Western.
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I think these last two games are winnable for Western, whether they do or they
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don't. I'm not sure, but they have a chance to resurrect their season.
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I know they're playing some younger kids, getting them ready,
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but I'm going to go Western this weekend.
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There we go. There we go. I like it. Well, playoff picture is going to be coming
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into shape here for the Frontier teams and for the NAIA as a whole.
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We'll be keeping an eye on that as we go forward. Maybe even next week we'll
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do a playoff projection of what it would be maybe, even though that voting can
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be a little bit not necessarily...
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As per the rankings go, but we can make some guesses there moving forward.
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But we'll move over to the FCS.
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The stats perform top 25 poll. Number 25, Richmond beat Colgate 13-6.
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Number 24, Jackson State lost to Bethune 24-21.
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Number 23, Southeast Louisiana lost at number 2, Stephen F. Austin 45-24.
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Number 22, Weber State lost at number 3, Montana State 38-33.
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Number 21, Northern Iowa lost at Southern Illinois 20-17. Number 20,
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UC Davis beat Northern Colorado 33-6.
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Number 19, Monmouth beat Hampton 49-13. Number 18, Eastern Tennessee State beat VMI 38-0.
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Number 17, Mercer had a bye.
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Number 16, Lamar beat Houston Christian 35-10. Number 15, Harvard beat Princeton 35-7.
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Number 14, Montana had a bye. Number 13, Campbell won at Maine 35-6.
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Number 12, Tennessee Tech beat the Citadel 28-13.
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And big upset here. Number 11, Lehigh lost at Villanova 24-18.
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Number 10, Illinois State beat Indiana State 17-10. Number 9,
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Austin Peay beat North Alabama 27-21.
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Number 8, South Dakota beat number 6, North Dakota 26-23 in overtime.
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Number 7, Northern Arizona had a bye.
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Number 5, South Dakota State beat Murray State 42-9. Number 4,
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Youngstown State had a bye.
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And number 3, Montana State beat Weber. Stephen F. Austin beat Southeast Louisiana.
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And the number one, Tarleton State beat West Georgia 49-6.
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That brings us to the big sky, but really quickly, that leaves in the top 25.
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Number one, Tarleton State. Number two, Stephen F. Austin both 8-0.
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There are no other undefeated teams in the FCS Top 25. So, fun fact there.
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But in the big sky, Montana State beat Weber State 38-33. Good game.
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Weber State played them tough. We all figured the Bobcats would win there.
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But another thing that just continues to turn the conference in sideways ways,
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Idaho is 3-5 now after beating Southern Utah 31-28.
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Idaho is now 3-2 in conference play.
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Their three wins are against teams that have all been in the top 25 at this
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point, and their five losses are not great losses. So I have no idea what's
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going on in Moscow, Idaho. I really do not. Yeah.
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Dude, it's kind of crazy. I feel like they've been playing to whomever they're
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playing, if that makes any sense.
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Playing up, I guess, and whenever they play a lesser team, they're playing down.
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But I think the biggest thing here is they limited their penalties,
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even though they turned the ball over, and that kind of consistency helped them out a little bit.
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Weaver had every chance to win it. One thing I would say in terms of Montana
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State, whatever they did differently,
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and people will say the adjustments and all that kind of stuff,
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I don't know if there would be that big of an adjustment other than attitude,
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and just maybe calling the defenses is a little bit different in the second half.
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Right, right. UC Davis got a much-needed win, beating Northern Colorado 33-6.
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I was hoping Northern Colorado would play them tougher. I'm a little disappointed
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in the Bears on that one, but it is what it is.
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Eastern Washington had a bye this week. Northern Arizona had a bye this week.
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Another one that needed a much-needed win was Idaho State beating Portland State 38-8 in Pocatello.
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I thought that would be a closer game, but maybe Idaho went from 4-0 to 4-3
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and decided to quit messing around, I guess. I don't know, but they pulled a
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convincing one out there.
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Yeah, 488 yards of total offense is back on track with what they did before
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they dropped three in a row.
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Yeah, and you just don't know about Portland State. You know what I mean?
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How about their injury list?
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You know it they've been playing everybody pretty tough and but obviously they're
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not going to have the depth or the quality of depth as the other teams and so
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if you get a couple of those guys hurt just don't know where they,
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where they are in terms of the injury report right well then here was the the
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game that just made just scratch your head in the big sky this week i'm pumped,
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i'm pumped utah utah tech picks up their first win of the season their first
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win in the big sky conference.
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But let's take a look at this. Cal Poly opens the season up beating Idaho.
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They then beat Central Washington, a very good Division II team.
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They then play San Jose State extremely tough in a money game.
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They then lost to San Diego, which didn't make any sense. They beat Eastern Washington.
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They lost to Weber State. They then beat Idaho State.
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They lost to Northern Colorado, and then they lost to Utah Tech.
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And this was not a close loss. This was 43 to 26.
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Halftime was 20 to 11.
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Let's see here. But offense was mad. They did have six turnovers.
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They turned the ball over six times, and you can't win football games doing that.
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So, pump for the Trailblazers, getting their first win in the Big Sky Conference.
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Every single team has now officially picked up a conference win this fall.
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And we'll take a look here at the standings.
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At number one is Montana State at 4-1.
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NAU is next at 4-1. Weber State is 4-2 at number three.
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Idaho and I forgot Idaho's Idaho is in conference play they are should be three
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and two they're three and two
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and number five is Idaho at three and two number six is UC Davis at three and
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two number seven is Cal Poly at three and three number eight is Idaho State at two and three,
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Southern Utah two and three Portland State two and three number 11 is uh Northern
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Colorado two and four number 12 Eastern Washington at one and four and now Utah Tech at one and,
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four and let's look at next week's matchups here montana state hosts cow poly,
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i don't think that's a question mark game there i think the big the bobcats
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take care of business there yeah same,
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idaho at portland state idaho's three and five portland state is two and six,
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well with the way the last few weeks have gone i think idaho handles portland
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state relatively easily yeah like i said earlier if If Idaho plays to their upper echelon of play,
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like beating two top 10 teams, then I think this is no question.
