1) Sam Houston
2)N Dakota State
3)James Madison
4) Montana State
5)E Washington

Montana State won today over E Washington and N Dakota State lost to South Dakota State. Montana State should move up to nr 3.

Awesome effort by the Bobcats today to defeat the evil bleeding vagina Empire. I am wagering that that Cats smoke the Griz in two weeks.

I understand the Grizzly Quarterback and the two injured running backs are almost healthy again. How much are you wagering or willing to wager and, in view of rankings, how many points are you offering?

For a friendly internet bet, Terry, I am willing to give 7.

The Bobcats barely squeaked out the win against Idaho yesterday, and the griz beat Northern Arizona easily. The Brawl this weekend should be a good game. The Cats are playing for the Big Sky Conference championship, a top 4 seed in the FCS playoffs, and of course, keeping the Great Divide trophy in Bozeman where it belongs. The griz would love to prevent any of that from happening and improve their seeding in the tournament.

I give the edge to the griz in this one. Playing at home in Washington grizzly stadium, getting some key players healthy, and the Cats are a little banged up right now. Ifanse, the Cats Peyton Award candidate RB was in street cloths at the end of the game yesterday. The Cats offense isn't very dynamic with him at less than 100%.

[Edited by tom regan (11/14/2021 4:27:58 PM)]

Griz defense is awesome, Griz offense still stinks. I still stand, Cats by 7.

...and it is obvious to all that I am an idiot when it comes to Big Sky Conference football.

In my defense, I had watched more Griz games than Cat games this year, so I had no clue how bad the Cat offense was until today. Phew. What a stench.

Good luck to both of them in the playoffs. After watching today's game, though, I don't think either team is going far.

https://www.herosports.co...ions-bzbz/

FCS brackets and predictions

[Edited by Don Birkholz (11/22/2021 7:48:45 AM)]

The season has been a success overall for the Cats. You really can't complain about 9-2 with a first-round bye in the playoffs. But, I am a little concerned about the program moving forward under the new coach Brent Vigin. I see that his son just committed to play for the Cats, so Vigin will most likely be the coach for the next 4 years. One of the main criticisms of former Coach Rob Ash is that he didn't have the intensity needed, especially for the Cat/griz rivalry. I hope that Vigin will not be Ash 2.0, with lots of regular-season wins, not a great record against the griz, and almost no success in the playoffs. Time will tell. I wish coach Choate would have stayed.

If the Cats manage to beat Missouri State or UT-Martin in Bozeman in two weeks, they will most likely get destroyed at SHSU. Just like the old days under Ash.

[Edited by tom regan (11/22/2021 1:39:04 PM)]

Choate might be on the market before too long... But I agree, Vigen didn't have much fire...

Round 2: Friday-Holy Cross at Villanova
East Wash at Montana (E Wash defeated Montana earlier)

Sat-SE Louisiana at James Madison
Kennesaw State at Eastern Tennessee
U of Incarnate Word at Sam Houston
Southern Ill at North Dak State
Univ of Tenn Martin at Montana State
S Dak State at Sac St

If Montana and Montana State win all their games, they would face each other in the Championship.

Quarterback Matthew McKay has entered the transfer portal and will not play anymore for the MSU Bobcats.

It will be interesting to see what coach Vigin will do. Tommy Mellott is a great athlete, but has only attempted 4 passes this year. And Tucker Rovig has played only a quarter of football since 2019. GO CATS!!

I see Tucker's dad & uncle here at work all the time, so I'm a little biased towards him, but anything will be better than what we saw a couple of weeks ago.

Don't bet on it, Bridgier. Just ask Gunnar.

Congratulations to the Griz and Cats for advancing this weekend in the FCS 2nd round playoffs.

Griz travel to Virginia to take on James Madison, while the Cats head to Texas to face Sam Houston State. I like the Griz's odds on winning better than the Cats, as Sam Houston State has been thumping Big Sky Conference teams for years. Still, good luck to both teams.

I'm kind of annoyed that both games were on ESPN+, a subscription streaming service, but I went and plunked down $7 for a month subscription anyway. After experiencing technical difficulties streaming on my 10 year old craptop, I switched to streaming on my phone and casting to my big screen TV. It made a world of difference.

Next round: 1)12/10 (Friday)......Montana and James Madison 5:00 pm mst

2)12/11 (Sat).........E, Tennessee and NDSU 10:00 am mst

3)12/11 (Sat).........S Dak State and Villanova 12:00 pm mst

4)12/11 (Sat).........Montana State and Sam Houston 6:30 pm mst


I am assuming the Bobcats and Grizzlies are away games.