November, 2010
Dear Eagle Family,
We are in complete cross-over as our winter seasons have now begun while our fall campaigns are coming to a conclusion…
A Look Back…October
- Thank you to everyone who came out and supported the Big Sky Cross Country Championships at the Fairways Golf Course. We had a couple of top 10 finishers on each side as junior Kyle King finished fourth on the men’s side while senior Amy Kolin finished sixth in the women’s race…
http://www.goeags.com/sports/c-track/2010-11/releases/KingKolin
- A perfect 5-0 October for the football team has vaulted them to our highest ranking ever (sixth) in the country and has set us up for a very exciting finish to the season. Two regular season games remain and both will be played at the Inferno so get your tickets now!! Great West champion, Southern Utah, will be in Cheney on Nov. 13 while Idaho State will be at Roos the following week to close out the Big Sky season. Looking ahead – if the team continues to be successful, there may be a chance for us to enter postseason play for the fifth time in seven years….stay tuned.
- Congratulations to seniors Amy Kolin (Cross Country) and Matt Martin (Football) for being named Athletic Department Scholar Athletes of the Month for October. The release with their accomplishments will be out shortly.
- Finally, our volleyball team is making a late season charge as they try and make the four-team Big Sky playoff field. The team is currently 6-6 heading into November with four conference matches left in the regular season – two at home and two on the road. The team will need to go at least 2-2 and more than likely 3-1 to secure a playoff berth. Our soccer team completed their season by falling to Montana at the end of the month and, unfortunately, did not qualify for the Big Sky playoffs.
A Look Ahead…November
- Buy your season tickets!! For both men’s and women’s basketball…Reese Court promises to be an exciting place this winter as our defending Big Sky champion women’s team and our men’s team led by last season’s Freshman of the Year, Glen Dean, look to compete for league titles in ’10-11. The men have been slowed a bit by the injury bug as Glen, Jeffrey Forbes and freshman Geoffrey Allen have all had an injury causing them to miss time. Hopefully, all will be back soon.
- How the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs work…this year is the first year in which the NCAA will have a 20-team field (up from 16). Ten automatic berths and 10 at-large berths will make up the field. The selection of the field and pairings will be aired on ESPNU at 7 a.m. Pacific Time on Sunday, Nov. 21. Eight teams will play on Nov. 27 with the other 12 receiving a bye. The field will then be down to 16 for eight games on Dec. 4, quarterfinals on December 11 and semifinals on December 18 – all of these games will be played at campus sites. This year, the committee will seed five teams (or 20 percent of the field)…should you be a seed and have met the minimum bid qualifications and are playing an unseeded team, the seed will automatically host. Should a game occur between two unseeded teams, the committee will determine the host based on bids. And finally, if two seeded teams happen to match-up – the higher seed will host as long as they have met the minimum bid qualifications. The FCS Championship Game will be at a new site -- Frisco, Texas -- and be played at a different time of year (Jan. 7 as opposed to mid-December).
Finally –
As I mentioned last month, there continues to be movement within the intercollegiate athletic landscape. The Big Sky, in fact, was at the forefront this past month with the announcement that both Southern Utah University and the University of North Dakota will be joining as full members beginning in 2012-13. This brings our membership to 11 core institutions and 13 football playing schools.
Until next month…Go Eagles!!
Bill |