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But if they succumb to wherever Portland State is at, and this isn't a knock
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to Portland State because, like Les said, they might have some injuries or have
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a little bit of inconsistency, then I think this might be a football game.
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But I'm picking the Vandals in this one.
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I think at some level, these games do come down. I know the players play,
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but on some level, coaching matters.
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And if you think of Cal Colley and Evan's six turnovers, that is an absolute lack of focus.
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And whose fault is it? Probably everybody involved.
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And then if you talk about Idaho, if Idaho loses that game, this is,
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yes, you're going to put in your practice and players are the ones out there playing.
26:21
But at some level it's a coaching mentality to make sure that you don't let down
26:28
yeah for sure absolutely montana makes the trip to eastern washington coming
26:33
off of bye week this week i believe less correct me if i'm wrong
26:37
the last time the grizz were in cheney
26:40
was the first time they had ever won on the inferno,
26:44
if i remember correctly they had never won since the red field was put in at
26:49
Eastern Washington, which they did the last time, and I suspect they will this time.
26:53
I know they've struggled the last few weeks, but Eastern Washington legitimately
26:56
is not good at football. So the Grizz can right the ship this week.
27:02
Yeah, they really can. This is a head-scratcher for me, though,
27:05
because I think the bye came at a great time for the Grizz because they are
27:10
beat up on the defensive side of the ball.
27:13
And I'm not sure how many of those guys they're going to get back.
27:16
If they get him back great but that year that the grizz did beat eastern washington in the inferno,
27:24
we were beat up but it was a game that should not have been that close no matter
27:30
what and uh eastern played them,
27:35
played us tough yes montana won but it shouldn't have been that close so,
27:41
uh we'll see.
27:41
I'm picking Montana too, but and the bye came out great tonight.
27:47
Coming off a bye week, albeit it is a tough road game, I'm also picking the Grizz.
27:51
Their offense has been the most consistent part of their football team,
27:56
and as long as the defense doesn't play to the best of their ability,
28:02
I think they'll be all right.
28:05
If they give up more than 20 points, this is going to be a great football game.
28:08
But if they hold them for under 20, Grizz take this, no problem. Right.
28:12
We'll see. We'll see. Les is shaking his head there. We'll see what happens.
28:16
But a game that I'm pretty intrigued in, I actually would like to go to this
28:20
game at some point in time at both venues.
28:23
Southern Utah plays host to NAU. Northern Arizona is 6-2. Southern Utah is 3-5.
28:29
I believe this is called the Battle for the Grand Canyon.
28:33
If I'm not mistaken, I think that's what they call this game.
28:36
And I think even though it's in southern Utah, I think northern Arizona rolls
28:40
into town and takes care of business relatively handily. In the tight first
28:45
half maybe, but second half I think is all NAU.
28:48
I do have to say this would probably be one of the prettiest road trip games
28:53
to go on between Cedar City and Flagstaff.
28:56
I've been on that highway a handful of times. and not between Bryce Canyon National Park and Zion.
29:05
Some pretty views. But I am picking NAU in this football game.
29:10
As much as I'd like Southern Utah to squeak something out, NAU is the most talented team there.
29:16
Yeah, I'd feel a little bit more comfortable with Southern Utah if they had
29:20
won last weekend and dropped that pick. Right, right.
29:25
And if NAU didn't have a bye. Yeah, for sure. That would definitely change the dynamic here.
29:32
This week, Weber State is playing host to UC Davis.
29:37
I think this could maybe be the most competitive game of this week, possibly.
29:41
This is my game of the week. This is your game of the week. Weber State is 5-4, UC Davis is 5-3. I...
29:50
I want Weber State to win, and so I think I'm going to lean Weber State.
29:57
That's where I'm going with this one.
29:59
Just off of vibes. That's all it is.
30:04
That's not a bad thing. I'm just looking back at UC Davis' last five games.
30:10
They traded them each and every week.
30:12
Win-loss, win-loss, win-loss. And they're coming off a win, so does this mean
30:16
that they're going to lose?
30:17
A little bit of consistency. Who knows?
30:21
I, I bet you, if you would have asked me, and I think we did ask each other
30:26
the record earlier this year, and I probably would have picked UC Davis at the
30:29
beginning of the season.
30:30
But at this point, Weber State has, has shown me what they can do,
30:35
especially with this new head coach. And I'm going to pick the Wildcats.
30:39
Yeah, I was a little disappointed in the UNC, UC Davis score.
30:43
I was disappointed in Northern Colorado.
30:46
UC Davis did take care of business in terms of a score.
30:50
Looking like it's 33-6.
30:54
They go to Weber, right? Isn't it in Weber? I believe, yes. Yep.
30:59
Yeah. So I'm going to Weber.
31:01
There we go. There we go. Well, last Big Sky Game of the week.
31:05
Utah Tech is hosting Idaho State.
31:08
I know they're coming off a big win there, but so is Idaho State.
31:12
And I think Idaho State still has all of their goals in front of them that they
31:17
were hoping for just a few weeks ago.
31:19
And if the Portland State win is any indicator, I think they go on and they
31:28
beat Utah Tech by three or four scores.
31:31
Yeah, I'm not sure what is going to be the true answer as to why Idaho State dropped those games.
31:37
Subsequently, it could have been injuries. It just could have been, you know, lack of focus.
31:41
But now I feel like they're a little bit more on track, whether or not they've
31:44
gotten those guys back or they just have righted the ship.
31:48
Who knows what it is, but I think the Bengals take this one.
31:51
Yeah, there's no trust whatsoever at Utah Tech, and I know they beat Cal Poly,
31:56
but I don't have any trust in them either.
