FCS Kickoff: #1 EWU vs. #17 SHSU Game Thread

[htownbearkat]

It's amazing to me that people are calling Sam Houston State one of the top programs at the FCS level because they had two playoff runs to the championship game with one nucleus of players.

Do you know how many times Sam Houston State has won the Southland Conference's automatic bid to the I-AA/FCS playoffs during 27 years in the league?

Once. That was in 2011. So you're saying a program that got the Southland automatic bid ONCE in 27 years in the conference is one of the top programs at the I-AA/FCS level?

McNeese State has gotten the Southland automatic bid eight times. Stephen F. Austin and Northwestern State have each won it three times. So Sam Houston State is tied for #4 on the list in terms of the number of Southland Conference automatic bids earned among other current Southland members with Central Arkansas, Nichols State and Southeastern Louisiana. And you're calling that one of the top programs at the I-AA/FCS level.

The way in which people fail to maintain historical perspective amazes me.

SHSU is relevant in the near past, McNeese isn't. Sure, if you're talking the past 30 years the roles are flipped, but if you're talking big programs right now SHSU gets the nod over McNeese for sure.

John why does this eat you up so much?
The Bearkats have been the most (and arguably the only) successful SLC team since 2000 if judged by the playoffs. Maybe not a traditional power yet, and maybe a bit inconsistent. I would wager there are many fans of teams that would of taken that mediocrity.
5 playoff appearances (won at least one game in each appearance)
3 Simi final appearances
2 Finals
10 Playoff wins I think the cowboys are next with 3.
10-4 vs BSC and 7 in a row

[AZGrizFan]

"It's an amazing opportunity to play one of the top programs at our level...

It's amazing to me that people are calling Sam Houston State one of the top programs at the FCS level because they had two playoff runs to the championship game with one nucleus of players.

Do you know how many times Sam Houston State has won the Southland Conference's automatic bid to the I-AA/FCS playoffs during 27 years in the league?

Once. That was in 2011. So you're saying a program that got the Southland automatic bid ONCE in 27 years in the conference is one of the top programs at the I-AA/FCS level?

McNeese State has gotten the Southland automatic bid eight times. Stephen F. Austin and Northwestern State have each won it three times. So Sam Houston State is tied for #4 on the list in terms of the number of Southland Conference automatic bids earned among other current Southland members with Central Arkansas, Nichols State and Southeastern Louisiana. And you're calling that one of the top programs at the I-AA/FCS level.

The way in which people fail to maintain historical perspective amazes me.

And what, exactly, has McNeese done with those eight autobids?

Yeah, thought so.

[JohnStOnge]

And what, exactly, has McNeese done with those eight autobids?

Yeah, thought so.

Gotten to the national championship game twice. One time they lost by 1 point. The other time they had a reversal as they lost to a team they beat 38-13 during the regular season by 34-14 when it REALLY counted.

But the point is that Sam Houston State has not been a consistent I-AA/FCS power. They had one good nucleus of players that got them into the national title game twice. It's wonderful for them that they did that. But you're not one of the top programs in FCS because you had two outstanding years.

As far as McNeese vs. Sam Houston State goes: Since both teams have been in the Southland McNeese is 21-5 against Sam Houston State. Even when Fritz was there they were 2-2.

Sam Houston State has not established itself as a top FCS program. It just hasn't. If you say it has you're allowing yourself to be biased by one flash in the pan.

[AZGrizFan]

And what, exactly, has McNeese done with those eight autobids?

Yeah, thought so.

Gotten to the national championship game twice. One time they lost by 1 point. The other time they had a reversal as they lost to a team they beat 38-13 during the regular season by 34-14 when it REALLY counted.

But the point is that Sam Houston State has not been a consistent I-AA/FCS power. They had one good nucleus of players that got them into the national title game twice. It's wonderful for them that they did that. But you're not one of the top programs in FCS because you had two outstanding years.

As far as McNeese vs. Sam Houston State goes: Since both teams have been in the Southland McNeese is 21-5 against Sam Houston State. Even when Fritz was there they were 2-2.

Sam Houston State has not established itself as a top FCS program. It just hasn't. If you say it has you're allowing yourself to be biased by one flash in the pan.

Read the post above yours regarding each teams' success since 2000. SHSU has established itself. McNeese has established itself as the Southland's version of Montana State. Look all badass in the regular season, and then shit the bed REALLY early in the playoffs each year. NOT a good model to emulate....

[SuperHornet]

Gotten to the national championship game twice. One time they lost by 1 point. The other time they had a reversal as they lost to a team they beat 38-13 during the regular season by 34-14 when it REALLY counted.

But the point is that Sam Houston State has not been a consistent I-AA/FCS power. They had one good nucleus of players that got them into the national title game twice. It's wonderful for them that they did that. But you're not one of the top programs in FCS because you had two outstanding years.

As far as McNeese vs. Sam Houston State goes: Since both teams have been in the Southland McNeese is 21-5 against Sam Houston State. Even when Fritz was there they were 2-2.

Sam Houston State has not established itself as a top FCS program. It just hasn't. If you say it has you're allowing yourself to be biased by one flash in the pan.

Read the post above yours regarding each teams' success since 2000. SHSU has established itself. McNeese has established itself as the Southland's version of Montana State. Look all badass in the regular season, and then shit the bed REALLY early in the playoffs each year. NOT a good model to emulate....

Cue angry SACCAT rebuttal in 3...2...1....

[EWURanger]

So who's watching today?

[JohnStOnge]

ead the post above yours regarding each teams' success since 2000. SHSU has established itself. McNeese has established itself as the Southland's version of Montana State. Look all badass in the regular season, and then **** the bed REALLY early in the playoffs each year. NOT a good model to emulate....

What I"m getting at is that, to me, SHSU has not established itself as a top program. It established that it had a great team that first burst on the scene in 2011 then was basically the same team in 2012 as it only lost something like 2 or 3 starters and had all the top players on both sides of the ball back. To me, in order for a program to establish itself as a great program, you have to see if success can be sustained as players graduate. Take Montana for instance as an example of perhaps THE top FCS program in terms of sustained success. Obviously that program has gone to the playoffs consistently over three decades now with complete changeovers in player personnel. Georgia Southern was the top program in terms of success at obtaining the ultimate goal and it also sustained success most years through complete changes of personnel.

I went back and looked at the thing about automatic bids in the Southland. I am a Southland fan but as we know it has been maybe 5th or 6th over the years in terms of conference rank. As far as I can tell Sam Houston State played its first full Southland schedule in 1988 (I was a year off last time I posted on this). So as of the end of last season that's 26 seasons. Here is how the Southland automatic bids to the playoffs went during those 26 seasons 1988-2013.

McNeese State 9
Norhtwestern State 3
Stephen F. Austin 3
Troy State 3
Norhteast Louisiana 2
Central Arkansas 2*
Nichols State 1
North Texas 1
Southeastern Louisiana 1
Sam Houston State 1

*Central Arkansas won the conference title in 2008 but was not yet eligible for post season so Texas State represented the conference in the tournament. That Central Arkansas championship is counted here.

How can one say that a program that has won ONE automatic bid during 26 years in the 5th or 6th (or so) strongest I-AA/FCS conference has established itself as one of the top programs in FCS?

Look, before that one really good team of 2011 that was still mostly in place in 2012, Sam Houston State had never won the Southland automatic bid and had been to the playoffs twice 3 times in 23 years in the Southland and 4 times in history. It had never been to the playoffs during consecutive years.

The year AFTER most of that one nucleus of players left they finished 4-3 in the Southland and certainly would not have made the tournament under the old 16 team format and probably wouldn't have made it under the 20 team format. And that was when, though they'd lost a lot, they still had Bell, Flanders, and Sincere. Starting this year that great team is pretty much gone completely. Now we'll find out if they can sustain as a program.

Maybe they'll sustain success and a few years from now we can say they've established themselves as a top FCS program. But they haven't done that yet.

[JohnStOnge]

But I agree that McNeese has developed a tradition of laying eggs in the playoffs. Stuff like winning against semifinalist Appalachian State on the road then getting punked by New Hampshire in the first round. Rolling all over South Florida to open the season last year then having three complete "no show" games after that including losing to Jacksonville State at home in the playoffs last year. South Florida was bad on the FBS level but they were better than Jacksonville State. That should never have happened. Of course getting blown out by Northern Arizona in 2003, Eastern Washington in 2007, and New Hampshire in 2009 never should've happened either. Total "don't show up" games when it really counted.

VERY frustrating.

Nevertheless, within the Southland in Southland conference play McNeese has clearly been the top program in the conference by a long shot. And that's true of the period since 2000 as well. If you're comparing them to Sam Houston State it is, again, 5 automatic bids to 1 and an 11-3 head to head record (I was one off in an earlier post I think). Don't see how any argument can be made for Sam Houston being the better program during the period within the conference. It had better teams in 2011 and 2012. But no way it was anywhere close to McNeese in terms of being a successful program.

[JayJ79]

So who's watching today?

I might tune in, but I'm gonna fiddle with the color setting on my TV to see if I can make it slightly less gawd awful.

[Grizalltheway]

So who's watching today?

I'll be flipping back and forth between this and the Mariners game.

[Ibanez]

Watching the pre-game on ESPN3. It's bad when ESPN can't get FCS correct.

[Ibanez]

That field is grotesque. Looks like Blackfalkin had his period all over it.

[EWURanger]

That field is grotesque. Looks like Blackfalkin had his period all over it.

Hey, try not being a D-Bag for one day. You might like it.

Pre-game's on now.

[Ibanez]

That field is grotesque. Looks like Blackfalkin had his period all over it.

Hey, try not being a D-Bag for one day. You might like it.

Pre-game's on now.

Try to not have a vagina, you big puss. It's a fucking joke.


You ain't knowin me.

[EWURanger]

Game on!

[JohnStOnge]

Well Keeler lied when he was interviewed during the Southland preview show. He said they weren't going to be able to do the up tempo offense he wanted to do early in the season.

[EWURanger]

Well Keeler lied when he was interviewed during the Southland preview show. He said they weren't going to be able to do the up tempo offense he wanted to do early in the season.

Yep. They're doing a pretty good job of it, too.

[CID1990]

gawd that red turf is killing my eyes

[JohnStOnge]

gawd that red turf is killing my eyes

Thank heavens EWU has decided to go with black uniforms. Kudos to them for that. It really was hard to watch on TV when they wore red on that field.

[CatBlitz22]

gawd that red turf is killing my eyes

It's better in person but Jesus it's awful to watch tv.

[Grizalltheway]

gawd that red turf is killing my eyes

It's almost as bad as watching the shitadel on a regular-colored field.

[JohnStOnge]

I was wondering if that was going to be alike a double penalty because it was defensive holding and looked like a horse collar too.

[JohnStOnge]

Starting to wonder if SHSU staff has confidence in their QB going downfield. We'll see if it continues but it looks like they want to keep just swinging it short to the outside and hoping the guy who catches it can make a YAC play.

[JohnStOnge]

Holy smoke! If they can do that sort of thing they won't need to make their QB throw it downfield.

[EWURanger]

Defense was looking good until that debacle.