Montana, NDSU Impress In Week 5 + Ranking The FCS Top 5 + Week 6 preview

On this episode, Sam and Zach discuss:
-3 Game Balls and a Flag from Week 5
-Discussing how we ranked the Top 5 nationally
-Week 6 preview: No. 1 NDSU at No. 6 Illinois State, No. 2 SDSU at No. 24 Youngstown State, No. 5 Montana State at No. 13 Northern Arizona, No. 16 West Georgia at No. 22 Austin Peay
-And more
The podcast is presented by HERO Sports and BetMGM. Visit HERO Sports for FCS coverage and BetMGM for online betting odds.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:15):
All right, well, come in FCS tackle football fans to
another episode of the FCS Football Talk podcast presented by
Hero Sports and bet MGM. I'm your host, Sam Herder
with Hero Sports, and I'm joined by my co host
Zach mckinnal of FCS Football Central and the blue Bloods.
A lot to get into this podcast episode. We'll do

(00:37):
our usual routine now with three game balls and a
flag from the previous week, and we now have four
ranked matchups, the most at any point this season coming
up in week six, so I will be sure to
dive into the top games for this upcoming weekend. But
first off, we'll start with the three game balls in
a flag and Zach, I'll send it to you for

(00:57):
your first game ball.

Speaker 2 (00:59):
Yeah, I mean, where else can we start, Sam, other
than what happened in Montana in the Big Sky after
dark game Man one, I love to see. I think
that that late night slide and it is perfect for
these Big Sky games, Man. But my big win for
Montana they handle businessing is Idaho. And the thing that

(01:19):
most impressed me, Sam, is I know that this game
in the final score might not look I thought Montana
thoroughly had control of this game throughout, and even when
Idaho made it a little bit more competitive there in
the second half, I think they got it down to
nine at one point, Montana immediately responded with two more

(01:39):
scoring drives. And we know that their defense has always
kind of been the focal point of the team, right.
We know what Eli Gilman is in terms of running
the football, but man Ayyacht continues to really really impress me.
Seventeen to twenty three this weekend, two twenty three, two
total touchdowns. I really love what I'm seeing the wide

(02:00):
receiver corp. I think Drew Deck is finding his rhythm,
and you combine him with Brooks Davis and Michael Wartham,
who is by far the most impressible all purpose player
we have at the FCS level. Sam, I'm trying, I'm
really struggling to think, like, I mean, let's just throw
it back five years. I mean, I think this offense
has a way higher ceiling than even that team that
made a run to the National Championship game eventually losing

(02:24):
to South Dakota State. That there's just so much consistency.
Gilman just continues to get better, and I don't know
if there's a really hard to make an argument for
any other running back right now to have the crown
as the best running back in the subdivision. Man, he's
been really, really good this year. It leads to country
and yards per game with one thirty five and a half.
Finally got over twenty five carries this weekend too, Sam,

(02:46):
imagine if he got the carries that some of these
other guys got. But overall, I was super impressed with
Montana this weekend. That's why they get my first game ball.

Speaker 3 (02:55):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (02:56):
They're just clicking so much better offensively, and it starts
with the quarterback. With this and I think we talked
about it after the un d comeback win, where you know,
this is what happens when you have a young quarterback,
because a Yat is just a red shirt sophomore and Montana,
you know, has felt like he could be the quarterback
of the future, but he had such a short leash

(03:18):
last year where you know, he's struggling for a little bit,
and instead of letting him kind of figure things out
on the fly and get into a rhythm, you know,
you pull him and put it, you know, put Fife
in and then you know, Fife is a little bit
off and then you put Ayat back in this year,
you know, they pretty much just handed the keys right
to a yacht and said, you know, okay, we're we're
riding with you. And what happens is even though he

(03:41):
really struggled for what two and a half to three
quarters against und he leads that comeback win and then
since then you're just seeing a super confidence Ayat, whether
it was him lighting up against Indiana States or this
last weekend has looked looked very very sharp as well
against id HO and uh, you know, just the confidence

(04:02):
that he's playing with and the offensive line, I think
it is playing at a high level and they're they're
giving him a pretty good pocket and you know, he's
just stepping in and rifling some some really confident throws,
whereas you know, some quarterbacks you can just you can
just sense it where they're just not confident and there's
a little there's a little hitch in you know, you know,
in their throwing motion because they're not confident with their uh,
with where they're throwing the ball. But a yacht is

(04:24):
is just taking his game to a whole new level.
And that's really that is what has prevented one of
you know, a couple of things that has prevented Montana
from from really making a serious run out of national
title is just having that uh stability at the quarterback position,
and I think a yacht has has definitely provided that.
My first game ball, I will give it to the

(04:44):
second ranked over ranked win here. That was NDSU just
demolishing South Dakota fifty one to thirteen. And as where
as it sounds, it wasn't even wasn't even that quote
unquote close, because I think it was fifty to fifty
one to three at one point, and South Dakota gots
got a couple of scores late in this one, but
this was just a dominating effort from start to finish

(05:06):
for the Byson. And you know, as always, some of
the questions is is NDSU that good or is USC
that bad? And I think there's a little bit of
both in this instance, but I always usually default to
giving the winner a little bit more credit because the
Bison have looked the part in all four other games
so far, and I really don't think, you know, South

(05:27):
Dakota deserves to still be ranked right now. I know
they're number twenty one. I believe in the media pull
out I don't believe they are a rankable team. I
don't necessarily see the Yoats making the playoffs. And probably
some warning signs about the Yoats after they lost to Lamar,
after they barely beat Northern Colorado. Probably should have fallen
out of the top twenty five after that Northern Colorado game,

(05:49):
but myself included kind of kept them in there to
see if they can turn things around. And then they
look much better against Drake again. You know it was Drake,
but that kept the Yoats in the top twenty five
for me. And then after this game, they just don't
have you know, don't have other pieces in place, and you.

Speaker 3 (06:07):
Feel for Bauman a little bit.

Speaker 1 (06:09):
I know this isn't unique to South Dakota because other
teams have lost good players, whether it's North Kota State
or South Kota.

Speaker 3 (06:14):
State or Idaho Chattanooga.

Speaker 1 (06:16):
You know, everyone's everyone has has kind of faced this,
this sort of you know, problem of losing some of
their best players of the transfer portal. But we've always
kind of been waiting for someone else to step up
into the top tier of the FCS, and it seemed
like South Dakota was going to be able to do
that after getting through the winter transfer portal period pretty

(06:37):
much unscathed besides my Key's grace. But the losses they've
had are are even more significant than than maybe we
even thought it would be.

Speaker 3 (06:44):
For the Oats, I.

