Success on the road

[Monymony]

Now before I say anything I really don’t want to jinx us as we still have 1.5 more tricky road games but with that said we have looked so much better on the road. In the Vigen era we have always and I mean always sucked on the road. Outside of the Sac game last year (who really wasn’t great) we haven’t been good when we aren’t in Bobcat Stadium, I guess you could argue SDSU but I believe the stadium was rather empty that weekend. Now with that being said this year we have gotten off to some very sharp starts when we have been away. Now obviously we got EW and UCD left which will be challenging but I have so much more confidence in this team on the road.

[MSU01]

It sure helps to have a defense that's allowing an average of 1.0 points per game in the first half against FCS opponents! MSU has scored 58 first quarter points at home and only 17 on the road so they aren't always getting off to the fastest starts offensively.

[VimSince03]

Sure did suck at Sam Houston State in the playoffs...

I get your post overall as they have been better at BYOE on the road rhis year. But I wouldn't necessarily use the word "suck" when you win more than you lose on the road regardless of the opponent.

[AFCAT]

The attendance for the 2023 game against SDSU was over 19,000 people, hardly nearly empty. The crowd was quite loud and helped cause a bunch of penalties against the Cats. The playoff game against SDSU had a low attendance but that was because of the freezing temps.

Vigen has lost only one home game in his tenure, but the Cats haven’t exactly sucked on the road either. Two of Vigens eight total road losses were at the gris stadium, two to FBS teams, one at Idaho, two at SDSU, and one at a neutral site in the Natty to NDSU. Every other road game the Cats have won. Vigen teams have only lost three Big Sky games in four years, yes, all on the road, but playing on the road is always tough.

[grizzh8r]

Now before I say anything I really don’t want to jinx us as we still have 1.5 more tricky road games but with that said we have looked so much better on the road. In the Vigen era we have always and I mean always sucked on the road. Outside of the Sac game last year (who really wasn’t great) we haven’t been good when we aren’t in Bobcat Stadium, I guess you could argue SDSU but I believe the stadium was rather empty that weekend. Now with that being said this year we have gotten off to some very sharp starts when we have been away. Now obviously we got EW and UCD left which will be challenging but I have so much more confidence in this team on the road.

Umm, what? I was there. 2023 at SDSU was packed. Listed attendance of 19,332.

[Monymony]

Sure did suck at Sam Houston State in the playoffs...

I get your post overall as they have been better at BYOE on the road rhis year. But I wouldn't necessarily use the word "suck" when you win more than you lose on the road regardless of the opponent.

I mean when I think of the cats on the road I think of last year at Idaho, struggles at NAU, EW, heck we haven’t won in Missoula since 18 and that game easily could’ve gone the other way. I think my point was in Vigen’s era we have been noticeably worse on the road.

[Monymony]

The attendance for the 2023 game against SDSU was over 19,000 people, hardly nearly empty. The crowd was quite loud and helped cause a bunch of penalties against the Cats. The playoff game against SDSU had a low attendance but that was because of the freezing temps.

Vigen has lost only one home game in his tenure, but the Cats haven’t exactly sucked on the road either. Two of Vigens eight total road losses were at the gris stadium, two to FBS teams, one at Idaho, two at SDSU, and one at a neutral site in the Natty to NDSU. Every other road game the Cats have won. Vigen teams have only lost three Big Sky games in four years, yes, all on the road, but playing on the road is always tough.

I mixed the two up. Whoops. But look at the last couple of years when we play teams like Idaho, EW, NAU, Idaho St, etc at home vs away. Yes their stadiums aren’t necessarily easy to play in but we have demolished them at home and away the games are close.

[MSU01]

The attendance for the 2023 game against SDSU was over 19,000 people, hardly nearly empty. The crowd was quite loud and helped cause a bunch of penalties against the Cats. The playoff game against SDSU had a low attendance but that was because of the freezing temps.

Vigen has lost only one home game in his tenure, but the Cats haven’t exactly sucked on the road either. Two of Vigens eight total road losses were at the gris stadium, two to FBS teams, one at Idaho, two at SDSU, and one at a neutral site in the Natty to NDSU. Every other road game the Cats have won. Vigen teams have only lost three Big Sky games in four years, yes, all on the road, but playing on the road is always tough.

