Let's Be Honest About Who We Are

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Let's Be Honest About Who We Are

Post by Mr. Sneelock » October 8th, 2019, 11:37 am

Last week's game was tough to swallow. In no way did I expect to actually win, but I definitely expected a better showing. After having cooled off a bit, I got to thinking about the state of our program and college football in general. And a thought popped into my head.

We need to be honest about who we are and what we are capable of. And if we do, we will be a lot happier with the state of things.

So, let's be honest. What are we? The harsh reality is that we are a relatively small school, in a very small college town, with a fan base that ranks a distant third in interest in our relatively small Western state. We have nice enough facilities, but a small athletic budget by FBS standards. We are in a G5 conference, and have virtually no hope of ever moving to a P5 conference. We don't move the needle much in the national media, and we barely move the needle locally. We have one of the smallest stadiums in FBS (16th smallest overall, smallest in MWC), and we rarely sell it out despite recent success. We have to play body bag games to finance the program, at least for the time being.

So, where do we fit in the world of college football? The college football landscape is stacked heavily against us. What is our best case, and what are our goals? We will never seriously compete for a national championship, at least under the current conditions, no matter what we do. The gap is just too wide. Look at UCF the past few years. Even if we go undefeated for two or three straight years, we still won't make the playoff. There are already two divisions in FBS. Perhaps the NCAA should just make it official and create a new division. There is an enormous gap between the G5 and the P5 in college football, and the gap is ever widening. Sure, we can compete with some of the P5 teams, and we may even win some of those games once in a while. But we can't realistically expect to compete year in and year out with the LSUs, Alabamas, Clemsons, and Ohio States of the world. Maybe by some miracle we will beat one of those teams every once in a while when we catch them overlooking us. And once in a blue moon we might get a lower-level P5 to actually come to Logan. But we are absolutely not on that level in any way, shape, or form, and I don't think we ever will be in my lifetime.

THAT IS OK

Does that mean we have to accept mediocrity? Absolutely not. Nor should we. What do we have going for us? A lot. I already mentioned that we have relatively nice facilities compared to most of our peers. We are in a stable, regional conference with schools that look a lot like us. We have had a good program for the past several years that is in the discussion for a conference championship most of the time. I believe that we have a good coaching staff in place, and recruiting seems to be going well. In our realm, we are in a good place.

I want to start winning some of these games against P5 teams as much as anyone, but the reality is the game last week has absolutely no impact on what our goals should be. We are never going to win a national championship. Our main goal should be to win conference championships, and to be in the discussion for a NY6 bowl once in a while. And at least one of those goals is still very much in play. Let's be grateful that we have a conference championship to compete for.
We need to view our program and measure our success as compared to our MWC peers and the schools in other G5 conferences, not against P5 teams that have much greater resources. We are what we are, and we should embrace that. And let's not forget that we were on death's doorstep not long ago. Look at New Mexico State. That very easily could have been us, and it almost was. Look at BYU. They have nothing to play for. They are not P5, they have absolutely no shot at a national championship, no shot at a conference championship, and no shot at a NY6 bowl, pretty much no matter what they do. At least that isn't us.

So lets set our expectations and measure our successes accordingly. It's OK to be disappointed in our performance last week, but that does not affect our goals or who we are as a program.

:utah: :state:
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Re: Let's Be Honest About Who We Are

Post by ViAggie » October 8th, 2019, 11:41 am

That's who we are. But can we do better?


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Re: Let's Be Honest About Who We Are

Post by NVAggie » October 8th, 2019, 11:48 am

That is who we are, and we can do better. It will take some work. It will take some money, but we can make something more. We can also enjoy a team that is 3-2 with our losses coming on the road in P5 stadiums. We can enjoy a 2-0 conference record.



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Re: Let's Be Honest About Who We Are

Post by Mr. Sneelock » October 8th, 2019, 12:01 pm

Of course we can always do better, and we should expect to improve all the time. But I think it is important to measure our success compared to our actual peers, and not get discouraged by comparing ourselves with the best of the best in college football with their $200M+ athletic budgets and their 100K seat stadiums.
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Re: Let's Be Honest About Who We Are

Post by NVAggie » October 8th, 2019, 12:07 pm

Being honest without a plan to get better leads to complacency. Only looking at your lack of success and failure leads to depression. We need to have both. We need to recognize where we currently are as a program. That allows us to set correct expectations. We also need a plan to be better. That keeps us from falling into complacency.



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Re: Let's Be Honest About Who We Are

Post by sdiggety » October 8th, 2019, 3:24 pm

Mr. Sneelock wrote:
October 8th, 2019, 11:37 am
Last week's game was tough to swallow. In no way did I expect to actually win, but I definitely expected a better showing. After having cooled off a bit, I got to thinking about the state of our program and college football in general. And a thought popped into my head.

