Can you believe it's that time of year already? We are less then 3 months away from Fall Camp and it's time to start previewing every team in the Big Sky, look at their schedules, and give my predictions. As is tradition, we will start with the Griz like I have the last 2 years and then go in alphabetical order every Monday leading up to Fall camp. While it is still early and we all know we could use a couple CB's and another DL or 2, I'm confident between now and August we will get a few more guys brought in over Summer. Thank god we finally got a backup QB and we can address the defensive side of the ball. With that, let's dive in!
September 2 vs. Butler - W. Our first Pioneer League opponent since Drake in 2018. These PFL teams were regulars on our schedules for quite a while, but it's been a hot minute since we've welcomed one in, and we'll see another PFL team next season in Morehead State. I really hope this is a night game cause this has the potential to be a really hot game and these guys are really bad. I predict attendance is low for this game and the Griz potentially win this game by 50!
September 9 @ Utah Tech - W. Formerly known as Dixie State, we played these guys back in 2021 and for those of you who remember that game, it was the week after we lost to Eastern in Cheney and we were missing about half the team from some undisclosed illness. Since then, these guys have not improved much and I don't see that changing this year. Griz should roll on the road in St. George. I have never been to St. George but I believe it's only about 2 hours or so from Las Vegas so I'd kind of like to go to this game.
September 16 vs. Ferris State - W. Our first D2 opponent since Central Washington in 2014. I know the athletic department struggled immensely to get an FCS team in for this week and held out scheduling these guys for as long as possible, but just couldn't find anyone. Sometimes that's just the way it goes. This IMO will be the toughest of our 3 non-conference games. These guys are legit! The defending D2 national champs and these boys can play. They are no slouch, and should be a candidate to be one of the next teams to move up to the FCS level. We will win this game, but it may not be easy. FSU could beat a lot of FCS teams, but I do think we will win this game by 17+. We cannot afford to lose this game.
September 23 @ Northern Arizona - W. An always tricky place to play at Flagstaff in the Sky dome. This is a make or break year for NAU and Chris Ball. If they do not contend for the playoffs this year, then they need to consider letting Ball go, and I believe he knows this is a make or break year. NAU has been very active in the portal. I believe they've brought in 20+ guys the last time I looked including 2 QB's in Daniel Britt who we all know well, and Kai Milner from Cal who was a former 4 star who's projected to be the starter. I expect NAU's defense to be ass again as it always is, and the offense should be decent. I think this will be a close game but I think we pull it out!
September 30 vs. Idaho State - W. The new look Bengals come to town for Homecoming after a one and done Charlie Ragle experiment did not work out. Now Cody Hawkins comes over from UC Davis, and he has a big re-building project on his hands. He's from the area, he understands the challenges facing ISU and he will get them competitive eventually. It just won't be this year. Griz roll on Hoco and start the season 5-0, and we better start the season 5-0 cause things start ramping up after this game.
October 7 @ UC Davis - W. A game I feel will once again be pretty close. Davis finished 6-5 last year with a very tough schedule, and were the first team to miss the playoffs after the Griz stole their spot. Many people believed they should've gotten in over us as they had no bad losses and they beat Idaho in Moscow. This year they lose 4 year starting Running Back Ulonzo Gilliam who I believe was one of the more underappreciated players in recent conference history. He leaves a big hole for them to fill at RB and they will miss his production. They won't be the same without him. They do return Miles Hastings next season at QB, and he's good, but I think Gilliam is a bigger loss then people realize and I have the Griz winning a close one in Davis.
October 14 @ Idaho - L. This is where I believe our first trip up will come from. I'm very high on the Vandy's this year and they are my pick to win the Big Sky. They had a very young team last year that I believe overachieved, and now that they're one year older, hung on to basically everyone (except for Paul Moala, that's a big loss on D), and they have a favorable schedule getting UM, msu, and Sac State all at home, they're in the drivers seat. I think we'll play them pretty well but their slow it down style, snail pace of play I believe takes the air out of the ball and we drop this game going into the bye week.
October 21 BYE. Finally a late bye week. If I could choose where our bye week was every year, this is probably where I would put it.
October 28 vs. Northern Colorado - W. The new look UNC Bears led by Ed Lamb will make their first trip wo Wa-Griz since 2017. I think Ed Lamb at UNC was the best hire this offseason of any Big Sky team that made a change. I'm hoping we have a pissed off, well rested Griz team coming off a bye week that's ready to slap around the Bears in a blowout game where we get all the starters out of the game in the second half as a difficult month of November looms.
