Experimental

[ckuesper]

I bought Bowl Bound about a week ago and I'm loving it! I've playing around with the pstats file and created an association that has a few alterations made to it: -ACC: No changes -Big East: North- UCONN, Pitt, Syr., Temple, Army, Navy; South- Cincy, ECU, Louis., Marshall, Rut., WV -Big Ten: East- IU, Pur., Penn St., Ohio St., Mich., Fremont (a made-up teams based on my hometown :) ); West- Ill., NW, Wisc., IA, Mich. St., Minn. -Big XII: No changes -Independents: ND, Idaho, SJSU -MAC: No changes -Mountain West: West- Boise St., NM, NM St., NV, UNLV, Fres. St.; Mountain- UT, UT St., BYU, Wyo., Colo. St., Air Force -Pac-12: North- Wash., Wash. St., Ore., Ore. St., Calif., Stan.; South- USC, UCLA, Ariz., Ariz. St., Hawaii, SDSU -SEC: No changes -Southwest: TCU, Tulane, Houston, UTEP, Rice, Tulsa, So. Miss., UNT, La. Tech, SMU -Sun Belt: East- FIU, FAU, UCF, USF, Troy, Ga. Southern (From I-AA); West- Ark. St., ULL, ULM, MTSU, UAB, Memphis (I'm sure I'll get a few groans here... :) ) -Eliminated C-USA and the WAC. Fremont has a low prestige level of 40 and has paid for it each season being in the Big TenTwelve. I also cut back on the number of bowls, eliminating the New Orleans Bowl, GMAC Bowl, Fort Worth Bowl, Poinsettia Bowl, MPC Computers (Humanitarian) Bowl, Champs Sports (Blockbuster/Tangerine) Bowl and the Houston Bowl. I added the Hoosier Bowl at RCA Dome, and recalled the names Citrus Bowl and Aloha Bowl. I also changed the name of the Meineke Bowl to the Mountain Dew Bowl in honor of my favorite breakfast. Here are the conference bowl tie-ins: Las Vegas- SEC 6, Big XII 6 Independence- ACC 5, Southwest 3 Motor City- MAC 2, Sun Belt 2 Holiday- SEC 4, Pac-12 5 Aloha- Big East 3, Pac-12 3 Emerald- Big XII 5, Big East 4 Insight- MWC 3, MAC 1 Hoosier- Big 10 6, Big East 4 Alamo- Pac 12 4, Big 10 5 Mountain Dew- ACC 4, Sun Belt 1 Liberty- ACC 3, Big XII 3 Music City- Southwest 2, SEC 5 Sun- Big 10 4, MWC 2 Peach- Big 10 3, Big XII 4 Outback- Big 10 2 (or ND), SEC 3 Cotton- Southwest 1, Big XII 2 Gator- ACC 2, Pac-12 2 Citrus- Big East 2, SEC 2 Automatic Bids to the GDCS: Big 10, Big XII, ACC, SEC, Pac-12, MWC, Big East and ND I've had no computer errors, thanks goodness, and I had to get into the SchedMatch file to make sure Idaho and SJSU got some good local games. I joined Tulane and started off 2-9 in my first season. It was ugly with a capital UG. I finished dead last and my only conference victory was against North Texas. My second season was surprisingly better. I ended 7-4 and earned a bid to the Independence Bowl against Georgia Tech. I got wiped off the field: 59-13. However, the bid helped recruiting anyway and I'm currently 2-0 in Season 3. My QB, Rian Haddad, is lighting it up, throwing three TDs in each of our first two, including an big upset win over NC State, 29-10! It was 19-0 at half...I couldn't believe it. However, both wins came at home, so I am expecting some rough water soon. Other notes: -Fremont has won just one Big Ten game in two-plus seasons and has finished dead last in both. They did beat Bowling Green in their season opener, though. :) -Georgia Southern has been able to spin some success at the D-I level, going 4-7 in their first season in the Sun Belt, then going 6-5 the next year. -Memphis has done surprisingly bad in the Sun Belt, going 6-7 after losing the Sun Bely title game and losing their bowl game in grand fashion. Year 2 ended in a 4-7 campaign. -Notre Dame has yet to lose. They went 12-0 and won the national championship over Oregon, 22-19, in the Rose Bowl, then found themselves as the odd man out of three undefeated clubs, but still won the Orange Bowl over Clemson, 36-16, ending 12-0 again. They are currently 2-0 in Season Three. -Michigan won the second national title, going 13-0 and knocking off Oklahoma, 46-28, in the Sugar Bowl. -Marshall loves the Big East. They went 11-2 with a loss in the Fiesta Bowl in Year One, then faltered a bit and finished 7-5 with a loss in the Citrus Bowl. They are 14-3 in conference play. -The new Southwest Conference is struggling to make a name for itself. Only UTEP has won a bowl game (Season 2 31-24 upset over LSU). That's 1-5 in bowls for those scoring at home.. -TCU has won both Southwest titles so far, going 8-0 and 6-2, respectively, in conference play. They've been blasted by Texas and Nebraska in consecutive tries in the Cotton Bowl. -Both Hawaii and San Diego State have struggled upon entrance into the Pac-12. The Warriors went 2-9 in both seasons, while SDSU was 3-8 their first year, then fell to 1-10 last year. I'm just curious if anyone else is doing something similar and what your results are. I do enjoy playing a bit of a football deity with this game. :) Drew