We need to be honest about who we are and what we are capable of. And if we do, we will be a lot happier with the state of things.

So, let's be honest. What are we? The harsh reality is that we are a relatively small school, in a very small college town, with a fan base that ranks a distant third in interest in our relatively small Western state. We have nice enough facilities, but a small athletic budget by FBS standards. We are in a G5 conference, and have virtually no hope of ever moving to a P5 conference. We don't move the needle much in the national media, and we barely move the needle locally. We have one of the smallest stadiums in FBS (16th smallest overall, smallest in MWC), and we rarely sell it out despite recent success. We have to play body bag games to finance the program, at least for the time being.

So, where do we fit in the world of college football? The college football landscape is stacked heavily against us. What is our best case, and what are our goals? We will never seriously compete for a national championship, at least under the current conditions, no matter what we do. The gap is just too wide. Look at UCF the past few years. Even if we go undefeated for two or three straight years, we still won't make the playoff. There are already two divisions in FBS. Perhaps the NCAA should just make it official and create a new division. There is an enormous gap between the G5 and the P5 in college football, and the gap is ever widening. Sure, we can compete with some of the P5 teams, and we may even win some of those games once in a while. But we can't realistically expect to compete year in and year out with the LSUs, Alabamas, Clemsons, and Ohio States of the world. Maybe by some miracle we will beat one of those teams every once in a while when we catch them overlooking us. And once in a blue moon we might get a lower-level P5 to actually come to Logan. But we are absolutely not on that level in any way, shape, or form, and I don't think we ever will be in my lifetime.

THAT IS OK

Does that mean we have to accept mediocrity? Absolutely not. Nor should we. What do we have going for us? A lot. I already mentioned that we have relatively nice facilities compared to most of our peers. We are in a stable, regional conference with schools that look a lot like us. We have had a good program for the past several years that is in the discussion for a conference championship most of the time. I believe that we have a good coaching staff in place, and recruiting seems to be going well. In our realm, we are in a good place.

I want to start winning some of these games against P5 teams as much as anyone, but the reality is the game last week has absolutely no impact on what our goals should be. We are never going to win a national championship. Our main goal should be to win conference championships, and to be in the discussion for a NY6 bowl once in a while. And at least one of those goals is still very much in play. Let's be grateful that we have a conference championship to compete for.
We need to view our program and measure our success as compared to our MWC peers and the schools in other G5 conferences, not against P5 teams that have much greater resources. We are what we are, and we should embrace that. And let's not forget that we were on death's doorstep not long ago. Look at New Mexico State. That very easily could have been us, and it almost was. Look at BYU. They have nothing to play for. They are not P5, they have absolutely no shot at a national championship, no shot at a conference championship, and no shot at a NY6 bowl, pretty much no matter what they do. At least that isn't us.

So lets set our expectations and measure our successes accordingly. It's OK to be disappointed in our performance last week, but that does not affect our goals or who we are as a program.

:utah: :state:
Loser mentality. There is a team in Idaho that doesn't think it's too small to be something. They are nationally respected. The greatest game I have ever seen in my life was Boise State Tostitos fiesta bowl in 2007. If you watched the first quarter of LSU or the Duke Clemson game, you'll learn that this is college football and anyone can win. Get that 'oh well' 'stay in your place' crap out of there. For me, I want a wake forest beating and LSU within 14 pts kind of team. If you watched basketball and football last year, we were nationally ranked. Get out of here with that 'oh shucks' 'we're just to little to do anything' mentality. We beat Utah in overtime, we beat highly ranked nevada in basketball. Tired of the little brother, little dog mentality a lot of fans have. You have to always been looking at the next step and next rung of the ladder
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Re: Let's Be Honest About Who We Are

Post by ineptimusprime » October 8th, 2019, 3:54 pm

I agree with OP.

We are doing incredibly well for who we are and the resources that we have. In both major sports. I realize this on every day but game day. I reserve the right to continue to get irrationally pissed on game day. :)
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Re: Let's Be Honest About Who We Are

Post by oleblu111 » October 8th, 2019, 3:55 pm

That is all just fine but, will your fans be willing to give what Boise fans do and did ? By the way the Utah team we beat in overtime had a losing record that season.

Boise is also the top team in their state located in the biggest city that has business that are willing to invest for success. At USU even with the recent success ticket sales are about the same a $2 million for all sports.