Speaker 2 (06:46):
Know, I know we got to get through this. I
have a quick question because I mean, obviously, man, you've
been covering the FCS forever and you were really tied
in to North Dakota State. I do wonder with this
defense man, with how good they've played, because sim I
don't think we're going to see a guy put up
like David Walker stats on that defensive line, right like
Toby and nine had like a fifty percent win rateer

(07:07):
sixty percent win rate this weekend. But he's not going
to go and put up four sacks a game. They
don't have a bunch of guys that are going to
have the stat box. But do you know the if
you remember, I think it was twenty thirteen in DSU
when they had that defense. I think it was the
year they beat Townsend in the National Championship game at
the end of the year, was the year they beat
k State. This defense man, I really do think Sam

(07:29):
and might It's still early and we got to see
him tested. I think this defense could be right there
as one of the better defenses we've seen for North
Dakota State. I don't know how you feel, but they
don't have anybody that's going to load the stat bocks.
I think that defense of twenty thirteen, I don't remember
his name, he was like, he wore like number thirty five.
I think he had like six or seven picks that year.

(07:50):
But I don't think they had any defensive lineman that
just loaded the stat bocks. I think this year's defense
man is just a defense like that, like that year's
defense that is just going to suffocate opponents all year.
Mag I know Cole Payton's taking a lot of the headlines,
but this defense has been super impressive this year.

Speaker 1 (08:07):
Yeah, I would maybe equate this defense to the twenty
twenty one NSU defense, which was also really really good
statistically and didn't necessarily have a ton of star players.
I still think that the twenty eighteen NSU defense, and
you know, is maybe a step above everyone else, and
a step above all the other NASU defenses except for

(08:29):
twenty thirteen.

Speaker 3 (08:30):
Actually, now that I think of.

Speaker 1 (08:31):
It, probably has probably still is the best Bison defense
just because not only were they sun statistically, but they
had stars at all three levels. Whether it was Marcus Williams,
Christian Dudzick, you had Grant Olsen, little John Beck, you
had Cole Ji Kylie, Manuel Levan Paley, Levon Perry, like
they had dudes at all three levels that were all

(08:53):
star players. I this is kind of a in a
sense of no Name NDSU defense, which honestly I think
is good. You'd have a quote unquote no name defense
where not one person stands out above the rest, rather
than having two wall American players that rack up the
stats while everyone else is below average. But I mean,
you look at Logan cop, you look at Donovan Wolin

(09:13):
at linebacker, all very very good players. Anini has been
very good on the defensive side or on the defensive
line as well, and then offensively, you should mention Cole
Payton as well. I mean, we all thought he'd be
he would have a good season this year, but it
was more of a how good is he gonna be?
Is he gonna be twenty twenty two cam Miller or

(09:33):
is he going to be twenty twenty four cam Miller?
Like both good quarterbacks, but levels to that, and I
think so far Cole Payton has exceeded expectations and he
is just making so many highlight real plays, whether it's
with his with his arm, with his legs, he's he's
playing at a very very high level right now.

Speaker 4 (09:51):
Yeah, I've been so impressed.

Speaker 2 (09:52):
I think he's firmly put himself in the Walter Payton
conversation with with how he's been playing, and obviously, like
we kind of talked last week, I think he's put
himself in the NFL draft conversations. And again that same
scout texted me this weekend, Sam and was like, do
you see what?

Speaker 4 (10:09):
Do you see what we're seeing right now?

Speaker 2 (10:11):
And if he can continue that through valley play and
postseason play, man, he's gonna be He's gonna be right
in the conversation for one of these locks to be drafted,
if not getting a Senior Bowl or something like that.
Invite my second game ball, Sam, to move this along.
Is in carnate word. They stunned Number twelve Appleing Christian
a team that me and you were both very high on.
Appleing came into the weekend two ranked wins, already over

(10:34):
Steven F. Austin and they beat a really good Austin
p team two weeks ago in Cardinate Word just I
mean took it to them thirty eight to seven, extends
their home winning streak and sim the biggest thing that
I saw was with this offense over the first few
games when they were really struggling offensively to find their
rhythm as they couldn't run the football. This weekend, they

(10:56):
found a way to get it done. Three hundred and
one yards on the ground EJ. Coles and didn't have
the best day through the air, Sam, but I do
think his mobility and you see his ability to get
out of the pocket and make some plays. The offensive
line isn't perfect, but when they do when things do
break down, Colson's athletic enough to get out of the
pocket and move the pocket and then go make some plays.

(11:16):
I was really really impressed there. They dominated the time
of possession. This would I don't know if it was
a must win per ses Sam because it want a
conference game this upcoming weekend will probably be one against
Steven F.

Speaker 4 (11:27):
Auston.

Speaker 2 (11:27):
But this was a massive win for momentum getting back
into conference play for Incardinate Word and in a really
really impressive win.

Speaker 1 (11:34):
Yeah, I felt that UIW had to split these last
two games when they went to ranked Northern Arizona and
then this last weekend against Appline Christian, two ranked opponents,
and you really felt like if they lose both, they're
sitting there at a one in four record and you know,
really up against it. So this was a much needed

(11:54):
win for ui W. And Colson has been such a
huge difference maker. Like you said, his ability to make
plays with his legs has has really elevated this offense.

Speaker 3 (12:05):
And then to to.

Speaker 1 (12:07):
Also to hold Ablin Christian offense down like they did,
an offense that was showing great explosiveness, I thought was
really impressive for uiw's defense. But I think it's playing
at a really high level right now. And you know,
Declan Williams is having a fantastic season. I know that's
maybe not too much of a surprise because I believe
he was first team All the Conference last year. But

(12:27):
he's already up to forty two tackles in five and
a half TFLs and you put him along with Dunane
Smith and that's a really good linebacking duo there for
for UIW. Moving on to my second game, ball. I'm
going to give it to an individual here because I
feel like Chase Mason has been talked about a decent amount,
but I also feel like he's flying under the radar,

(12:49):
whether it's nationally or within the valley. Because we've talked
a lot about Derrek Er Robertson, We've talked, you know,
a decent amount about DJ Williams and how good he looks. Uh,
you know, Cole Payton is getting a lot of buzz
as well. Tron Dickens now that he's playing. I mean,
he's he had to play catchup because he missed the
first few games, but he's already up there in two games,

(13:11):
already over one thousand passing yards playing catchup when it
comes to the Walter Payton Award discussion, but I think
Chase Mason deserves a lot of credit as well. And
and something that I thought was interesting that was pointed
out on social media is on Saturday, there was a
lot of tweets about Cole Payton being in that Walter
Payton Award discussion, which I absolutely agree with that I
think if he's continuing to make these these phenomenal plays

(13:35):
and putting up these numbers, he's certainly, you know, potentially
at the front or near the front of this conversation.
But interestingly, like Chase Mason and Cole Payton have pretty
identical numbers. Cole Payton seventy seventy two seventy two point
six percent passing, Chase Mason seventy one point six. Both
are just a little over nine hundred yards passing. Both

(13:56):
have eight touchdown passes, Both have zero interceptions. Cole Payton
is getting it done a little bit more on the
grounds with about hundred and fifty is more rushing yards.
Snaps wise, Cole Payton has played two hundred and ten snaps,
Chase Mason has played two hundred and eighty three snaps.
But you can kind of also flip that around and
say Chase Mason has has played against the number thirty

(14:16):
strength of schedule while Cole Payton has played against the
number forty four strength of schedule. I just feel like
Mason isn't doesn't necessarily have those highlight plays, but it's
more of seeing him step up in rifle some throws,
you know, whether it is threading the needle or whether
it is just seeing the velocity has on some of
his outpasses. Really splashed to me, And so I feel

(14:38):
like Chase certainly deserves some accolades as far as the
season he's had so far this.