31:59
So it's probably not a lot of trust in Idaho State either when it's all said
32:04
and done, but I'll go to the state, yeah.
32:08
There we go. Well, some good games to watch here in the big sky this week,
32:12
and again, the playoff picture falls into place here as we move forward.
32:15
We'll move over to the FBS. Here's the AP Top 25. Lots of buys this week in the AP Top 25.
32:21
Number 25, Arizona beats Iowa State, 39-3. Number 24, Northwestern beats Rutgers, 42-14.
32:28
Number 23, SMU beats Cal, 59-20. Number 22, Missouri had a bye.
32:33
Number 21, Boise State beats Washington State, 31-10. We'll talk about that
32:37
one here at the end of the show, end this segment a little bit here.
32:40
Number 20, Florida had a bye. Number 19, Texas beat number 7, Ole Miss, 34-27.
32:47
Number 18, LSU beats Auburn, 38-17.
32:50
Number 17, Wake Forest had a bye. Number 16, USC lost at Wisconsin, 24-7.
32:57
Number 15, Iowa lost at Minnesota, 13-10.
33:01
Number 14, Houston lost at number 10, Utah, 21-13.
33:05
Number 13, Alabama beats Texas A&M, 31-20. Number 12, Kentucky beats Vanderbilt, 34-17.
33:13
Number 11, Tennessee lost at South Carolina, 27-24.
33:17
Numbers nine UCLA beat Michigan State 28 to 10 number eight Texas,
33:23
Tech lost at Cincinnati 37 24 number six Indiana beats Michigan 13 to 6 in overtime
33:30
number five Georgia number four Notre Dame number three Ohio State had biased
33:34
number two BYU loses at UCF 39 31 in double overtime
33:40
and number one, Miami beats 52-23, and that makes four, one, two, three,
33:47
three top 10 teams that lost and four, five, six, seven.
33:52
Seven top 25 teams that have lost.
33:55
Yeah, well, we'll talk about the Mountain West here in a second.
33:59
Here are some fun facts to ponder in the FBS realm right now.
34:05
Now, I am a Dabo Sweeney fan. I like Dabo Sweeney.
34:09
I've always been a fan of his, but I think it's safe to say the train has come
34:16
off the tracks in Clemson because I did not notice this until now.
34:23
And I'm going to see one of you probably knows the answer to this.
34:25
But here are six FBS programs, because there are six of them,
34:31
with more passing touchdowns than Clemson.
34:35
And here they are. Navy has seven passing touchdowns.
34:40
Kennesaw State has four passing touchdowns. Rice has four passing touchdowns.
34:46
Central Michigan has four passing touchdowns.
34:49
Air Force has four passing touchdowns. and Army has three passing touchdowns.
34:56
Do either one of you care to take a gander at how many passing touchdowns Clemson
35:02
has in entering week nine?
35:07
Two. Two passing touchdowns. That is not how you keep a job, but I hope.
35:15
The deal is his buyout more than what a new coach would cost.
35:20
Yeah, his buyout is insanely massive.
35:24
I can't remember if I heard something right on a podcast this weekend.
35:26
It's like 50-something, isn't it?
35:29
I'm not sure the exact number, but. It's very, very high.
35:33
Holding on to a coach for this long and having subpar seasons in a row is there's
35:40
got to be some internal dealings that they're trying to work out in order to change over the helm.
35:45
He resigns for less of a buyout or something like that.
35:49
I don't know. What's interesting about that is, I don't know if it's his reputation,
35:55
or the talent that's been recruited there.
35:58
For the last two years, though, Clemson was very high on everybody's lists. Right.
36:05
Only to truly get thunk in game one. Right.
36:10
And I don't know if there's any confirmed truth to this or not.
36:14
I've been digging. I've been trying to find the answer to this.
36:18
The rumor is that there was NIL money left in the bank unused,
36:26
because of the refusal to get a quarterback out of the portal on the part of Davos Weedy, Which.
36:35
I'm not going to entirely disagree with your high school recruiting mentality,
36:41
but I'm guessing that Clemson loses guys in the portal.
36:45
So if you're not going to aggressively also pursue players in the portal,
36:50
I don't know if you can build a winning program at the Power 4 level.
36:56
And I think you can like that or not like that. It doesn't make it any less true.
37:01
And I hope Dabo Sweeney proves us all wrong.
37:05
I hope that's the case. But he's not had good quarterback play. Yeah.
37:13
For a while. Yeah, it's been a hot minute since they've had a good quarterback.
37:17
Since Trevor Lawrence. Yeah. Which has been, what, four years, five years?
37:22
Several, yeah. I can't remember exactly how many, but... I think that just shows
37:26
to show how much weight is actually put on the portal.
37:29
And I know earlier this weekend, Joe and I kind of posed the question is there is so much change.
37:37
And a good example is Indiana on their title run the last two years and how Signetti came.
37:45
And he brought in a bunch of players via the portal and kind of changed the
37:48
culture of the program almost overnight because of the players that were brought
37:53
in. And granted, a lot of them were still from JMU.
37:56
But if we take the weight of the portal and the power that a coach has,
38:02
something like that could happen to Clemson next year, and they could make a
38:06
run for it just because of the portal.
38:08
So if you're not willing to work it, then that almost puts you at a disadvantage. UCLA.
38:14
UCLA, big time. Yep. Yep.
38:17
Well, in another way, I think, thanks to the portal, I think we're seeing some
38:21
teams that have surprised people this year, teams that came out of the woodwork, so to say,
38:27
and a result of that is there are nine teams that were ranked in the top 25
38:32
in the preseason that are no longer ranked.
38:36
And here is that list. Number 24, Louisville.
38:39
Number 22, Iowa. Number 18, Penn State. Number 17, Washington.
38:44
Number 16, Michigan. Number 14, USC.
38:48
Number 10, Oklahoma. number eight, Texas A&M and number two,
38:52
Oregon are not in the top 25.
