The Bobcat Nation

Okay, I'm going to go ahead and just post this in the smack section, because I have little doubt that it would get there fast anyway, even though the article is from an independent authority.

http://www.sportsnetwork.com/default.as ... 046189.htm

You know, I read that earlier today GrizinWash and was trying to figure out how I could post it here without the place blowing up too. All in all a pretty good article and really it is true, the schools that have been "dynasties" in I-AA have all fallen off to some degree but the Griz really haven't.









Yet.

Now that's a story that the Billings Gazette should have run. A truthful story without a jab toward MSU. I agree, it is a good article (the truth hurts). I did like the reference to the Atlanta Braves though... I had no idea the Griz were 2-10 in road playoff games. Just goes to prove there's a definite home field advantage at WaGriz....

I can't disagree with anything written in the article, but honestly... is it possible for Matt Dougherty to suck up to UM any more? His lips have officially been surgically attached to UM's collective behinds. Not to mention, he pretty much just rehashed the Garbage-ette and Tribune articles of the last few weeks without giving Kusek or Geise any credit for all their research.

The stadium - No
Game day experience - No
Clothing items - No
Egriz - No
Coaches and current players - No

But this is truly what we envy about the Griz over the past 20 years. A National reputation as a perennial power in 1AA. Hate to say it, but wish this article was about the Cats.

grzh8r wrote:I had no idea the Griz were 2-10 in road playoff games. Just goes to prove there's a definite home field advantage at WaGriz....

I think the 2-10 record must include championship games, because I don't remember the Griz ever winning a road playoff game other than the two title games (and I'm pretty sure they haven't played twelve road playoff games unless you count title games, as well).

I've made this point before, though, on different boards -- I think the Griz road playoff record is a little deceptive as a measure of the homefield advantage at Wa Griz. One thing you have to remember about those road playoff losses is that a lot of them came against teams who were simply vastly superior to ours in those years (Ga. Southern in 1989, Marshall in 1996, the loss @ Youngstown State in I don't remember what year; the 1998 loss to W. Illinois), and we probably would've lost those games even if they had been in Missoula. I'm not saying there isn't a huge homefield advantage in Missoula; I'm just saying that the 2-10 road playoff record should be looked at in the proper perspective.

There's a reason why we were on the road in a lot of those games, and it's because the other team was simply better than we were and had earned homefield advantage.

WalkOn79 wrote:The stadium - No
Game day experience - No
Clothing items - No
Egriz - No
Coaches and current players - No

But this is truly what we envy about the Griz over the past 20 years. A National reputation as a perennial power in 1AA. Hate to say it, but wish this article was about the Cats.

You don't envy the stadium even a little bit?

anacondagriz wrote:

WalkOn79 wrote:The stadium - No
Game day experience - No
Clothing items - No
Egriz - No
Coaches and current players - No

But this is truly what we envy about the Griz over the past 20 years. A National reputation as a perennial power in 1AA. Hate to say it, but wish this article was about the Cats.

You don't envy the stadium even a little bit?

I'll be honest - I do. But not the other things!

anacondagriz wrote:

WalkOn79 wrote:The stadium - No
Game day experience - No
Clothing items - No
Egriz - No
Coaches and current players - No

But this is truly what we envy about the Griz over the past 20 years. A National reputation as a perennial power in 1AA. Hate to say it, but wish this article was about the Cats.

You don't envy the stadium even a little bit?

Well maybe a tad, but we'll get there soon enough. Stay tuned to the capital campaign.

kmax wrote:You know, I read that earlier today GrizinWash and was trying to figure out how I could post it here without the place blowing up too. All in all a pretty good article and really it is true, the schools that have been "dynasties" in I-AA have all fallen off to some degree but the Griz really haven't.









Yet.

I laughed!! Thanks for the (almost) compliments, kmax!!

As some of you might know, I've been a proponent of the Grizzlies makinga move to I-A, more specifically to the WAC. This articles reaffirms my desire and I'll tell you why. I miss watching the Griz play Idaho, Boise State, and Nevada. The fact that they are no longer in the Big Sky is a huge reason why the Grizzlies have had so much success.

So basically, the conference takes a dive in quality and UM takes advantage. Sure, it looks great and all, but what would this article look like if they had stayed. Would it even be about the Griz, or the Broncos. I wish the Griz were I-A, for no other reason that we would play with the old gang again.

Both MSU and UM could compete right away in the WAC. Every time I watch a game on TV I can't help but think....In the WAC, we would have better competition, better TV coverage (more games on ESPN2 and such), and better refs.

I know this will never happen no matter how much we talk about it but I still mouth off. Hell, I wish MSU-Billings would go D-I.

But they have enjoyed a 128-18 record since Washington-Grizzly Stadium opened during the 1986 season.

damn

BozoneCat wrote:I can't disagree with anything written in the article, but honestly... is it possible for Matt Dougherty to suck up to UM any more? His lips have officially been surgically attached to UM's collective behinds. Not to mention, he pretty much just rehashed the Garbage-ette and Tribune articles of the last few weeks without giving Kusek or Geise any credit for all their research.

I think you have Matt confused with his predecessor Tony Moss.

Cat-theotherwhitemeat wrote:
I know this will never happen no matter how much we talk about it but I still mouth off. Hell, I wish MSU-Billings would go D-I.