Speaker 4 (14:43):
Year, Yeah, I agree with through that, and he's played
really well.

Speaker 2 (14:47):
I think the biggest thing you kind of hit on
it is I don't know if the odd test is
the same between them, Like when you watch them, Sam,
they're both good players, But I don't know how many
times you're gonna watch Chase Mason and and be like, oh, wow,
can you believe he made that play? Like that run
that Cole Peyton had this weekend where what was it
I think it was four defenders laying on the ground

(15:08):
by the time he like cut back across the field
was just insane. And also to can I give Chase
Mason this to Sam? I think he has his wide
receiving corpse talented, but he doesn't have the same surrounding
talent that Cole Payton has. Like, can you imagine Chase
Mason if he had Bryce Lance on the outside or
Raj john Nelson or some of these guys, Because I

(15:30):
mean Bryce Lance is by far the best receiver in.

Speaker 4 (15:32):
The subdivision right now.

Speaker 2 (15:34):
I just imagine if Chase Mason had that, So I
do think there's an argument that Chase Mason should be
getting more respect, and I do agree with that. Shout
out my last game ball, Sam. I thought this team
was not going to get talked about anymore on this
show after week one, and I'm glad we get to
cover them again. It's Mercer, and they've really turned a corner, Sam,
since that week one lost to Presbyterian, who I guess

(15:57):
that went. It feels weird right at lost as a
each pretty good since Presbyteria is sitting there at five
and oh still, but since they made a quarterback change,
this Mercer team has looked different. It's another team similar
to Incardinate. Word that just once they made the quarterback change,
the offense started to click. Brandon Atkinson's playing really, really well.
Had another three touchdowns this weekend.

Speaker 4 (16:17):
C J. Miller gets it going on the ground.

Speaker 2 (16:19):
They overcame a second half deficit, scoring fourteen on answer
Sam to come back on a really good ETSU team
and the defense again man force and turnovers. And I
want to say this, we're talking a lot about the
Walter Payton Sam. Andrew Zack is finding his rhythm right now.
Eighteen tackles eight for loss, already three and a half sacks,

(16:42):
and then this is the most instance that he has
ten quarterback hurries. Sam, he's been like a step away
from just wreaking havoc in the backfield, but he had
three tackles for lost, two sacks this weekend, another two
quarterback hurries. Andrew Zak is a problem off the edge.
And we talked about all the names they had to
replace defensive league car Mellow O'Neill has stepped up. You've
got a guy like Isaac Prince that has played really well,

(17:04):
Tommy Bliss, Caleb Hutchetson has played well. I've been really
really impressed with how they've been able to replace all
this talent defensively, and Sam right now, with how it sits,
it's really hard not to look at Mercer is probably
the favorite right this second and that Western Carolina game,
and cannot get here fast enough because it's gonna be

(17:25):
so great to watch this Mercer defense work against that
Western Carolina offense.

Speaker 1 (17:30):
Yeah, I was just gonna say that the Silicon Race
is shaping up to be very entertaining now because like
you said, you like Mercer right now, But I also
feel like, you know, etsu can't go on a decent
run here, and I mean Western Carolina. I mean, if
they could go on a run here potentially win the
Silicon after not winning a game in the non conference,
but they also didn't have you know, their quarterback Dickens,

(17:52):
you know, during those non conference games. And we'll see
Furman too, yep, right there, yep, Furman three and one
right now has has had some pretty good non conference
wins over.

Speaker 3 (18:04):
Some CAAA teams. We'll see.

Speaker 1 (18:06):
I know, after the non conference it seemed like, okay,
the Solcon is going to be one bid league because
they've suffered bad losses in the non conference and don't
really have that marquee win in the non conference as well.
But I do know the playoff committee does take into
consideration like player availability, and so if let's say Mercer,

(18:31):
let's say Mercer gets the auto bid and Western Carolina
finishes with you know whatever, it'd be eight eighter or
nine wins, whatever they would be at. I do think
maybe they would look at Western Carolina and go, Okay,
the three of those losses were without you know, Dickens,
who's you know, one of the one of the favorites
for the Walter Payton Award. Maybe they get some sort

(18:52):
of benefit of the doubt in a in some sort
of way to get a second at large bid or
to get a a second bid into the FCS playoffs
for the Sulk And it'll be interesting to.

Speaker 3 (19:03):
See how how that all plays out.

Speaker 1 (19:05):
My last game ball here kind of along those notes,
I'm gonna get I'm going to give it to Presbyterian,
a team that I didn't have my top twenty five
until this last week.

Speaker 3 (19:15):
I was still a little bit.

Speaker 1 (19:16):
Unsure about them because they were They're now five and zero.
Two of those wins are against non Division one opponents,
but those wins over Furman and Mercer have aged very
well because both of those squads are now three to one,
and so to me, that has bumped a Presbyterian into
my top twenty five. It's interesting because I have Presbyterian

(19:40):
ahead of Mercer right now because of that head to head,
But if they played this week like I would comfortably
pick Mercer to win that game because of the quarterback
change and how great Atkinson has looked so far.

Speaker 3 (19:53):
But still I think you have to.

Speaker 1 (19:54):
Give Presbyterian credit for winning those two for winning those
two games and as we've talked, when it comes to
Walter Payton Ward, I don't necessarily think Colin Hurst will
finish in the top three. But I mean, so far
he's been electric, and he's thrown for thirteen hundred yards
fifteen touchdowns already to only four interceptions. He's playing at

(20:14):
a very high level. And I just think you look
across the board in the FCS, the FCS is getting
some really good quarterback play this year.

Speaker 3 (20:21):
In Hurst.

Speaker 1 (20:23):
I mean, yeah, he plays in the Pioneer Football League
and he'll let Presbyterian next to his name, so he's
not going to get the number of votes compared to
you know, Dickens or Robertson or Peyton Williams, Chase Mason,
all those names. But I do think Hurst is is
really really fun to watch.

Speaker 2 (20:41):
Get real quick, how do you as a voter, right
because I was with you, I said, last week's time,
I'm not ranking Presbyterian and then Mercer keeps winning and
I had to this week, when do you as a
voter stop valuing head to head more than overall resume?

Speaker 1 (21:00):
I think we are pretty dang close to getting to
that point, if not already, I mean if if Presbyterian
keeps on winning and Mercer keeps on winning. At some
point pretty soon Mercer is going to have the overall
better body of work, even though Presbyterian, you know, has
that head to head win and has you know, a
better record as far as zero losses. But I also think,

(21:22):
you know what's important is, I know you pay attention
to this, and uh, you know I do it as
well as I mean, you can just look at the
head to head in the records and keep Presbyterian ahead,
but you also look at, Okay, who's playing quarterback at
Mercer during that game and who's now playing quarterback for
Mercer at that you know, at this point in the season.

Speaker 3 (21:39):
So I do think eventually.

