The Bobcat Nation

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"To me, I think the tougher you make your schedule, a lot of times that does prepare you for the (playoff) situations," Baldwin said. "I think if you just set your schedule up so you can have a great regular season, I don't think it necessarily prepares you like you truly need to be or want to be to truly make a run in the playoffs. Plus, those are defining-type football games you can go after. Whether it be for us the last couple years with the University of Washington and playing WSU (Washington State) and Idaho. And then this year, obviously, Oregon State, Toledo and also Sam Houston, those are the type of football games that you say, man, you're making the schedule that much tougher, but those are also defining-type games, those are moment-type games."

Will be interesting to see how this plays out for them. Two BCS and a Div II doesn't leave much room for other potential losses unless they beat one of the BCS teams. I'm also wondering if it will take 8 D-I wins this year to make the playoffs since it's a 12 game season and there should be lots of teams with 7 D-1 wins.

Eastern will surely be at or near the top of the BSC next year despite the tough schedule and loss of their best receivers. Not to nitpick but I don't think Toledo is a BCS team. Also, the article says they are playing Western Washington on Sept 14th, but I am sure Western Washington dropped football in 2008 so their must be some mistake.

i think toledo is a mac team

It is a good question ... exactly how hard will it be to make the playoffs going-forward? Will the committee start letting in a bunch more mediocre lower conference teams with impressive records against non-scholarship competition (I'm sounding like a BCS douche when I say that, I realize), or will they favor more power conference teams with tought schedules?

With as large as the playoff field is getting and with the defections of many of the usual playoff suspects, it seems like making the playoffs will become a pretty low bar in the coming years for a decent BSC program. So EWU is probalby looking at it the right way -- I would hope that loading up with tough games wouldn't be the reason any deserving program misses the playoffs.

Weltercat wrote:Eastern will surely be at or near the top of the BSC next year despite the tough schedule and loss of their best receivers. Not to nitpick but I don't think Toledo is a BCS team. Also, the article says they are playing Western Washington on Sept 14th, but I am sure Western Washington dropped football in 2008 so their must be some mistake.

Yep, Western Washington is apparently no more so what TSN really meant was Western Oregon. According to ESPN, Toledo is an FBS team.

catscat wrote:
Yep, Western Washington is apparently no more so what TSN really meant was Western Oregon. According to ESPN, Toledo is an FBS team.

Toledo is FBS, but he was correct in that the MAC is not part of the BCS conferences within the FBS division. Also, my favorite TV networks are TBS and CBS and I get my prescriptions from CVS.

MSU01 wrote:

catscat wrote:
Yep, Western Washington is apparently no more so what TSN really meant was Western Oregon. According to ESPN, Toledo is an FBS team.

Toledo is FBS, but he was correct in that the MAC is not part of the BCS conferences within the FBS division. Also, my favorite TV networks are TBS and CBS and I get my prescriptions from CVS.

WTF!?

I am still mad about MSU ducking North Dakota State. Playing up and playing teams like SHSU early help define where your team needs to improve,(or prove to themselves) that you can make a deep run in the playoffs.

Toledo will be a solid opponent, definitely not a push over for any FCS school. EWU plays big in big games, and they have a ton of talent coming back. They have a tank with speed with their incoming freshman class (DJ Adams?) and probably one of the most talented and tall secondaries that will now include UCLA safety transfer.

Considering we are having troubles snapping the ball and a smallish DLine it is probably better that we ducked the Bison.

SMU will test our team speed on defense, and get our secondary baptized for the Big Sky.

Going forward, if you can qualify for the playoffs coming out of the MVFC or the Big Sky, you will probably be prepared for the playoffs.

bpcats20 wrote:I am still mad about MSU ducking North Dakota State. Playing up and playing teams like SHSU early help define where your team needs to improve,(or prove to themselves) that you can make a deep run in the playoffs.

Toledo will be a solid opponent, definitely not a push over for any FCS school. EWU plays big in big games, and they have a ton of talent coming back. They have a tank with speed with their incoming freshman class (DJ Adams?) and probably one of the most talented and tall secondaries that will now include UCLA safety transfer.

Considering we are having troubles snapping the ball and a smallish DLine it is probably better that we ducked the Bison.

SMU will test our team speed on defense, and get our secondary baptized for the Big Sky.

