A big weekend, some very deciding games this Saturday.

ISU @ UNC - UNC fans must be near-suicidal. They lose to Texas State when fumbling the go-ahead score into the endzone and lose the game, they lose to NAU when they attempt to tie the game on a 2 point conversion but NAU picks up a fumble and returns it for 2 of their own, and then last week they lose on a 38 yard Davis hail-mary. ISU fans are probably equally as down, a team that was injected with a lot of youth and JC transfers has not yet won game, despite having a pretty good passing game ISU’s defense has been unable to accomplish much. In this “battle for the bottom” one team will come out of this game with their first victory of the year. ISU’s average margin of loss is 17.2 points, UNC’s is 10.5, and if you take out their FBS opponents ISU margin is 10 points while UNC’s is 4 (rounding up). Both teams have good passing games and poor passing defenses, however I’m going to give UNC the nod here, because they’re the home team & playing outdoors in projected mid-50’s with rain weather. I never like dome teams in adverse weather situations, UNC 36 - ISU 32.

PSU @ NAU - Remember weeks back when NAU was squeaking out wins and egrizzers were laughing at Dave Coulson’s pick that they’d do well in the conference? Well, they technically sit on top the Big Sky with a 2-0 conf record and a 4-1 overall. Last weekend they slapped Sac in the face, holding CSUS to 21 yards on 41 rushing attempts (wow!). However that rush defense means absolutely nothing this weekend as pass-happy PSU comes to town. NAU’s pass D is averaging about 280 ypg (compare to Montana only allowing 233 ypg). Could PSU have found their stride? It’s tough to say with 5 turnovers committed by EWU and their pass D the worst in the Big Sky (maybe even all of FCS). This could turn into another shoot-out for both teams, right now I’m leaning towards NAU being at home, and with an experienced team, NAU 42 - PSU 38

Weber @ MSU - An intriguing matchup of two teams with no conference losses. Griz fans all know that Weber can kill you in the air and on the ground - meanwhile MSU’s offense has been putting up better points (372 ypg total - compared to their season avg of 333). That’s still not amazingly impressive, I do really like their ground game though MSU could be the only solid rushing team in the whole conference right now. MSU’s pass D is good, while the 350 ISU just hung on them is a bit of a concern - MSU had a lot of guys leave to injury in that game on ISU’s crappy field, most of those guys are going to be back this weekend. As Griz fans we argue that teams usually play flat after us, not always the case, however you can support that argument too - will Weber be flat? If so, they’ll lose in Bozeman. MSU has one big problem going into this game, just 1 guy on the DL that was a starter at the start of the season, and their captain on defense is out this weekend. I think Weber continues their hot-streak winning narrowly 32-28.

UM @ EWU - I’ve broken down EWU already, and I liked Montana’s chances until I head that EWU’s hottest WR who didn’t play against PSU is most likely back, Tony Davis is a stud, he returns punts and has shredded a lot of defenses out of the slot. If he does play (which all indications are he will) then I worry about the Montana secondary having to cover him, and Aaron Boyce, and home-run threat Brynsen Brown, and stud TE Nathan Overbay. Both EWU and UM are coming off losses, how will they respond to that? EWU’s pass D is awful and suddenly UM cannot seem to hang onto the ball. This game could have the making of a shootout, although I’d be willing to bet the Montana game plan is to run the ball and slow the game down. The only issue is, EWU’s strength on D is the run game, and right now it’s really unknown how our OL will play. It pains me to say this, but being on the road and for EWU’s biggest game of the year I’m thinking the Griz suffer another set-back, losing 51-40.

I’ll try to carry over my egriz posts more often here!

So, I took a quick peek at my picks on GGG’s site, 6/6! Alright! I actually didn’t think I got them all, but my scores weren’t that accurate, although I was hoping I’d be close with the Griz game, my prediction was 35-21, unfortunately when it was 35-24 CWU didn’t feel like cooperating with my point spread!

Looking ahead!