I mixed the two up. Whoops. But look at the last couple of years when we play teams like Idaho, EW, NAU, Idaho St, etc at home vs away. Yes their stadiums aren’t necessarily easy to play in but we have demolished them at home and away the games are close.

Do you think this is unique to MSU? I think you'd find a similar pattern if you looked at the results of any team over the years. Playing on the road is harder, so even when you win the games will tend to be closer.

[Monymony]

The attendance for the 2023 game against SDSU was over 19,000 people, hardly nearly empty. The crowd was quite loud and helped cause a bunch of penalties against the Cats. The playoff game against SDSU had a low attendance but that was because of the freezing temps.

Vigen has lost only one home game in his tenure, but the Cats haven’t exactly sucked on the road either. Two of Vigens eight total road losses were at the gris stadium, two to FBS teams, one at Idaho, two at SDSU, and one at a neutral site in the Natty to NDSU. Every other road game the Cats have won. Vigen teams have only lost three Big Sky games in four years, yes, all on the road, but playing on the road is always tough.

I mixed the two up. Whoops. But look at the last couple of years when we play teams like Idaho, EW, NAU, Idaho St, etc at home vs away. Yes their stadiums aren’t necessarily easy to play in but we have demolished them at home and away the games are close.

Do you think this is unique to MSU? I think you'd find a similar pattern if you looked at the results of any team over the years. Playing on the road is harder, so even when you win the games will tend to be closer.

No doubt its harder to win on the road but I believe to be a top team and win national championships you need to be good on the road and at home. I’d say SDSU and NDSU still do very well on the road.

[BleedingBLue]

The attendance for the 2023 game against SDSU was over 19,000 people, hardly nearly empty. The crowd was quite loud and helped cause a bunch of penalties against the Cats. The playoff game against SDSU had a low attendance but that was because of the freezing temps.

Vigen has lost only one home game in his tenure, but the Cats haven’t exactly sucked on the road either. Two of Vigens eight total road losses were at the gris stadium, two to FBS teams, one at Idaho, two at SDSU, and one at a neutral site in the Natty to NDSU. Every other road game the Cats have won. Vigen teams have only lost three Big Sky games in four years, yes, all on the road, but playing on the road is always tough.

I mixed the two up. Whoops. But look at the last couple of years when we play teams like Idaho, EW, NAU, Idaho St, etc at home vs away. Yes their stadiums aren’t necessarily easy to play in but we have demolished them at home and away the games are close.

Do you think this is unique to MSU? I think you'd find a similar pattern if you looked at the results of any team over the years. Playing on the road is harder, so even when you win the games will tend to be closer.

No doubt its harder to win on the road but I believe to be a top team and win national championships you need to be good on the road and at home. I’d say SDSU and NDSU still do very well on the road.

East Tennessee State. That is all.

[Long Time Cat]

The attendance for the 2023 game against SDSU was over 19,000 people, hardly nearly empty. The crowd was quite loud and helped cause a bunch of penalties against the Cats. The playoff game against SDSU had a low attendance but that was because of the freezing temps.

Vigen has lost only one home game in his tenure, but the Cats haven’t exactly sucked on the road either. Two of Vigens eight total road losses were at the gris stadium, two to FBS teams, one at Idaho, two at SDSU, and one at a neutral site in the Natty to NDSU. Every other road game the Cats have won. Vigen teams have only lost three Big Sky games in four years, yes, all on the road, but playing on the road is always tough.

I mixed the two up. Whoops. But look at the last couple of years when we play teams like Idaho, EW, NAU, Idaho St, etc at home vs away. Yes their stadiums aren’t necessarily easy to play in but we have demolished them at home and away the games are close.

Do you think this is unique to MSU? I think you'd find a similar pattern if you looked at the results of any team over the years. Playing on the road is harder, so even when you win the games will tend to be closer.

No doubt its harder to win on the road but I believe to be a top team and win national championships you need to be good on the road and at home. I’d say SDSU and NDSU still do very well on the road.

I believe the experts call this selective amnesia.

[CatFanatic]

I seem to recall the Cats whooping Weber 40-0 in Ogden last year.