38:57
And that is,
38:59
Wild. You miss Oregon.
39:04
Right. I don't know. Crazy. I don't know. It's night and day.
39:09
The wheels are falling off. And he's a good coach.
39:12
Yeah, yeah. Well, Dante's not going to come back this season.
39:17
So you got that. Okay. What's the backup from Nebraska's name?
39:21
Dylan Raiola. Yeah, yeah. Dylan Raiola is not good at football.
39:25
I think he was good when he got
39:27
thrown into the game with no time to think about it. You know what I mean?
39:31
He did very good in the game when he had to go in, and it was like, hey, dude, you're up.
39:37
He does not do well, obviously, as a starter, and then their third stringer's
39:41
also not good at football.
39:42
And then you lose all that core of receivers to the legal trouble.
39:47
Yeah, I don't know if much more could go worse for Oregon.
39:51
And plus you got an oc that is not good at football,
39:56
i just is it just yeah that was a heck of a choice by dan lanning i'm not sure
40:00
what he was thinking and obviously the wrong one everybody now great but here's
40:04
the deal was he on a time crunch did he have 15 minutes to make that higher
40:08
i don't know but but this is the thing,
40:10
if it worked he's a genius,
40:13
It didn't work, so he's an idiot. You know what I mean? I mean,
40:17
why do we learn about history?
40:19
It's so we don't make mistakes twice. Okay.
40:23
If you look at his history at Michigan State and Wyoming, come on, brother.
40:28
You're in the bottom of the conference and in the hundreds of rankings for offensive
40:32
production. Like, come on now.
40:34
Yeah, that was not a good hire. So I'll bet we see a disturbance in the force
40:39
at Oregon in the offseason moving forward.
40:42
So we will, yeah, we'll see what happens there.
40:46
But we'll move over to the Mountain West Conference where North Dakota State
40:50
is 6-2 now after traveling to New Mexico and losing 21-16.
40:56
Leaving New Mexico at 6-1, 3-0 in conference play in the sole top of the conference.
41:02
We were elk hunting this weekend, did not get eyes on these football games.
41:05
I'm assuming that was a good game.
41:07
And yeah, just by reading the box score and looking at some articles about this
41:12
football game, number one, I'm a big Jason Eck guy.
41:16
Just the energy that he's brought to this team in the last handful of years
41:19
have made them very competitive.
41:21
Did you see everybody trashing him online for getting in that player's face?
41:25
No. Yeah, it's ridiculous, but he's holding his guys accountable.
41:30
And if you look at the response of the player, it was still positive, at least,
41:35
via the kid's body language a kid made a stupid personal foul,
41:40
and he got himself an old-fashioned butt chewing,
41:44
on the sideline i think that guy was you know when your coach used to get in
41:48
your face mask or whatever and you were praying to god they didn't have chewing
41:51
tobacco in their mouth because chunks of it were flying i was just getting ready
41:54
to give that example that's why
41:56
we're advisors in practice yeah yeah you yeah you asked,
41:59
you would ask for a visor at practice because you were getting screamed at all the time.
42:05
It was that level of butt-chewing.
42:07
And people online, man, were freaking out about it. They were saying that it
42:10
was unnecessary or whatever. I was like, no, no, that's why they're 6-1 right now.
42:16
Yeah, but also shout out to their defense. They have forced at least two turnovers
42:21
in every game this season and leads the nation with 23 turnovers.
42:26
Yeah, that's the tail of the tape right there is winning the turnover battle,
42:31
for sure. Big time, big time.
42:34
UTEP, oh, go ahead. I think some of the backlash would be, you know,
42:39
he tore into a player, which I think that would be fine.
42:44
Coach Eck is just an odd-looking fellow coach, maybe. Right,
42:50
right. I get what you're saying. The body language of the way that came across seems odd. Yeah.
42:57
If it's Nick Saban, and not to compare the two, but that's Saban doing it,
43:01
then they're saying his praises. Yeah, yeah.
43:04
It's just different. I see what you're saying.
43:07
UTEP and UNLV both had buys this weekend. Northern Illinois is now 0-7 after
43:12
hosting Hawaii, who is now 2-5. Hawaii won the game 56-21.
43:18
I saw an Instagram post here which describes how unfairly Northern Illinois',
43:26
athletic leadership, I guess, has left this football program.
43:30
Hawaii traveled 4,000 miles to deliver a beatdown of 56-21 home loss,
43:36
leaves interim coach Rob Harley still searching for his first victory.
43:40
And the part that kicks me about that is interim coach.
43:44
They have not yet named a head coach for this football program.
43:48
Their closest game has been by 18 points. They've lost them all.
43:51
They lost an FCS opponent,
43:54
The only light at the end of the tunnel that Northern Illinois is potentially
43:59
eyeballing right now is Jordan Lynch is in the conversation of their head coaching program.
44:07
Now, that usually ends either very well or very badly when you bring in a former
44:14
star player. He played quarterback at NIU during one of their really big runs of greatness.
44:21
They won the Mac and then they lost the they played in a BCS bowl with him I
44:26
can't remember which one it was I think it was the Fiesta Bowl something like
44:31
that, they won it too I think didn't they?
44:33
Yeah, they were I believe they were 13-1 or something and,
44:37
ranked up to number 9 in that season, that was a heck of a run they had Right,
44:40
well he is at he's a head high school coach in Chicago right now and is rumored
44:46
to be in the mix for the head job,
44:49
I just think they need to say that somebody is their head coach.
44:53
To get a foothold moving forward. This is a little bit ridiculous, in my opinion.
44:57
Yeah, I think just from the top, it was a little bit of poor management from
45:01
the athletic department, unfortunately, and kind of, I don't want to say it
45:05
set them up for disaster, but when you have people who aren't necessarily bought
45:09
in because you don't have the faith or the support behind you,
45:13
it's hard to develop a culture and just some field codes about the program.