MSU @ ISU: This one is TOUGH to call. ISU battled like heck against EWU, however EWU’s defense is becoming increasingly suspect, giving up 312 passing yards to ISU. ISU really shot themselves in the foot though, with almost 150 penalty yards, only 81 yards rushing, and an int taken back for 6. MSU looked incredibly steady in their win, again I had them holding USD without a TD which was good until late. MSU’s D was pretty darn good, quite frankly I’m surprised USD scored 3 times even late. We have a matchup of ISU’s horrid defense (almost 500 ypg) but good passing offense (277 ypg passing) and MSU’s great defense (less than 300 ypg / 176 ypg passing allowed) and their not-so-great offense (327 ypg). MSU is 2-0 in their last two trips to Holt one game was close and low scoring, the other was a bit of a shoot-out. However, for some reason I’m thinking the ISU passing game will be just a little more crisp at home and eek out a win 28-24 ISU.

Sac @ NAU: NAU has really not lived up to their hype, intercepting a pass in the endzone to beat SUU and then last week - they intercepted a UNC 2-point conversion at the end of the game and took it the other way for 2 points. UNC scored late, went for the win but wound up throwing the pick that went the other way. Meanwhile Sac St welcomed back QB Jason Smith and RB Bryan Hilliard who both had big games against a porous PSU defense. Sac is surprisingly good on offense and very strong on rush defense (75 ypg). Meanwhile NAU only has allowed an average of 9 ypg rushing (last two games against SUU and UNC were netting negative yards). NAU’s offense is wicked good, over 475 ypg. Sac is better than UNC and SUU, I like their team now that they’re more healthy, and I think that NAU’s luck-streak is going to run out, Sac wins 31-20.

EWU @ PSU: Mwwahahaha, buh-bye PSU, right? Well… maybe. What’s happened to EWU’s defense? They’re giving up an AVERAGE of 371 ypg passing - that’s insane!!! Add in another 103.5 ypg in rushing, their defense is baaad right now. Meanwhile PSU is passing for almost 360 ypg. Granted PSU’s defense is equally as poor (allowing 482 ypg total, compared to EWU’s 474.5 ypg allowed). This game has the makings of an aerial shootout much like last year’s PSU/Weber game. EWU has one good advantage, they can run the ball, PSU doesn’t believe in running it. I like EWU with a more balanced attack in a game where there might be hardly any punts, Eags win 52-42.

UNC @ UC Davis: A head-scratcher for sure. The Bears are the heartbreak kids, they’re 0-3 but two of those losses came just as time expired. They actually have a decent looking passing game, however their defense seems awfully weak still (410 ypg allowed). UCD came out flat and beat up this last week in a loss to Northeastern - however Northeastern lost to Georgia Southern in overtime and to Syracuse by just 9. I think Davis rebounds at home, and passes all over UNC, winning 38 - 21.

UM @ Weber: Jury’s out - I can see this going either way. Looking at Weber, they flat out get it done on offense, passing for more than 300 ypg, and with a rock solid work-horse RB in Trevyn Smith. Their WR corps are these short little guys that just burn up the field. Their defense hasn’t shown anything incredible though, only 4 turnovers in 4 games. They allow over 350 ypg. Meanwhile the Griz love the nail-biters, if they go -4 in turnovers against Weber that game won’t only be a loss for the Griz, it’ll be a blowout. Montana’s rush D is darn good, the pass D… well, uh… it’s ok. That’s where they get beat deep, but keep in mind all of the WRs that have beat the Griz secondary have been big tall possession WRs. Does height make all the difference? No, but it matters. Our corners will have to keep up with these guys, I’m expecting a lot more of the 3-4 with the 3-saftey package out there. Also Weber gives up close to 135 rushing per game, if the Griz OL can cut down the penalties and open gaps, I see a big night for Chase. Game plan will be to keep Weber off the field, I say in a very tight and hard-hitting game the Griz escape once again 21-20.

Well, school has started and now all of us students gotta get back to the grind of homework, papers, and summoning up the energy to attend class.  That includes moi!  Anyways, last week saw the first two Idaho State games, both of which were soccer and one of which was just an exhibition.  I’ll recap that too!