I want the same thing you want, but how many USU fans are willing to pay to make that happen ? Keep in mind BSU was able to pay Chris Petersen to remain at the school for a long time. He is a big reason that they built what they have. Just when G.A. had the program at a high level, he left, when Wells got to 11 wins he left. Petersen did not leave Boise when they stared to get real good. So if Gary does it again will the fans step up to increase his pay enough that he stay's ? I can promise you if fans fill the stadium so that it needs to be expanded, and invest enough that Gary can be at or near the top of the MWC in pay then USU just might do something special, like what YBU did with Edwards, or ewe of ewe has done with Whit. Could that happen sure will it happen?



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Re: Let's Be Honest About Who We Are

Post by RigAggie » October 8th, 2019, 4:28 pm

oleblu111 wrote:
October 8th, 2019, 3:55 pm
That is all just fine but, will your fans be willing to give what Boise fans do and did ? By the way the Utah team we beat in overtime had a losing record that season.

Boise is also the top team in their state located in the biggest city that has business that are willing to invest for success. At USU even with the recent success ticket sales are about the same a $2 million for all sports.

I want the same thing you want, but how many USU fans are willing to pay to make that happen ? Keep in mind BSU was able to pay Chris Petersen to remain at the school for a long time. He is a big reason that they built what they have. Just when G.A. had the program at a high level, he left, when Wells got to 11 wins he left. Petersen did not leave Boise when they stared to get real good. So if Gary does it again will the fans step up to increase his pay enough that he stay's ? I can promise you if fans fill the stadium so that it needs to be expanded, and invest enough that Gary can be at or near the top of the MWC in pay then USU just might do something special, like what YBU did with Edwards, or ewe of ewe has done with Whit. Could that happen sure will it happen?
Gary isn't going anywhere, period. That ship sailed with the walls around Oregon State crumbling around him. He has a house here, and no plans to go elsewhere. He will either retire here, or get fired. I prefer to think it will take time to build us as Boise State has done, but it is possible. Logan (Cache County) is growing and so are the business opportunites. Having a great University and great sports will be a catalyst to bring more in. I see growth and opportunity breeding success.

Gary may not be the "Best" coach in the world, but one thing I love about him is he is a "Great" recruiter. I look at the recruits he is bringing in, and no way we get them with Wells. Keep your chin up, brighter days are ahead.
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Re: Let's Be Honest About Who We Are

Post by oleblu111 » October 8th, 2019, 4:44 pm

RigAggie wrote:
October 8th, 2019, 4:28 pm
oleblu111 wrote:
October 8th, 2019, 3:55 pm
That is all just fine but, will your fans be willing to give what Boise fans do and did ? By the way the Utah team we beat in overtime had a losing record that season.

Boise is also the top team in their state located in the biggest city that has business that are willing to invest for success. At USU even with the recent success ticket sales are about the same a $2 million for all sports.

I want the same thing you want, but how many USU fans are willing to pay to make that happen ? Keep in mind BSU was able to pay Chris Petersen to remain at the school for a long time. He is a big reason that they built what they have. Just when G.A. had the program at a high level, he left, when Wells got to 11 wins he left. Petersen did not leave Boise when they stared to get real good. So if Gary does it again will the fans step up to increase his pay enough that he stay's ? I can promise you if fans fill the stadium so that it needs to be expanded, and invest enough that Gary can be at or near the top of the MWC in pay then USU just might do something special, like what YBU did with Edwards, or ewe of ewe has done with Whit. Could that happen sure will it happen?
Gary isn't going anywhere, period. That ship sailed with the walls around Oregon State crumbling around him. He has a house here, and no plans to go elsewhere. He will either retire here, or get fired. I prefer to think it will take time to build us as Boise State has done, but it is possible. Logan (Cache County) is growing and so are the business opportunites. Having a great University and great sports will be a catalyst to bring more in. I see growth and opportunity breeding success.

Gary may not be the "Best" coach in the world, but one thing I love about him is he is a "Great" recruiter. I look at the recruits he is bringing in, and no way we get them with Wells. Keep your chin up, brighter days are ahead.
I think good days are here already, I do not get down when we lose to two undefeated, ranked P-5 school on the road. I just hope that" Aggie fans " will start to invest so that we do not need revenue games. I believe that Gary would like to build something special at USU over time I hope we fans do our share to make that happen.



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Re: Let's Be Honest About Who We Are

Post by Full » October 8th, 2019, 6:05 pm

It’s been 10 years since I bought my first season tickets. The difference between now and then is remarkable. I think these threads forget that the distance between 2009 and now is greater than the distance between now and where we want to be. Granted, we aren’t going to compete with LSU’s budget, facilities and tradition even in 10 years. However, competitive games against top 10 teams isn’t as far away as the string of success that happened between 2011 to now was just 10 years ago.



