Welcome to Big Sky Conference Play!!!
I decided to eschew the non-conference season and just go to conference season power rankings. Why? Because I have the power to do so. I can make up the rules as I go. Also, moving as a middle aged man sucks, even if it is moving across town.
This weeks theme: One and One: Reasons why teams will or won’t win the Big Sky Conference title.
Non Conference Highlights/Lowlights:
Coming Out:
Since I want to get this out, two days later than I intended, I cut this short…..er…
Thanks for reading…
GF 24
I decided to eschew the non-conference season and just go to conference season power rankings. Why? Because I have the power to do so. I can make up the rules as I go. Also, moving as a middle aged man sucks, even if it is moving across town.
This weeks theme: One and One: Reasons why teams will or won’t win the Big Sky Conference title.
| Rank | Team | Record | MR | Last Week: | This Week | One and One |
1 | Montana | 3-0 | 5 | Win 63-20 v. Indiana State | v. Idaho | G: 527 ypg on offense. B: 5.0 TFL’s per game def |
2 | Idaho | 2-2 | 11 | Loss 31-28 @ San Jose State | @ Montana | G:.492 3rd Down Conv. B: .75 sacks per game |
3 | Montana State | 2-2 | 4 | Win 17-0 v. Mercyhurst | v. Eastern Washington | G: 5.3 ypp defense B: 5.7 ypp offense |
4 | Northern Arizona | 3-1 | 8 | Win 31-23 v. Incarnate Word | @ Portland State | G: 8.4 ypp passing B: 1.00 Red Zone Def. |
5 | UC Davis | 2-2 | 7 | Win 50-34 v. Southern Utah | v. Weber State | G: 6.4 ypc rushing B:.609 3rd Down Def. |
6 | Sacramento State | 2-2 | 17 | Win 45-16 v. Central Arkansas | v. Cal Poly | G: 9 TFL’s p/g (2nd NCAA) B:34/377 penalties |
7 | Northern Colorado | 2-2 | 60 | Win 26-23 @ Houston Christian | v. Idaho State | G: 17.6 ppg allowed B: 28.1 3rd down conv off. |
8 | Cal Poly | 2-2 | 56 | Loss 35-17 @ S.F. Austin | @ Sacramento State | G: 3 WR’s w/ 10+ catches B: 7.5 TFL’s Allowed PG |
9 | Idaho State | 1-3 | 46 | Win 90-0 v. Lincoln (CA) | @ Northern Colorado | G:23.75 1st Downs Off. B: 280 ypg rush defense |
10 | Eastern Washington | 2-2 | 34 | Win 52-31 v. Western Illinois | @ Montana State | G: 25 kor/15 pra B: 302 ypg passing def. |
11 | Weber State | 2-2 | 26 | Win 38-24 v. Butler | @ UC Davis | G: 55% pc defense B: 9 interceptions |
12 | Portland State | 0-4 | 68 | DNP Bye Week | v. Northern Arizona | G: 6.2 ypa def B: 46.0 ppg allowed |
Non Conference Highlights/Lowlights:
Coming Out:
- Just two teams in the Big Sky Conference with losing records, however just three (Montana, Northern Arizona, and UC Davis) have winning records. If the Big Sky Conference were brain rot, they’d be ‘mid.’ There are six teams with 2-2 records. Only Montana didn’t play an FBS opponent so much of the parity is largely due to the fact BSC took the L for the W in the athletic departments pocket book.
- Big Sky Conference has just one quality FCS win in non-conference play. The Big Sky went 2-6 versus the MVFC (Montana’s two wins over UND and Indiana State), and one ranked win (Montana over North Dakota). Not counting non-scholarship games against the Pioneer, the BSC went 13-3 against second tier FCS conferences.
- Idaho and Northern Colorado probably lay claim to the two teams that impressed in the non-conference season and look to buck pre-season predictions. Idaho had every opportunity to beat two FBS schools (Washington State and San Jose State) but just came up on the short end of the stick both times. Their defense looked stingy in both games, and Josh Wood looks like an early candidate for Newcomer of the Year (formerly of Fresno State). Northern Colorado has all the look of being defensively transformed by Ed Lamb. The defensive guru who produced tough defenses in his tenure at Southern Utah, is doing the same in Greely. They too like Idaho are moments, mere moments of being 4-0 heading into their conference play. Northern Arizona is winning games that it would have lost two years ago and they are getting CPOY type performance from Ty Pennington (already exceeded 1,000 passing yards) and Wide Receiver Kolbe Katsis (19-388) is a terrifying deep threat.
- Portland State had a disaster of a non-conference slate. They gave up 46ppg and scored just 5ppg over their 4 game pre-conference slate. If there is a sliver of hope for Bruce Barnum, is that their four opponents in the non-conference slate (Tarleton, BYU, North Dakota, Hawaii) are going to be better than just about any team they’ll face in BSC play. It is hard to know what is going in Cheney, but Eastern Washington just doesn’t seem any closer to solving their defensive issues (giving up 480 ypg) and were thoroughly outplayed in three of their first four games. Only a 52-31 win over OVC opponent Western Illinois last weekend saved Aaron Best from an 0-4 non-conference and having to starting working on his CV. Idaho State and UC Davis have some real questions about their defenses as well. The Aggies are giving up 500 yards of offense through three games. Gave up 30 points and 600 yards of offense against Southern Utah last weekend. The Bengals have one of the best offenses in the conference, but are giving up a ton of yardage to schools that are actually NCAA programs to the tune of 280 yards a game on the ground. If you throw out their 90-0 win against college version of Bishop Sycamore (Lincoln CA) their 3 game stats defensively look even sketchier. Montana State is a weird case. They are 2-2 and that is likely where you’d expect them right now after losses to Oregon and South Dakota State. They dominated Mercyhurst last weekend, but only came away with a 17-0 win. Outside of their romp over non-scholarship San Diego, the offense is chewing up yards but not lighting up the scoreboard. Montana State might lead the league in most drives stalled out at mid-field.