45:19
Dumb how do you put the interim tag going into a season how does that instill
45:26
any confidence in the players how does that install any confidence in the coaches
45:31
now you should be coaching your hind end off,
45:34
to get the interim tag,
45:37
off but in terms of the players what kind of confidence is that giving them
45:43
that these guys are even going to be here next year when you put the interim tag on,
45:47
right and coach left in february it's not like he left in july so,
45:52
yeah i don't know it's gonna have to get fixed there if you don't you don't
45:56
want him make the change make the change make the change,
46:00
yeah gonna be interesting to see what happens there in the offseason because
46:03
definitely something needs to change but,
46:06
nevada hosted san jose state and beat the spartans 28-13 this weekend nevada's
46:12
three and four so and san jose state is now four and four good win good win
46:16
down in Reno. Did you go to that game last?
46:18
No, no, but we watched it and it was actually.
46:23
I thought it was a good, well-played football game. Now, obviously,
46:28
it didn't have that one. But I've been watching.
46:31
Some of those games have been ugly football. And this was a good,
46:35
well-played football game.
46:37
Right. Well, the surprise of the week is a surprise that I'll take for sure.
46:43
Air Force, the curse in Laramie continues. The Falcons have not won in Laramie since 2012.
46:51
And that should have changed Friday night, but it did not.
46:56
Wyoming led 21-6 at halftime and won the game 28-14.
47:02
Both teams had similar, Air Force had more offense, 387 yards to 301 yards to Wyoming.
47:09
Air Force turned the ball over three times to zero times for Wyoming.
47:14
They had 23 first downs, which Wyoming had 13, they were, yeah, I don't know.
47:22
They just lost the football game. I don't really know how else to put it.
47:26
First quarter, Wyoming's quarterback runs a 68-yard touchdown,
47:31
Passed for one in the second quarter. Passed for two in the second quarter.
47:34
Yeah, I don't know. I'm happy with it. It makes the Mountain West situation,
47:40
very puzzling moving forward because now here are the standings.
47:44
New Mexico atop of the conference at 3-0 in conference play.
47:48
Number two with Wyoming at 4-1.
47:50
Number three UNLV being because NDSU beat Wyoming. New Mexico beat NDSU.
47:58
UNLV at number 3 at 2-1 at number 4 is NDSU because UNLV has the head-to-head against NDSU,
48:08
number 5 is Air Force at 3-2 number 6 and 7 are Nevada and San Jose at 2-2 number
48:14
8 is Hawaii at 1-4 UTEP and NIU are 9-10 at 0-3 and we'll go to this week's games now,
48:22
North Dakota State hosts UTEP,
48:25
I think that one's probably a no-brainer, am I right?
48:28
Right, UTEP is going to win. Whoa! Just kidding. Just kidding.
48:35
Man, that would be the day. The Bison get that one figured out relatively early
48:40
in the first quarter. So, Air Force has a non-conference game hosting UConn.
48:46
I'm going to look at this here really quick. UConn is 4-3, Air Force is 5-2.
48:52
Their last five games, UConn beat UMass, beat Temple, lost to Syracuse in overtime,
48:59
beat Miami of Ohio, and beat Southern Miss. Nothing crazy there.
49:05
Air Force lost to Wyoming, but they beat UNLV, beat NIU, beat Navy, beat Nevada.
49:10
ESPN has Air Force at a 61.2% chance to win.
49:15
The reason I'm hoping they do win is because Wyoming also plays UConn in a couple of weeks so,
49:24
I think Air Force wins the football game yeah same I think what's crazy is even
49:28
as favorite as Air Force is according to their stats Vegas only has the spread at one and a half,
49:35
right I think this will be a closer game than ESPN saying it's going to be UConn's not bad,
49:40
they're they're they're on their way to be a bowl team I think they're pretty
49:43
good they're not as good as they were last year, but I think Air Force wins,
49:46
but I don't think it's an easy win.
49:49
No, and I think Air Force has more quality wins than UConn does at this point.
49:55
I'm going to go Air Force, too, but it's actually kind of a tough one for me. Yeah.
49:59
I'm going back and forth between that one. Where's the game? Is that Air Force?
50:05
Air Force, yep. Yeah, I'll go Air Force.
50:09
All right. Northern Illinois is 0-7. They travel to UNLV, who is 4-3.
50:14
UNLV is coming off a bye week this week, and that is unfortunate for the Huskies
50:19
because I think UNLV takes care of business, takes them to the woodshed. Yeah, no question.
50:26
UNLV Alright, you're going to hop on this train at some point Les, I know you are.
50:33
3-4 Nevada is on the road at 7-0 UCLA I think that'll be a fun place to play
50:39
cool to play in the Rose Bowl but,
50:42
the Bruins are just playing at a high level and I don't think the Wolf Pack
50:47
can take them down this week,
50:51
Yeah, I hope this is a good football game hopefully some film comes out of it,
50:55
to take the wolf back to the next level.
50:58
I just think it's a, I mean, whenever they scheduled this game,
51:01
no one thought that this was, would be where, where everything is,
51:05
you know? Yeah. I just feel so, I feel bad for Nevada.
51:10
And I don't know how good UCLA is because look at the teams that they've played
51:13
and it really hasn't been a quality win. I mean, if you're going to be seven
51:19
and all, then you should be seven and all against those teams.
51:21
And going to be eight and all or whatever it is after this weekend.
51:24
It just, It's one of those things where you have a Nevada program that's struggling
51:29
somewhat and trying to maybe just get their feet under them,
51:32
and then wham, you're going to play UCLA. It's plenty of well.
51:36
I do have to say that I think it's dangerous to be in the top 10 rankings and
51:41
playing an unranked team at this point in the season.
51:44
Yeah, that's true. They are UCLA's ranked number 7 this week.
51:48
Yeah, UCL is ranked number seven this week, so we'll see what happens there.
51:51
But New Mexico, six and one, travels to San Jose State, who is four and four.
