Montana won't like these Round 2 picks.

[Ibanez]

So the question is: Can you accurately judge a team from a sub-tropical environment playing in the Siberia of the West?

Actually, yes. I remember when Montana played at SHSU in September. Their fans were saying how the heat was going to effect the norther boys and they would be beat down. Montana lost 41-29 and players were throwing up on the field. They were not used to the heat and humidity......

So it's not that Montana is good or CCU is bad...it's that the climate is a beast. The climate is the source of UMs power.

[Grizalltheway]

Actually, yes. I remember when Montana played at SHSU in September. Their fans were saying how the heat was going to effect the norther boys and they would be beat down. Montana lost 41-29 and players were throwing up on the field. They were not used to the heat and humidity......

So it's not that Montana is good or CCU is bad...it's that the climate is a beast. The climate is the source of UMs power.

No, it's also that Montana is a better team than CCU (IMHO, of course). The weather will just be the icing on the cake, so to speak.

[AZGrizFan]

Actually, yes. I remember when Montana played at SHSU in September. Their fans were saying how the heat was going to effect the norther boys and they would be beat down. Montana lost 41-29 and players were throwing up on the field. They were not used to the heat and humidity......

So it's not that Montana is good or CCU is bad...it's that the climate is a beast. The climate is the source of UMs power.

Partially. I think a Griz/Beach Chicken game played in a "friendlier" environmental setting would be a closer game than Saturday's will end up being.

[putter]

So it's not that Montana is good or CCU is bad...it's that the climate is a beast. The climate is the source of UMs power.

Partially. I think a Griz/Beach Chicken game played in a "friendlier" environmental setting would be a closer game than Saturday's will end up being.

This....I liked what I saw out of Coastal against Bethune. I agree with AZ...this game played in September in Missoula would be a different game, just like the SHSU game was. UM lost there 41-29 and won in December

[Mvemjsunpx]

So it's not that Montana is good or CCU is bad...it's that the climate is a beast. The climate is the source of UMs power.

Partially. I think a Griz/Beach Chicken game played in a "friendlier" environmental setting would be a closer game than Saturday's will end up being.

I agree. I don't see a 51-0 type beating, but I don't think the Griz will have too much trouble. There's a reason Montana is 18-1 against southern teams at home in the playoffs (or 19-1 if you count Kentucky as southern). And CCU is a coastal southern team from a year-round golfing community, not a mountain southern team that actually sees snow like Wofford or App State.

And then there's the matchups. CCU's run defense isn't good, and the Griz offense has been pretty much unstoppable when they have the running game going.

[LDopaPDX]

I think Coastal will show up with a chip on their shoulder and something to prove, and they'll play well. But they just don't have the talent to win this game. And regardless of what anyone says, cold and windy is the worst environment to acclimate to. I travel all over and getting used to heat and humidity is easy compared to going someplace cold and nasty cold at that.

[BlackFalkin]

I think Coastal will show up with a chip on their shoulder and something to prove, and they'll play well. But they just don't have the talent to win this game. And regardless of what anyone says, cold and windy is the worst environment to acclimate to. I travel all over and getting used to heat and humidity is easy compared to going someplace cold and nasty cold at that.

Yea. Let's be honest, NOBODY wants to play Montana in WGS in December.

[Gil Dobie]

Yea. Let's be honest, NOBODY wants to play Montana in WGS in December.

You don't think Delaware would want to be playing them at WGS right now? There are a lot of teams not in the playoffs right now that wish they were. It sure beats sitting at home watching someone else play. To be the best you have to beat the best, and sometimes you have to go to their house.

[Thumper 76]

I think weather is a factor for Southern teams in that they are out of their comfort zone when it's like it's predicted to be in Missoula this coming Saturday. I don't know about Coastal Carolina but since I follow McNeese I can tell you that I doubt that they've played in temperatures below 50 this year. And if they did it wasn't by much. You take a team like that and stick them an environment where the wind chill is below zero and I think it has an impact on them. Not that it's impossible to overcome but it's a disadvantage.

And with Missoula it's more than that. I don't think there's a stadium atmosphere like that anywhere else in FCS. There are some dome stadiums like North Dakota States where it might get about as loud but I don't think it's quite the same. You've got this Southern team in frigid conditions with this huge (by FCS standards) crowd right on top of them making it so they can't hear any signals, etc. I think it's just flat out the toughest environment a team like that is going to face.

I know that living in Portland, where Winter (as well as Fall and Spring) temperatures are pretty much constantly in the 50s and a little damp... when I go to Cheney in December, it still feels like dick-crawling-up-in-my-stomach cold. There is a giant difference between 50s and damp and 20s and windy.

Just be thankful that EWU isnt at SDSU. Forecast is a high of zero 20mph winds and 6" of snow. Thatll put a hamper on any passing attack.

[Get'em_Griz]

Here's a quote from Coastal Carolina Quarterback Alex Ross's father on having to play in the cold:

[grizzaholic]

Here's a quote from Coastal Carolina Quarterback Alex Ross's father on having to play in the cold:

There is no way that is real.

If, and I think it is total bullshit, but if it is he really needs to grow up. There are other people involved other than himself.

EDIT: https://m.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1 ... 4157166411" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Good read

[JohnStOnge]

So it's not that Montana is good or CCU is bad...it's that the climate is a beast. The climate is the source of UMs power.

The weather is part of it and the crowd is also part of it. If you watched any of the New Orleans Saints at Seattle Seahawks game Monday night you saw the impact crowd noise can have. Montana's crowd is very loud and it knows what it's doing.