November 4 vs. Sacramento State - W. I don't care what anyone says, we're winning this game. We have lost to these guys 3 years in a row and we will not lose to them for a 4th time. Troy Taylor is gone, the 2 QB system is gone, their top receiver, RB, and defensive players are all gone. This is a significantly weaker Sac State team in early November in Wa-Griz in what I hope is another snow globe night game, and we finally give them a taste of their own medicine. Carson Camp, the transfer from South Dakota will probably be the likely starter for Sac. We saw him last year in Wa-Griz, he's good, but he's as stiff as a board back there in the pocket and we roughed him up pretty good and we'll need to do it again. I think we win this game by 10+.
November 11 @ Portland State - W. This has trap game written all over it. Sandwiched in between Sac State and the cats in 2 pivotal home games, this is a game that should make your stomach churn. We have not struggled with PSU in recent memory, and we have whipped them the last few times both in Missoula and Portland, and I don't think they're gonna have a very good team, but this feels like a game that could be surprisingly close to me. A homecoming for Sam Vidlak and Nick Ostmo I believe will have this team fired up and we eek out a win in a closer then expected game with the cats looming.
November 18 vs. Montana State. Need I say more? I don't predict this game. Never have and never will. The cats are gonna have another really good team, but the recent concerns regarding their coordinators off the field issues and their potential futures make me wonder what kind of an impact that could have on their team. I tend to lean towards a very minor impact, but if both of them are found guilty and are subsequently fired, and they are 2 assistants short heading into fall camp leaving them scrambling with not a lot of time to hire replacements, how does that impact their season? They'll obviously promote coordinators from within (my guess would be Udy and Daly), but they would still need to hire 2 new position coaches and hiring external guys this late in the game would be tough. Regardless, there's enough veteran leadership on their team that I don't think it would impact them as much as other people think it may.
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I have us projected at either 10-1 or 9-2 depending on how the cat game goes, and I really don't think that's unreasonable. This is a much more favorable schedule then last year, and I think for the first time in a while, the strength of this team will be the Offense. I do think the Defense will be good, but they are gonna take a clear step back compared to the last few years. This Griz team IMO will be a lot better then people realize. They have the potential to contend for the league title.
That's my prediction. How about you guys?
September 2 vs. Butler - W. Our first Pioneer League opponent since Drake in 2018. These PFL teams were regulars on our schedules for quite a while, but it's been a hot minute since we've welcomed one in, and we'll see another PFL team next season in Morehead State. I really hope this is a night game cause this has the potential to be a really hot game and these guys are really bad. I predict attendance is low for this game and the Griz potentially win this game by 50!
September 9 @ Utah Tech - W. Formerly known as Dixie State, we played these guys back in 2021 and for those of you who remember that game, it was the week after we lost to Eastern in Cheney and we were missing about half the team from some undisclosed illness. Since then, these guys have not improved much and I don't see that changing this year. Griz should roll on the road in St. George. I have never been to St. George but I believe it's only about 2 hours or so from Las Vegas so I'd kind of like to go to this game.
September 16 vs. Ferris State - W. Our first D2 opponent since Central Washington in 2014. I know the athletic department struggled immensely to get an FCS team in for this week and held out scheduling these guys for as long as possible, but just couldn't find anyone. Sometimes that's just the way it goes. This IMO will be the toughest of our 3 non-conference games. These guys are legit! The defending D2 national champs and these boys can play. They are no slouch, and should be a candidate to be one of the next teams to move up to the FCS level. We will win this game, but it may not be easy. FSU could beat a lot of FCS teams, but I do think we will win this game by 17+. We cannot afford to lose this game.
September 23 @ Northern Arizona - W. An always tricky place to play at Flagstaff in the Sky dome. This is a make or break year for NAU and Chris Ball. If they do not contend for the playoffs this year, then they need to consider letting Ball go, and I believe he knows this is a make or break year. NAU has been very active in the portal. I believe they've brought in 20+ guys the last time I looked including 2 QB's in Daniel Britt who we all know well, and Kai Milner from Cal who was a former 4 star who's projected to be the starter. I expect NAU's defense to be ass again as it always is, and the offense should be decent. I think this will be a close game but I think we pull it out!