Going forward, if you can qualify for the playoffs coming out of the MVFC or the Big Sky, you will probably be prepared for the playoffs.

Toledo is coming off two straight 9-4 seasons, and return most all key starters, I don't have high hopes. And OSU is leagues better than they were a few years ago when Sac beat them. Also, DJ Adams will be a prop, so he'll be sitting out the first year. We essentially have to beat SHSU on the road or run the table in the conference to have a good shot at the playoffs. Gonna be an interesting year.

bpcats20 wrote:I am still mad about MSU ducking North Dakota State. Playing up and playing teams like SHSU early help define where your team needs to improve,(or prove to themselves) that you can make a deep run in the playoffs.

Toledo will be a solid opponent, definitely not a push over for any FCS school. EWU plays big in big games, and they have a ton of talent coming back. They have a tank with speed with their incoming freshman class (DJ Adams?) and probably one of the most talented and tall secondaries that will now include UCLA safety transfer.

Considering we are having troubles snapping the ball and a smallish DLine it is probably better that we ducked the Bison.

SMU will test our team speed on defense, and get our secondary baptized for the Big Sky.

Going forward, if you can qualify for the playoffs coming out of the MVFC or the Big Sky, you will probably be prepared for the playoffs.

TSN story about the UCLA transfer. http://www.sportsnetwork.com/merge/tsnf ... id=4583745" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

catscat wrote:

bpcats20 wrote:I am still mad about MSU ducking North Dakota State. Playing up and playing teams like SHSU early help define where your team needs to improve,(or prove to themselves) that you can make a deep run in the playoffs.

Toledo will be a solid opponent, definitely not a push over for any FCS school. EWU plays big in big games, and they have a ton of talent coming back. They have a tank with speed with their incoming freshman class (DJ Adams?) and probably one of the most talented and tall secondaries that will now include UCLA safety transfer.

Considering we are having troubles snapping the ball and a smallish DLine it is probably better that we ducked the Bison.

SMU will test our team speed on defense, and get our secondary baptized for the Big Sky.

Going forward, if you can qualify for the playoffs coming out of the MVFC or the Big Sky, you will probably be prepared for the playoffs.

TSN story about the UCLA transfer. http://www.sportsnetwork.com/merge/tsnf ... id=4583745" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Translation for Beau Baldwin. We don't care what a kid has done, he is welcome here. screeching must be so proud.

speaking only for myself...and based on what i know about the circumstances that got him the boot (which is nothing) i would have loved him to come to the cats. i know that both msu and now um feel like they must walk on eggshells with every single player now and i'm not sure that is the case. if this guys transgression was smoking pot i just don't put that in the same category of other crap players do to get kicked off their team.

i guess what i'm saying is do we know what this kid did? was whatever it was really so bad to not get another shot? and would we have been mad had he become a cat? guess without knowing the answers to the first two questions i really don't know the answer to the third.

football-wise this is obviously an excellent get for ewu.

ilovethecats wrote:speaking only for myself...and based on what i know about the circumstances that got him the boot (which is nothing) i would have loved him to come to the cats. i know that both msu and now um feel like they must walk on eggshells with every single player now and i'm not sure that is the case. if this guys transgression was smoking pot i just don't put that in the same category of other crap players do to get kicked off their team.

i guess what i'm saying is do we know what this kid did? was whatever it was really so bad to not get another shot? and would we have been mad had he become a cat? guess without knowing the answers to the first two questions i really don't know the answer to the third.

football-wise this is obviously an excellent get for ewu.

This kind of thinking pisses me off. The point isn't whether or not smoking pot is a big deal. The point is that he failed three drug tests, which means he put his love of pot before his team on more than one occasion. At some point, you have to grow up and be a responsible person. If the rules say you can't smoke pot, then you don't smoke pot. Coddling people and letting them have 3rd, 4th, even 5th chances IS NOT helping them. It's pretty much exactly like an enabling parent. I would absolutely be mad if Ash brought him in.

grizzh8r wrote:

ilovethecats wrote:speaking only for myself...and based on what i know about the circumstances that got him the boot (which is nothing) i would have loved him to come to the cats. i know that both msu and now um feel like they must walk on eggshells with every single player now and i'm not sure that is the case. if this guys transgression was smoking pot i just don't put that in the same category of other crap players do to get kicked off their team.

i guess what i'm saying is do we know what this kid did? was whatever it was really so bad to not get another shot? and would we have been mad had he become a cat? guess without knowing the answers to the first two questions i really don't know the answer to the third.

football-wise this is obviously an excellent get for ewu.