[Blackshirt78]

Drew, Sent you an e-mail. Looking forward to following your progress in the future and hopefully things will "turn around" for you soon! :) :cool:

[ckuesper]

Thanks! Hope I was able to help! :) Looking forward to winning the Southwest Conference!

[ckuesper]

Midway through the 2008 season, the Tulane Green Wave is 6-2. We received our first votes in either poll this week, but are not ranked. Not surprising since we had a devistating upset loss at home to Houston in which we were favored by 20 points. Our starting senior QB, Rian Haddad, was knocked out of the game on the second play and didn't return, which caused us to have a downward spiral. We were able to come back from the 23-10 loss to the Cougars and win three in a row. Conference foes Southern Miss and Rice were easily disposed of, but we won a close one against Tulsa. Haddad had two strong performances out of those three games and now has 17 TD to 5 INT on the year. Our running game is pathetic. We aren't even averaging 100 ypg as a team! It's downright ugly. At halftime of the Houston game, we had -3 yards on 18 carries! We did get a couple big runs late, but we had already lost. As of now, we are in a tie for first (4-1) with Southern Miss, but we would win the tiebreaker. TCU is a half-game out (3-1) and we get them next week...SWC Game of the Year! We finish the year facing SMU at home, then end with North Texas. I believe we can go 4-0 in the final stretch (to end with an 9-2 mark), but we'll have to see. Our QB MUST stay healthy. He's our only hope. Other notes: -Notre Dame lost their first game after winning 27 in a row. The victor? #5 USC. The Trojans drubbed the Irish, 56-35, in LA. ND is currently #6 in the Media and #11 in the Coaches'. -There have been several #1 teams that have only been able to hold their position for one week. Oklahoma, then Oregon State, followed by Purdue, and now it's Syracuse falling off. The Orange hosted #8 Pittsburgh in a battle of unbeatens and lost 25-20. Pitt (8-0) is the only undefeated team left in D-I and is #1 in the Media and #2 in the Coaches', while LSU (7-1) is just the opposite. The way things are shaping up, we could have a team with 2 losses win the National Title...it wouldn't surprise me!

[Blackshirt78]

Yup!! That helps and another question: You mentioned that Fremont in the Big 10 is based upon your hometown, what state is this "school" located?? ND=Media "Darlings"! ;) Betcha can't guess that I am not a "Domer" fan!! :rolleyes: :cool:

[ckuesper]

Fremont is from Indiana...extreme NE corner. It's at the junction of I-80/90 (the Indiana Toll Road) and I-69. There actually is an NCAA school (D-III) about 7 mi. south in Angola called Tri-State.