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Re: Let's Be Honest About Who We Are

Post by brownjeans » October 8th, 2019, 9:12 pm

We're a 7 to 8 win team on a 10-year rolling average. Some seasons better than that, some seasons worse. That's who we are.



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Re: Let's Be Honest About Who We Are

Post by AGinNEIowa » October 8th, 2019, 9:39 pm

I am AGinNEIowa, and I am a near-rabid USU Aggie fan.
I tend to overestimate my team's place in NCAA Football.
I am optimistically hopeful each week that my team will win, even when playing on the road in the frickin' 90 degree humid 100k-seat stadium of a top 5 team
I expect my school to exponentially overperform the financial investment of myself and other fans by the power of 10, or more.

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Re: Let's Be Honest About Who We Are

Post by hipsterdoofus21 » October 8th, 2019, 10:14 pm

sdiggety wrote:
October 8th, 2019, 3:24 pm
Mr. Sneelock wrote:
October 8th, 2019, 11:37 am
Last week's game was tough to swallow. In no way did I expect to actually win, but I definitely expected a better showing. After having cooled off a bit, I got to thinking about the state of our program and college football in general. And a thought popped into my head.

We need to be honest about who we are and what we are capable of. And if we do, we will be a lot happier with the state of things.

So, let's be honest. What are we? The harsh reality is that we are a relatively small school, in a very small college town, with a fan base that ranks a distant third in interest in our relatively small Western state. We have nice enough facilities, but a small athletic budget by FBS standards. We are in a G5 conference, and have virtually no hope of ever moving to a P5 conference. We don't move the needle much in the national media, and we barely move the needle locally. We have one of the smallest stadiums in FBS (16th smallest overall, smallest in MWC), and we rarely sell it out despite recent success. We have to play body bag games to finance the program, at least for the time being.

So, where do we fit in the world of college football? The college football landscape is stacked heavily against us. What is our best case, and what are our goals? We will never seriously compete for a national championship, at least under the current conditions, no matter what we do. The gap is just too wide. Look at UCF the past few years. Even if we go undefeated for two or three straight years, we still won't make the playoff. There are already two divisions in FBS. Perhaps the NCAA should just make it official and create a new division. There is an enormous gap between the G5 and the P5 in college football, and the gap is ever widening. Sure, we can compete with some of the P5 teams, and we may even win some of those games once in a while. But we can't realistically expect to compete year in and year out with the LSUs, Alabamas, Clemsons, and Ohio States of the world. Maybe by some miracle we will beat one of those teams every once in a while when we catch them overlooking us. And once in a blue moon we might get a lower-level P5 to actually come to Logan. But we are absolutely not on that level in any way, shape, or form, and I don't think we ever will be in my lifetime.

THAT IS OK

Does that mean we have to accept mediocrity? Absolutely not. Nor should we. What do we have going for us? A lot. I already mentioned that we have relatively nice facilities compared to most of our peers. We are in a stable, regional conference with schools that look a lot like us. We have had a good program for the past several years that is in the discussion for a conference championship most of the time. I believe that we have a good coaching staff in place, and recruiting seems to be going well. In our realm, we are in a good place.

I want to start winning some of these games against P5 teams as much as anyone, but the reality is the game last week has absolutely no impact on what our goals should be. We are never going to win a national championship. Our main goal should be to win conference championships, and to be in the discussion for a NY6 bowl once in a while. And at least one of those goals is still very much in play. Let's be grateful that we have a conference championship to compete for.
We need to view our program and measure our success as compared to our MWC peers and the schools in other G5 conferences, not against P5 teams that have much greater resources. We are what we are, and we should embrace that. And let's not forget that we were on death's doorstep not long ago. Look at New Mexico State. That very easily could have been us, and it almost was. Look at BYU. They have nothing to play for. They are not P5, they have absolutely no shot at a national championship, no shot at a conference championship, and no shot at a NY6 bowl, pretty much no matter what they do. At least that isn't us.

So lets set our expectations and measure our successes accordingly. It's OK to be disappointed in our performance last week, but that does not affect our goals or who we are as a program.

