Embarrassment on ESPN

[ragtimejoe1]

I always appreciated the MWC who told ESPN to stick it; we care about our fans. Post-ESPN execution had problems but I liked the philosophy.

[cowboyz]

Thanks ESPN2 for coming to Laramie and showing our program getting poop on.
The attendance is a joke, the on-field product is a joke, everything about the program looks like a joke right now.
Plenty of game left but so please prove me wrong but right now I am completely embarrassed.

"everything"? I see quite a few good things to go with the bad. Then again, I only really follow the Pokes, while your frustration is doubled by following the train wreck that is the Oregon State football program. Every year, less wins than the year before, and that's with their recent strategy of scheduling their OOC games against FCS and MWC teams. Maybe your fandom fortunes will improve if you go to graduate school at Alabama or Auburn.

My frustration with wyo football has nothing to do with oregon state football.
My frustration is that once the weather gets a little cold 50% of the fans quit showing up.
And year after year it is like that. And there are only excuses.
Long drive to Laramie. Cold out. Game is on espn. Friday night. Hunting season.
It's pathetic. We have a game on national tv and had a stadium that was just empty.
Meanwhile CSU is working on multiple sellouts in a row.
That's what frustrates me about Wyoming football, not Oregon State football. Nice reach/troll effort though.

I don't see it as much of a reach. Your Avatar is a beaver with a cowboy hat and the name you use is BeavPoke, and you attend Oregon State. To me it seems you're showing that you follow both teams equally. I was pointing out that you follow two similar teams, that lately can only beat teams from lower conferences or the bottom feeders of their own conference. So your frustration level must be doubled compared to the rest of us. Then you point out that "everything" about our program is a joke. Do you say the same thing about Oregon State, because they're similar programs, with maybe Wyoming's future looking a little better (on the field, if not in the stands)? If you think our coaches blow, say the coaches blow, if you think the fans don't support the team, then call the fans out, but everything? I didn't realize you posted it during the 1st quarter, so I understand where it was coming from, but when someone says everything is a joke, I feel there must be something else contributing to the person's misery.

[WyoBrandX]

That was a cold miserable game to sit through while watching the Pokes lose. They should have forced the west stands into the east stands to make it look fuller.

Regardless, there aren't many people going to take a few hours off of work to drive to Laramie in the elements to watch them lose. 6pm start time is even tough for Cheyenne people to get over the hill to watch.

Start building up some 10+ win seasons in a row and I believe this will all change. Ticket prices are fricking expensive. They may want to start looking at cheaper tickets. I'm sure there are plenty of other ways to boost attendance. The administration just doesn't seem to want to do it.

Overall, the stats on that game are ridiculous. We won almost every statistical category except points scored......

[BeaverPoke]

[ Do you say the same thing about Oregon State, because they're similar programs, with maybe Wyoming's future looking a little better (on the field, if not in the stands)?

Sorry but you are going to have a hard time convincing me that a team from a non-P5 has a brighter future than a team from the Pac12 with the way college football is going. It's not really Wyo's fault that the NCAA is now driven by 5 conferences who want to make their own rules.

Not to mention, that Wyo has had a "brighter future" for about 15 seasons now.

And what do you mean in the stands?
Wyo does not have a better looking future in the stands than OS at all. I just left the game at Reser and even as bad as the Beavs are this season, there were still twice as many fans than any Wyoming game I have gone to besides the game versus Boise during ACS sophomore season.

And please don't think that I am trying to pull the typical big conference attitude poop. I am just trying to point out how the P5/BCS has totally f-word the small schools. Hence the reason I think TCU and Utah leaving the MWC for the Big/Pac 12 when they did was the best thing they could have done.

[alyssa]

There were probably a lot of fans busy churning butter.

[laxwyo]

Churning butter in high heels looks the deed

[alyssa]

Churning butter in high heels looks the deed

Yeah, well, that's just how that is....
I see a lot of not full stadiums. That's just how it goes.
Just look at my Princeton today on TV. There were so few fans even though we beat Penn and have a winning record right now at 5-3 and 4-1! How about that?

I bet you guys need to go on a camping trip together.

[fromolwyoming]

Alyssa! Good to see you back!

[alyssa]

Alyssa! Good to see you back!

Grazie! I was staying away to leave y'all alone during football season but I just had to put a little bit of my sarcasm in.
I have been busy. Football hasn't been very interesting to me this season for different reasons.
A lot of things are going on that football has lost out to. Sometimes I'm still "spying" on y'all.

[Wyokie]

Glad you're back, Alyssa.

Now if Snowflake would return....

[alyssa]

Glad you're back, Alyssa.

Now if Snowflake would return....

Multumesc! I haven't watched much football this season so I don't have a lot to talk about.
Maybe you can just go knock on Snowflake's door and give her a big surprise!
I've met a lot of friendly folks in Oklahoma.

I really think a lot of fans had to churn butter and just couldn't make the game. So far it doesn't seem that anyone agrees!

[Wyokie]

Glad you're back, Alyssa.

Now if Snowflake would return....

Multumesc! I haven't watched much football this season so I don't have a lot to talk about.
Maybe you can just go knock on Snowflake's door and give her a big surprise!
I've met a lot of friendly folks in Oklahoma.