Exhibition vs Northwest Nazarene (ISU wins, 4-0)

This game saw several new things for this season.  For one, this was the first game where I had chest paint (and got one horrible sunburn) and had a stadium horn to start out with.  Second, we utilized the flip-throw plenty this game, and it was very effective in getting ball in to the goal area where we can threaten to score off the bat better than a usual throw in.  Third, there were plenty of new faces this year with 8, count ‘em 8 freshman.  Fourth, we attempted more shots in that game than we did in 3 games last year.  The entire game featured 31 shots attempted with 17 of those coming in the first half alone.  This had to be influenced by last year’s tough season which we tied 6 times (more than we lost with 5; we finished 7-5-6).  We scored early on in the first half twice, with one goal coming from Kilee Quigley and later Katie Miller.  We picked up where we left off last year with a stifling defense (one of the league’s best) allowing only 4 shots all game from NNU.  The other two goals in the game were by freshman Ashley Askwig, who is looking very good thus far and Noelle Sanders, who is also looking sharp.  Actually, now that I think about it, all the freshman are looking good.  Freshman Alex Hansen took 4 shots in the game, giving us all a hint of how aggressive this team is going to be this year (maybe a tad too aggressive, we were whistled for offsides 11 times and fouled 13.  Ah well, better to attack than to wait for the opponent to come for us, I say.  A new attitude for ISU!)

Idaho State 2, Utah State 1 (Double Overtime)

WOW!  What a game that was!  In fact, that was a WAR!  I can’t begin to describe how incredible that game was!  Both teams came out and fought like mad, like it was a championship!!!  All that was needed was some rain, hahaha!  Anyways, Utah State came out and drew first blood and stifled our attack for awhile.  We were a little timid and a little out of it, until Coach Gibson put in Alex Hansen, who gave us a shot of much needed aggression.  That did it a few minutes later when Lauren Ryan, a sophomore, scored to tie the game at 1-1.  And it stayed that way through regulation.  Both teams were playing with guts, passion and relentless grit.  I tip my hat to the Aggies, they played us tough and fought the good fight.  I love those kinds of games.  Even their goalie was aggressive to the point she kept running out of her net area to chase balls down to prevent us from shooting (which cost the Aggies the game, you’ll see why in a bit).  Both overtimes were the same, both teams just fighting it out and had several very close encounters (Utah State damn near gave me a heart attack several times), but it all came down to this: In the 2nd overtime, there was 16 seconds left.  We had the ball in their territory having driven it down.  It was just Alex Hansen, the goalie, and Ashley Askwig.  Hansen, for whom I’m very proud of, finally did what I wanted to see: she ran right into the goalie who chased the ball down (I’m SO glad that’s not a penalty, aggressive goalies gotta pay for their actions at times, unless they’re our goalies hahahaha).  Skwig took the ball and just nailed it down the net…WITH 16 SECONDS LEFT!!!  It was incredible, the place went nuts (and there was 450 people there…good job everyone!  That’s what ISU needs!!!  Crowds like that!)!!!!  Some football players who were there helped me lead the crowd in chants, including the now popular Aggie Meat chant and after Skwig nailed that shot (her 2nd in two games, she’s just awesome!!!) the football players all ran down to the first row and celebrated and mobbed me and anyone in sight.  It was just so awesome!!!  I’m still trying to get my voice back from that game!

Well, we travel to Air Force and Colorado College (who is actually a powerhouse; they’ve beaten Texas A&M, Oklahoma and LSU), and then we gotta go to Moscow for the Governor’s Cup (we should host the damn thing, we’ve won it twice in a row now…winner hosts the tournament, none of this sharing crap.  20 bucks says the Governor goes to Moscow after shirking us last year in Pocatello…he should’ve come out here last year).  And I’m off for 3 long weeks as ISU is on the road everywhere (thanks to Paul Bubb, who HAD to schedule just 5 home games this year in football…the first home game is the 18th).  Until then, it’s just watching college football and keeping up with the teams on the road.  My Buckeyes play USC on the 13th, so I’m gonna be jacked up for that one.  I will see you all later!  GO BENGALS!!!