:utah: :state:
Loser mentality. There is a team in Idaho that doesn't think it's too small to be something. They are nationally respected. The greatest game I have ever seen in my life was Boise State Tostitos fiesta bowl in 2007. If you watched the first quarter of LSU or the Duke Clemson game, you'll learn that this is college football and anyone can win. Get that 'oh well' 'stay in your place' crap out of there. For me, I want a wake forest beating and LSU within 14 pts kind of team. If you watched basketball and football last year, we were nationally ranked. Get out of here with that 'oh shucks' 'we're just to little to do anything' mentality. We beat Utah in overtime, we beat highly ranked nevada in basketball. Tired of the little brother, little dog mentality a lot of fans have. You have to always been looking at the next step and next rung of the ladder
Boise isn’t just the most popular team in Idaho, it’s the only team in Idaho. They don’t just own the capitol city, but the Twin Falls area, and eastern Idaho cities. Imagine if Utah and BYU shut down their programs and Utah State was the only FBS team left in the state. That’s the kind of advantage we’ll never enjoy. Boise had an entire state available for the taking when they began their run of success, which began long before the miracle at the Fiesta Bowl.
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Re: Let's Be Honest About Who We Are

Post by StanfordAggie » October 8th, 2019, 10:54 pm

If you compare the Brent Guy era to now, I don't know how any objective-minded person can say that our program hasn't been improving. As one who has endured horrible USU football for essentially my entire life, I'm quite happy that we are now to the point where we go to a bowl game essentially every season and occasionally contend for a conference title. I hope that's not our ceiling, but I also recognize our limited resources and support. On the other hand, Utah produces a remarkable amount of D1 talent for a relatively small state. And Utah is recruiting less in-state kids now that they are in the P5 world. And our coaching staff does an excellent job with local recruiting. So I think there is potential for further growth, especially if fan support picks up with continued success. At one point we were consistently filling a 10,000-seat basketball arena and raking in a fair amount of money by requiring big donations for premium seating. There is no reason we can't do that in football as well.



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Re: Let's Be Honest About Who We Are

Post by NavyBlueAggie » October 9th, 2019, 12:29 pm

RigAggie wrote:
October 8th, 2019, 4:28 pm
oleblu111 wrote:
October 8th, 2019, 3:55 pm
That is all just fine but, will your fans be willing to give what Boise fans do and did ? By the way the Utah team we beat in overtime had a losing record that season.

Boise is also the top team in their state located in the biggest city that has business that are willing to invest for success. At USU even with the recent success ticket sales are about the same a $2 million for all sports.

I want the same thing you want, but how many USU fans are willing to pay to make that happen ? Keep in mind BSU was able to pay Chris Petersen to remain at the school for a long time. He is a big reason that they built what they have. Just when G.A. had the program at a high level, he left, when Wells got to 11 wins he left. Petersen did not leave Boise when they stared to get real good. So if Gary does it again will the fans step up to increase his pay enough that he stay's ? I can promise you if fans fill the stadium so that it needs to be expanded, and invest enough that Gary can be at or near the top of the MWC in pay then USU just might do something special, like what YBU did with Edwards, or ewe of ewe has done with Whit. Could that happen sure will it happen?
Gary isn't going anywhere, period. That ship sailed with the walls around Oregon State crumbling around him. He has a house here, and no plans to go elsewhere. He will either retire here, or get fired. I prefer to think it will take time to build us as Boise State has done, but it is possible. Logan (Cache County) is growing and so are the business opportunites. Having a great University and great sports will be a catalyst to bring more in. I see growth and opportunity breeding success.

Gary may not be the "Best" coach in the world, but one thing I love about him is he is a "Great" recruiter. I look at the recruits he is bringing in, and no way we get them with Wells. Keep your chin up, brighter days are ahead.
Good note RigAggie,,,,,, Years ago Bear Bryant once commented that coaching and winning is about 10% of the game, the other 90% comes from the of quality athletes you recruit.



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Re: Let's Be Honest About Who We Are

Post by xmoaggie » October 9th, 2019, 4:04 pm

Teams like LSU compete and recruit for a national title. Teams Like us and the rest of the mountain west including Boise compete and recruit for a MW championship.



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Re: Let's Be Honest About Who We Are

Post by ThunderAggie » October 9th, 2019, 4:42 pm

We are 3-2 with losses to a potential CFP playoff team and another undefeated ACC team, who we had beat. We had one bad loss, yet we still have 7 games left. We could very well still have the best Aggie season ever by winning out and winning the MW and getting a Vegas bowl invite. We have a potential first round draft pick at QB and multiple future draft picks on the defense, including the second leading tackler in the nation. I love this team and think we’re gonna do special things. I also see a bright future with highly ranked recruits and potential winning seasons. I think we will compete for MW championships year in and year out with the foundation we have already set and athletes we are going to get. Go Aggies!!!