Speaker 1 (21:41):
Mercer will probably jump ahead, assuming that they keep on winning,
just because of overall body of work and also just
the the different personnel that that that's now on the
offense for Mercer.

Speaker 2 (21:51):
I think that's fair because because I think me and
you both had Apple and Christian over incarnate word this week,
kind of a similar situation moving on here though, the
flag has to be thrown on Sacramento State, and I mean,
Sam that we talked about all these teams that have
lived up or not lived up the preseason hype. Sacramento

(22:13):
State has been a big disappointment. It kind of culminated
this weekend thirty two to twenty four loss to cal
Poly and they only scored three points in the second half.
Bo Kelly for cal Poly was great, but two interceptions
and the quarterback play has just been atrocious for Sacramento
State this year. And I know there was a big

(22:35):
talk about Cardell Williams versus Jayden and Rashada. I mean,
it's kind of a just a double edged sword right now. Sam,
it doesn't really matter which way you go. It is
not good, Like Cardell Williams turns the ball over way
too much. But then you look, every single time we
see Jad and Rashada, he looks atrocious. I saw a
bunch of tweets this weekend about just start Rashada and

(22:57):
saved the season. Rashada went one for six for nine
yards this weekend and it's only completing thirty nine percent
of his passes this year and has one of the
worst PFF grades among like starting quarterbacks in the FCS.
I just think they whiffed on two quarterback evaluations, which
we know Brendan Marion offensive genius. The scheme is good,
they're running the football really well with Damian Henderson, but

(23:21):
at the same time, and the offense is just not
good because of the quarterback play. And it sucks because
I think for me, at least Sam their defense has
been playing pretty good forty six tackles for loss in
twenty two sacks already this year. Man, the defensive line
has really improved and they nailed a lot of their
defensive transfer portal evaluations. But the passing attack is anemic,

(23:43):
and I just think it's gonna it could be a
really really long season for sax State that started with
an oh to win starting conference play against cal Poly.

Speaker 1 (23:52):
Yeah, I mean, they had Kayden Bennett on their roster
and they had Carson Conklin on their roster, and it
seems like either one of those guys would be better
right now. And I do think for a little bit
it seemed like that offense was heating up because they
put up nearly fifty points against Mercy Hurst, put up

(24:12):
forty five points against Central Arkansas, and Cardile Williams looked.

Speaker 3 (24:16):
Like an upgrade.

Speaker 1 (24:17):
But I still like actually watching those games, you still
I felt a little iffy on him, you know, as
a passer there, like he made some explosive plays with
his legs. He made some nice throws. I mean, they
have really good speed at the wide receiver position and
so he would hit on some explosive plays. But there's
also still some passes where you just got he's it's
not reading the defense very well right now in some instances,

(24:40):
like just just throwing it right to a linebacker who's
sitting right there on the underneath rout and he just
doesn't see him. And yeah, you get this last this
last game, he goes ten to twenty four, one hundred
and sixty four yards, a touchdown, three interceptions. So kind
of up and down for sax States so far, but
obviously shout out to cal Poly though, you know, getting
this win. And they've already matched last year's win total.

(25:01):
They're three and two right now after finishing three and eight.
And their wide receiver Brisco is really really good. I
mean in or excuse me, five games, twenty four catches,
nearly five hundred yards, seven touchdowns. He's a very very
good player. And it always seems like cal Pauly has
like that one guy on their team who is a
borderline NFL prospect. They had that defensive end last year

(25:26):
I want to say defensive tackle or defensive end last
year where he just stands out above everyone else on
that team. And Briscoe is a really special talent for
cal Poly, so shout out to them as well. And
for my flake portion of this, I am going to
throw it down Ablin Christian, even though I'd still want
to give kudos to UIW and getting that really much
needed win for UIW, But this was to me also

(25:49):
a disappointing performance by Abilene Christian. I was really high
on them with what they did against their two FCS
opponents that they knocked off Stephen F. Austin, who was
ranked at the time. They also handled Austin p pretty
easily a couple of games ago. I know the final
score was a I think it was a two touchdown
one for abling Christian, but it was much more decisive

(26:10):
than that, and they were just, I think right outside
of my top ten, and I was kind of thinking, Okay,
Ablin Christian has really got it rolling, and losing at
UIW to a certain extent is quote unquote forgivable, but
to lose by thirty one points to me, I was
kind of just a disappointed effort by abling Christian.

Speaker 4 (26:29):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (26:30):
I still think their resume is really good and I
still think they're going to be a factor. Just it
was weird too. If you for people who didn't watch
the game, if you watch it and you didn't see
the score, you would not think it would be thirty
eight to seven. It was kind of it was a
little bit more competitive. I want to say they had
two interceptions in the red zone. I'm not saying, including

(26:50):
one which was just unlucky play where it bounced off
like four players and got picked off. And then on
the top of that two when you only have the
ball for nineteen minutes. Man, just really hard to win
the game at the end of the day. I has
a really really tough situation, and plus it was on
the road against a really desperate and Carnet word thing
Cardinal Word team.

Speaker 4 (27:09):
I think Gaplin christ is going to be fun.

Speaker 1 (27:11):
Yeah, and they I didn't think they played that bad defensively.
It's just Colson would pick up so many first downs
or pick up you know, good yardage, you know, with
with his legs, and that was really the difference maker
in this one. I do think Colson is is a
good passer, but it was more of his legs and
this this last matchup here. One thing I want to

(27:32):
touch on before we get to Week six games is
the conversation of the top.

Speaker 3 (27:37):
Five and were teams slot.

Speaker 1 (27:40):
And I think most people have the same top five
as far as the teams North Gooda State, South Kota
State to Montana's and Tarleton State in whatever order.

Speaker 3 (27:52):
It seems.

Speaker 1 (27:52):
More so three through five I've kind of been shuffled
around depending on on ballots. For me, I went one
North Kota State to South State, three Montana, four Montana State,
five Tarlton States. I think the big discussion points from
what I've seen on social media is where exactly does
Tarleton State fit into this mix?

Speaker 3 (28:12):
Are they? Are they ahead of the two Montana schools?

Speaker 1 (28:15):
Are they in between? Are they behind both? I can't
remember exactly what your ballot looked like, but where did
you slot Tarleton State into this top five mix?

Speaker 3 (28:25):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (28:25):
I had one North Dakota State to South Dakota State,
three Montana, four Tartan, Tarlton State, five Montana State, So
I had them in between the Montana schools. Okay, And
it's not like and I've wrote this because I know
me and you do very similar articles where we're like,
we like to offer our analysis about how we view
these things, and I think that's important to do. The

(28:47):
only thing is with Montana State is I understand that
some of Tarlton's wins haven't aged the best sam right, Like,
I mean, none of the teams they beat have ended
up being very good teams. But you can kind of
say the same for Montana State. Two their wins are
over Eastern Washington, Mercyhurst, and San Diego? Are those more
quality wins than any of the five that Tarlton have?

