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Welcome back real football! Saturday is the second annual FCS kickoff, pitting the four time defending national champions North Dakota State University versus the #12 Montana Grizzlies, who are debuting new head coach Bob Stitt, formerly of Colorado School of Mines and subject of endless fascination for a small subset of football nerds. What exactly is the FCS kickoff? An excuse to pay attention to the wonderful weird world of FCS football. A place with bloodfields, fortune 500 CEOs in second careers, familiar names slumming it between jobs, and an 24 team playoff. Most importantly, the FCS is home to some very good football and both teams this weekend represent that. So here's the matchup: North Dakota State University  At this point the only question with NDSU is why FBS schools are dumb enough to schedule them. During their current four year run, they've gone 58-3, at one point ripping of 30 straight wins, including that one where they beat Kansas State at Snyder Family Stadium. So far, it looks like second year head coach Chris Klieman is going to follow in Craig Bohls footsteps, and the Bison are going to continue to steamroll everybody with their dominant defense and efficient pro-style offense. Imagine Nick Saban's Alabama stepping on the face of college football for half a decade, except everybody involved has obnoxiously Scandinavian name, unironically eats lutefisk, and thinks of Fargo as a model american metropolis. gently caress them. But seriously, this looks like another excellent NDSU squad. The offense is returning 8 starters, potentially mitigating a lot turnover on the defensive side, where they're starting a brand new secondary. Still, their ability to slow down Montana's passing game will be crucial to how the match plays out, because they really don't want to get into a shootout. Adding to the challenge, nobody has any tape on Montana because of their new coach... Montana  If NDSU is 'bama, Montana is some bastard mix of Texas' underperformance relative to historical excellence and Penn State's poorly prosecuted sex crimes. We're past that though! With a brand new coach and a collection of football talent without any bestselling books about their misdeeds, it's a new day in Missoula. Really though, it comes down to whether or not Coach Stitt can live up to the hype. Stitt came into public consciousness, at least amongst a very small subset of the public, a few years back when the version of the fly sweep he invented was used to eviscerate Clemson in Orange bowl. He put together a career 108-62 record at Division II school Colorado School of Mines, but his record likely understates his success there: he built a program essentially out of scratch, at a school with a median ACT in the high 20s/low 30s, while trying to convince student athletes to come play at a school with a 75% male student body and no majors outside engineering and a student body not always concerned with athletics. Now he's at the helm of one of the best funded FCS programs, on a campus where athletics are king and distractions are aplenty. He could easily exceed the already high expectations and show how much CSM was holding him back, or he could falter dealing with student athletes who aren't engineering students. As for their on the field prospects, Montana is expected to use some version of a spread attack, but a fun storyline going into the game is that nobody is really sure what it would look like. NDSU has allegedly been trying to scrounge up as much gametape of CSM as they can, but nobody is quite sure how much of his playbook he's bringing with him. For a general outline of what he does though, this piece by Bill Connelly is pretty great. The novelty and element of surprise are a double-edged sword that might determine the contest: if Montana's players are comfortable enough in the system to exploit the raw NDSU secondary, they could turn the game into a track meet and put of a lot of pressure on the plodding NDSU. Unofficial Mascot for the Game: Smokey the Air  This is the biggest wildcard this weekend. Washington, Idaho and Western Montana are on fire, and the prevailing winds are blowing everything through Missoula/all of the state. Visibility is miserable, I can taste woodsmoke everytime I go outside, and the state strongly advises against extended physical exertion outside. There's a chance it could settle down by tomorrow, but right now it looks like the teams will have to play through it. Aside from the novelty of watching a stadium full of people slowly get cancer, it could test both sides conditioning and slow the game down, potentially giving NDSU an advantage. When to watch: 3:30 EST, ESPN. What to drink: I'm going represent my Montana pride with a couple growlers of delicious Blackfoot Single Malt IPA. They don't distribute outside Helena, MT city limits though, so I'd recommend Moose Drool Brown Ale by Big Sky brewery, because that's really the only widely distributed Montana beer.
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Aug 28, 2015 21:34
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| # ¿ Apr 27, 2024 12:14 |
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Thaddius the Large posted:Cold Smoke from Kettlehouse Brewing is liquid crack and the single thing I miss most about Missoula. God that stuff is astounding. It was actually the first Montana made beer I had, in a vaguely racist bar in Phillipsburg and thus the most Montana beer I ever had. Go Grizz!
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Aug 29, 2015 20:30
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C2C - 2.0 posted:Does NDSU play any FBS teams this year? Not this year, but I think Iowa has them in 2016.
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Aug 29, 2015 20:33
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C2C - 2.0 posted:Muss pronounced it "By-zon" That's how they say it, I swear to god. The Dakotas are the worst.
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Aug 29, 2015 20:34
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Foooootball!!!
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Aug 29, 2015 20:38
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Shittttt
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Aug 29, 2015 20:43
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KKKLIP ART posted:I swore that there was a maroon and gray team that wanted a non green field, not just the FIELD OF BLOOD team. One of the directional Michigan schools has a grey field, maybe Eastern?
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Aug 29, 2015 20:47
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Also Bob Stitt never punts. He's so dreamy.
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Aug 29, 2015 20:50
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Alright, so they won't score every drive.
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Aug 29, 2015 20:56
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I'm already in love with this offense.
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Aug 29, 2015 21:01
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gently caress YEAH GRIZ
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Aug 29, 2015 21:08
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Got the flag tho
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Aug 29, 2015 21:10
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Montana looks a lot better on D than I expect
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Aug 29, 2015 21:16
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That was horrible tackling
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Aug 29, 2015 21:25
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KKKLIP ART posted:TOE WAS INBOUNDS, THE gently caress IT WE WENT DEEP SHOULD STAND.
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Aug 29, 2015 21:50
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That catch 
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Aug 29, 2015 21:53
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gently caress YEAH GO DEEP ALL DAY
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Aug 29, 2015 23:02
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Ha, stitt called a power run by flexing his biceps.
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Aug 29, 2015 23:10
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What was that poo poo
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Aug 29, 2015 23:10
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Idea: replace Purdue and Illinois with NDSU and Montana. B1G West automatically becomes watchable.
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Aug 29, 2015 23:17
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Aug 30, 2015 00:06
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Should have done a fake spike
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Aug 30, 2015 00:08
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Haha, he was crowdsurfing on that. I'm dying
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Aug 30, 2015 00:10
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chaoslord posted:If you can't gain one yard you don't deserve to win
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Aug 30, 2015 00:11
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Aug 30, 2015 00:12
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Thaddius the Large posted:gently caress YES GO GRIZ WE WANT BAMA*
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Aug 30, 2015 00:12
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That was a loving amazing game
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Aug 30, 2015 00:18
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| # ¿ Apr 27, 2024 12:14 |
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Vintimus Prime posted:Crazy to see the town I live in and the Griz talked about here. Hell of a game. And it's still REALLY smokey outside The lasting legacy of this game will be every player and fan getting lung cancer in a couple of years.
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Aug 30, 2015 00:49
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