51:57
This game last year was a game that we went into it. New Mexico was riding high,
52:02
and we were like, oh, New Mexico is going to roll them. And San Jose,
52:06
I think there was two or three games last year.
52:08
San Jose was not supposed to win, and somehow, some way, they snuck it out.
52:15
They beat New Mexico last year.
52:17
I think it was at San Jose. So due to the conference shifting around a little
52:21
bit, it must be two years in a row for New Mexico going to San Jose.
52:26
However, this year, I think they take care of business and they whoop them by a lot.
52:30
Yeah, I don't think this is a question with how good the Lobos defense has been
52:35
playing and how bad the Spartans offense is.
52:38
They're almost ranked last in third down conversions, and that's a big part of the football game.
52:43
So as long as they can keep those trends the same, then I think the Lobos take it handily. For sure.
52:50
Yeah, this is a trap game to me, and I'm going to pick New Mexico,
52:55
but they just beat North Dakota State.
52:57
So that's the quasi, maybe a potential conference championship game right there.
53:07
And they beat them. So everybody's going to be riding high and patting them
53:12
on the back, and now they go to San Jose. day.
53:15
So this will test the moxie in the maturity of New Mexico.
53:22
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Well, Hawaii and Wyoming both have buys this week.
53:27
Very welcome time. I know Wyoming had several people out with injuries the last couple of weeks.
53:32
I know Hawaii will probably use a week off of travel. Boise State is now 6-1
53:37
after beating Washington State on the road 31-10.
53:40
What was the score at halftime of that game? I can't remember what it was.
53:43
It was like 10-10 10 or something. 10-10 or 13-10. Yeah.
53:47
It was a very close game at the start of the fourth quarter,
53:49
and then it seemed like Boise State woke up a little bit.
53:53
But Washington State played them tough down the stretch. Fresno State had a bye this week.
53:57
Boise State plays host to Texas State. Texas State is not a bad football team.
54:04
I will pick Boise State to win that game.
54:07
But Texas State is 4-3. They are not bad at football.
54:14
They've won four of their last five.
54:17
They beat North Texas, beat Incarnate Word, lost to San Diego State.
54:21
They beat Colorado State, and then they beat Utah State.
54:24
Obviously, Boise has won their last five, beating Washington State,
54:27
Fresno, Utah State, Western Michigan, and South Dakota.
54:30
But yeah, not a bad football team coming into Boise. I think it'll be a good football game.
54:35
Yeah, it seems like Texas State has maybe more quality wins than Boise State.
54:41
Yeah, I definitely don't agree with that. I feel like the team in general is
54:45
kind of like a wind-up toy. It takes them a little bit of time to get started
54:49
because this isn't their first football game this season where they started off real slow.
54:53
So whether or not it comes from locker room adjustments at halftime or maybe
54:58
a little bit of a wake-up call mid-game where it's like, you know, we are better than this.
55:02
It's time to kick into gear. So whatever it is, hopefully they can learn to
55:07
start a little bit faster and take control of the football game early and everything
55:12
else will handle itself.
55:13
Yeah, I'm going to pick Boise State. But in the end of it all,
55:16
if you look at their scores, and at the beginning of the season,
55:20
they played Oregon real tough, and holy cow, but obviously Oregon's not very good.
55:26
I just wonder how good Boise State really truly is.
55:33
Yeah, I think between this one and the Oregon State game, we're really going
55:36
to find out the tenacity of this Boise State team. Yeah.
55:41
Well, speaking of Oregon State, Fresno's coming off a bye, and they host Oregon State this week.
55:46
They beat them in Corvallis last year, if I remember correctly.
55:50
So they're hosting them this year. Oregon State's 5-2, Fresno's 4-3.
55:55
Fresno's lost their last two drop-in games to San Diego State and Boise State.
56:02
But Oregon State's won their last five they lost their first two games of the
56:08
season they do have some impressive wins but they don't have a ton of like their
56:13
last five games were against Montana UTEP Colorado State garbage,
56:17
you know FCS and then two not good,
56:20
FBS programs they beat San Diego State who does seem to be a relatively decent football game but then,
56:26
they hosted Washington State and they gave up 30 points to Washington State and This was a week ago.
56:35
Which was wild to me because Washington State's offense cannot walk and shoot
56:38
bubblegum at the same time.
56:39
So interesting to see this game.
56:42
I think it'll depend on Fresno's offense where they can get going.
56:47
That'll be a big factor in this game.
56:50
I'm going to lean offense with the exception of the San Diego State game.
56:58
I think Fresno's offense played decently against Boise.
57:02
Not so much against San Diego State, but I was hoping they were kind of turning a corner.
57:07
So at home, kind of a must-win game.
57:14
If you're going to be somebody, I guess, if that makes sense for Fresno.
57:18
So I'm going to go Fresno on this one, but it's not going to be an easy order.
57:23
Yeah, I'm picking Fresno as well. As good as Oregon State is on offense,
57:28
I'm hoping that Fresno's defense comes in pretty strong, especially after the bye week.
57:34
I have no idea where to pick.
57:39
Defensively, I was pretty happy with them up until the last two games.
57:45
I thought the offense has kind of turned the corner.
57:47
I think defensively, they've not played that well.
57:51
I know they have. But every team has some injuries.
57:55
So I know they have some injuries, but they might have, Oregon State might have
58:00
the fastest kid in the nation playing receiver.
58:04
Not very big. He's fast. Quarterback's a good player.
58:09
They can score some points. And it would need to be a total team effort from
58:16
Fresno to have a chance in the fourth quarter. I just don't know if they're going to.
58:21
So, I mean, it's got to be a, you got to get a special teams deal.
58:25
You got to get a turnover.
58:27
You've got to have some things go your way in order for Feznova. Right.
58:32
Right. I hope it happens. That
58:33
would be awesome if it does, and we'll be tuned in on Saturday for sure.
58:37
This coming Saturday, I'll be spending some time with my family.