Perhaps a surprise to some, the Griz were picked first in both the media and coaches preseason polls.  Some might have felt Eastern Washington deserved the #1 spot, but with the coaching turnover in Cheney, and the Grizzlies continued dominance in the Sky as of late, this is no surprise to this blogger.

Big Sky Conference
2008 COACHES POLL
Team (First-place votes) …………………………Points
1. Montana (7) …………………………………….. 63
2. Eastern Washington (1) ……………………. 52
3. Northern Arizona (1) ……………………….. 50
4. Montana State …………………………………. 40
5. Weber State ……………………………………. 38
6. Portland State ………………………………….. 30
7. Sacramento State …………………………….. 27
8. Idaho State ………………………………………. 15
9. Northern Colorado ………………………….. 9

2008 MEDIA POLL
Team (First-place votes) ………………………….. Points
1. Montana (23) …………………………………… 361
2. Eastern Washington (19) …………………. 350
3. Montana State …………………………………. 254
4. Northern Arizona (1) ……………………….. 248
5. Weber State ……………………………………. 229
6. Portland State ………………………………….. 194
7. Idaho State ………………………………………. 124
8. Sacramento State …………………………….. 113
9. Northern Colorado ………………………….. 65

Hey everyone! I’m the Idaho State Superfan, Ross! Pleased to meet ya’ll! I’m going to give recaps of Idaho State games; virtually every sport will be recapped (cause I go to all of the home games)! And if I can, I will also be on the road (very rarely, though)!

GO BENGALS!

The Rocky Mountain News did a nice summer update on the local DI schools.  UNC coach Scott Downing says about 75% of the team stayed together in Greeley to work out.  That’s more then any other year. 

The Bears are welcoming University of Florida QB Bryan Waggener.  Waggener never played for the Gators, but was one of the highest ranked JC qb’s in the nation. 

Here’s the link: http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/jun/30/winning-attitudes-fuel-for-offseason/

Just as I did for the QBs, here is a ranked list of the best running backs in the Sky.  Gone are Lex Hilliard (UM) and Josh Barnett (ISU), two of the better running backs the Sky has had for a few years.

1.  Trevyn Smith, Weber State - All Smith has done is rush for 2443 yards and 15 TDs in his first two years at Weber.  Oh, and did I mention his is going to be a junior this fall?  Two more years of the reigning Big Sky rushing yardage leader.  Now that Weber might actually have a passing game to compliment Smith, the Wildcat’s offense could be a nightmare for teams to defend next year.  Smith is shifty, has good speed, and rarely goes down on the first hit.  The classic “no one wanted him out of high school, turned into a star” story.

2.  Alex Henderson, Northern Arizona - After a breakout freshman season in 2006, Henderson slipped a bit in his sophomore campaign, falling shy of the 1,000 yard mark.  This is due to sharing time with Lionel Scott, who combined with Henderson, make the Lumberjack backfield one of the best in the league, if not the best.  They combined for over 1,500 yards last year.  I still believe Henderson is the better of the two backs, and looks poised to regain that 1,000 yard rushing mark in 2008.

3.  Demetrius Crawford, Montana State - The Cats have had a string of good newcomers in the backfield in the last few years, but none of them count sustain their success the following season (Evin Groves, 2005, Aaron Mason 2006), due mainly to injuries.  Can Demetrius become the Cats first 1,000 yard rusher since Ryan Johnson in 2002?  At 5′9 185, he is a small back, but might fit in perfectly with the spread offense Coach Ash will be instilling next fall.

4.  Dale Morris, Eastern Washington - Had a great second half of the season, rushing for 513 yards and 8 TDs in the final six games, and rushed for 130 yard and 4 scores in the first round game against McNeese State.  Of course when you have one of the most potent passing attacks in the county, it tends to open the running game up a little bit.  He is a hard-nosed runner, and is hard to tackle at 5′9 205.