[ckuesper]

It's the end of the season. Good news: We went bowling for the second straight year. Bad news: We got thumped for the second straight year. It's tough playing an ACC opponent in the Independence Bowl. We got #22 FSU this time around. It was close in the first half and a late 2nd quarter score by the Seminoles made it 14-3 at the break. However, the flood gates opened in the second half and the 'Noles ended up mopping the grass up with our carcasses, 38-10. The only solace we could take from the game was that we were able to send QB Rian Haddad to the NFL with an 83-yard touchdown pass in the very last play of the game. He'll be a 2nd-4th rounder and will probably be a solid backup in the pros. Once again, the Southwest was shut out in the postseason. The 0-3 mark takes our total in three seasons to 1-8. Yuck. The entire season was ugly...Ohio State won the National Championship game in a slaughter, 51-14, in the Orange Bowl. It was remniscent of Nebraska a few years back. The Buckeyes lost two games during the year and both were to Iowa. The Hawkeyes beat OSU in the Big Ten Championship, yet, somehow, OSU still got the nod against previously-undefeated #1 Pitt. Iowa had two losses of their own against Wisconsin and Illinois, which hurt them. Oklahoma was crying foul since they only lost once to #9 Missouri in the middle of the season. The Sooners would win the Fiesta Bowl over #7 Miami, 35-21, and would try to claim a split title. However, despite all of the controversy, the voters in both polls went with Ohio State. Other notes at season's end: -Michigan would have their 32 season bowl streak snapped after they finished 6-5 and 4-4 in Big Ten play. They were overlooked in favor of Penn State, who finished with identical records in both cases, but won the head-to-head against the Wolverines. -Notre Dame ended up losing three games, including two in a row to Texas A&M and Boston College. The Irish finally righted the ship and beat Clemson in the Gator Bowl, 42-31. -Vanderbilt became the first D-I team since I started to finish 0-fer. The Commodores ended 0-11. Their closest game was against Arkansas, 13-10. Their biggest loss: Georgia, 56-0. BREAKING NEWS! Coach K has left Tulane after three seasons and has accepted the job of head coach at Iowa State. He'll have a tough job to do since the Cyclones have only won 10 games in the last three seasons. He believes that he can bring ISU back to prominence after building the Green Wave to a key player in the Southwest Conference.

[Blackshirt78]

Congrats on the season!! Interesting to see that BB reflects the problems the REAL BCS has had in the past (i.e. when my Huskers got to the Rose Bowl in '01 when even many Husker Fans didn't think they should have ;) :p ) Good Luck with the Clones!!

[ckuesper]

Just getting started in the Big XII and it's going to be tough. Iowa State was 4-7 last season and we have the third-toughest schedule in all of college football. Yikes. Besides having ranked teams in the conference like Colorado, Texas, Nebraska and Texas A&M, we also have #14 Iowa and defending MAC Champion Northern Illinois. Amazingly, we got several votes in the preseason, putting up just a tad below the top 25. I'm still getting used to the new club, but the kids we have are of much higher caliber than anything I had at Tulane, except at QB. We're going with a 3-4 defense because we are extremely weak at DT. Our corners and safeties are our bread & butter. I bet we send three of the four to the NFL at the end of the season. This could be a good year, but we have a TON of seniors. Great leadership now, but it could get real ugly next season. We'll see. The alumni is very happy with me at this point. I think they have more belief in me than I do. :) Go Cyclones!

[ckuesper]

Good start. We're 2-0, but it was a moderate preseason at best. In Week 1, we blasted Fremont, 57-19, on the road. Three turnovers, two of which were INTs returned for TDs. Nice. Week 3 gave us the Huskies of NIU. Luckily, we narrowly edged Northern Illinois, 21-19, after they botched the snap on a two-point conversion with 9 ticks left in our house. Whew! Disappointing despite the win because we were favored by 17. Now, for the real deal. We have FIVE ranked teams (at this point) in our Big XII schedule, plus we have #10 Iowa at the end of the year. We start Week 5 in Boulder this week, then its back to Jack Trice against #4 Texas. Colorado, despite being ranked below us, is favored by 4. We NEED to win! For the first time in my career, I have a ranked team (#25 in both polls). The mountain air better be good to us if we hope to keep in the polls!

