Tough loss for the Kats. Hopefully Bell doesn't end his football career with an injury, but I think we saw the last game of the Flanders/Bell/Sincere era. They can still get into the playoffs by beating UCA who is also banged up (and has been all year), but they better figure out who will be taking the snaps and give that guy a lot of practice.
It's over. Even if we make the playoffs, with Flanders and now Bell playing at far less than 100%, I don't look forward to those games. It was a good run with those 3. Let's hope that incomer Cole Martin becomes a great QB for us.
Yep. Making the playoffs will be a long shot and even if we do get there, getting back to Frisco would take nothing short of a miracle. I've thoroughly enjoyed these years and hope that Coach Fritz stays and is able to make this a permanent run of respectability. He has a habit of turning programs around so I wouldn't be surprised to see him get some interviews at FBS schools.
Looks like Bell is out tomorrow and Jared Johnson will get the start. And with that, I think the Bell/Flanders era is pretty much done. It was fun while it lasted. We were the 2nd best team in FCS for a good 2 years. Too bad we had to face the FCS version of Alabama in the championship game both years. Let's see how the JJ era officially starts tomorrow. Hopefully it will be similar to the Bell era. EAT EM UP.
As the representative of the synthetic turf industry to CF, I formally apologize for the Central Ark. field. Bell is playing. It's 42-10 UCA going into the half. That'll do it on 2013.
Valiant effort by Bell coming in the 2nd half and trying to bring the team back. He was clearly in pain. Got it within a two score game but this team just did not do itself any favors today (or this year for that matter). Dropped TD passes, losing a punt in our own territory, etc. Might have been a different season if Flanders was 100%. He fell off big time about halfway through the season due to injury. Still an outside chance at an at-large bid to the playoffs but I don't think it's very likely.
Sam made it to playoffs! I'm sure Central Arkansas fans are pissed after beating us two seasons straight and Sam got the nod over them. Have a home play in game against Southern Utah with a chance to play SE Louisiana again. NDSU and Sam look to be on same side of playoffs so there is no chance for a third meeting in finals. Could meet them in semifinals if we win 3 straight. Let's hope the experience factor in playoffs goes Sam's way and we win a few playoff games. Go Kats!
I have priority purchasing but won't be able to make it. If someone wants my tickets, let me know and I'll sell them to you at cost. They're $44+fees. To be clear: I haven't yet purchased the tickets, but they're currently being held for me. So if you want them and if you know of a way to get ahold of the tickets after I buy them online, let me know ASAP. 5th row, seats 1 & 2 (aisle), on the 50 yard line. ::EDIT:: Actually, that's the price for 2 playoff home games I think.
Amazed they got in. Even more so that they got a home game. Not a bad draw either. SE is beatable and the. A possible trip to Maine. Though, the path to Frisco would be through Fargo should they get that far.
I was surprised to see they got in as well. Even after the SELa. loss, I was pretty optimistic about them getting in, but figured they had no shot after dropping the UCA game. It's not supposed to matter, of course, but I have to assume that their run in the last two years helped a little bit in the minds of the selection committee.
I definitely think their prior runs helped them (especially after not being seeded last year and still making it in). I was also surprised. I guess we just bid better than Southern Utah in order to get the home game. Hopefully a lot of people show up since this will be the last time we can see them play in Huntsville before the seniors are done. I'm a little worried there won't be much of a crowd, since is is Thanksgiving weekend. I'm going to try to make it up there. There is actually a chance we could make it to the Fargo Dome. I think SELA would be harder to get through than Maine, and it is always hard to beat someone twice. But SELA looks tough and they're on a hot streak (9 straight wins, undefeated in the Southland) so it will be tough no matter what. Southern Utah has a really good defense too (and we have a banged up offense). No matter what, it has been fun watching these guys play the last few years and it will be interesting to see if the coaches have recruited well enough to keep us relevant every year, or if we'll go back to just being mid-tier after our star studded senior class is gone.
What a horrible game that was. I was so excited to see it would be on TV and even in HD. 5 minutes after I turned it on, it was 0-14. That DC we got from McNeese should be fired like yesterday. That needs to be priority 1 this offseason. Is he related to Frank Bush? That long TD throw before the half.....that is INEXCUSABLE. I was surprised we got into the playoffs too. I think our win over Eastern Washington really helped us. I can't believe we haven't won a single road game this year.
Central Ark. only had 5 D1 wins. We had 6. That's the difference. We definitely snuck in and caused some other teams to get snubbed. But two of our losses were against top 10 FCS teams (Mcnesse and SELA), so that strength of schedule played in our favor. Mcneese almost lost to Lamar Saturday. If that had gone down, we might not have made it because it would have devalued the Mcneese win.
Yeah, 2 of our losses (along with 1 of our wins) came against teams currently in the top 10 and the other loss, of course, was against aTm. UCA was really our only "bad" loss of the season. It doesn't feel that way, since we've pretty much owned the SLC the last 2 years and we've grown used to running the table. But it has gotten a LOT better this year with 3 teams currently in the top 10. I hope we win Saturday and continue our home win streak. Getting another shot at SLU would be fun. Maybe Bell would be healthy by then. But our defense....my GOD our defense blows.
Not that I'm all that surprised given that the game is during Thanksgiving break, but the crowd looks pretty light. The sections on the ends of the "visitor" side look like they have almost literally no one in them.
I don't know about Bell's potential replacement, but Keyshawn Hill is looking good for Flanders' replacement next year...even if it's just for 1 year.
Agreed. The position will be in good hands next season. Big win for the Kats today. I think they showed that they are going to be a factor in these playoffs. They get a familiar foe in SELa. next weekend. That's a very winnable game.
Fell behind 0-10, but then the flood gates opened. That was a vintage SHSU win. The way we won games during out 2 runner-up years. Maybe we have one more run left in us? If we can just get our revenge against SLU (or whatever they're called) next week, I'm fine with whatever happens after that. I don't feel good about it, seeing as how we are 0-for-the-road this year. But stranger things have happened. EDIT: BTW, I noticed that NDSU actually got a vote in the AP Top 25 poll this week. Has that ever happened for an FCS team? Can we just give them another NC now?
NDSU is ranked 22nd in the Sagarin Ratings. They're ahead of OU, Louisville, Kansas State, Notre Dame, Iowa. If you're wondering, we're 105th. I realize the season likely ends even if we get through SELU and Maine (or New Hampshire). I'd still like just one more shot at NDSU. Who knows, maybe Fritz will have finally figured something out. EAT EM UP KATS