(29:09):
And at some point, and we talk about resume, the
best game or the best quality of your resume can't
be a good loss in my opinion right now and
so and also too, it's week five going into week six.
So for me, what's the difference between four and five.
I have to reward the team that's won all their games,

(29:30):
including an FBS game, over a team who sits at
three and two lost. Obviously, I'm not counting the organ
loss against them, but that they sit three and one
against the FCS and they have a really good loss
in South Dakota State, but they really haven't beat anybody.
So if we're gonna say Tarlton hasn't beat anybody, plus
they have an FBS win, I have to give them
the edge right now if I'm being fair. And my

(29:51):
big thing sam Is and I make this argument all
the time is fans love when we judge teams based
on resume when we're ranking, when me and you were
ranking number eighteen through twenty five, right, they love when
we justify like, hey, this team's got to be at
eighteen over this team at nineteen because of this resume.
There's some fans that I don't think love that. When
it comes to the top five, we're expected to judge

(30:14):
these top five teams differently than we would judge the
bottom five teams.

Speaker 4 (30:17):
So if I'm.

Speaker 2 (30:18):
Going to judge a team at twenty four, I gotta
judge that same team at number four the same way.
And I got to be consistent in my ballot. So
that's why I have Charlton in between the two Montana schools.

Speaker 1 (30:30):
Yeah, and that's obviously all all very fair, And it's
difficult with the with the top five because you could
there's gonna be arguments and counter arguments, and you know
it almost in some ways, you can almost kind of
move the goal posts. And I'm not saying you specifically,
I'm just saying like when someone is defending their ballot,
they can kind of move the goalposts as far as

(30:51):
why they're judging some teams one way and then other
teams a different way. As far as like Montana and
South Gotstate eight right now, have South Gota State in
Montana have a better on paper resume than Northcota State.
They both have two ranked wins, but NDSU kind of passes,

(31:12):
you know, the Eyeball test. Right now, you can also
look at, well, Charleton State also passes the Hyeball tests,
so why aren't they, you know, ranked a little bit higher.
You can also look at you know, Montana State doesn't
necessarily have any wins that move the needle.

Speaker 3 (31:28):
Yet if you're really.

Speaker 1 (31:29):
High on South Gota States, Montana State was every bit
as good as South go To State, just came up
a little bit short, and so you can gauge them
off of that. But then the conter argument to that is,
you know what, at what point do you start gauging
teams on their wins rather than you know, quality losses.
And that is one reason I moved Montana ahead of
Montana State because of you know, I'm looking at their

(31:51):
two ranked wins more so than Montana States, you know,
really competitive loss against South Kota State, a team I'm
I'm really high on. And then you know, the question is, well,
if Montana State goes to ranked Northern Arizona this weekend
and wins by seventeen points, someone asked me, do you
bump them back over Montana you know, because of you know,
now they have that needle moving win, and so it's.

Speaker 3 (32:12):
Just it's all in flux.

Speaker 1 (32:14):
And I am very high on Tarleton State. I do
think they are a strong number five team for me
and is right on par with some of these other teams.
You know, the UAC, to me, I do think is
the third best conference. And so if if Tarleton goes
through league play undefeated, you know, I do think that
moves the needle more so than a team going through

(32:37):
CIA play or SoCon Southerland play undefeated. And there's some
some upcoming ranked opponents, whether it's West Georgia, you know,
Appling Christian, you know, Austin p will maybe still be ranked,
you know at that point in the season. So I
do think there are more resume padding opponents coming up
for Tarlton State, and you know they'll be cheering for

(32:57):
Army as well. Right now, Army is one and three,
So an any FBS win is a good win. But
there are levels to it, and I think most Playoff
Committee members don't just put a check mark next to
FBS win. They do look into, you know, how good
that FBS team is, And it was This was several
years ago at this point, but I can't remember if

(33:18):
it was like sixteen, seventeen, eighteen somewhere around there, But
Southern Illinois had seven wins in an eleven game season
with an FBS win, but that FBS win was over
like UMass, who was like bow on eleven. Now, Army
is much better than that UMass team. But if Army
goes on and finishes three and nine like that, is
that a better win than South Gota State going to

(33:39):
Montana State and getting to win. I personally don't think so.
So having that win age nicely for Carlton would be
a good thing. If Army can go on a string
of wins, a string of wins here.

Speaker 2 (33:52):
I definitely think it's a balance, right Sam, Like because
we take a resume, we take odd tests, We take
all these things into account and they all for each
voter weighs those differently. Because I'll be honest with you, man,
like I look at my top five and if I'm
basing it off of eye tests alone, like I can't
use resume, you tell me, I just have to watch
these teams and rank them. I don't know if i'd

(34:14):
change my top five either, because, like you said, I
think Tarlton also passes the eye test, and so like
that would be one thing, and I also too, I
don't know about you. I kind of struck like I'd
ended up not doing it because I think that Montana
State went for South Dakota State is so impressive and
probably the best win up to this point of the
year of any of the top five teams. But I

(34:35):
think that I wouldn't I wouldn't care if a voter
had Montana too right now either, because I think eye
test wise, you can make an argument they look just
as good as South Dakota State and they have a
better resume. Like you could make that argument to me
and I would understand it, and I don't. I might
not necessarily agree, but I can rationalize that in my head,

(34:56):
and I'm with you, where man, when I watch North
Dakota State SAM this year, I just to me, I
don't understand how you can watch the film of all
the teams in the FCS and say North Dakota State
is at number one. And I'll be honest, I thought
after this weekend, I really thought there was going to

(35:16):
be some more first place votes in the media poll
swayed back to North Dakota State. But I'm assuming those
people are looking at resume more, which is fine, and
it will all work itself out when these two teams play.
But I'm with you, where if we're just basing it
off of who is the best team in the country,
I don't really know if you can make a good
argument that is not North Dakota State right now?

Speaker 1 (35:37):
Yeah, they NDSU has got fifty one first place votes
this week. South Kota State got four, and then Charleton
State got one. That's the media poll, then coaches poll.
If we want to even reference that, NDSU got twenty
five first place votes.

Speaker 3 (35:52):
South Gota States got one.

Speaker 1 (35:54):
So yeah, I think watching the games, NDSU has I
think separated, separated itself from the pack. I can't to me,
it's still early to say that there's a big gap
between them and you know, South Goota State slash Montana
Montana State just because we I mean NSU. So that's
the play South Kota State. And if they if they
go to Brookings and win by fourteen points, then all

(36:17):
of a sudden, I do think it turns into a conversational.
It's it's NUSU versus everyone else, you know, similar to
twenty eighteen or twenty twenty three, it was South Gota
State versus everyone else. So I do think NDSU, I
agree with you, to me, looks like the clear number
one team. The Bison look like, you know, it.

Speaker 3 (36:37):
Depends how you want to help people view it.

Speaker 1 (36:38):
If I say NDSU is in a tier in and
of itself, some people might take that as like NSU
is so far ahead of everyone else. I don't necessarily
think that is the case, but I do think they
have separated themselves so far. And we'll see how. You know,
NSU looks moving forward with with conference play because they
have to go to Illinois State this weekend, they have
to go to South Kota States near the end of

(36:59):
our over and they have to go to U and
d as well, which is, you know, potentially a hornet's
nest that that they'll be stepping into similar to a
couple of years ago. And the Bison go through this
year undefeated. I mean, that's that's gonna be one of
the more impressive undefeated seasons in NSU history, just because
of some of the road teams they have to face.