[ckuesper]

Colorado knocked us off in Boulder, 23-13. We were up 10-0 at the end of the first quarter. QB Dave Bukich started off 7/7 and led us on a 97-yd TD drive as time expired in the first frame. Then, we sucked it up. The Buffs scored 20 unanswered and four straight incompletions with less than 30 seconds left sealed our fate. Tough loss. The amazing stat of the game: Colorado returned a punt to my 42 and still had 2 ticks left before the half. PK Mel Graff then came out and punched a 59 YD FG through the uprights! If he doesn't get the Lou Groza Award, I don't know who should. News around the NCAA before Week Six, 2009: -Notre Dame has fallen into the realm of the unranked for the first time since the Ty Willingham era. Despite Irish QB and Heisman hopeful Matt Gilliam throwing for 15 TD to 1 INT at 69.8%, ND's defense is killing them, ranked #100 in the NCAA. A West Coast trip to San Jose against the Spartans was supposed to be a tuneup for the meat of their schedule. However, SJSU stunned the Irish in the biggest win in school history, 37-34. ND missed a last-second FG and the field was swarmed. -It looked like an NCAA playoff this past weekend: #1 Oklahoma had to go to Austin against #3 Texas and #2 LSU hosted #4 Florida. The Sooners held the advantage all day, slowly wearing down the Longhorns, 26-11. LSU was able to outlast the Gators, 30-23. It actually may shape up to be a good outcome in the BS, I mean BCS, this year. -Undefeated Toledo (5-0) is the first MAC team to enter the Top 25 since 2006. Their defense is giving up 9.4 ppg and has beaten BYU, Maryland and Boise State in the non-conference schedule.

[cameronhalsey31]

Good luck with the Clones. I have to say that this is the first dynasty I have ever seen anyone use ISU, good to see that change. Hope your team doesn't constantly screw itself over like the real life version. :rolleyes:

[ckuesper]

Well, don't hold your breath. We were 14-14 at the end of the 3rd against #9 Texas, leading me to believe the we could possible pull an upset. First play of the fourth: Texas returns and interception for a TD. Our next offensive play from scrimmage: Texas recovers a fumble, then marches 72 yards on 7 plays for another TD. Yuck. Final: 35-17. We're 2-2 now and 0-2 in the Big XII. With four ranked teams left on our schedule, it could be a loooooong first season in Ames.

[Big Six]

I just took a look at your dynasty, Drew. It looks like you're having a lot of fun with it, and I'm enjoying your writeups. Is Fremont doing any better? I'd be curious to see if their status as a Big Ten team helps their recruiting any, as compared to teams with similar prestige in less powerful conferences.

[ckuesper]

