On July 1, 2012 the Big Sky Conference will officially expand to 13 teams for football and 11 for all sports. North Dakota and Southern Utah will compete in all sports and UC Davis and Cal Poly will compete in only football. Most of you have already seen changes due to this expansion such as football scheduling but here are some other interesting facts and notes to give you a better understanding of how this expanded conference will operate.

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Interesting notes for the upcoming football season.

Kickoffs will be from the 35 yard line, and players on the coverage team need to start within five yards of the ball.

Touchbacks will be brought out to the 25 yard line.

The Football Championship Subdivision national championship game will be played on Saturday, Jan. 5, at 11 a.m. (MT) at FC Dallas Stadium in Frisco, Texas.

Other notes from the Big Sky Conference

Softball will be contested for the first time next spring (2013). Idaho State, North Dakota, Northern Colorado, Portland State, Sacramento State, Southern Utah and Weber State all play softball. Montana will be joining in either the spring of 2014 or 2015.

Both basketball tournaments are undergoing some changes.

  1. They will both expand to seven teams.
  2. They will both be played on the same dates: Thursday through Saturday, March 14-16, and at the site of the regular-season champion. No longer will the men’s tournament have separate quarterfinal games at the home sites of the Nos. 3 and 4 seeds.

Read more Big Sky Conference notes at GoGriz.com