UNM early thoughts

[BobcatBuiltTexan]

I’m definitely placing a bet on the Cats to win. Just trying to figure out how much and what’s going to pay the most…

Seems like picking the Cats to cover the spread would be a tough call considering it's FCS vs FBS... but what do I know.

The difference between the top of FCS and G5 is getting less and less. A Big Sky team has taken the boots to MWC team in the last couple seasons and there are more BSC wins or close losses than blowouts. Last year Idaho over Nevada 33-6 , Sac St whipped Colorado St 41-10 and Weber beat USU 35-7 in '22. And before you say it was a matchup of BSC best vs MWC worst Idaho St lost 28-36 to SDSU and Eastern took Fresno to double OT last year. I'm quite confident that this years Bobcats would give every MWC team a game and they should beat most of them.

I think the Dakotas and Montana's would be among the best teams in the MWC or Sun Belt and might be favored to win conferences like the MAC or C-USA.

As far as betting goes. I can't find a game total but i'd be interested to see that and the individual team totals. I think our offense will be healthy and hard for UNM to stop. On the other side you have a brand new coaching staff with 60 transfers. It will be hard for the Cats Defense to do any sort of game planning.

They'll be hard to gameplan for to a point. These coaches run in circles and they'll get film on the oc and DC. They'll have an idea on what they like to do. Based off what they do have coming back they let to turning around a program with that much turnover.. run the ball and play solid defense. It won't be pretty but They'll eek out wins that way. I see them trying to big boy us. Run the ball being a physical team, then having the defense load the box and stop our run game.

If they bright in a slew of wrs and an oc/hc that's an air it out guy then you know what they would do and it would be super hard to prepare for. You wouldn't know their pass have concepts and they could mean doom. As it is I see it being a physical game that's pretty simple to start. Having that much turnover actually may play into our hands as they don't really know what they have and how to use it real time. Our guys are older and been tougher longer so our chemistry could play a huge factor. Our best bet is to jump on then early, abs have them thinking "here we go again".

[CodyCat]

I’m definitely placing a bet on the Cats to win. Just trying to figure out how much and what’s going to pay the most…

Seems like picking the Cats to cover the spread would be a tough call considering it's FCS vs FBS... but what do I know.

The difference between the top of FCS and G5 is getting less and less. A Big Sky team has taken the boots to MWC team in the last couple seasons and there are more BSC wins or close losses than blowouts. Last year Idaho over Nevada 33-6 , Sac St whipped Colorado St 41-10 and Weber beat USU 35-7 in '22. And before you say it was a matchup of BSC best vs MWC worst Idaho St lost 28-36 to SDSU and Eastern took Fresno to double OT last year. I'm quite confident that this years Bobcats would give every MWC team a game and they should beat most of them.

I think the Dakotas and Montana's would be among the best teams in the MWC or Sun Belt and might be favored to win conferences like the MAC or C-USA.

As far as betting goes. I can't find a game total but i'd be interested to see that and the individual team totals. I think our offense will be healthy and hard for UNM to stop. On the other side you have a brand new coaching staff with 60 transfers. It will be hard for the Cats Defense to do any sort of game planning.

The games were Big Sky teams beat MWC teams were upsets. If they played ten times, they’d be lucky to win half of them. I don’t think either of the Montana schools would compete for a conference championship in the MWC. They are at best middle of the road teams in the MWC.

[Loboman 59]

Hey guys, I’m very excited to see all our new Montana State friends coming over to Forever Lobos, you guys are awesome! I’ll be small and simple tailgating at the game, but I hope to meet any of you guys and gals that will be traveling to the game! Feel free to PM if you’d like to meet up. I really enjoy talking football with fans from the teams we’ll be playing.

Fans: UNM Football has been down for so many years that many fans will take a “wait and see” approach to the new coaching staff, even though Bronco Mendenhall was here under Rocky Long, so many moons ago. I’m expecting a crowd that SHOULD BE north of 20-25k (capacity is around 40k but all bench seating, so bring or rent chair back seats)…fingers crossed we get at least that many! Also, for those viewing the game on tv if available to you, the cameras face the east side lines, and with the heat and intense sun expected on game day, most fans will be on the shady side (west side, home team side). Bring plenty of sun screen and make sure to have head cover and sunglasses!

Foodies: make sure to grab a Laguna Burger on the north end zone, a big burger, and don’t be afraid of the green chile, it’s delicious! Also the usual foods available at football games. NO CASH VENUE!!! All transactions are WITH CREDIT CARD ONLY! A left over remnant of the Covid scare, so yeah… your money and ours, is no good here, LOL. Even parking will be card only but should be plenty of parking around the stadium and is $12 bucks to park. Fans can walk up to the ticket windows for tickets, should be any problems getting tickets.

Safety: very safe area for football fans. Right on the corner of Cesar Chavez and University, you’re at the heart of sports center in Albuquerque. The Pit, Isotopes Ball Park, and University Stadium are all right there!

[Montanabob]

Hey guys, I’m very excited to see all our new Montana State friends coming over to Forever Lobos, you guys are awesome! I’ll be small and simple tailgating at the game, but I hope to meet any of you guys and gals that will be traveling to the game! Feel free to PM if you’d like to meet up. I really enjoy talking football with fans from the teams we’ll be playing.

Fans: UNM Football has been down for so many years that many fans will take a “wait and see” approach to the new coaching staff, even though Bronco Mendenhall was here under Rocky Long, so many moons ago. I’m expecting a crowd that SHOULD BE north of 20-25k (capacity is around 40k but all bench seating, so bring or rent chair back seats)…fingers crossed we get at least that many! Also, for those viewing the game on tv if available to you, the cameras face the east side lines, and with the heat and intense sun expected on game day, most fans will be on the shady side (west side, home team side). Bring plenty of sun screen and make sure to have head cover and sunglasses!

Foodies: make sure to grab a Laguna Burger on the north end zone, a big burger, and don’t be afraid of the green chile, it’s delicious! Also the usual foods available at football games. NO CASH VENUE!!! All transactions are WITH CREDIT CARD ONLY! A left over remnant of the Covid scare, so yeah… your money and ours, is no good here, LOL. Even parking will be card only but should be plenty of parking around the stadium and is $12 bucks to park. Fans can walk up to the ticket windows for tickets, should be any problems getting tickets.

Safety: very safe area for football fans. Right on the corner of Cesar Chavez and University, you’re at the heart of sports center in Albuquerque. The Pit, Isotopes Ball Park, and University Stadium are all right there!

we travel good but not good enough to get your 1st home game attendance to 20+k. looking over the last few years, MSU has sold more seat than UNM. Your average last year was 15+k and slightly less the year before. I expect some increase since you fired the coach but you have to admit, you are a basketball school.
This is the closest Cat game for me this year, 25 miles from Rio Rancho and the first time since i moved here in 2020 that i will be in lobo football stadium. went to a basketball game before the shooting... and a unm baseball game, nice artificial infield. go to about 20 isotopes game a season, and more because i get to use the rain out game tickets again.
My bet is about 2500 to 3000 Blue and Gold show up and a bunch with arizona plates. I agree with bring sunscreen but i have a tendency to avoid the visitors seats in the corner of the end zone and prefer to upgrade to the better seats, look for me on the West Side about the 50 wearing blue and yelling for 4 quarters. i will be there early and tailgating.
28 to 21 Bobcat win.

[Prodigal Cat]

I’m definitely placing a bet on the Cats to win. Just trying to figure out how much and what’s going to pay the most…

Seems like picking the Cats to cover the spread would be a tough call considering it's FCS vs FBS... but what do I know.

The difference between the top of FCS and G5 is getting less and less. A Big Sky team has taken the boots to MWC team in the last couple seasons and there are more BSC wins or close losses than blowouts. Last year Idaho over Nevada 33-6 , Sac St whipped Colorado St 41-10 and Weber beat USU 35-7 in '22. And before you say it was a matchup of BSC best vs MWC worst Idaho St lost 28-36 to SDSU and Eastern took Fresno to double OT last year. I'm quite confident that this years Bobcats would give every MWC team a game and they should beat most of them.

I think the Dakotas and Montana's would be among the best teams in the MWC or Sun Belt and might be favored to win conferences like the MAC or C-USA.

As far as betting goes. I can't find a game total but i'd be interested to see that and the individual team totals. I think our offense will be healthy and hard for UNM to stop. On the other side you have a brand new coaching staff with 60 transfers. It will be hard for the Cats Defense to do any sort of game planning.

The games were Big Sky teams beat MWC teams were upsets. If they played ten times, they’d be lucky to win half of them. I don’t think either of the Montana schools would compete for a conference championship in the MWC. They are at best middle of the road teams in the MWC.

What are you smoking? Did you see the scores?
33-6
45-10
35-7
Those are not upsets, those are butt whippings. That's a team not even being competitive. Those scores indicate that the BSC team was superior in every phase of the game and would win 10 out 10 games.

[JDoub]

Last time Bronco Mendenhall took a new job as an FBS Head Coach, he lost the first game to an FCS school.


I expect nothing different this time.


http://www.deseret.com/2016/9/3/2049301 ... l-s-debut/

[rfischer94]

Mendenhall is definitely a good coach. He got BYU and Virginia turned around in just a couple years. He didn’t have instant success. BYU went from 5-6 to 6-6 in his first year. Virginia went from 4-8 to 2-10.

Also, I think a lot of people are concerned that the weather in Albuquerque is super hot like the rest of the SW United States. However, temps are in the high 80s (still pretty hot but MSU will be practicing in that) on average in late August, early September. August 31 average high is 85.5.

It was 90 degrees today and they've been practicing in it. Not to mention Albuquerque is much drier than BZN.

[rfischer94]

Thought I would go over to their message board to see what their fanbase was saying about the game, but I can't seem to find anything. Evidently, they used to have a board called the Lobo Lair, but rumor has it that the board went to a pay-to-post format as sort of an NIL fundraiser???

Good evening Camo_Cat… and hello BobcatNation, you are correct that Lobo Lair went “pay to post” which upset quite a few fans on that site, especially when we were told that even buying season tickets, wasn’t good enough! So I created a new site here. https://foreverlobos.com/thread/1658/ge ... tana-state

We are a small but growing site for Lobos fans to talk about all things Lobos. We are very much wanting to interact with MSU fans, and will be very welcoming to any of your fans that will be attending the game! And any information about food or things to do around town, we’ll be glad to advise you on. Please feel free to register, then come on in and chat about the game in RT as well! My administrator ( The BigBadWolf), will be thrilled to see more Montana State fans drop in for a visit. He’ll even want to make avatars for you guys ( his loves doing that). Also, we would love to hear what you guys think about your team!

As Lobos fans, we have no idea what to expect from Coach Mendenhall and his new staff, and having over 60 transfer portal players on the team, means we have a whole new team basically, but Bronco has some nice tools to work with in a quality QB, and a stable of quality Running backs. We are hopeful that he can finally turn our program around. We all expect a very hard fought game against a quality nationally respect program such as yours. But, we look forward to the challenge! We look forward to welcoming you all to FOREVERLOBOS!

Great to have you in the discussion board!

[Cledus]

Here's the current line.


The money line is an implied probability of 77.5% for MSU and 28.6% for UNM.

[Hawks86]

I see mthoopsfan is posting on the Lobo board. Perfect rep for the bubble boys.

[BelligerentBobcat]

I see mthoopsfan is posting on the Lobo board. Perfect rep for the bubble boys.

He doesn’t care about the bobcats though.

[Hi-Line Bobcat]

I see mthoopsfan is posting on the Lobo board. Perfect rep for the bubble boys.

He doesn’t care about the bobcats though.

That guy is something else, I can’t imagine being his buddy or significant other. He is the one upper guy who you can’t shake at a dinner party, no matter how hard you try.

[Montanabob]

3 weeks to kickoff!!!!

[SparkCat]

I see mthoopsfan is posting on the Lobo board. Perfect rep for the bubble boys.

Please share! mthoopsfan is such a skid mark.

[St George]

I see mthoopsfan is posting on the Lobo board. Perfect rep for the bubble boys.

Seems like half the people on egriz can't stand him.

[The MICKSTER]

FYI.....we're 9 point favorites

Looks like coach Choate could have a tough opener

https://www.sportskeeda.com/college-foo ... eper-picks

[TomCat88]

Mendenhall is definitely a good coach. He got BYU and Virginia turned around in just a couple years. He didn’t have instant success. BYU went from 5-6 to 6-6 in his first year. Virginia went from 4-8 to 2-10.

Also, I think a lot of people are concerned that the weather in Albuquerque is super hot like the rest of the SW United States. However, temps are in the high 80s (still pretty hot but MSU will be practicing in that) on average in late August, early September. August 31 average high is 85.5.

It was 90 degrees today and they've been practicing in it. Not to mention Albuquerque is much drier than BZN.

The temps have been above average in Albuquerque and peak at 98 this weekend. UNM has an ipf though, so I’m sure they’ve been using it. The forecast high on Gameday is 94.

[Prodigal Cat]

For what its worth Bill Connelly released his all CFB levels ranking.
MSU 84
UNM 174

Check out NDSU and Colorado!!!!!!

[technoCat]

Ugh, it's cool and all that we are being favored for this game but I was really hoping to catch them distracted by all their changes and overlooking us. Now they will be laser focused and probably a little pissed off... Hope our guys don't let the pregame news get to their heads and know they will be in for a dog fight.

[BleedingBLue]

Our chances of winning will be affected by Perkins' status. A stalwart at center not playing is a big blow.