58:40
My parents are coming up this weekend, so we'll be handing out candy until it's
58:44
out and then hiding in the basement watching movies, pretending that the doorbell
58:48
is not ringing. So that'll be how Saturday night goes, which is the perfect
58:52
time to watch some college football.
58:54
But a recap of opening a weekend here in Montana.
58:58
I ended up on plan D for the plan. But so Friday night concludes football here,
59:06
high school football here in town.
59:08
Austin and I come back to my house. We finish watching the Wyoming game and then we head out.
59:14
We arrive to the trailhead at like 5 a.m.
59:18
Yeah, it was early. And it was packed. It was so full that we decided,
59:24
screw it. We'll go look for deer or something today.
59:27
We looked at a few bucks, looked at a few deer. Nothing quite was a situation
59:31
that was, you know, stockable and making it happen or not.
59:34
We spent the first night in my Peaks. What's that tent called?
59:37
The Peaks altitude? Solitude. Solitude.
59:40
The Peaks solitude with the stove. And I will admit this.
59:45
That was dope. Game changer. Game changer to sleep in a hot tent. Never done that before.
59:51
I mean, obviously I've stayed in wall tents that have a stove,
59:53
but this is a backpack peak solitude tent that fits in your hunting pack with a stove.
59:59
It's a little bit bulky in the backpack.
1:00:02
I will take it on multiple day trips because I won't go on another cold hunt
1:00:05
without that, without that stove.
1:00:08
No, no, not at all. The trick is, I don't know what the internal temperature
1:00:13
of the tent was when the stove was ripping.
1:00:15
Number one, there's plenty of room for the stove to be in the middle and then
1:00:18
somebody to sleep on each side of it. There's plenty of room.
1:00:21
Don't touch the stove. It's very hot.
1:00:25
It does. We got a rip into where there was a glow to it. It was turning orange a little bit.
1:00:30
Now, the trick to it is, though, is finding big enough chunks to stick in there
1:00:36
that last all night because what did happen to me, Austin also has a fancy brand
1:00:40
new sleeping bag that costs a ton of money.
1:00:42
It was worth it, though, you said? Dude, so worth it. I don't know what I was
1:00:46
thinking being younger and paying $100 for sets of sleeping bags,
1:00:52
but you spend a little bit of money and you get a quality sleeping bag, it changes the game.
1:00:56
Well, here's how I can tell it changed the game. It was definitely below 20 degrees at nighttime.
1:01:02
And I was so warm and toasty that I fell asleep next to the stove.
1:01:08
And I had more wood. I had big chunks that I was going to throw into it. However, I fell asleep.
1:01:13
And I woke up at 1 o'clock in the morning frozen as a popsicle.
1:01:18
I was so cold. Austin is snoring away.
1:01:22
Doesn't even register the noise.
1:01:24
Does not come to life when I'm like up trying to start the fire again.
1:01:29
Once I did get it started, it heats the tent right back up. It's no big deal.
1:01:33
Works quick. I fell right back asleep because now I'm warm again.
1:01:37
So you got to plan for the night there and make sure you got a system down or
1:01:43
the right wood to put in there that lasts all night. But day two,
1:01:46
we decided, come hell or high water, we're going to hike into where the elk are.
1:01:51
And that was a dumb idea. Definitely not our last or first dumb idea.
1:01:58
Luckily, though, we bumped into a guy on the ridge we were headed in on.
1:02:03
And he asked us, you know, we kind of just started to talk with him a little
1:02:05
bit. And he says he'd been hunting this since September.
1:02:09
The elk are where we think they are.
1:02:11
But it's a very small chunk of ground that's huntable, public land, where they hang out.
1:02:18
And he said there's somebody in there with a with a wall tent camp that's why he wasn't in there so,
1:02:26
we decide okay we'll go mess around a little bit figure out what to do we get
1:02:31
in the truck chuck's making a bad noise,
1:02:34
chuck threw a brake pad which i have no idea how that happened it's not the
1:02:38
first time of it yeah not the first time that's happened to me even while hunting. So go figure there.
1:02:45
So smart or dumb, we babied it back to Poulsen because I didn't want to take it to a shop.
1:02:52
I spent most of the day Monday fixing it. I went out on Monday evening, did not see a deer.
1:02:59
And then yesterday was Tuesday. I went out, I went for a long walk,
1:03:03
much longer than I originally anticipated it to be.
1:03:07
I found a moose shed, which was cool. I also found massive grizzly bear tracks,
1:03:12
massive poop, big beds and bones everywhere throughout this drainage.
1:03:17
At 1230, I bumped a buck who stood at 140 yards in the trees.
1:03:22
Uphill for me, quite a steep angle uphill.
1:03:25
So I had to set the moose shed down.
1:03:27
And I put this right behind his shoulder and shot.
1:03:32
And I heard the thwop. He was with three does. He ran directly north just along
1:03:39
the hill. He didn't go up or down, it didn't seem like. But I lost him in the thick stuff.
1:03:44
And the does went up and over. They went to the top. They kept looking back
1:03:47
down and then they finally went over. So I was like, all right,
1:03:49
he's dead and he's in the trees over there.
1:03:52
So, but super steep angle. So I had to make sure I identified which tree he was standing by.
1:03:58
Get up there, not a drop of blood. There was no blood whatsoever.
1:04:02
I couldn't find blood. I couldn't do, couldn't find blood at all.
1:04:06
So I grid this entire hillside for over an hour.
1:04:10
Cannot find him. I don't have tracks, I don't have blood, nothing.
1:04:14
But the truck was about a mile away directly across the drainage so I texted
1:04:19
a buddy I knew he would know exactly where I was so I was like hey if you're
1:04:24
not busy I can't find this buck if you'll come help me.