5.  Bryan Hilliard, Sacramento State - Just when you think its safe, another Hilliard enters the backfield in the Sky.  This time, however, he is a Hornet.  Hilliard had a solid freshman campaign, rushing for 826 yards and 7 TDs, and had over 30 carries in each of the last two games of the season, where he rushed for 168 yard and 243 in the season finale against ISU.  I’ve yet to see him really play (he only had 2 carries against MSU), so he may be deserving of a higher ranking.  Coach Sperbeck has this team heading in the right direction.

6.  Thomas Brooks-Fletcher, Montana - TBF as he is known, has had an up and down career at UM so far.  He has had some injuries, and played behind All-American Lex Hilliard for a year.  He had a career high 479 yards in 2006, with 2 scores.  He is a solid runner, with a good combination of speed and power.  With the Griz having one of the biggest OL in the Sky this coming season, he could have a breakout year in his junior campaign.  But he has some big shoes to fill.

7.  David Woods, Northern Colorado - Not really a home-run threat (long of 20), but a solid back who can get the yards needed.  Had 715 yards and 5 touchdowns.  Of course the only game he did not play in, was at Montana State, and ironically it was the only game the Bears won.

8.  Ken Cornist, Idaho State - He may deserve to be higher on the list, but has never returned to his freshman form (783 yards and 14 TDs) , due mainly to being behind Josh Barnett.  I’m not exactly sure what the Bengals are doing at RB next season, as they have a LOT of running backs on the roster.  Cornist is a talented runner, and we will see if he can have a good senior season.

9.  ??, Portland State - The leading rusher from last year was a fullback who had just over 500 yards, and he graduated.  I honestly have no idea who the running back is for the pass happy Vikings, as their athletic site is horrid and I can’t even find a roster on it.  Their second leading rusher was a converted LB who had to play due to injuries.  Vikings fans… help?

I will admit I haven’t been keeping up with transfers as much as I have in the past, so I may have missed some high-profile guys who are coming in and are slated to start at their respective school.

The Las Cruces Sun reports that New Mexico State’s FBS status may be put on hold if their attendance continues to fall, Karl Benson says that if they were to fail to meet the requirements they would be reinstated if they could prove to meet up to the FBS standard. “They would be out of 1A, that is correct,” Benson said. “It would not affect any of the other sports at New Mexico State. They would remain at the 1A level.”  The program’s status in WAC would be up in the air. “Their standing in the conference would be subject to review,” Benson said.

A few other WAC schools face similar scenarios as New Mexico State. Utah state and Idaho are alspo below the standard. All three programs entered the conference three years ago. NCAA requirements mandate that all Division 1A football programs average 15,000 fans in paid attendance for a rolling two-year period.

If at the end of the 2 years one of these 3 schools fails to meet the standard, the WAC would be forced to get rid of that team until they can show they can manage FBS football. This could open an opportunity for a BSC team that can meet the requirement. Mainly Montana, who currently averages enough to play in the WAC. This is a topic all BSC should watch for the next 2 years, someones name could be called….

Las Cruces Sun Article

A pair of Montana players were drafted this weekend, along with an OT from Ogden.

4 34 133 Baltimore David Hale OT Weber State
5 19 154 Atlanta Kroy Biermann OLB Montana
6 38 204 Miami Lex Hilliard RB Montana

A few Sky players have also signed some free agent contracts:

C Brennen Carvalho, Portland State signs with Packers
DT Casey Tyler, Portland State signs with Patriots
K Dan Carpenter, Montana signs with Dolphins

EDIT TO ADD:
LB Jorden Senn, Portland State signs with Colts
FB Olaniyi Sobomehin, Portland State signs with Saints
RT Daren Heerspink, Portland State signs with Dolphins

Happy to be blogging here, many of you probably know me as RE/MAXGriz over on egriz, I was asked to add some of my long winded insight into the blog features here.  Earlier this week in a discussion about the next season I thought I’d take a look at how the conference has booked their out of conference schedule (OOC).  It’s interesting what’s been set up, and for the amount of teams that are really striving to reach the playoffs, I was pretty surprised at how difficult they set up their schedules.  So lets take a look at what each team has set up before conference play starts:

Eastern Washington - Two FBS schools in Texas Tech and Colorado, in back-to-back games, ouch.  I know that the gap between top FCS teams and many FBS teams has closed, I see both of these games as very tough ones to win for EWU.  They’ve also got a home against Western Washington and two open dates (which I’ll bet one gets filled).  I’d expect possibly a Great West team or maybe another D2 school if they don’t want to travel.  If they look to a mid-west or east coast FCS team I’d expect they’d have to travel out there.  3 road games and 1 home game OOC could be rough, however it could also really toughen them up for the conference.