- Early honors candidates:
- OPOY:
- QB Josh Wood (Idaho): 312 yards rushing (3rd), 665 passing (5th) and has accounted for 9 touchdowns on the season.
- RB Eli Gillman (Montana): 44 carries for 400 yards in 3 games. 6 touchdowns.
- QB Ty Pennington (Northern Arizona): 80-128 for 1,085 yards 8 TD’s and 1 INT. Also has 2 TD’s rushing.
- WR Michael Briscoe (Cal Poly): 20 rec 427 and 7 TD’s.
- DPOY:
- S Rex Connors (UC Davis): 36 Tackles (25 solo/11 Assisted) 2PD’s
- LB Travis Arena (Northern Arizona): 36 Tackles, 5 sacks
- OPOY:
- Unstoppable Force (Idaho State 1-3) at Immovable Object (Northern Colorado 2-2): We here at the blog (meaning me) aren’t big into litmus test battles, but this might qualify as one. Northern Colorado is better, much better, and Idaho State was a pick as a sleeper in the conference title race. More interestingly it is a battle between a go-go pass happy offense and the stingiest defense. The real question is, can Northern Colorado muster enough offense or Idaho State stop anyone not named Lincoln (CA)?
- Fire (Eastern Washington 1-3) at Ice (Montana State 2-2): The fire might be under Aaron Best’s seat at the moment, but it is hard to imagine a team who has slid more over the past few years. Once one of the conferences elite programs, it is absolutely in Eastern Washington’s ‘Best’ interest that they find something early in this conference season to set the program on the right path. Montana State is now the standard bearer of the conference, and their approach (Brent Vigen) is about as clinical as any team in the FCS outside of NDSU and SDSU. Montana State is going to lean on its defense while it irons out the kinks in its new offense, and Eastern doesn’t have much defense speak of.
- Other Side (Northern Arizona 2-2) at Grass is Greener (Portland State 0-4): Bruce Barnum has been everywhere in the Big Sky, and there is a sense that he’d like to be in Brian Wright’s shoes right now. Portland State may not be as bad as advertised, but this is one of those games that shows trajectories of programs. Barnum has won enough of these games over the past few years to keep his job, and much like Aaron Best, this is in an important game for Portland State. Northern Arizona was on the cusp last year and they are getting CPOY and DPOY play from their personnel. Wright has always been known as an offensive mastermind, and they are chucking the football everywhere. The difference in this game is likely going to be the offensive explosiveness that NAU has shown versus the dud of an offense that Portland State has shown so far.
- Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained (Cal Poly 2-2) at Fools Rush in (Sacramento State 2-2): On paper this is a game that Sacramento State should win. It is well known that Sacramento State went all in on their attempts to reach FBS status, only to be rebuked by the Pac..err whatever it is. They looked absolutely awful offensively in their first two games. Since then? Against FCS newbie Mercyhurst and shadow of its former self Central Arkansas, they’ve hit that gear Brennan Marrion thought they’d hit. Neither of those programs are elite in any fashion, but they are games that Sacramento had to win. Cal Poly has slowly tried to emerge from its era of wing-t and they’ve struggled to get any sort of traction. To the point they took Eastern Washington retreads Beau Baldwin and now Paul Wulff as heads of the program to change their program ethos. Poly is better. They have the conferences best receiver in Michael Briscoe. He’s averaging 21 yards a catch and has 7 TD’s at this point.
- Six of One (Weber State 2-2) at Half a dozen of another (UC Davis 2-1): This could also be the Spiderman pointing at each other game, but these teams have built programs over the past decade upon the same ethos. Physical defenses. Yet so far in 2025, neither teams defenses are performing up to level. Weber State has been on a decline since Jay Hill left, and UC Davis is struggling inexplicably even while having pre-season DPOY Rex Connors. Davis is the better team on paper with the better talent on the offensive side. Weber has turned the ball over too much over their first four games (9 interceptions) and that plays into a Davis defense who is really talented in the secondary.
- Minimalist (Idaho 2-2) at Maximalist (Montana 3-0): Idaho rushes the ball 43 times a game. They hold the ball for nearly 35 minutes a game (they had the ball 40 plus minutes against FBS SJSU last week) and runs 1.8 plays per minute of game (Montana runs 2.4). Between Josh Wood and Art Williams they get close to 60% of the rush touches and 80% of the rushing yards. That’s efficient. Montana accomplishes just as successful rushing attacklots of different hands in the touches jar, including Michael Wortham who can see carries as QB, RB and WR. Eli Gillman gets about a third of those touches and 50% of the yards. Montana and Idaho do it different ways, but they are the two top rushing attacks in the BSC. If it goes to trend, this game might start at 8:15 and be done by 9:15. Their defenses mirror each other in results, but again do them differently. Montana has to find an answer to UI’s run game in their aggressive 3-3-5, and judging by the first three games, that is a real concern to be had. Montana has shown a bit more offensively so far and playing at home in front of a nationally televised crowd late at 8pm isn’t a bad thing either.
Since I want to get this out, two days later than I intended, I cut this short…..er…
Thanks for reading…
GF 24
. Im glad you put UNC that high up. Ed Lamb definitely has that team at a much different level then We've ever seen them before. I might put ISU ahead of Cal Poly. Poly took a huge hit loosing their QB. If hes out too long, they're gonna fall farther. Sac is gonna get a lot better also now that coach benched the big $ guy for the better QB. They're starting to find their stride and thats w/out Curtis.