Inexcuseable. It's the only thing I can say about how our special teams couldn't do jack against unranked Kansas. We gave up a 98-yd kick off return that led to a 3-yd TD a play later, then watched as the Jayhawks torched us on a 74-yd punt return moments later. Altogether, Kansas had 344 total return yards and made us looking like a bunch of idiots. I almost pulled out the "diddley poo" speech. At least our QB did fairly well...350 yds, 4 TD. Problem was he couldn't get the ball into anyone's hands on third down. Dropped passes, dropped passes, dropped passes. We need some serious work before we face unranked Oklahoma State. This was supposed to be the easy part of our conference schedule...we may just go 0-8 in the Big XII if don't get our heads out of our... Notes around the NCAA: -Big Ten officials are starting to grumble at the decision to allow little Fremont into their fold four years ago. The Eagles are 0-7 so far this year and their closest game was a 20-7 drubbing at home against Tulane. Fremont was 3-9 in '06, 2-9, in '07 and 3-8 in '08, making them the laughing stock of the conference. The tally thus far: 3 1/2 seasons, 2 Big Ten wins. Ouch. -The Top 25 didn't have many big games last week, although #4 USC was upset by #14 Oregon State in a big way, 38-16. The top three, LSU, UCLA and Michigan, won their games easily and only the Wolverines face a tough opponent this week: #13 Iowa in corn country. -BCS Buster? That's the talk in northwest Ohio since their beloved Toldeo Rockets are 7-0, mowing over their MAC schedule, and climbing up the charts. Ranked #13 by the BCS, #14 by the Media and #16 by the Coaches, they have a good shot of crashing a party usually reserved for more traditional guests. The Rockets' defense is their strength: they've only given up 9.9 ppg. Western Michigan Broncos (5-2) may be the only team left on their schedule that can knock them off their high horse (no pun intended). -Despite a 33-3 record going into the season (and a national championship), Notre Dame fans are frustrated at head coach Tony Carter after the Irish fall out of the polls altogether (no votes, period). The Houston Cougars, a Southwest Conference representative, gets the biggest win in the conference's short recent history, 29-24, in Reliant Stadium. Houston was a 16-point underdog, but held a 12-point lead until ND scored a touchdown with 1 second left in the game...didn't matter.

[ckuesper]

Our season finale was bittersweet. We knocked off our in-state rivals, 35-21. The Hawkeyes ended the regular season losing three straight, but at least they still get to go bowling at 7-4. The Cyclones will be staying home after a 5-6 campaign. Even though it's the best record for ISU since 2004, I felt we could have done better. We only went 2-6 in the Big XII and missed a FG in OT against Texas A&M that would have given us a bowl bid...sad to say. On a positive note, WR Derrick Morris was a third-team All-American and first-team Big XII selection with 65 rec for 1,283 and 9 TD. I'm looking forward to a recruiting period that could move us up in the conference standings. Pre-Conference Title Notes: -#1 LSU (11-0) beat #4 Mississippi (9-1) in a battle of unbeatens in the SEC,37-21. The Tigers, with their eleventh victory, advance to the title game while the Rebs hope for a BCS call despite the loss. (Ole Miss would blast Mississippi State the following week, 45-20 and end the season at #7.) LSU goes up against #8 Georgia (11-1) in the SEC championship. -Michigan (11-0) also finishes the regular season without a loss, edging Ohio State, 22-17, to keep the #2 spot enter the Big Ten title game. Who do the Wolverines have to face? In-state rivals Michigan State, who went 8-3. -Despite finishing 10-1, #4 Pittsburgh won't even play in the Big East title game because of their finale loss to Syracuse, who ran the table in conference play. The Orange (9-2) will face West Virginia (8-3) next weekend. The Panthers were 3rd in both polls before faltering. -It's a down year in the Big XII, where #24 Missouri (8-3) will take on unranked Texas Tech (7-4) in the conference championship. -#9 Toledo is hoping that a win over Bowling Green in the MAC Championship will be enough to crash the BCS. At 10-1, the Rockets have a good shot. -The Pac-12 has the conference finale that everyone is watching: #5 USC (9-2) against #3 Oregon State (10-1). -The Big Ten has the dubious honor of being the first conference in recent memory to have two teams that couldn't win a game. Fremont and Northwestern each finished 0-11. Expect this matchup to be circled by the Vegas odds makers on next season's program. -With their win over Boston College, Notre Dame finally broke back into the Top 25 (at #25) in the final poll of the year. -#18 Maryland and #15 Florida State, both 8-3, meet in the ACC Championship in an unlikely matchup. Clemson, Miami and Boston College all disappointed in the final three weeks of the season to allow the Terps and Noles to sneak in.