September 30 vs. Idaho State - W. The new look Bengals come to town for Homecoming after a one and done Charlie Ragle experiment did not work out. Now Cody Hawkins comes over from UC Davis, and he has a big re-building project on his hands. He's from the area, he understands the challenges facing ISU and he will get them competitive eventually. It just won't be this year. Griz roll on Hoco and start the season 5-0, and we better start the season 5-0 cause things start ramping up after this game.
October 7 @ UC Davis - W. A game I feel will once again be pretty close. Davis finished 6-5 last year with a very tough schedule, and were the first team to miss the playoffs after the Griz stole their spot. Many people believed they should've gotten in over us as they had no bad losses and they beat Idaho in Moscow. This year they lose 4 year starting Running Back Ulonzo Gilliam who I believe was one of the more underappreciated players in recent conference history. He leaves a big hole for them to fill at RB and they will miss his production. They won't be the same without him. They do return Miles Hastings next season at QB, and he's good, but I think Gilliam is a bigger loss then people realize and I have the Griz winning a close one in Davis.
October 14 @ Idaho - L. This is where I believe our first trip up will come from. I'm very high on the Vandy's this year and they are my pick to win the Big Sky. They had a very young team last year that I believe overachieved, and now that they're one year older, hung on to basically everyone (except for Paul Moala, that's a big loss on D), and they have a favorable schedule getting UM, msu, and Sac State all at home, they're in the drivers seat. I think we'll play them pretty well but their slow it down style, snail pace of play I believe takes the air out of the ball and we drop this game going into the bye week.
October 21 BYE. Finally a late bye week. If I could choose where our bye week was every year, this is probably where I would put it.
October 28 vs. Northern Colorado - W. The new look UNC Bears led by Ed Lamb will make their first trip wo Wa-Griz since 2017. I think Ed Lamb at UNC was the best hire this offseason of any Big Sky team that made a change. I'm hoping we have a pissed off, well rested Griz team coming off a bye week that's ready to slap around the Bears in a blowout game where we get all the starters out of the game in the second half as a difficult month of November looms.
November 4 vs. Sacramento State - W. I don't care what anyone says, we're winning this game. We have lost to these guys 3 years in a row and we will not lose to them for a 4th time. Troy Taylor is gone, the 2 QB system is gone, their top receiver, RB, and defensive players are all gone. This is a significantly weaker Sac State team in early November in Wa-Griz in what I hope is another snow globe night game, and we finally give them a taste of their own medicine. Carson Camp, the transfer from South Dakota will probably be the likely starter for Sac. We saw him last year in Wa-Griz, he's good, but he's as stiff as a board back there in the pocket and we roughed him up pretty good and we'll need to do it again. I think we win this game by 10+.
November 11 @ Portland State - W. This has trap game written all over it. Sandwiched in between Sac State and the cats in 2 pivotal home games, this is a game that should make your stomach churn. We have not struggled with PSU in recent memory, and we have whipped them the last few times both in Missoula and Portland, and I don't think they're gonna have a very good team, but this feels like a game that could be surprisingly close to me. A homecoming for Sam Vidlak and Nick Ostmo I believe will have this team fired up and we eek out a win in a closer then expected game with the cats looming.
November 18 vs. Montana State. Need I say more? I don't predict this game. Never have and never will. The cats are gonna have another really good team, but the recent concerns regarding their coordinators off the field issues and their potential futures make me wonder what kind of an impact that could have on their team. I tend to lean towards a very minor impact, but if both of them are found guilty and are subsequently fired, and they are 2 assistants short heading into fall camp leaving them scrambling with not a lot of time to hire replacements, how does that impact their season? They'll obviously promote coordinators from within (my guess would be Udy and Daly), but they would still need to hire 2 new position coaches and hiring external guys this late in the game would be tough. Regardless, there's enough veteran leadership on their team that I don't think it would impact them as much as other people think it may.
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I have us projected at either 10-1 or 9-2 depending on how the cat game goes, and I really don't think that's unreasonable. This is a much more favorable schedule then last year, and I think for the first time in a while, the strength of this team will be the Offense. I do think the Defense will be good, but they are gonna take a clear step back compared to the last few years. This Griz team IMO will be a lot better then people realize. They have the potential to contend for the league title.
That's my prediction. How about you guys?