1:04:27
So I get back to the truck which I had service at and I was glassing the ridge,
1:04:33
to see because I was trying to doubt myself I was like did I gut shoot him did
1:04:37
I miss him but in my mind I like I knew I hit that deer I just didn't know,
1:04:42
didn't I mean there was no way I missed,
1:04:45
that that shot I just knew and the shot was good I didn't I didn't I didn't
1:04:49
think I'd screwed it up or anything,
1:04:51
but I glassed the ridge backwards and I find a dead deer under a tree but it
1:04:57
was like 400 feet below the level he was at so he must have run to the north died and then tumbled.
1:05:06
So I'm like, if that's a tree, if that's like a downed tree when I get over there,
1:05:12
I don't know. I believe I told my buddy on the phone because I had serviced
1:05:15
the truck. I said, no kidding. I just glassed him up.
1:05:18
And he goes, are you sure it's him? And I was like legs and white belly that
1:05:21
I was looking at. And I was like, if that's not a dead deer,
1:05:25
I'm just going to call it quits when I get to this log, right?
1:05:29
Like I'm just going to be done.
1:05:31
But I get to him, it is the deer. And I could see on the slope where he had
1:05:36
just endowed, you know, all the way down.
1:05:39
And then his antlers stuck in the ground and he was like gnarled up over his
1:05:43
head. He was like all weirdly caught up, but nice buck, nice four by three buck. I just saw a frame.
1:05:49
He was looking right at me when I shot him. I had no idea how big he was,
1:05:53
but he turned out to be a nice, nice four by three.
1:05:55
And by the time I got him all the way quartered up and loaded up,
1:05:59
my buddy got to me and I threw him the front shoulders. And we,
1:06:02
uh, and the first thing he says to me when he gets up to me,
1:06:04
it was like, did you see all the grizzly tracks in here?
1:06:07
And I was like yeah that's kind of actually why I asked him to come in and then
1:06:12
we got him to the truck about right at dark and that was all she wrote so done
1:06:16
deer hunting for the year anyways.
1:06:18
Yeah, that's always a good feeling to kind of get that monkey off your shoulders,
1:06:22
at least for the weekend that we had.
1:06:24
I feel like it was kind of a rollercoaster of emotions between,
1:06:27
all right, we have a good plan, let's go do it. And then all of a sudden it gets shut down.
1:06:31
Think of another brilliant plan to do, and then you get in there and that gets
1:06:36
blown up. So once we got home, I too ended up having tire problems.
1:06:41
So spent all day Monday handling that. It was fantastic.
1:06:45
I went out yesterday because today's Wednesday as we record.
1:06:49
Went out Tuesday, spent most of the day out there hiking around this one drainage
1:06:53
and saw plenty of deer, a couple of mule deer bucks, real young and two whitetail bucks.
1:07:00
By the time I got to the second one, I was like, maybe, maybe.
1:07:06
But unfortunately, he didn't give me anything. So passed on him and ended up
1:07:11
back at the truck. But I do have to say it was cold, it was wet,
1:07:16
and it was windy all day yesterday.
1:07:18
Got home and I couldn't shake the shiver until I got some soup in me.
1:07:22
Yeah, I was cold yesterday. And by the time I got to the truck,
1:07:26
I was cold and my back hurt. Yeah.
1:07:29
What kind of tent are you guys talking about? It's called the Peak Solitude.
1:07:34
It is literally just a tarp. It doesn't have a floor. So it's a tent tarp.
1:07:38
It's a teepee shaped tent and it comes, if you buy the tent stove combo,
1:07:45
if I remember correctly, it's like $1,150 for the tent stove combo,
1:07:50
and the tent, the stove, once you put together the stove, it's actually, it makes a ton of sense.
1:07:55
It doesn't seem, the first time you put it together, you're like, what am I doing here?
1:07:59
But it's not bad. It's super easy. Once you get a good fire going,
1:08:03
the chimney flume, because it's a rolled up sheet of metal that comes about
1:08:07
this, this, this long, but then you unroll it and you roll it.
1:08:12
Long ways. And then once you get it, you know, the fire going in it,
1:08:16
it says it forms to that. So then you can, it'll just go back to doing that
1:08:20
every single time, but it is, it's a, it's, it's pretty sweet.
1:08:24
You just got to find the right piece of right size chunk of wood to stick it
1:08:28
in there. After you got a good bed of coals built up, you can close the damper,
1:08:32
close the flume a little bit. And that thing will burn.
1:08:36
It'll burn all night. If you get a good get going. And as long you don't sleep
1:08:39
like 12 hours it'll burn all night so,
1:08:42
but no game changer for sure because just stepping inside that tent it was like,
1:08:47
really cold outside then you step inside you're like oh this is this is way
1:08:50
better like every other time i've done this it's just cold i don't even know
1:08:54
why we bring the tent because it's the same temperature inside the tent,
1:08:57
but uh definitely well worth it so but.
1:09:01
Focus on austin's deer we'll get less you're gonna get a deer killed here shortly
1:09:05
we're going to come down to your way for the playoffs this week so yeah see
1:09:08
you Friday night yeah yeah we'll be down there Friday night and one of us will
1:09:12
be deer hunting the next weekend so.
1:09:16
But uh but we'll we got it some more more things to get knocked down here as
1:09:22
the next few weeks go but here's the verse for the week it's first Peter 1,
1:09:26
chapter 1 24 and 25 all men are like grass and their glory is like the flowers
1:09:31
of the field the grass withers and the flowers fall but the word of the Lord stands forever.
1:09:37
So no matter how big of a buck or a bull you kill or how many football games
1:09:41
you win, just remember that all of that withers with time, but there's only
1:09:46
one thing that does not. So keep that in your mind and your heart as you move forward this week.
1:09:49
And gentlemen, I appreciate your time.
1:09:52
It's good talking to you. And we'll be back here next week talking about week
1:09:55
nine of college football and some more hunting adventures as well.
1:09:59
Yeah, we appreciate everybody tuning in. As always, have fun and stay safe out there. Thanks, guys.