[ckuesper]

Final 2009 Notes: The season ends with Michigan as national champions, winning the BCS twice in three years. This year, the BCS did it's job and the Wolverines were the only undefeated team left at the end at 13-0. #2 Oregon State (12-1) fell 37-27. So, in four seasons, the Midwest is well represented in the trophy case: Ohio State in '08 and Notre Dame in '06. LSU, who was #1 for most of the season, lost the SEC title on a last-second field goal to Georgia, then were upset in a bloodbath against #12 Missouri in the Fiesta Bowl, 48-23. The Tigers finished ranked sixth (11-2). The Bulldogs went on to win the Sugar Bowl, 39-3, against an overmatched Syracuse team. Georgia QB Steve Brown finished his stellar career after four years with the Bulldogs. He set the NCAA D-I record for TD passes (122) and completions (1084). He also finished second all-time in yards (14,343) and fourth in passer rating (158.6). Toledo didn't get in the BCS bowl picture, but did finish with an impressive 12-1 record with a #7 ranking after beating UNLV in the Insight Bowl, their fourth straight bowl win. Another MAC school, Central Michigan, won their first bowl game (ever?) in defeating South Florida in the Motor City Bowl, 36-21. UCLA, with a 34-16 win over West Virginia in the Aloha Bowl, ends the season ranked #4 with an 11-1 record. Junior Heisman Trophy winner RB Gary Lyman rushed for 2,356 yards for the year, second-best all-time.

[ckuesper]

Sorry about the lengthy dissappearing act...busy work schedule recently. I have been playing, but I haven't had much time to update... Anyway, without going into TREMENDOUS detail, my head coaching career in Iowa State ended. Despite three consecutive years in the top 30 in recruiting, it did nothing to boost the Cyclones since six other Big XII teams finished ahead of us each year. We got a TON of 4-star guys but not a single 5-star guy. All went to the likes of Oklahoma, Texas and Nebraska...or our dreaded rivals, Iowa. After eight years, Coach K will be taking a season off before looking elsewhere for work. (I'm going to modify my league, so I'll effectively be starting over...I'll keep this thread going, however.) ESPN did call and he'll be a color guy for the Great Plains feed. 2006 Tulane 2-9 2007 Tulane 7-4 (lost Independence Bowl) 2008 Tulane 7-4 (lost Independence Bowl) 2009 Iowa State 5-6 2010 Iowa State 5-6 (lost three straight to finish the year...) 2011 Iowa State 5-7 (lost three straight to finish the year, again...) 2012 Iowa State 1-11 (lost our final 11 games, but, hey, we started 1-0...) 2013 Iowa State 3-8 (1 conference win in two years will cost you your job...) It got ugly near the end. The student body demonstrated on campus for my immediate resignation at the end of 2012, but ISU gave me the nod on the final year of my contract, but I basically had to get a bowl bid to keep going. Tough luck. The new coach will be given a good group of recruits and will probably fair well. So, for now (a couple of days or so), Coach K is going to hibernate on a fishing boat in Table Rock Lake in Missouri and think about what could have been...and what will be... Could the family be heading west? Wyoming or Air Force might be a nice change of scenery... What about an Atlantic swing? Rutgers or Connecticut? Or maybe try to ressurrect the success at Marshall? I don't think I could stomach the Sun Belt or MAC, but I know that the Big Tens and SECs of the college football world won't be calling me just yet. Suggestions?

[Jestor]

Wyoming's a really nice campus, but Laramie is a really small town. :D To really get much of anything, you have to make the hour trip to Cheyenne and in the winter the road is often blocked off by snowfall.

[ckuesper]