[mgkcats26]

[/quote]
No doubt its harder to win on the road but I believe to be a top team and win national championships you need to be good on the road and at home. I’d say SDSU and NDSU still do very well on the road.
[/quote]

It looks like SDSU and NDSU are slightly better on the road, but it's not that far off. All of these are since the beginning of 2021 (Vigen's first year)

MSU
14-6 overall (FBS win at New Mexico, loss at Wyoming). 3-5 against playoff teams.

SDSU
16-5 overall (FBS win at Colorado St, losses at Iowa and Oklahoma St). 7-3 against playoff teams (NDSU loss this year included, guessing they are playoff bound...)

NDSU
15-6 overall (FBS losses at Arizona and Colorado). 3-4 against playoff teams (ETSU win this year included, as they are projected by Herder as a playoff team)

So Cats are actually pretty good on the road it looks like. If we want to compare to the other member of the "big 4", here is some UM stats:

UM
11-8 overall (FBS win at Washington). 1-7 against playoff teams (last year Idaho the anomaly)

Cats quite a bit closer to the DSUs than they are to the Gris. Hopefully don't have to worry about any road games anywhere this year after EWU and Davis!

[onceacat]

Now before I say anything I really don’t want to jinx us as we still have 1.5 more tricky road games but with that said we have looked so much better on the road. In the Vigen era we have always and I mean always sucked on the road. Outside of the Sac game last year (who really wasn’t great) we haven’t been good when we aren’t in Bobcat Stadium, I guess you could argue SDSU but I believe the stadium was rather empty that weekend. Now with that being said this year we have gotten off to some very sharp starts when we have been away. Now obviously we got EW and UCD left which will be challenging but I have so much more confidence in this team on the road.

Knocking off the #1 seed Sam Houston in 2021 was kind of 'good'. Obviously SDSU. The Wyoming game in 2021. Came within a FG of beating Idaho on the road last season.

Win at #15 EWU in 2022. Beat #10 Weber in Ogden 40-0 in 2023.

And obviously beating #3 Sac last year by 2 scores was a 'good' game.

The other SDSU game & 2 games at UM were bad.

I think you are maybe confusing the Cats with some other team that has lacked success on the road.

[onceacat]

Sure did suck at Sam Houston State in the playoffs...

I get your post overall as they have been better at BYOE on the road rhis year. But I wouldn't necessarily use the word "suck" when you win more than you lose on the road regardless of the opponent.

I mean when I think of the cats on the road I think of last year at Idaho, struggles at NAU, EW, heck we haven’t won in Missoula since 18 and that game easily could’ve gone the other way. I think my point was in Vigen’s era we have been noticeably worse on the road.

When a team travels, they lose a day of practice. They sit on planes or busses & get stiff and sore. They spend the night in hotels & eat junk food in restaurants. Plus, obviously, teams feed off the energy of the home crowd & typically the refs make a couple 50-50 calls in favor of the home team.

The exact same things apply to every team traveling for road games in every single sport at every single level...Pop Warner tp NFL.

Its a universal issue.

[Monymony]

Now before I say anything I really don’t want to jinx us as we still have 1.5 more tricky road games but with that said we have looked so much better on the road. In the Vigen era we have always and I mean always sucked on the road. Outside of the Sac game last year (who really wasn’t great) we haven’t been good when we aren’t in Bobcat Stadium, I guess you could argue SDSU but I believe the stadium was rather empty that weekend. Now with that being said this year we have gotten off to some very sharp starts when we have been away. Now obviously we got EW and UCD left which will be challenging but I have so much more confidence in this team on the road.

Knocking off the #1 seed Sam Houston in 2021 was kind of 'good'. Obviously SDSU. The Wyoming game in 2021. Came within a FG of beating Idaho on the road last season.

Win at #15 EWU in 2022. Beat #10 Weber in Ogden 40-0 in 2023.

And obviously beating #3 Sac last year by 2 scores was a 'good' game.

The other SDSU game & 2 games at UM were bad.

I think you are maybe confusing the Cats with some other team that has lacked success on the road.

Sam Houston was not that good. Only got the one because they won the covid championship. We should’ve beaten Wyoming and Idaho honestly. I thought 22 EW ended up falling apart and Weber ended up being awful. Sac game was a good win but they ended up being not great. Obviously games at UM are tough because of wa gris but I just think we have looked noticeably worse at away games. Maybe its just because we have such a big boost from home crowd?