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Re: Let's Be Honest About Who We Are

Post by frankiesaysrelax » October 9th, 2019, 4:56 pm

ThunderAggie wrote:
October 9th, 2019, 4:42 pm
We are 3-2 with losses to a potential CFP playoff team and another undefeated ACC team, who we had beat. We had one bad loss, yet we still have 7 games left. We could very well still have the best Aggie season ever by winning out and winning the MW and getting a Vegas bowl invite. We have a potential first round draft pick at QB and multiple future draft picks on the defense, including the second leading tackler in the nation. I love this team and think we’re gonna do special things. I also see a bright future with highly ranked recruits and potential winning seasons. I think we will compete for MW championships year in and year out with the foundation we have already set and athletes we are going to get. Go Aggies!!!


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What if Wake and LSU both go undefeated? That means Wake would beat the reigning Champs and would have a good argument for being in the playoff along with LSU. Then if we win out the rest of our games, our only two losses would be from to CFP teams.
Last edited by frankiesaysrelax on October 9th, 2019, 6:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Let's Be Honest About Who We Are

Post by Aggie formerly in Hawaii » October 9th, 2019, 6:10 pm

RigAggie wrote:
October 8th, 2019, 4:28 pm
oleblu111 wrote:
October 8th, 2019, 3:55 pm
That is all just fine but, will your fans be willing to give what Boise fans do and did ? By the way the Utah team we beat in overtime had a losing record that season.

Boise is also the top team in their state located in the biggest city that has business that are willing to invest for success. At USU even with the recent success ticket sales are about the same a $2 million for all sports.

I want the same thing you want, but how many USU fans are willing to pay to make that happen ? Keep in mind BSU was able to pay Chris Petersen to remain at the school for a long time. He is a big reason that they built what they have. Just when G.A. had the program at a high level, he left, when Wells got to 11 wins he left. Petersen did not leave Boise when they stared to get real good. So if Gary does it again will the fans step up to increase his pay enough that he stay's ? I can promise you if fans fill the stadium so that it needs to be expanded, and invest enough that Gary can be at or near the top of the MWC in pay then USU just might do something special, like what YBU did with Edwards, or ewe of ewe has done with Whit. Could that happen sure will it happen?
Gary isn't going anywhere, period. That ship sailed with the walls around Oregon State crumbling around him. He has a house here, and no plans to go elsewhere. He will either retire here, or get fired. I prefer to think it will take time to build us as Boise State has done, but it is possible. Logan (Cache County) is growing and so are the business opportunites. Having a great University and great sports will be a catalyst to bring more in. I see growth and opportunity breeding success.

Gary may not be the "Best" coach in the world, but one thing I love about him is he is a "Great" recruiter. I look at the recruits he is bringing in, and no way we get them with Wells. Keep your chin up, brighter days are ahead.
Brighter days are ahead? Bright days are here now. We went 11-2 last year! That is pretty damn special. We could win 10 games again this year. It will be a tough task, but it is doable. No game left on our schedule is a for sure loss. Brighter days might not be ahead because it is pretty hard to get brighter than where we are now other than going undefeated. I would like a MW title. That is the one thing we need to do.

I don't have fans being honest about who we are. I do have a problem with how defeatist and pathetic the fanbase acted after the LSU loss acting like that game should never be played. This is big time college football, you are going to play big time teams. That should be welcomed. Games against Auburn, Wisconsin, USC and Michigan State were losses, but they were also a ton of fun. Occasionally you are just going to get outmatched and that is ok.
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Re: Let's Be Honest About Who We Are

Post by BearLakeMonster » October 9th, 2019, 9:03 pm

I'm optimistic that we're on an incrementally improving upward trajectory. But we're still going to hit bumps in the road.

And while we need to be honest about who we are, we need to be honest and admit that LSU is going to make better teams than is look silly this year.


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Re: Let's Be Honest About Who We Are

Post by Sl7vk » October 9th, 2019, 9:14 pm

Gary is in year one.

Wells ran into the softest schedule USU has ever had and got the F out of Dodge the first chance he got.

I'll be more willing to be honest about who we are in year 4 of the Andersen experiment.

I'm guessing we'll have a MW conference championship under our belt by then.



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Re: Let's Be Honest About Who We Are

Post by dyedblue » October 9th, 2019, 9:29 pm

I’m not defending Wells, but he left the program in pretty darn good shape. Yes, we had a soft schedule last year, but we were pretty darn good too.


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Re: Let's Be Honest About Who We Are

Post by Aggie formerly in Hawaii » October 9th, 2019, 9:48 pm

Sl7vk wrote:
October 9th, 2019, 9:14 pm
Gary is in year one.

Wells ran into the softest schedule USU has ever had and got the F out of Dodge the first chance he got.

I'll be more willing to be honest about who we are in year 4 of the Andersen experiment.

I'm guessing we'll have a MW conference championship under our belt by then.
11-2 is extremely impressive no matter what the schedule is. We have only won 11 games twice in our history. Both times we lost our coach. This also isn't a rebuild or an "experiment." It is a team that was ranked last year with some great players on the team this year.



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Re: Let's Be Honest About Who We Are

Post by Coloraggie » October 10th, 2019, 12:22 pm

Mr. Sneelock wrote:
October 8th, 2019, 11:37 am
Last week's game was tough to swallow. In no way did I expect to actually win, but I definitely expected a better showing. After having cooled off a bit, I got to thinking about the state of our program and college football in general. And a thought popped into my head.

We need to be honest about who we are and what we are capable of. And if we do, we will be a lot happier with the state of things.

So, let's be honest. What are we? The harsh reality is that we are a relatively small school, in a very small college town, with a fan base that ranks a distant third in interest in our relatively small Western state. We have nice enough facilities, but a small athletic budget by FBS standards. We are in a G5 conference, and have virtually no hope of ever moving to a P5 conference. We don't move the needle much in the national media, and we barely move the needle locally. We have one of the smallest stadiums in FBS (16th smallest overall, smallest in MWC), and we rarely sell it out despite recent success. We have to play body bag games to finance the program, at least for the time being.

So, where do we fit in the world of college football? The college football landscape is stacked heavily against us. What is our best case, and what are our goals? We will never seriously compete for a national championship, at least under the current conditions, no matter what we do. The gap is just too wide. Look at UCF the past few years. Even if we go undefeated for two or three straight years, we still won't make the playoff. There are already two divisions in FBS. Perhaps the NCAA should just make it official and create a new division. There is an enormous gap between the G5 and the P5 in college football, and the gap is ever widening. Sure, we can compete with some of the P5 teams, and we may even win some of those games once in a while. But we can't realistically expect to compete year in and year out with the LSUs, Alabamas, Clemsons, and Ohio States of the world. Maybe by some miracle we will beat one of those teams every once in a while when we catch them overlooking us. And once in a blue moon we might get a lower-level P5 to actually come to Logan. But we are absolutely not on that level in any way, shape, or form, and I don't think we ever will be in my lifetime.

THAT IS OK

Does that mean we have to accept mediocrity? Absolutely not. Nor should we. What do we have going for us? A lot. I already mentioned that we have relatively nice facilities compared to most of our peers. We are in a stable, regional conference with schools that look a lot like us. We have had a good program for the past several years that is in the discussion for a conference championship most of the time. I believe that we have a good coaching staff in place, and recruiting seems to be going well. In our realm, we are in a good place.

I want to start winning some of these games against P5 teams as much as anyone, but the reality is the game last week has absolutely no impact on what our goals should be. We are never going to win a national championship. Our main goal should be to win conference championships, and to be in the discussion for a NY6 bowl once in a while. And at least one of those goals is still very much in play. Let's be grateful that we have a conference championship to compete for.
We need to view our program and measure our success as compared to our MWC peers and the schools in other G5 conferences, not against P5 teams that have much greater resources. We are what we are, and we should embrace that. And let's not forget that we were on death's doorstep not long ago. Look at New Mexico State. That very easily could have been us, and it almost was. Look at BYU. They have nothing to play for. They are not P5, they have absolutely no shot at a national championship, no shot at a conference championship, and no shot at a NY6 bowl, pretty much no matter what they do. At least that isn't us.

So lets set our expectations and measure our successes accordingly. It's OK to be disappointed in our performance last week, but that does not affect our goals or who we are as a program.

:utah: :state:
I'm surprised that people think we are different. We are a school that can and should regularly contend for MWC title. On occasions when the start align we can aim to get in the NY6 bowl, but this is going to be the alignment where we have seniors at important levels, think last years offensive with this years defense plus a top-notch CB.

Sure we will all disappointed with the play last week but most people on here were hoping to stay within 3 TDs, we knew we weren't National Championship material or close to the very upper echelon. We still are intact for the goal we should have every season and that is to compete for the MWC championship.

Another reason why MWC championship should be our goal is it is the only one we have any control over. Win all conference games and we achieve our goal. We could go undefeated for 5 straight years and never be invited to the playoff. We could go undefeated and still be upstaged by another undefeated G6 team that the voters choose over us, perhaps because the rest of the teams in our conference were down that year. We simply have no control over anything other than a MWC championship, unlike basketball or other sports.



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Re: Let's Be Honest About Who We Are

Post by 88USUAggie » October 10th, 2019, 4:07 pm

I guarantee you...the kids who strap pads on...want and expect to compete and win every game they play.

There are plenty of people who will want to define what you can accomplish in your life, if you let others define your place...that spot...will never be in front of them. BSU has a vision, and they continue to execute on that vision...with repeated excellence. Vision however is not enough...vision without execution is hallucination. I've been around long enough to remember what was said when we joined the MWC...we were seen as a "warm body" filling a spot. We were the last of the crappy WAC remnants desperately looking for a lifeboat. I think it's pretty damn safe to say, none of the teams saw us as bringing much to the table (certainly not in football!). We've come a long way, but I agree with others here, WE will define our place in the league...and outside of the league..mediocre is not OK. I'll hang my hat on my belief that we have the right guy leading this team, and I don't think for a second that Gary is going to let anyone other than himself and his players define who Utah State football is.



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Re: Let's Be Honest About Who We Are

Post by oleblu111 » October 10th, 2019, 5:21 pm

88USUAggie wrote:
October 10th, 2019, 4:07 pm
I guarantee you...the kids who strap pads on...want and expect to compete and win every game they play.

There are plenty of people who will want to define what you can accomplish in your life, if you let others define your place...that spot...will never be in front of them. BSU has a vision, and they continue to execute on that vision...with repeated excellence. Vision however is not enough...vision without execution is hallucination. I've been around long enough to remember what was said when we joined the MWC...we were seen as a "warm body" filling a spot. We were the last of the crappy WAC remnants desperately looking for a lifeboat. I think it's pretty damn safe to say, none of the teams saw us as bringing much to the table (certainly not in football!). We've come a long way, but I agree with others here, WE will define our place in the league...and outside of the league..mediocre is not OK. I'll hang my hat on my belief that we have the right guy leading this team, and I don't think for a second that Gary is going to let anyone other than himself and his players define who Utah State football is.
That is a good post, but much of the improvement is as a result of millions more invested by the University, we fans need to be part of the upward movement. As my Ole Dad said talk is cheap but it takes money to buy whisky, we can all shoot for the stars, but in order to get there some kind of help needs to happen beyond University funds. we should not be defined by being a cheap fan base unless that is all we want to be. So lets shoot for the stars open your wallets, and make it happen.

As of now USU is spending million more in university funds than what Boise is spending.



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Re: Let's Be Honest About Who We Are

Post by tipitup » October 11th, 2019, 1:06 pm

cool another oleblu111 post about money and no support



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Re: Let's Be Honest About Who We Are

Post by NVAggie » October 11th, 2019, 1:20 pm

Well, he isn't wrong.



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Re: Let's Be Honest About Who We Are

Post by tipitup » October 11th, 2019, 3:33 pm

agreed, just tired of hearing it



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Re: Let's Be Honest About Who We Are

Post by bull » October 11th, 2019, 10:43 pm

I am just disappointed we gave up. We were going toe to toe with one of the best teams in the country and doing well for most of H1. When our boys walked up the tunnel i could tell we were in for a long afternoon. They came out of the tunnel just as flat and never played with any fire the rest of the game.
What that tells me is we are not too small for anyone. I seriously believe we could beat a majority of the top 25 right now. The fact that we have a smaller budget or smaller stadium doesn’t mean (automatically) we are a worse team. Disagree with OP.
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Re: Let's Be Honest About Who We Are

Post by frankiesaysrelax » October 12th, 2019, 8:14 pm

frankiesaysrelax wrote:
October 9th, 2019, 4:56 pm
ThunderAggie wrote:
October 9th, 2019, 4:42 pm
We are 3-2 with losses to a potential CFP playoff team and another undefeated ACC team, who we had beat. We had one bad loss, yet we still have 7 games left. We could very well still have the best Aggie season ever by winning out and winning the MW and getting a Vegas bowl invite. We have a potential first round draft pick at QB and multiple future draft picks on the defense, including the second leading tackler in the nation. I love this team and think we’re gonna do special things. I also see a bright future with highly ranked recruits and potential winning seasons. I think we will compete for MW championships year in and year out with the foundation we have already set and athletes we are going to get. Go Aggies!!!


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What if Wake and LSU both go undefeated? That means Wake would beat the reigning Champs and would have a good argument for being in the playoff along with LSU. Then if we win out the rest of our games, our only two losses would be from to CFP teams.
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Re: Let's Be Honest About Who We Are

Post by El Sapo » October 14th, 2019, 11:06 am

I don't really like trying to define our program. Especially after playing what could easily be the best team in college football in their house. I'm trying without much success to erase that LSU game from my memory. No doubt it's a legit topic to discuss, we've seen it discussed many times, but ultimately it becomes depressing because posters start pointing out our problems, and those institutional weaknesses are often the same things that make me love USU.



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