This kind of thinking pisses me off. The point isn't whether or not smoking pot is a big deal. The point is that he failed three drug tests, which means he put his love of pot before his team on more than one occasion. At some point, you have to grow up and be a responsible person. If the rules say you can't smoke pot, then you don't smoke pot. Coddling people and letting them have 3rd, 4th, even 5th chances IS NOT helping them. It's pretty much exactly like an enabling parent. I would absolutely be mad if Ash brought him in.

Well said.

So, applying that theory, it would also be a horrible idea to sign a guy who gets kicked out of BYU for having sex. If he puts his love of having sex above the rules of the team, he's an irresponsible person and should be scorned for his decisions.

Bay Area Cat wrote:So, applying that theory, it would also be a horrible idea to sign a guy who gets kicked out of BYU for having sex. If he puts his love of having sex above the rules of the team, he's an irresponsible person and should be scorned for his decisions.

I think the point is not that somone broke a rule, it is the three times. And I can't go three times in one night anymore, in case you were wondering.

allcat wrote:

Bay Area Cat wrote:So, applying that theory, it would also be a horrible idea to sign a guy who gets kicked out of BYU for having sex. If he puts his love of having sex above the rules of the team, he's an irresponsible person and should be scorned for his decisions.

I think the point is not that somone broke a rule, it is the three times. And I can't go three times in one night anymore, in case you were wondering.

So change my devils' advocate example to "he got two warnings from the coach for having sex with his girlfriend on two different nights, and then on a third different night, he had sex with his girlfriend one additional time ... after which he immediately rolled over and fell asleep, leaving her unsatisfied, which made her mad, so she turned him in and he got kicked off the team."

Bay Area Cat wrote:

allcat wrote:

Bay Area Cat wrote:So, applying that theory, it would also be a horrible idea to sign a guy who gets kicked out of BYU for having sex. If he puts his love of having sex above the rules of the team, he's an irresponsible person and should be scorned for his decisions.

I think the point is not that somone broke a rule, it is the three times. And I can't go three times in one night anymore, in case you were wondering.

So change my devils' advocate example to "he got two warnings from the coach for having sex with his girlfriend on two different nights, and then on a third different night, he had sex with his girlfriend one additional time ... after which he immediately rolled over and fell asleep, leaving her unsatisfied, which made her mad, so she turned him in and he got kicked off the team."

If I was the coach and he had sex with my girlfriend 3 different times on 3 different nights, I'd find a different girlfriend.

Bay Area Cat wrote:So, applying that theory, it would also be a horrible idea to sign a guy who gets kicked out of BYU for having sex. If he puts his love of having sex above the rules of the team, he's an irresponsible person and should be scorned for his decisions.

He's the one who signed the contract (LOI) and I assume accepted the scholarship. His willingness to play for BYU comes with a very strict code of conduct that he agreed to follow. Therefore, if he broke the rules that he knew were in place, it shows a lack of understanding and/or poor judgement on his part. Part of the reason this country is so F-ed up is because people allow rules to be broken with little or no consequences far too often. I'm very leery of any student athlete MSU brings in that has has been kicked off of some other team. Some of them have worked out, but a good many of them have not.

Bay Area Cat wrote:

allcat wrote:

Bay Area Cat wrote:So, applying that theory, it would also be a horrible idea to sign a guy who gets kicked out of BYU for having sex. If he puts his love of having sex above the rules of the team, he's an irresponsible person and should be scorned for his decisions.

I think the point is not that somone broke a rule, it is the three times. And I can't go three times in one night anymore, in case you were wondering.

So change my devils' advocate example to "he got two warnings from the coach for having sex with his girlfriend on two different nights, and then on a third different night, he had sex with his girlfriend one additional time ... after which he immediately rolled over and fell asleep, leaving her unsatisfied, which made her mad, so she turned him in and he got kicked off the team."

They sure seem to have a lot of voyeurs at BYU. If you have sex there, do you have to include the coach? Do they have a coach for this? If so, then the unsatisfied thing is on the coach's shoulders.