The Big Sky Conference

[MissoulaMarinerFan]

Weird how everyone argues that the FCS is weaker so the Griz should be doing better, like they should be the only thing that bucks the trend.

Ah! It's those darned other schools that are trying to get better too! Can't they just all suck like they did in 2009! (never-mind the fact that none of those Griz teams or anybody on their rosters over 4-5 years won the natty either)

 

[Mavman]

I don't care about rankings opinions or any thing other than the Griz being 4-0 against MVFC teams come Saturday evening.

 

[mthoopsfan]

A lot of hating on Schmidt. He is not wrong. The Big Sky is visually weaker than it has been. Seems like it has gotten weaker increasingly over the past 3 years or so. But, that goes for all the conferences. I see the FCS as much weaker than it was. Probably, the strongest it really was seemed to be around 2010 -2020, in my opinion. Maybe, with a peak at the end of that time frame. I think that after the COVID situation, we have seen quite a drop off in the FCS. The transfer portal and NIL craziness has not helped either. It doesn't mean things are not competitive overall. However, I do see a change. It is probably irreversible, so really nothing to overstate. It just is what it is. Go Griz.

I don't agree. Schmidt is wrong. Except for perhaps this season with 3 teams in the playoffs, the Big Sky has been quite strong for all or most of the last handful of years. 5 BS qualifiers in 2024. 4 the prior year. 5 the prior year.

 

[Skookum-Jim]

Whhhaaaat?

The strongest the fcs has ever been was the late 90s with Marshall, GSU, App, Nova, Richmond, UMass, Montana, etc. Hell, the bottom third of the teams in the SoCon in those days would be playoff seeds today.

Whaaaaat? The strongest the FCS or 1AA was is after it's conception in 1978. There was a steady stream of teams leaving for the FBS shortly after that and it got weaker and weaker over time. A majority of the top 10 teams of 1AA left the FCS between 1980 and 2000. After that some divII teams like the Dakota schools have somewhat filled the gaps but the FCS had way more competition in the 80s and early 90s.

 

[AZGrizFan]

I am not sure that proves your point though. Seems more like an outlier.

I’m not sure what you’re saying…that THIS year’s team is an outlier?

 

[Hells bells]

Looks like the strongest conference in the fcs. 3 teams remain, only 2 MVFC teams left.

Of course the genius pod dork himself (Schmidt) tried to make the claim the big sky is AWFUL!, all in the name of diminishing this years' team's accomplishments. Meanwhile, during his playing days, there was no teams in the Big sky as good as either the cats or uc davis.

At any rate, great win by Davis last night, the cats escaped, and the GRIZ dominated. Nice work by all!

A better quesion is how strong is the conference minus UM/MSU/CalDavis?

 

[griz4life]

Ah! It's those darned other schools that are trying to get better too! Can't they just all suck like they did in 2009! (never-mind the fact that none of those Griz teams or anybody on their rosters over 4-5 years won the natty either)

EWU sucked so hard they won a national championship in 2010, the year after the Griz lost theirs.

 

[nicktaber58]

A better quesion is how strong is the conference minus UM/MSU/CalDavis?

I think the middle their teams are better than they used to be, too. But thats impossible to quantify.

 

[mthoopsfan]

I think the middle their teams are better than they used to be, too. But thats impossible to quantify.

I agree. At least, in the last handful of
years. Not so much this year.

 

[Art Spooner]

I'm really curious about the UC Davis / Illinois State game. On the one hand you would think the team that managed to beat NDSU at home must be pretty formidable. And at the same time from all reports the bison played really terrible and mostly beat themselves. ISU turned the ball over how many times? Five? That they did that and still won is kind of incredible. If they do that against Davis I don't think they win. They've just won two road games in a row, do they have it in them to win another tough one on the road? Seems unlikely.

You turn it over 5 times and give up a special teams touchdown, your chance of losing is probably 99%. Bison literally shit the bed on offense. Credit to Illinois State Defensive Coordinator and former Griz coach Travis Niekamp. Nice guy too.

 

[EverettGriz]

You turn it over 5 times and give up a special teams touchdown, your chance of losing is probably 99%. Bison literally shit the bed on offense. Credit to Illinois State Defensive Coordinator and former Griz coach Travis Niekamp. Nice guy too.

If they did that literally, that may suggest some kind of stomach virus was going through the team. That could help explain their lackluster performance.

 

[Ursa Major]

Looks like the strongest conference in the fcs. 3 teams remain, only 2 MVFC teams left.

Of course the genius pod dork himself (Schmidt) tried to make the claim the big sky is AWFUL!, all in the name of diminishing this years' team's accomplishments. Meanwhile, during his playing days, there was no teams in the Big sky as good as either the cats or uc davis.

At any rate, great win by Davis last night, the cats escaped, and the GRIZ dominated. Nice work by all!