Speaker 2 (37:18):
And that the FBS talk will never end, Sam, The
FBS talk will never end if they go undefeated this year.

Speaker 1 (37:24):
Yeah, I mean, the the only the only thing that
would stop NSU getting off its tracks in the FCS
would be Mountain West presidents and if they want to
step up and do something or not with that. But
let's jump up jump to that game right there, because
we have four ranked matchups.

Speaker 3 (37:42):
This upcoming weekend.

Speaker 1 (37:43):
We have number one nd SU going to number six
Illinois State. That's probably the the marquee matchup this weekend.
I where do you have Illinois State ranks this week?

Speaker 4 (37:55):
Yeah? I am not a fan.

Speaker 3 (37:59):
I have been.

Speaker 1 (38:00):
Eleven or ten I think actually this week because Idaho.
I know last week I moved to Illinois State out
of my top ten. I think they're just in my
top ten this week at number ten because Idaho fell off.
But I don't think, excuse me, Illinois State, I don't
think they're the number.

Speaker 3 (38:16):
Sixteen right now.

Speaker 2 (38:17):
Yeah, Okay, I'm gonna sound like a real hater, so
I apologize to everyone listening to the show.

Speaker 4 (38:22):
I have them at fifteen, Okay.

Speaker 3 (38:24):
I mean I don't have anything against that at all.

Speaker 2 (38:28):
I just don't. I just haven't been impressed. And a
lot of it's the eye test, A lot of it is.
I mean, what's the signature win right now for them?
I just and I think they lost a lot defensively,
Sam and I still think they're trying to find their
rhythm there. And I mean I'm not taking a shot
at them, but I don't know if they've looked necessarily

(38:49):
super impressive that Eastern Illinois game. The final score does
not really tell the full story there. That was a
that was a dog fight for for a long time,
and they really he probably should have lost to North
Alabama this weekend at home, and it's the North Alabama
team that has struggled, and defensively, man especially in the secondary,
they have they have just been really bad. They're allowing

(39:10):
three hundred yards per game, twelve touchdowns, only four five picks.
The front seven's played well. We kind of expected that, right,
That's where a lot of their returning talent was with
tie at linebacker and some of the some of the
interior defensive linman like Jake Anderson. But that secondary, now, listen,
the transfer was it shots well, I believe it's Kooba

(39:32):
the second He's been really good.

Speaker 4 (39:34):
I want to say leads to country.

Speaker 2 (39:35):
Are four picks, but the overall secondary hasn't played well.
Their rushing attack's been okay. Rittenhouse has played solid, hasn't
turned the football over, which is good. But there just
seems to be something missing with this team. For me, Sam,
and I'm gonna be honest with you, the I don't.
I just don't think this is a very good matchup

(39:55):
for Illinois State. To be honest with you, I think
with how North Dakota State is playing right now, they
are going to need Rittenhouse to be a star this
weekend because what I think is gonna happen is similar
to what happened with South Dakota. North Dakota State is
gonna take away the run game, They're gonna win that matchup,
and then you look at the secondary for Illinois State

(40:16):
and how they've struggled this year. Sam, with how Cole
Peyton's throwing the football right now is what's the answer there?
Who do you have to take away Bryce Lance? And
if you take away Bryce Lance, how do you take
away Rod john Nelson or was it Macaw Collins or
There's just so many weapons and I just think this
is a really, really bad matchup with a really hot quarterback.

Speaker 4 (40:38):
Coming in to this game.

Speaker 2 (40:40):
This is for me, Sam, Illinois States chance to prove
that I've just misevaluated them over the past few weeks
and that they are a top ten team in the country.

Speaker 4 (40:48):
If they can keep it competitive.

Speaker 2 (40:50):
It might be one of these rare cases Sam, where
if they make this competitive and lose a one score game,
they might move up in my ballot rather than down.
But if they get blown out, like I think could
happen similar to what we saw was South Dakota this weekend,
it's gonna be really hard to convince me they're a
top twenty team in the FCS right this second.

Speaker 1 (41:07):
Yeah, going to Raja Nelson, I think he's playing like
an all the conference level wide receiver this year and
he probably gets overshadowed just with you know, being next
to next to Bryce Lands, but Rajas has played really
well this year. And yeah, I think two underrated losses
for Illinois State during the spring transfer portal period. They

(41:29):
lost a couple of starters in the secondary. You know,
I think that kind of flew under the radar a
little bit just because there are some other teams that
were losing maybe more headlining guys, but that that secondary,
like you said, it is an issue. And I don't
know exactly how they're going to match up with NBSU
as far as how they're gonna scheme that up, because
you can't. I mean, you want to take away the

(41:49):
run and and go man on the outside. That's I mean,
Simo tried to do that and that did not work
out well at all. And yeah, I say it is
interesting because they I mean, they had what nine or
ten wins last year, and they returned a good amount
of talent. I actually think they had like the most
either preseason All Americans within the Valley or like the

(42:10):
most preseason All Conference guys, because they did bring back
a lot of good individual talents, like knee Camp is
really really good at linebacker. They have, you know, Anderson
on the defensive line. One of their offensive tackles is good.
Daniel Soopokovich is a good wide receiver. I mean, wakers
right is really good at running back.

Speaker 3 (42:29):
You know.

Speaker 1 (42:29):
Rittenhouse, Yeah, it was really good statistically last year, but
like you said, there just seems to be something missing
there and they haven't been able to put away teams
this year, like Eastern Illinois or North Alabama. And the
North Alabama game was a little weird because there was
a couple of long lightning delays that kind of threw
off the rhythm of that game.

Speaker 3 (42:49):
But you still expect.

Speaker 1 (42:50):
I mean, if you're the number six team in the country,
you have to be able to put those opponents away.
And to me, Illinois State is a team that they'll
beat the teams that they're supposed to beat. They'll split
games against teams that are, you know, kind of on
the same level of them, like like a un D
like they'll like Southern Illinois. You know, I think this
year SIU is better, but like those type of games

(43:11):
they'll they'll split. And then when it comes to playing
the NDSUS and the South Kota States, they just haven't
been able to compete for quite a bit of a
long time. I know there was the nine to three
game in the twenty nineteen quarterfinals, but other than that,
when it comes to the regular season, they just haven't
been able to keep compete with the Bison or the
Jacks all too well. So I'm kind of with you

(43:34):
as far as this being a rather decisive NDSU win,
I don't think it's going to be as ugly as
the South Dakota game. That I mean, if they beat
Illinois State like they beat South Dakota, then then we're
talking about NDSU is in a tier far and away
above everyone else. But I do think this could potentially
be a seventeen ish type of win for the Bison.

Speaker 2 (43:56):
Yeah, I just don't I just don't love the matchup.
I really do think the test for North Dakota State
comes next week after Southern Illinois because I think I
think DJ Williams is a problem and in him against
this defense, he's going to be the first quarterback. I
think Rittenhouse is athletic right, and he's shifty, But Sam,

(44:19):
I let's just get can we be honest that like
North Dakota State is not going to see another quarterback
with the size and athleticism of DJ Williams the rest
of the year. He and I like Chase Mason. But
Chase Mason is a good athlete, but I don't know
if he's the type of player that DJ is athletically,
And because there are two different styles, I think that
that stylistic matchup is going to be much more of

(44:41):
a challenge for North Dakota State rather than Rittenhouse, who
is a bit more undersized. But the matchup to watch
this weekend is North Dakota State's defensive line isn't going
to load the stat box. But Sam, you watched when
when South Dakota went to some of those like that
as outside zone concepts and stuff like that, those defensive
tackles were like three yards in the back field and
Keenan Wilson and those guys have been wreaking havoc. But

(45:05):
on the flip side, Illinois State's offensive line has actually
played really well. I want to say they've only allowed
like four sacks too. That's going to be the matchup
to watch. If Illinois State can hang in the trenches,
I do think this game could be a little bit
more competitive. But if North Dakota State wins that trench battle, man,
it could get ugly this Saturday.

Speaker 1 (45:22):
Yeah, speaking of mobile quarterbacks, both Bruntguard and number twenty
four Youngstound State. They're hosting number two South Kota States.
A good test for the jack Rabbits in my mind,
because I do think Youngstound State has I mean when
they barely beat Towson, which to a certain extent is
maybe concerning as far as how south as far as

(45:44):
how Youngstown State will be able to match up with
South Kota State. But we did see Drake and their
quarterback run game. They found some success on South Dakota State.
And what was it against. I think it was against
Mercy Hurst where Bruntguard ran at like thirty plus times
order to be Mercer Hurriston, so he he might be
sore after this one. I feel like they're gonna rely

(46:05):
on his legs at the quarterback position to uh perhaps
you know, push South Kota State. But with how crisp
the jack Rabbits looked this last weekend against mercer Hurst,
it just feels like they are really starting to click.
But it's a good opportunity to add a third ranked
win on the resume for Southcota State and we'll see
what Youngstown State can do. They'll definitely be up for

(46:27):
this game and maybe throw some exotic blitzes or give Mason,
you know, a different look in the secondary, and maybe
put some things out offensively that they haven't shown just yet,
because that's what you know when you're when you're a
top five team, you're gonna get different looks from from
these opponents because they're gonna put everything into this game
to to try to get a big upset.

Speaker 2 (46:48):
Yeah, the big the big thing for me here looking
at it is Youngstown's actually been really really good against
a run that. Outside of the Michigan State game, they
filled every single FCS opponent to under yards rushing. If
they can find a way to limit South Dakota State's
rushing attack this weekend, I'm gonna be very curious to
see how this matchup works out. And again, man, we

(47:09):
talked about Rittenhouse having to be a star in the
last game. We just talked about this is the game
for bou Broungard to show that he's that good, and
this is going to be really really important for him
not to just be good on the ground, because I
don't think they're just gonna be able to come in
and run the football right at South Dakota State.

Speaker 4 (47:26):
They're too good for that. Upfront.

Speaker 2 (47:28):
They're allowing less than one hundred yards per game on
the ground as well. The worry for me is South
Dakota State secondary has been so good saying they're allowing
what was it?

Speaker 4 (47:36):
What is it like?

Speaker 2 (47:37):
I think one hundred and thirty four yards per game
through the air right now, forcing us a good amount
of turnovers. Brunt Guard has been prone to turn the
football over, not this year, but we saw that a
lot last year. My concern is that South Dakota State
takes away the run. Do you trust bou Bruntgard to
beat you through the air with his arm? I don't know.
I think I was still lean South Dakota State here

(48:00):
to pick someone today, but I do think this might
be a more interesting matchup than the last game we
just talked about.

Speaker 1 (48:07):
Another rank match up here in UAC play number sixteen,
West Georgia goes to number twenty two Austin p West
Georgia just keeps on winning five and zero now in
their second year as an FCS member. Unfortunately for them,
they're not going to be playoff eligible until twenty twenty seven.
As part of that transition process from Division two. But

(48:28):
West Georgia they just keep on finding.

Speaker 3 (48:30):
Ways to win games.

Speaker 1 (48:33):
And this last weekend they were put on upset alert
by many people and including myself, just because they were
on the road at Southern Utah and you felt like
the Thunderbirds were just due for a win and West
Georgia was up big, and then Southern Utah mounts a
comeback and then West Georgia ends up winning on a
game winning field goal and they go to number twenty

(48:55):
two Austin p who kind of had a get right
game this last weekend to get back in the win column,
losing pretty handily to Aplin Christian And so a really
fun ranked matchup here in UAC play, and I.

Speaker 3 (49:08):
Think potentially could be a defensive battles.

Speaker 1 (49:11):
I do think both defenses have have played really well.
And you know, one guy to shout out. I think
we've said his name on the show before, but David
Hoague who had a All American season at Northern Colorado
in like twenty one or twenty two something like that.
I think I might have been twenty one, but then
he just was going through so many injuries where he

(49:33):
just couldn't stay on the field, but transfers to West Georgia,
and he is already up to nine TFLs this year.
And he is a tremendous athlete, obviously a very disruptive guy.
And if he can stay healthy, which obviously fingers crossed
there he is, he's definitely a problem for West Georgia.

Speaker 2 (49:49):
Yeah, I think he's in the conversation for but Buchanan
as well. He's got the name recognition for the defense.
Has played really well, holding that Southern Utah offense under
the throne. Total offense his past week is pretty insane.
So I feel like I wasted my ups upset alerts
on them.

Speaker 4 (50:04):
Yeah, I said it against Etsu.

Speaker 2 (50:06):
I said it against Southern Utah, and I feel like
it could be applied this weekend because I really like
Austin p and what I see. I think Chris Parson
is playing really really good football right now, and I
think this Austin p defense is legit.

Speaker 3 (50:18):
Man.

Speaker 2 (50:19):
They don't have a ton of guys, like I said earlier,
that pad the stat box, but they're holding teams to
only eighty five yards rushing, only two hundred passing. They
got one of the best defenses in the country. This
could be a real interesting defensive battle and go. And
also too, West Georgia's traveled to southern Utah. They got
to come back across the country get back on the
road to Clarksville. Back to back road games is tough.

(50:40):
And Sam, have you seen their next three games on
the schedule. They get Austin p on the road this weekend,
Abilene Christian next weekend, and then have to travel to Stephenville,
Texas to take her on Charlton the next weekend. No
by weeks in between these three games, where if West
Georgia finds a way to keep winning and wins all
three of the games, then we're not just talking about

(51:01):
West Georgia being a top twenty five team. We're talking
are they potentially top five team right now? Which would
just be an insane conversation to have year two of
the transition.

Speaker 1 (51:11):
Yeah, that'd be wild, and I'm sure maybe they would.
They would try to get some type of waiver from
the NCAA, which probably wouldn't go through because I know,
like Tarlton two years ago try to try to get
a waiver to get into the playoffs early.

Speaker 3 (51:24):
And that was denied. But man, West Georgia just keeps
on winning.

Speaker 1 (51:28):
You know, on one hand, it's it's very exciting for
a new FCS member to step up like that, but
it's also like, well, it's gonna be a couple more
years until we actually see what they can do.

Speaker 2 (51:36):
It's almost season. Yeah, I don't I know this. I
know the UAC is never going to come out and
say it same there. You don't think the conference office
is kind of rooting for them to lose some of
these games because West Georgia might cost them in a
large bid, right, or they keep winning.

Speaker 3 (51:51):
Or cost Harlton State a top two, top three seed.

Speaker 2 (51:54):
Yeah, it's just it's not good. It's shout out to
the ad Jason Carmichael. I don't know if you saw
the stat it out today. They're the only school other
than North Dakota State that started a year five and
zero against the FCS or above competition during their first
two years of transitioning to the FCS level since two
thousand and five. That's a really really cool stat. Massa
shout out to him.

Speaker 1 (52:14):
Yeah, Yeah, definitely exciting stuff going on at West Georgia.
Last game to touch on here another ranked matchup. Number
five Montana State goes to number thirteen Northern Arizona a
chance for Montana State to finally get that win on
their resume at to point two and say, you know
this is We're not just a contender because we we
went to to Tota Southcota State and ended up losing.

(52:36):
We're a contender because we got a you know, a
quality road win against.

Speaker 3 (52:39):
A ranked opponent.

Speaker 1 (52:40):
But going to Northern Arizona is tricky. And NAU is
a veteran squad led by their quarterback Ty Pennington, returning
a lot of pieces from last year's playoff team, and
you know, offensively, certainly can give some teams trouble. Defensively,
Northern Arizona isn't as good defensively as I thought they
potentially could be. They are allowing a decent amount of

(53:01):
points and that could be a problem when they go
to when they go up against Montana State squad that
looks like they're starting to click offensively, and the Cats
loo look different. You know, offensively, they still are able
to run the ball, but they're not you know, just
absolutely punishing people you know, on the ground and rushing
for three hundred and fifty plus yards every game. They
are spreading it out more and throwing it a decent amount.

(53:25):
And Justin Lampson I think has looked sharp. He's not
Tommy Mallott as far as his explosive playmaking ability, but
I do think he's a more polished and peer passer
than Tommy Mallott. And if they can get that ground
game going, that ground game going a little bit more,
that's a really dangerous offense because they have, you know,
multiple wide receivers that can get it done. You know,

(53:47):
Chris Long transfer from I believe it's Rutgers, he's back
in the lineup now. He kind of gives them a
bit more vertical option. Meanwhile, Taco Taco Dollar is more
of that slot guy. Get him to the ball in
space and he can make some plays. And the offensive
line looks like it's getting healthier as well. So Montana
State seems to be rolling just at the right moments

(54:09):
here and a good test for them going on the
road to number thirteen Northern Arizona.

Speaker 2 (54:14):
Man, I really think this is the most interesting game
of the week for me. Yeah, that West Georgia Austin
p games will close second, but I just think this
is the reason I would put this one. Sandwich just
because we finally get to learn so much about both
these teams, which both really intrigue me. Now we have
seen Northern Arizona go up against incardinate words since the
quarterback change, right, so that was a really nice test

(54:36):
at home. But this is a big test for this
in a you team to see if they're legit. They
squeaked into the playoffs, there was a lot of talk
about whether they deserved it, and they got blown out
in the first round. But Todd Pennington has been electric
this year. Nine touchdowns, only one pick, thirteen hundred yards passing.
He could do it with his legs as well and
just get out of the pocket and move it around.
But on the flip side end, this Montana defense has

(54:58):
been really really GOODTNA defense has been really really good.

Speaker 4 (55:04):
Game.

Speaker 1 (55:04):
Yeah they might well, I would probably say, and you
see you has the best defense, but Montana State is
not far.

Speaker 3 (55:10):
Behind at all.

Speaker 4 (55:11):
They're probably second.

Speaker 1 (55:13):
And that you could argue that they're maybe better. I
maybe not. I don't know, but they're they're they're really
really good.

Speaker 4 (55:20):
Yeah, I'm with you.

Speaker 2 (55:21):
I think right now they're the best defense of the
Big Sky, and I don't necessarily know if anyone would push.

Speaker 4 (55:26):
Back on that.

Speaker 2 (55:27):
Yeah, the one thing I do want to see this weekend,
not to nitpick, I want to see if Montana State
can be a little bit more explosive offensively. That's the
one thing that's kind of been missing, Sam is they
don't have that guy that can just flip the game
in an instant.

Speaker 4 (55:42):
Right.

Speaker 2 (55:42):
They were so explosive with melodic quarterback and with lamps
and being a different type of player. Can they get
Adam Jones, Can they get Julius Davis? Can they get
some of these wide receivers to be big play, explosive
play guys. Because they've they've shifted more of a to
a like I'm not gonna say, and I'm just isn't
a critique, it's just there.

Speaker 4 (56:01):
It's a different style.

Speaker 2 (56:02):
They're more of a grinded out They're going to drop
the field now when last year, any given play could
have been a touchdown And I just don't know if
they've shown that yet.

Speaker 4 (56:10):
That would be a big thing to show put on.

Speaker 2 (56:13):
Tape against the Northern Arizona defense that has been prone
to giving up explosive plays at times.

Speaker 1 (56:19):
All Right, any any final thoughts on this upcoming week
Zach before we were before we wrap up here.

Speaker 2 (56:26):
No, Man, I'm excited. I think the with conference races
heating up. Man, I'll look across the FCS SIM and
I'm tuned into so many of these conference races, like
you look at even the OVC Big South, which I
thought was gonna be a runaway man U t Martin
as soon as they got a decent matchup. Man looked
really good this past weekend against Cimo opens up one

(56:47):
and ohing in OVC big style play. You talked about
the Soacon race. The Swack looks completely open, the UAC,
the Valley, the big sky of the league IVY League, Man,
I will say this that people really need to tune
into the IVY League because if it continues going that direction,
that Yale Harvard game at the end of the year

(57:07):
Son might be must see TV because Jade and Craig
is playing out of his mind right now, and that
Harvard team looks legit. While Reno stepping in at quarterback
for Yale, they've looked really impressive the first two weeks.
It's really hard to get through IVY League play undefeated
over one loss. Both of those teams could be really special.
And I cannot wait to see, hopefully if they can

(57:29):
get through it all one of those teams in a
postseason play. And then also you got Jared Richardson at
Penn who's having another insane year. A former All of American.

Speaker 1 (57:39):
Yeah, yeah, Richardson is among the best when it comes
to FCS wide receivers. So yeah, I'm really excited for
the IVY League to enter the discussion of who seeded
where and playoff all looks in all that that'll be
very fun as this season progresses. So we will be
back next week, of course, to recap what should be
an exciting Week six. We haven't necessary they had a

(58:00):
super chaotic weekend just yet in the FCS, and I
mean we have. I want to say five of the
top seven teams in the rankings are all hitting the
road this weekend, and so we'll see if we get
some crazy upsets or something intriguing to talk about when
it comes to these matchups next week. But until then,
thank you everyone for listening, and we'll catch you guys

(58:21):
on the flippity flip