Weber State - They’ve also got 2 FBS teams, Hawai’i and Utah, probably both losses, those are both very good football teams.  The two home games they have booked are lower division schools, Dixie St and Montana-Western.  So chances are they’ll be 2-2 when done with the OOC, however they’ll not have a single win to help their status with the playoff committee, they’ll have to win at least 7 conference games to be even considered, if they even go 6-2 in conference play they’ll just have 6 Division 1 wins.  So Weber must be banking on winning the conference auto-bid this year.

Idaho State - ISU has Boise and Idaho booked in their OOC, as well as North Dakota.  Boise will most likely win, Idaho… who knows, I’d think the Vandals would have the edge there.  North Dakota went 10-2 last year and beat Southern Utah (although SUU didn’t win a game).  I think this game will be tough for ISU, they’re rebuilding and they’re having budget issues, so they probably won’t book an FCS road game as well.  They could limp out of the OOC with either a 1-2 or 0-3 record.

Portland State - They’ve got an OOC that tilts to their favor, games against Cal Davis and W. Oregon.  I don’t know much about Davis, so I can’t say how competitive they’ll be.  PSU should have their system in place and I think they’ll win both of those games.  Also they travel to Washington State, Wulff, WSU’s coach will be familiar with them, but he’s rebuilding a Cougar team that could have trouble stopping the spread offense.  Could be interesting to see what happens.

Montana - The Grizzlies have a bear of an opening game, testing a defense with 8 new starters against Cal Poly’s amazing and experienced offense.  The Wofford game stung Montana, and Cal Poly could do the same.  After that Montana returns to home to host Southern Utah, Central Washington and Cal Davis.  Most likely they’ll finish the OOC 3-1.

Montana State - Another team with 2 FBS and 2 lower division schools.  The Cats play Minnesota and Kansas State back-to-back, they also host Adams State and South Dakota.  MSU could be in a similar bind as Weber State, coming out of their OOC 2-2 and relying on winning the conference to make the playoffs.  I think they might have a chance to knock off Minnesota, they beat Colorado a few years back, so who knows!

Sacramento State - CSUS has an interesting OOC, they host two lower-division schools, Humbolt State and Southern Oregon.  They also travel to Davis and to Colorado State.  Since half of the conference is playing Davis, maybe I should check up on these guys!  Sac could be 3-1 OOC when it’s all said and done, they don’t play Davis until late, as they usually do. 

Northern Colorado - They’ve got 3 games booked so far, they travel to Purdue and travel to (guess who?) UC Davis.  They also host Texas State.  Didn’t they beat Texas State last year, or the year before that?  UNC is still building, and they’re on the rise, they could come out of this 1-2 but most likely I’ll say 0-3. 

Northern Arizona - NAU plays Arizona State, New Mexico Highlands (who?), and Southern Utah.  Pretty straight forwards, ASU will most likely beat NAU, but the other two games should be wins for the Lumberjacks.  2-1 OOC is decent. 

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Quick, “Who is UC Davis?” note - Just looked it up, Davis went 5-6 last year, their most notable wins were against Portland State and beating San Diego late in the season.  They didn’t do much else.  A quick manual count has them losing 12 seniors to graduation from the 2007 season, which included some skill players.  They’re a younger team, probably still finding their way.

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It amazes me how some teams almost schedule themselves right out of the playoffs, I know it’s usually because of money issues, but there’s a lot of cases where teams would have made the playoffs if they wouldn’t have booked 2 or 3 FBS teams, or didn’t book 2 or 3 Division 2 (or lower) schools.  It will be interesting to see how this all shakes out, it’s just a bummer we’ve got to wait so long until football season actually starts.