I am convinced that Montana has the top home field advantage in FCS. I ran some numbers a few years back on how programs with a lot of playoff appearances such as Montana, Georgia Southern, and Youngstown State have done in the playoffs on the road and away. The differences between how they've done at home vs. how they've done on the road between Montana and other frequent playoff participants is very striking. Maybe I'll do it again at some point. But if you look at the difference between, well, the difference in home and road performance for Montana compared to, say, Youngstown State it's night and day. You'll see Youngstown State having a winning playoff record both on the road and at home while Montana will have an overwhelming winning record at home and an overwhelming losing record on the road.

Plus I've seen good Southern teams go up there and lose by scores of like 70-7. And it's happened more than once. Like Stephen F. Austin going up there in 2009 after having averaged 38 points per game and having beaten Eastern Washington 44-35 in its first playoff game and getting squashed by 41-0. Zero points. Yeah part of that was Montana being good but I don't think all of it was. I don't think you'd have seen 0 points on Stephen F. Austin's part if they'd been playing at some neutral site in cozy conditions.

Montana's got an advantage when it plays at home; especially against teams composed of players that have no experience with that kind of weather. That's just the way it is. Again: Only one team from the former Confederate States has ever won up there in the playoffs in 21 tries and that was a 1 point victory on the part of an option team (i.e., they didn't have to make their passing game work). Do you think if they'd have played all those 21 games on neutral fields in nice weather it'd be 20-1? We'll never know. But I don't think so.

[grizzaholic]

So it's not that Montana is good or CCU is bad...it's that the climate is a beast. The climate is the source of UMs power.

The weather is part of it and the crowd is also part of it. If you watched any of the New Orleans Saints at Seattle Seahawks game Monday night you saw the impact crowd noise can have. Montana's crowd is very loud and it knows what it's doing.

I am convinced that Montana has the top home field advantage in FCS. I ran some numbers a few years back on how programs with a lot of playoff appearances such as Montana, Georgia Southern, and Youngstown State have done in the playoffs on the road and away. The differences between how they've done at home vs. how they've done on the road between Montana and other frequent playoff participants is very striking. Maybe I'll do it again at some point. But if you look at the difference between, well, the difference in home and road performance for Montana compared to, say, Youngstown State it's night and day. You'll see Youngstown State having a winning playoff record both on the road and at home while Montana will have an overwhelming winning record at home and an overwhelming losing record on the road.

Plus I've seen good Southern teams go up there and lose by scores of like 70-7. And it's happened more than once. Like Stephen F. Austin going up there in 2009 after having averaged 38 points per game and having beaten Eastern Washington 44-35 in its first playoff game and getting squashed by 41-0. Zero points. Yeah part of that was Montana being good but I don't think all of it was. I don't think you'd have seen 0 points on Stephen F. Austin's part if they'd been playing at some neutral site in cozy conditions.

Montana's got an advantage when it plays at home; especially against teams composed of players that have no experience with that kind of weather. That's just the way it is. Again: Only one team from the former Confederate States has ever won up there in the playoffs in 21 tries and that was a 1 point victory on the part of an option team (i.e., they didn't have to make their passing game work). Do you think if they'd have played all those 21 games on neutral fields in nice weather it'd be 20-1? We'll never know. But I don't think so.

51-0 was the score in 2009. with 10 turnovers

[AZGrizFan]

The weather is part of it and the crowd is also part of it. If you watched any of the New Orleans Saints at Seattle Seahawks game Monday night you saw the impact crowd noise can have. Montana's crowd is very loud and it knows what it's doing.

I am convinced that Montana has the top home field advantage in FCS. I ran some numbers a few years back on how programs with a lot of playoff appearances such as Montana, Georgia Southern, and Youngstown State have done in the playoffs on the road and away. The differences between how they've done at home vs. how they've done on the road between Montana and other frequent playoff participants is very striking. Maybe I'll do it again at some point. But if you look at the difference between, well, the difference in home and road performance for Montana compared to, say, Youngstown State it's night and day. You'll see Youngstown State having a winning playoff record both on the road and at home while Montana will have an overwhelming winning record at home and an overwhelming losing record on the road.

Plus I've seen good Southern teams go up there and lose by scores of like 70-7. And it's happened more than once. Like Stephen F. Austin going up there in 2009 after having averaged 38 points per game and having beaten Eastern Washington 44-35 in its first playoff game and getting squashed by 41-0. Zero points. Yeah part of that was Montana being good but I don't think all of it was. I don't think you'd have seen 0 points on Stephen F. Austin's part if they'd been playing at some neutral site in cozy conditions.

Montana's got an advantage when it plays at home; especially against teams composed of players that have no experience with that kind of weather. That's just the way it is. Again: Only one team from the former Confederate States has ever won up there in the playoffs in 21 tries and that was a 1 point victory on the part of an option team (i.e., they didn't have to make their passing game work). Do you think if they'd have played all those 21 games on neutral fields in nice weather it'd be 20-1? We'll never know. But I don't think so.

51-0 was the score in 2009. with 10 turnovers

And BH took his foot off the gas. It was 38-0 at halftime. I was there.

[Ibanez]

So it's not that Montana is good or CCU is bad...it's that the climate is a beast. The climate is the source of UMs power.

Partially. I think a Griz/Beach Chicken game played in a "friendlier" environmental setting would be a closer game than Saturday's will end up being.

I think most rational people would agree to this.