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. 

—-

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.

—

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.

Brian Bignell, HS, 6-2, 225, DL Helena Capitol, (AA Co-MVP)
Jared Rohrback, HS, 6-1, 215, LB Great Falls CMR, (AA Co-MVP)
Matt Harris, JR, 6-2, 225, LB Orange Coast Community College, (JC)
Mark Iddins, JR, 6-3, 205, QB Mukilteo, WA (JC - Scout 3 star)
Anthony Patterson, JR, 6-4, 300, OL Sierra Junior College (CA)
Steven Foster, HS, 6-5, 240, TE Helena High
Ben Taunauu, HS, 6-5, 286, OL Mater Dei HS (CA)
Rick Haluszka HS, 6-2, 205, QB/DB/P Harlem, MT
Jody Owens HS, 6-0, 195, LB Mesquite Horn HS (TX)
Clint Mentzal HS, 6-5, 280, RT, Midlothian High (TX)
Ricky Evans HS, 6-0, 185, RB, South Grand Prarie HS (TX)
Zach Coleman HS, 5-10, 165, CB, Bishop Dunne HS (TX)
C.J. Palmer HS, 6-0, 225, RB/LB, Klein HS(Houston, TX)
DeSean Thomas HS, 6-0, 190, CB/WR, Cleburne HS(TX)
Matt Bernard HS, 6-4, 305, OG, Gig Harbor High School (WA)
James Ekumah, HS, 6-1, 215 LB, Arlington Bowie HS (TX)
James Andrews, HS, 6-1, 185 CB, Rockwall HS(TX)
Jason Cunningham, HS, 6-2, 165 K, Tascosa HS(Amarillo, TX)
Jake Chilton, HS, 6-0, 185 DB, Billings(Central)
Reil Cornelius, HS 6-3 180, WR Helena
Turner Daines, HS 6-3 265, OL Billings(Central)
Ryan Damberger, HS 6-1 215 TE Bozeman
Derek DeJong, HS 6-4 215 DE Manhattan Christian
Heath Howard, HS 5-10 180 CB Plentywood
Kevin Steiner, HS 6-5 205 TE Shelby

Not sure yet:

Todd Brandt, HS, 6-5, 215, OL Bozeman, (First team All State) 

Brandt had verballed according to all news outlets, but his name is strangely absent from the signing day list.

Full bios and more information can be found in this PDF.

Carlos Taylor scored a career-high 34 points en-route to a 74-58 victory over the Montana Grizzlies Saturday night in Bozeman. A crowd of over 6,500 watched as the two teams evenly battled for the first half and part-way into the second half, before MSU went on an 11-0 run to take a 4 point lead, and would never look back. Taylor’s 34 points were the 3rd highest total by a Bobcat versus the Griz in MSU history, and the most by a Bobcat since 1988.

http://bozemandailychronicle.com/sports/

The University of Northern Colorado broke several nasty streaks this week in notching their first ever Big Sky Conference win with a 16-13 victory over #19 Montana State at Nottingham Field in Greeley, CO. The Bears were on a 16 game loosing streak (the longest in school history) and an 8 game home loosing streak (the longest at Nottingham). This is the first home victory for second year head coach Scott Downing. With the win the Bears improve to 10-13-1 all time against MSU and 6-5 in Greeley. The game also marked the first successful field goal attempts of the season, with RS-Freshman kicker Zak Bigelow connecting on all three attempts from 25, 40, and 37 yards. The win did not come easily, as the Bears who lead for most of the second half, gave up a game tying touchdown with only 48 seconds remaining. However a 51 yard kickoff return by Cory Fauver followed by a 26 yard completion from Dominic Breazeale, to Ryan Chesla set up the final field goal with 8 seconds left on the clock.

Here are my humble predictions for week 6 around the Big Sky:

UNC @ ISU- While I have yet to see the Bears in person, I have seen the Bengals, and they are close to being a good offensive team. Depending on who starts at QB (Butler suffered a concussion @ MSU), UNC may have a hard time stopping the pass. Barnett is proving once again he is on the top 3 backs in the Big Sky. UNC has given up a ton of points, and I would like to say their defense has improved, but the least amount of points they have allowed is 31, and that was their 31-0 loss at home to DII Chadron State. If Russell Hill starts, it won’t be as bad for the Bears, but if Butler is healthy, he is a young talented QB with his best days ahead of him.
UNC 17 ISU 35

NAU @ PSU - Lumberjacks, what happened? From what I understand, Kreissen was playing hurt and went out at halftime? What is his status? For this prediction, I will assume he will be a go at gametime. If he does start, this could be the highest scoring game of the year so far in the Big Sky. A classic Big Sky game, where defense is optional. PSU’s Brian White has been on fire lately, throwing for 1,529 yards and 6 TDs in just 5 games, although he does have 5 INTs in that span as well. They beat a very good EWU team last week, and White did it without star receiver Tremayne Kirkland. NAU on the other hand got smoked by an up and coming (maybe) Sac State squad. Did I hear that Skyler Moore was injured? Both teams have the offense, but who will step up on defense? I think NAU is a little banged up, and this game is in Portland where Glanville has drummed up decent support so far.
NAU 24 PSU 35

Sac @ Weber - Weber had a horrible OOC start to the year, but have played well, at least defensively, in conference so far. They did lose their best DLmen last week on a questionable block by UM’s Cody Balough, but they still have plenty of talent on that side of the ball. Teams often struggle with their man-to-man coverage, and will be a good test to see how good freshman QB Jason Smith really is. Whatever happened to Ryan Mole, or the JC transfer that went to the same JC as MSU’s Demetrius Crawford? On the other end, Weber’s offense has struggled mightily, despite having one of the best RB’s in the Big Sky in sophomore Trevyn Smith. Getting his second start at QB should be Cameron Higgins, a dual-threat freshman who may have emerged to the top of the muck that is the Weber QB situation. I’m still not a believer of the Hornets, and I think Weber wins in a low-scoring affair in Ogden, thanks to the play of their defense.
Sac 10 Weber 14

Southern Utah @ #13 Montana State - The T-Birds of Southern Utah have played the most brutal schedule in FCS football so far, and it doesn’t get any better this week as they head to Bozeman to play the 13th ranked Bobcats. SUU’s QB, Wes Marshall, is a good dual-threat QB in a pretty decent option offense, but rumor is he is a game time decision for Saturday. It would be a big blow to the T-Birds hopes of winning, who despite their 0-4 record are not a horrible team. But they are going to have to be above average Saturday against a Bobcat team playing with confidence and swagger. Demetrius Crawford has emerged as the league’s leading rusher, though he has yet to actually start a game (though he does get most of the carries), and is averaging an amazing 7.8 yards per carry. Jack Rolovich has made a few mistakes, but is always going to bounce back and make the big play. The Cats struggled early against a well-prepared ISU squad, but eventually found their rhythm, and settled down defensively, and soundly beat the Bengals 40-20 in Bozeman. The T-Birds were in the middle of their brutal schedule last week at #6 McNeese State, losing 41-20. The T-Birds may put up more points than Bobcat fans will like, and it may take some second half adjustments, but the Cats should beat the T-Birds by at least 2 TDs.
SUU 20 MSU 38

Game of the Week:

EWU @ #1 UM - Eastern was upset last week in Cheney to a PSU squad that is finally beginning to click in that spread offense. The Eagles have thrived on turnovers this year, but lost the turnover battle for the first time last week, and the score reflected that, but still retain the best turnover margin in the nation. The Griz actually have a negative turnover ratio for the first time in recent memory, but are playing very solid on both sides of the ball, despite their lackluster performance offensively against an underrated Weber defense. EWU sophomore QB Matt Nichols is having a stellar season, throwing for 1,129 yards, 11 TDs and just 2 INTs, good for a rating 162.6, good for 9th nationally. The ground game has also produced 8 TDs and over 700 yards of rushing offense through four games. In fact, the Eagles have the 5th ranked offense in the country. They will bring that potent offense into Washington-Grizzly stadium to face the 6th ranked defense in the country, and the #1 scoring defense nationally as well, only allowing 10.3 points per game. UM struggled with what many call their first “real” opponent of 2007, Weber, and look to improve offensively against a EWU defense ranked 97th in the country. Cole Berquist isn’t exactly lighting teams up, but he is playing mistake-free ball and scoring points, and he can do it on the ground as well. EWU always plays the Griz tough in Missoula, but I just can’t quite smell upset here. If EWU can get up early, it will force the Griz to play catch-up, something I don’t think they will be able to do. Whereas if UM gets up early, EWU has the passing offense to get back into it. But I’ll go with the Griz at home.
EWU 24 UM 30

2008 Big Sky Conference Football Schedule
All Times MS
Updated: 4/16/2008

Eastern Washington Eagles
Aug 30 - at Texas Tech, 5:00 PM
Sep 6 - at Colorado, 1:30 PM
Sep 13 - Open
Sep 20 - vs. Western Wash, 7:05 PM
Sep 27 - vs. Idaho State, 7:05 PM
Oct 4 - at Portland State, TBA
Oct 11 - vs. Montana, 3:05 PM
Oct 18 - at Montana State, 1:05 PM
Oct 25 - Open
Nov 1 - vs. Sacramento St, 3:05 PM
Nov 8 - at Northern Colorado, TBA
Nov 15 - vs. Northern Ariz, 3:05 PM
Nov 22 - at Weber State, TBA

Idaho State Bengals
Aug 30 - at Boise State, TBA
Sep 6 - at Idaho, TBA
Sep 13 - Open
Sep 18 - vs. North Dakota, 6:35 PM
Sep 27 - at Eastern Wash, 7:05 PM
Oct 4 - vs. Montana State, TBA
Oct 11 - at Northern Colorado, TBA
Oct 18 - vs. Northern Ariz, TBA
Oct 25 - at Portland State, TBA
Nov 1 - at Cal Poly, TBA
Nov 8 - vs. Weber State, TBA
Nov 15 - at Montana, 12:05 PM
Nov 22 - vs. Sacramento St, TBA

Montana Grizzlies
Aug 30 - Open
Sep 6 - at Cal Poly, TBA
Sep 13 - vs. Southern Utah, 1:05 PM
Sep 20 - vs. UC Davis, 1:05 PM
Sep 27 - vs. Central Wash, 1:05 PM
Oct 4 - at Weber State, TBA
Oct 11 - at Eastern Wash, 2:05 PM
Oct 18 - vs. Sacramento St, 1:05 PM
Oct 25 - at Northern Colorado, TBA
Nov 1 - vs. Northern Ariz, 12:05 PM
Nov 8 - at Portland State, TBA
Nov 15 - vs. Idaho State, 12:05 PM
Nov 22 - vs. Montana State, 12:05 PM

Montana State Bobcats
Aug 30 - vs. Adams State, 1:05 pm
Sep 6 - at Kansas State, TBA
Sep 13 - at Minnesota, TBA
Sep 20 - Open
Sep 27 - vs. South Dakota (Hall of Fame), 1:05 pm
Oct 4 - at Idaho State, TBA
Oct 11 - vs. Weber State, 1:35 PM
Oct 18 - vs. Eastern Wash, 1:05 PM
Oct 25 - at Sacramento St, 3:05 PM
Nov 1 - vs. Northern Colorado, 2:05 PM
Nov 8 - at Northern Ariz, 3:05 PM
Nov 15 - vs. Portland State, 12:05 PM
Nov 22 - at Montana, 12:05 PM

Northern Arizona Lumberjacks
Aug 30 - at Arizona State, 7:00 PM
Sep 6 - vs. NM Highlands, 3:05 PM
Sep 13 - Open
Sep 20 - at Southern Utah, TBA
Sep 27 - at Northern Colorado, TBA
Oct 4 - vs. Sacramento St, 3:05 PM
Oct 11 - vs. Portland State, 3:05 PM
Oct 18 - at Idaho State, TBA
Oct 25 - vs. Weber State, 3:05 PM
Nov 1 - at Montana, 12:05 PM
Nov 8 - vs. Montana State, 3:05 PM
Nov 15 - at Eastern Wash, 3:05 PM

Northern Colorado Bears
Aug 30 - Open
Sep 6 - at Purdue, TBA
Sep 13 - Open
Sep 20 - vs. Texas State, TBA
Sep 27 - vs. Northern Ariz, TBA
Oct 4 - at UC Davis, 9:00 PM
Oct 11 - vs. Idaho State, TBA
Oct 18 - at Weber State, TBA
Oct 25 - vs. Montana, TBA
Nov 1 - at Montana State, 12:05 PM
Nov 8 - vs. Eastern Wash, TBA
Nov 15 - Open
Nov 22 - at Portland State, TBA

Portland State Vikings
Aug 30 - vs. Western Oregon, TBA
Sep 6 - Open
Sep 13 - at UC Davis, 7:00 PM
Sep 20 - at Washington St, TBA
Sep 27 - at Sacramento St, TBA
Oct 4 - vs. Eastern Wash, TBA
Oct 11 - at Northern Ariz, 3:05 PM
Oct 18 - Open
Oct 25 - vs. Idaho State, TBA
Nov 1 - at Weber State, TBA
Nov 8 - vs. Montana, TBA
Nov 15 - at Montana State, 12:05 PM
Nov 22 - vs. Northern Colorado, TBA

Sacramento State Hornets
Aug 30 - vs. Humboldt State, 3:05 PM
Sep 6 - at Colorado State, 1:30 PM
Sep 13 - vs. Southern Oregon, 3:05 PM
Sep 20 - vs. Weber State, 3:05 PM
Sep 27 - vs. Portland State, 3:05 PM
Oct 4 - at Northern Ariz, 4:05 PM
Oct 11 - Open
Oct 18 - at Montana, 1:05 PM
Oct 25 - vs. Montana State, 3:05 PM
Nov 1 - at Eastern Wash, 3:05 PM
Nov 8 - at UC Davis, 3:05 PM
Nov 15 - vs. Northern Colorado, 3:05 PM
Nov 22 - at Idaho State, TBA

Weber State Wildcats
Aug 28 - vs. Montana-Western, TBA
Sep 6 - at Hawaii, TBA
Sep 13 - vs. Dixie State, TBA
Sep 20 - at Sacramento St, TBA
Sep 27 - at Utah, TBA
Oct 4 - vs. Montana, TBA
Oct 11 - at Montana State, 1:35 PM
Oct 18 - vs. Northern Colorado, TBA
Oct 25 - at Northern Ariz, 3:05 PM
Nov 1 - vs. Portland State, TBA
Nov 8 - at Idaho State, TBA
Nov 15 - Open
Nov 22 - vs. Eastern Wash, TBA

Bigskyfans.com is ran by a selection of fans from each school.

Site Administrator
	Chris Lynn User Name: chris School: University of Montana Location: Boulder, Colorado Hometown: Spokane, Washington Occupation: Technology & Web Consultant DOB: 4/21/1982
Eastern Washington
Idaho State
Montana
Montana State
	Ryan Thornburg User Name: catbob School: Montana State University Location: Bozeman, Montana Hometown: Helena, Montana DOB: 4/22/1983
Northern Arizona
Northern Colorado
	Geoff Hagerman User Name: gobears School: University of Northern Colorado Location: Denver, Colorado Hometown: Arvada, Colorado DOB: 6/6/84
Portland State
	Stephen Bechler User Name: wiviking School: Portland State University Location: Portland, Oregon Hometown: Madison, Wisconsin
Sacramento State
	Justin Dottavio User Name: jdcane98 School: Sacramento State Location: Orlando, FL Hometown: Miami, FL DOB: March 10th
Weber State

Bigskyfans.com is a new place for fans from each school in the Big Sky Conference to get great information, chat with other fans, view photos and videos and get the latest news and events. The Big Sky Conference consists of nine schools. They are Eastern Washington, Idaho State, Montana, Montana State, Northern Arizona, Northern Colorado, Portland State, Sacramento State and Weber State.

Bigskyfans.com was started by Chris Lynn, the creator of eGriz.com. He hopes to take the success of eGriz.com and help fans of all schools have a place to not only support their team, but also get the best information possible all in one place. This site will be run by a selection of fans from each school which will report on news and events. Each supporting fan will also write articles on desired topics.

There will be a Big Sky Message Board which will contain general forums for the Big Sky Conference. We are hoping this turns out to be a great place for the Big Sky Fans to come together and support not only their team, but the conference as well. Of Course there will be smack talk between teams, this is what being a fan is all about and is encouraged.

If you have any ideas or suggestions, please let us know as we are still in the development stages.

Thanks, Chris Lynn

BigSkyFans.com is a community for fans from each school in the Big Sky Conference to get great information, chat with other fans, view photos and videos and get the latest news and events. The Big Sky Conference consists of nine schools. They are Eastern Washington, Idaho State, Montana, Montana State, Northern Arizona, Northern Colorado, Portland State, Sacramento State and Weber State.

Bigskyfans.com was started by Chris Lynn, the creator of eGriz.com. He hopes to take the success of eGriz.com and help fans of all schools have a place to not only support their team, but also get the best information possible all in one place. This site will be run by a fans from each school which will report on news and events. Each contributing fan will also write articles on desired topics.

There is a Big Sky Conference message board which contains general forums for the Big Sky Conference, a Football Championship Subdivision forum and other general chat forums. We are hoping this turns out to be a great place for the fans to come together and support not only their team, but the entire Big Sky Conference as well. Of course there will be smack talk between teams, that is what being a fan is all about, and is encouraged.

BigSkyFans.com also hosts the message boards for five of the schools in the Big Sky Conference. They are:

• Eastern Washington
• Idaho State
• Northern Arizona
• Northern Colorado
• Portland State
• Sacramento State
• Weber State

The Gallery contains categories for each school that will contain photos uploaded by the supporting team members. If you would like to have your photos included in the gallery, please contact us. [We are currently re-designing the gallery to improve the quality and ease of use]

If you have any ideas or suggestions, please let us know as we are always looking to improve the site and make it a better place for Big Sky Fans alike.

Thanks, Chris Lynn

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