I really think a lot of fans had to churn butter and just couldn't make the game. So far it doesn't seem that anyone agrees!

I would but I have no idea where she lives and she hasn't been on in months.

[alyssa]

Glad you're back, Alyssa.

Now if Snowflake would return....

Multumesc! I haven't watched much football this season so I don't have a lot to talk about.
Maybe you can just go knock on Snowflake's door and give her a big surprise!
I've met a lot of friendly folks in Oklahoma.

I really think a lot of fans had to churn butter and just couldn't make the game. So far it doesn't seem that anyone agrees!

I would but I have no idea where she lives and she hasn't been on in months.

Y'all gotta recruit some butter churners to your site to talk about ball sports.

[cowboyz]

[ Do you say the same thing about Oregon State, because they're similar programs, with maybe Wyoming's future looking a little better (on the field, if not in the stands)?

Sorry but you are going to have a hard time convincing me that a team from a non-P5 has a brighter future than a team from the Pac12 with the way college football is going. It's not really Wyo's fault that the NCAA is now driven by 5 conferences who want to make their own rules.

Not to mention, that Wyo has had a "brighter future" for about 15 seasons now.

And what do you mean in the stands?
Wyo does not have a better looking future in the stands than OS at all. I just left the game at Reser and even as bad as the Beavs are this season, there were still twice as many fans than any Wyoming game I have gone to besides the game versus Boise during ACS sophomore season.

And please don't think that I am trying to pull the typical big conference attitude poop. I am just trying to point out how the P5/BCS has totally f-word the small schools. Hence the reason I think TCU and Utah leaving the MWC for the Big/Pac 12 when they did was the best thing they could have done.

Wyo's future looks brighter than OS with regard to winning games and challenging for conference titles, in my opinion. Even this year we can match and maybe even beat last seasons record. Oregon State, not so much. If a brighter future is only measured in playing in a better conference, then no, we're in the MWC. But on the same hand, does that mean Oregon, Stanford and the better PAC 12 teams have to take a back seat to Vanderbilt? Regarding attendance, I said "if not" in the stands, meaning we won't be beating OS or most teams in the fan base race. The logistics/reasons have been covered in previous posts by others.

[ragtimejoe1]

To be fair, I'd trade places with OSU in a heartbeat. We have a better coach, imo, but they have better everything else. They have more money to make hires. They will always get better recruits, etc. Despite some down years, they generally will be better than most if not all mwc teams.

Much different than comparing Vandy to Oregon.

[Brew_Poke]

Beaver has a way of saying things that get under people's skin. I'm sure he'll be doing it real soon.

Beav, it's called "a job". Most people weren't at the game because we have jobs and these jobs usually take up most of a day. So, unless you wanted to take vacation or lived in Laramie, you're not making a 6pm Friday game.

For a friday night game, I get it. What about the countless other gamea where we came in under 25k?

A small part of our fanbase shows up to see Wyoming. Most of our fanbase shows up to see our opponents.

[WyoExpat]

Isn't Beaver in Oregon? I think he has a legitimate reason not to be there.

Just like the 15k who are not. People go to games from all over, even from Oregon. Just saying that you can't bitch if you're not making the trek from wherever you are

This is irrational, especially on a Friday night. The students should have been there en-masse. The rest of the attendance really reflects demographics--as it should.

I used to get upset at the lack of attendance from around the state when I was in school, but I now realize that attending every home game no matter what should not be the top priority the the life of all state residents--much less expatriated alumni.

We (the MWC) decided that we needed to be on ESPN for the exposure, money, and the legitimacy that being on ESPN confers. As a result, ESPN picks the tune and we have to dance.

One other thing I have noticed over the years is that, when the Pokes are on national TV, people are more likely to specifically prefer to watch the broadcast rather than miss the broadcast to be in the stadium. I think it has to do with getting an outside analysis and discussion of our Pokes. I do not think the broadcasts on ROOT Sports have the same effect on attendance.

[WyoExpat]

Most of our fanbase shows up to see our opponents.

This is both true and the most distressing part of being a Poke fan and alumnus.

Utah State is really well-situated to develop into a true rival.

[WyoExpat]

To be fair, I'd trade places with OSU in a heartbeat. We have a better coach, imo, but they have better everything else. They have more money to make hires. They will always get better recruits, etc. Despite some down years, they generally will be better than most if not all mwc teams.

Much different than comparing Vandy to Oregon.

We even played Oregon State in Laramie when I was in school.

[BeaverPoke]

Lol at the oregon-vandy comparison.

And as for Bohl being a better coach than Riley?
Riley may be at the end of his tenure and has certainly done a poop job in the last two seasons but comparing a 4-6 career record coach to someone who has lead Oregon State to the third most wins in the pac10/12 during his tenure at OS (and most out of the non-ncaa violation schools) does not make any sense.

EVERYTHING Bohl has accomplished is been at the D2 and FCS levels.
He is 4-6 as a head coach of an FBS team. Meanwhile Riley is one of the longest tenured coaches in the NCAA and has coacjed an NFL team.
Bohl doesn't have nearly the experience Riley has to be making that claim. Lets see in 5 years.