"Strike up Cowboy Joe!" After careful consideration and a year in hibernation, Coach K has accepted the head coaching job at the University of Wyoming. The Cowboys are going to be a tough program to bring back to prominence since the glory days in the '90s WAC. Two bowl bids in ten seasons aren't going to get you much press. Here in 2015, the goal is to contend for the MWC title. The NCAA had another great schizm as they did nine years ago in 2006. Several teams jumped ship--or were booted--and went different directions. For starters the 12-team MWC became an 8-team league. Nevada, UNLV, New Mexico and New Mexico State were tired of playing second fiddle to Fresno State in the MWC West, so they formered the 7-team "New WAC" with Independents Idaho and San Jose State, as well as UTEP, who left the SWC. Thus, the SWC dropped to nine in membership. Out east, in a three-way trade of sorts, Fremont was kicked out of the Big Ten and replaced Toledo in the MAC. The Rockets joined fellow Ohioans Cincinnati and former MAC member Marshall in the Big East. This gave Louisville the nod to take off into the Big Ten, a move that fits them well. The bowls changed a little. No new bowls or name changes, but conference representation took a new shape. The WAC will only have one team go to the post-season, with it's champion facing the Sun Belt champion in the Mountain Dew Bowl in Charlotte, making it the only game outside of the BCS to guarantee a "championship." The MAC lost their #3 team when the Hoosier Bowl took the ACC #5 team. While the Independence Bowl will continue to keep an ACC club, it gets the #6 pick out of that conference. The ACC also gets their #4 moved from the Mountain Dew Bowl to the Motor City Bowl, nudging the Sun Belt's #2 out of the postseason, meaning the WAC and Sun Belt only get a single bowl bid each. Finally, the crumbling of the MWC caused the BCS to drop their automatic bid, meaning two at-large clubs get in the "final four" bowls instead of one. Back in Laramie, War Memorial Stadium looks much smaller than what I've been used to at either Tulane or Iowa State, but I can tell that that thin air at 7,000+ feet will make Saturdays--especially Saturday nights--exciting times. Street & Smith's has us picked to finish 7th out of eight. The previous administration did all of the recruiting before I arrived, so I have a work with a poor recruiting class. Stay tuned for more as we head into my first season at Jonah Field, rejuvenated and ready to go...

[Jestor]

[QUOTE=ckuesper]"Strike up Cowboy Joe!" After careful consideration and a year in hibernation, Coach K has accepted the head coaching job at the University of Wyoming. The Cowboys are going to be a tough program to bring back to prominence since the glory days in the '90s WAC. Two bowl bids in ten seasons aren't going to get you much press. Here in 2015, the goal is to contend for the MWC title. The NCAA had another great schizm as they did nine years ago in 2006. Several teams jumped ship--or were booted--and went different directions. For starters the 12-team MWC became an 8-team league. Nevada, UNLV, New Mexico and New Mexico State were tired of playing second fiddle to Fresno State in the MWC West, so they formered the 7-team "New WAC" with Independents Idaho and San Jose State, as well as UTEP, who left the SWC. Thus, the SWC dropped to nine in membership. Out east, in a three-way trade of sorts, Fremont was kicked out of the Big Ten and replaced Toledo in the MAC. The Rockets joined fellow Ohioans Cincinnati and former MAC member Marshall in the Big East. This gave Louisville the nod to take off into the Big Ten, a move that fits them well. The bowls changed a little. No new bowls or name changes, but conference representation took a new shape. The WAC will only have one team go to the post-season, with it's champion facing the Sun Belt champion in the Mountain Dew Bowl in Charlotte, making it the only game outside of the BCS to guarantee a "championship." The MAC lost their #3 team when the Hoosier Bowl took the ACC #5 team. While the Independence Bowl will continue to keep an ACC club, it gets the #6 pick out of that conference. The ACC also gets their #4 moved from the Mountain Dew Bowl to the Motor City Bowl, nudging the Sun Belt's #2 out of the postseason, meaning the WAC and Sun Belt only get a single bowl bid each. Finally, the crumbling of the MWC caused the BCS to drop their automatic bid, meaning two at-large clubs get in the "final four" bowls instead of one. Back in Laramie, War Memorial Stadium looks much smaller than what I've been used to at either Tulane or Iowa State, but I can tell that that thin air at 7,000+ feet will make Saturdays--especially Saturday nights--exciting times. Street & Smith's has us picked to finish 7th out of eight. The previous administration did all of the recruiting before I arrived, so I have a work with a poor recruiting class. Stay tuned for more as we head into my first season at Jonah Field, rejuvenated and ready to go...[/QUOTE] Yep the air makes a *huge* difference. It generally takes a few days to get used to the change in elevation for most people, so visiting teams often aren't acclimated to the air yet by gameday, unless they're from equally high altitude cities.