I wish Eastern Montana College would just get a football team.

vike_king wrote:

Cat-theotherwhitemeat wrote:
I know this will never happen no matter how much we talk about it but I still mouth off. Hell, I wish MSU-Billings would go D-I.

I wish Eastern Montana College would just get a football team.

Yeah, me too. I don't see that happening with the current AD and Sexton at the helm.

If they can't play football, I'd at least like to watch the Jackets basketball teams play D-I, sort of like Gonzaga does. I might even donate a little money to my alma mater and become an actual "fan". Billings needs a D-I team.

Cat-theotherwhitemeat wrote:
If they can't play football, I'd at least like to watch the Jackets basketball teams play D-I, sort of like Gonzaga does. I might even donate a little money to my alma mater and become an actual "fan". Billings needs a D-I team.

Biggest thing for MSU-B is to get into a decent conference. Their current conference is terrible. I know they are trying to get their old rivalry with Panhandle State going again… They might be better off going back to NAIA, and then there would be some actual games people would be interested in.

The Butcher wrote:

Cat-theotherwhitemeat wrote:
If they can't play football, I'd at least like to watch the Jackets basketball teams play D-I, sort of like Gonzaga does. I might even donate a little money to my alma mater and become an actual "fan". Billings needs a D-I team.

Biggest thing for MSU-B is to get into a decent conference. Their current conference is terrible. I know they are trying to get their old rivalry with Panhandle State going again… They might be better off going back to NAIA, and then there would be some actual games people would be interested in.

The conference they are in now is horrible. They never should have even considered it. They have already switched. Do you know the new conference they are slated to get into? Although the games would feature more interesting games in NAIA, I'd rather them look at moving up than down.

Never mind, I found it.

http://www.gnacsports.com/fullstoryMSUB.htm

Montana State University – Billings will join the Great Northwest Athletic Conference effective July 1, 2007. The official announcement of the addition of the Montana school to the conference was made at a news conference in Billings on May 19.

The Yellowjackets will join Central Washington University, Western Washington University, Seattle Pacific University, Seattle University, Saint Martin's University, Northwest Nazarene University, Western Oregon University, the University of Alaska Anchorage and the University of Alaska Fairbanks bringing membership in the conference to 10 institutions.

MSU-Billings is currently a member of the Heartland Conference and will continue to compete in that conference during the 2006-07 season before joining the GNAC as a member for the 2007-08 sports season.

A much better conference for the Jackets.

Grizlaw wrote:

grzh8r wrote:I had no idea the Griz were 2-10 in road playoff games. Just goes to prove there's a definite home field advantage at WaGriz....

I think the 2-10 record must include championship games, because I don't remember the Griz ever winning a road playoff game other than the two title games (and I'm pretty sure they haven't played twelve road playoff games unless you count title games, as well).

I've made this point before, though, on different boards -- I think the Griz road playoff record is a little deceptive as a measure of the homefield advantage at Wa Griz. One thing you have to remember about those road playoff losses is that a lot of them came against teams who were simply vastly superior to ours in those years (Ga. Southern in 1989, Marshall in 1996, the loss @ Youngstown State in I don't remember what year; the 1998 loss to W. Illinois), and we probably would've lost those games even if they had been in Missoula. I'm not saying there isn't a huge homefield advantage in Missoula; I'm just saying that the 2-10 road playoff record should be looked at in the proper perspective.

There's a reason why we were on the road in a lot of those games, and it's because the other team was simply better than we were and had earned homefield advantage.

And that is the same reason why Hauck's two home playoff losses stink so much. We were not only the better team, but we had the great Wash/Griz homefield advantage, which is the biggest homefield advantage in all of Div. I footballl! Yet, Bobby still finds a way to lose. Precisely why I do not like him as a coach. He sucks in big games...i.e. Cats, playoffs.

Griz Dude wrote:

Grizlaw wrote:

grzh8r wrote:I had no idea the Griz were 2-10 in road playoff games. Just goes to prove there's a definite home field advantage at WaGriz....

I think the 2-10 record must include championship games, because I don't remember the Griz ever winning a road playoff game other than the two title games (and I'm pretty sure they haven't played twelve road playoff games unless you count title games, as well).

I've made this point before, though, on different boards -- I think the Griz road playoff record is a little deceptive as a measure of the homefield advantage at Wa Griz. One thing you have to remember about those road playoff losses is that a lot of them came against teams who were simply vastly superior to ours in those years (Ga. Southern in 1989, Marshall in 1996, the loss @ Youngstown State in I don't remember what year; the 1998 loss to W. Illinois), and we probably would've lost those games even if they had been in Missoula. I'm not saying there isn't a huge homefield advantage in Missoula; I'm just saying that the 2-10 road playoff record should be looked at in the proper perspective.

There's a reason why we were on the road in a lot of those games, and it's because the other team was simply better than we were and had earned homefield advantage.

And that is the same reason why Hauck's two home playoff losses stink so much. We were not only the better team, but we had the great Wash/Griz homefield advantage, which is the biggest homefield advantage in all of Div. I footballl! Yet, Bobby still finds a way to lose. Precisely why I do not like him as a coach. He sucks in big games...i.e. Cats, playoffs.

I will agree with you here. I watched the first round last year, and the griz were the better team but the play calling and the offence were horrible!