I see a lot of similarities with that Pinnick kid and KAY. He’s a year or two away but his potential is off the charts.

 

[Ut-Grizfan]

I think the middle their teams are better than they used to be, too. But thats impossible to quantify.

Idaho State I think is one to keep an eye on the next few seasons as long as they have Hawkins. Almost beat us, upset Davis, almost beat UNLV and New Mexico etc. If they can ever get an average defense they could easily be a routine upper Big Sky team

 

[SoldierGriz]

Spuds had a pretty good recruiting haul and are still slowly finding their footing after the drop-down.

We'll all keep sleeping on them...eventually, they will rise to challenge for year-over-year conf championships and deep playoff runs.

 

[Griz in Texas]

Not really apples to apples when one MVFC eliminated another, but it is nice to see the MVFC taken down a peg

I generally agree with this argument, but it just isn't that valid when the conference in question gets 6 teams get in, 4 of the six are eliminated, yet only one game involved a matchup of teams from the same conference.

 

[Griz in Texas]

I'm really curious about the UC Davis / Illinois State game. On the one hand you would think the team that managed to beat NDSU at home must be pretty formidable. And at the same time from all reports the bison played really terrible and mostly beat themselves. ISU turned the ball over how many times? Five? That they did that and still won is kind of incredible. If they do that against Davis I don't think they win. They've just won two road games in a row, do they have it in them to win another tough one on the road? Seems unlikely.

I felt like the buffalo were playing this way more and more as the season was progressing and it started for them at Indiana State. If they play Illinois State, they probably win 20 times, but Saturday was the one that mattered and they came up short.
I watched about the last 5 minutes of this game yesterday from just before Illinois State scored the TD that took the score to 28-21. The NDSU QB had the ball stripped and lost it inside the red zone and that whole possession NDSU was just going through the motions like nothing could happen and they were going to go on their merry way like always and pull another garbage win out of the fire.
When NDSU got the ball back then, they didn't play with any more urgency, still kind of that arrogant attitude, which when you have won as many as they have, I get. What I didn't get was the QB crying on the field in the arms of one of his linemen on the field after he threw up a duck on fourth down. I know how bad losing feels, but when you have all those titles, again, go cry in the locker room.
I don't see Illinois State having any great carry over from winning this game. They are a decent team, but they don't have the talent to go into Davis with a 'we beat NDSU' attitude because NDSU lost that game for themselves more than Illinois State won it.

 

[Copper Griz]

Spuds had a pretty good recruiting haul and are still slowly finding their footing after the drop-down.

We'll all keep sleeping on them...eventually, they will rise to challenge for year-over-year conf championships and deep playoff runs.

You might be right and I wouldn’t mind seeing them be a strong contender again. My concern with them is keeping a coach and consistency. Nobody really focuses on it, but one of the only teams who has been able to remain consistent is NDSU. SDSU took a step back, Idaho as well and I suspect MSU will when Vigen leaves. Vigen did a good job with Choate’s players. This new era of NIL can really scramble egg a program when a coach leaves. U of M has been lucky to have Hauck from a recruiting standpoint. The fruits of that luck are starting to show. He needs to put it all together and win the big one. No better time than this year.

 

[nicktaber58]

Ah! It's those darned other schools that are trying to get better too! Can't they just all suck like they did in 2009! (never-mind the fact that none of those Griz teams or anybody on their rosters over 4-5 years won the natty either)

This is so true.

 

[nicktaber58]

I generally agree with this argument, but it just isn't that valid when the conference in question gets 6 teams get in, 4 of the six are eliminated, yet only one game involved a matchup of teams from the same conference.

 

[armonte]

I felt like the buffalo were playing this way more and more as the season was progressing and it started for them at Indiana State. If they play Illinois State, they probably win 20 times, but Saturday was the one that mattered and they came up short.
I watched about the last 5 minutes of this game yesterday from just before Illinois State scored the TD that took the score to 28-21. The NDSU QB had the ball stripped and lost it inside the red zone and that whole possession NDSU was just going through the motions like nothing could happen and they were going to go on their merry way like always and pull another garbage win out of the fire.
When NDSU got the ball back then, they didn't play with any more urgency, still kind of that arrogant attitude, which when you have won as many as they have, I get. What I didn't get was the QB crying on the field in the arms of one of his linemen on the field after he threw up a duck on fourth down. I know how bad losing feels, but when you have all those titles, again, go cry in the locker room.
I don't see Illinois State having any great carry over from winning this game. They are a decent team, but they don't have the talent to go into Davis with a 'we beat NDSU' attitude because NDSU lost that game for themselves more than Illinois State won it.

No opponent in NDSU’s 22-year Division I era has had a larger time of possession than Illinois State’s 42 minutes, 1 second. It led to the Redbirds also having large advantages in yards (422 to 179) and first downs (23 to 6) and not being undone by Rittenhouse throwing five interceptions, including a pick-6.
Not my quote.