[Monymony]

I dont mean this to bash the cats but we have been a different team at away games in the past. Maybe its because Bobcat Stadium is that big of a home field advantage? Look at last year… we beat Idaho and UM if those are at home and I’d say we beat SDSU if that was at home. Heck even a neutral site I think we take all of those teams to take the crowd noise advantage out of it. Anyways my point is this year we have been off to quicker starts (besides week zero) and had much more momentum that keeps it rolling. Games like Idaho and UM last year, even PSU in 21 we got off to slow starts and couldn’t get momentum. I think this team doesn’t need the energy from the crowd or the extra practice day to be ready to dominate. Maybe there isn’t a big enough sample size but we have definitely played better on the road and we have definitely improved chances of winning a national championship because of it.

[seataccat]

Now before I say anything I really don’t want to jinx us as we still have 1.5 more tricky road games but with that said we have looked so much better on the road. In the Vigen era we have always and I mean always sucked on the road. Outside of the Sac game last year (who really wasn’t great) we haven’t been good when we aren’t in Bobcat Stadium, I guess you could argue SDSU but I believe the stadium was rather empty that weekend. Now with that being said this year we have gotten off to some very sharp starts when we have been away. Now obviously we got EW and UCD left which will be challenging but I have so much more confidence in this team on the road.

Knocking off the #1 seed Sam Houston in 2021 was kind of 'good'. Obviously SDSU. The Wyoming game in 2021. Came within a FG of beating Idaho on the road last season.

Win at #15 EWU in 2022. Beat #10 Weber in Ogden 40-0 in 2023.

And obviously beating #3 Sac last year by 2 scores was a 'good' game.

The other SDSU game & 2 games at UM were bad.

I think you are maybe confusing the Cats with some other team that has lacked success on the road.

Sam Houston was not that good. Only got the one because they won the covid championship. We should’ve beaten Wyoming and Idaho honestly. I thought 22 EW ended up falling apart and Weber ended up being awful. Sac game was a good win but they ended up being not great. Obviously games at UM are tough because of wa gris but I just think we have looked noticeably worse at away games. Maybe its just because we have such a big boost from home crowd?

Not sure why everyone thinks that SHSU wasn't good. You sound like a butt hurt griz fan. They were the previous champions and were unbeaten that entire year. They were definitely deserving of being #1.

[onceacat]

Now before I say anything I really don’t want to jinx us as we still have 1.5 more tricky road games but with that said we have looked so much better on the road. In the Vigen era we have always and I mean always sucked on the road. Outside of the Sac game last year (who really wasn’t great) we haven’t been good when we aren’t in Bobcat Stadium, I guess you could argue SDSU but I believe the stadium was rather empty that weekend. Now with that being said this year we have gotten off to some very sharp starts when we have been away. Now obviously we got EW and UCD left which will be challenging but I have so much more confidence in this team on the road.

Knocking off the #1 seed Sam Houston in 2021 was kind of 'good'. Obviously SDSU. The Wyoming game in 2021. Came within a FG of beating Idaho on the road last season.

Win at #15 EWU in 2022. Beat #10 Weber in Ogden 40-0 in 2023.

And obviously beating #3 Sac last year by 2 scores was a 'good' game.

The other SDSU game & 2 games at UM were bad.

I think you are maybe confusing the Cats with some other team that has lacked success on the road.

Sam Houston was not that good. Only got the one because they won the covid championship. We should’ve beaten Wyoming and Idaho honestly. I thought 22 EW ended up falling apart and Weber ended up being awful. Sac game was a good win but they ended up being not great. Obviously games at UM are tough because of wa gris but I just think we have looked noticeably worse at away games. Maybe its just because we have such a big boost from home crowd?

Not sure why everyone thinks that SHSU wasn't good. You sound like a butt hurt griz fan. They were the previous champions and were unbeaten that entire year. They were definitely deserving of being #1.

Theres an element of "So and so wasn't good if we beat them". He says it in a few different places.

[ClowderUp]

On one hand, I appreciate this thread because it has shown the Vigen led Cat teams are much, much better on the road than I previously thought. Right on par with the DSUs and better than the gris.

On the other hand, this thread has shown me that monymony appears to be a gris fan, and looks more and more that way with each additional post in this thread.