[ckuesper]

Game One of the Coach K era in Wyoming was a success. A 26-3 win over the Vandals of Idaho gave us some confidence. Our running game is solid, but our passing game is pathetic. QB Andre Bowens was 7-24 for 211 yards in the win. Lots of YAC from our receivers, which did the load of the work. RB Cleo Luke rushed for 122 yards and a TD in the win. Game ball to him. Cowboy Fever came to a screeching halt when we traveled to Lincoln to face #9 Nebraska. We knew we were in for a wild ride and we got it, getting run out of the building, 54-10. Bowens was 7-24 again and, at one point, threw 21 STRAIGHT incompletions. Frustration. New QB next week. He did throw a 96-yd TD pass to WR Shannon Miller in the first, but Miller caught the ball on a screen pass. Luke didn't do too bad, rushing 15 times for 77 yards in the loss, but then hurt his knee...he's out for 3-5 weeks. Next play: starting FB Keenan Dooring gets hurt...he'll be out 4 to 6. Ouch. Now, we take a week off before playing our first home game against Utah. The Utes are picked to finish first in the MWC, so we're in for a tough one. We better have our QB situation fixed by then... Other news: --Notre Dame is back on top. The #1 Irish are 2-0 after beating #6 USC, 23-20, then besting #8 Michigan, 35-30. Another big test next week: #12 Tennessee. --#2 Florida beat #4 Miami, 37-34, on a 44-yd field goal as time expired, allowing the Gators to keep the early track to the National Championship game.

[ckuesper]

More problems at QB. New starter Ryan Lipscomb (Jr.) threw eight INTs to two TDs in losses to Utah and Fresno State. Our running game has performed well, but our receivers cannot get the ball. My lividity hit a new high when in both games Lipscomb threw an interception on the final drive that could have tied the game. We lost to the Utes, 15-7, and the Bulldogs, 17-9. Our defense (#43 nationally) is playing very well as the scores can indicate, but they're on the field for 36 minutes a game. Other stories: --Toledo's first game in the Big East was against former MAC mates, Marshall. The Rockets took the Herd out of it from the get-go and cruised to a 31-20 victory. --Fremont had promised to be a tough act in the MAC, but they've fallen flat so far, starting the season 0-5, including losses to new conference foes Western Michigan and Kent State. --Louisville has had some success to start their life in the Big Ten. After dropping 50+ on Akron and Temple, the Cardinals lost a close matchup against Purdue, then wasted Indiana, 47-26. A 3-1 mark looks good so far, but they still have #6 Wisconsin, #8 Ohio State and #12 Michigan on their schedule. --The biggest upset of the year thus far was when #4 Texas lost at home to Kent State, 16-13. The Golden Flashes kept the Longhorns from scoring in the fourth quarter to seal the deal.

[ckuesper]

Sitting at 1-5 is rough. Our offense can't get anything going and our defense is buckling. Wyoming is a downtrodden campus after five consecutive losses. Lipscomb amazingly threw another INT inside of a minute left to give the game up to Utah State, giving the Aggies their first win, 24-17. It was his third game in a row pulling that stunt, thus another QB change. Game Six sees Eric Hoover, a sophomore, take the reigns. No more success than the others: 15-39 for 184 yards with 0 TD and 3 INT in a loss to Colorado State, 31-16. We've been leading heading into the fourth in our last three games and manage to let it slip away. Although the year isn't over by a long shot, the coaching staff is already mulling our recruiting season. We can't afford to start 0-4 in the conference again next year... Also in the MWC, Utah (6-0) became the first Mountain West team to crack the Top 25 (#25) since the offseason split of the conference. Brigham Young is right behind them and will probably win this week to jump as well (currently 6-1).

[Jestor]

Lipscomb is turning out a lot like Bramlet this year IRL for the Cowboys. The bastard threw a game-ruining INT at every opportunity it seems like. Maybe it's a Wyoming QB thing. :rolleyes: