Preview: Big Sky Conference Football – 9/10/22
Week 2 Schedule – September 10th, 2022
  13 - 63Bobcat Stadium Montana State 63, Morehead State 13Highlights: Available |
Last Week: Morehead State lost 63-13 to #23 Mercer
Montana State won 40-17 over McNeese State
Montana State handled the Bayou Cowboys with a balanced attack last week. Morehead State started their season off with a blowout loss to #23 Mercer. Expect the Bobcats to give Morehead State a similar whooping as Head Coach Brett Vigen diversifies the offense and tries players out at new positions.
  7 - 24Washington-Grizzly Stadium Montana 24, South Dakota 7Highlights: Available |
Last Week: South Dakota lost 34-0 to Kansas State (FBS)
Montana won 47-0 over Northwestern State
Some experts have picked South Dakota to be a dark horse for the playoffs, but that is not based off of their out of conference schedule. The Yotes will have to put on a legendary performance to outlast the top five Griz. Montana will get more of a test this week than they had with the Northwestern State Demons, but they should run through the competition with ease. Look for the Griz to start finding a rhythm of comfortable scripted plays and getting even more aggressive on defense.
  6 - 52Husky Stadium (Washington) Washington 52, Portland State 6Highlights: Available |
Last Week: Portland State lost 21-17 to San Jose State (FBS)
Washington won 45-20 over Kent State (FBS)
Portland State gave San Jose State all they could handle and more, but a few times of stepping on their own feet got in their way of getting a fear the FCS type of win. The Vikings always do surprisingly well in out of conference play and have the potential to make Washington work for it, similar to when the Huskies had to last year against the Griz. I don’t expect the Vikings to pull off a win, but the first half should be play competitive, if not in their favor based off of last week’s performance.
  10 - 33War Memorial Stadium (Wyoming) Wyoming 33, Northern Colorado 10Highlights: Available |
Last Week: Northern Colorado lost 46-34 to Houston Baptist
Wyoming won 40-37 in 2OT over Tulsa (FBS)
Northern Colorado had one of the most disappointing season opener‘s in the entire FCS last week. Wyoming could be considered the closest at the FBS level to Northern Colorado’s situation as they had multiple starters on both sides of the ball enter the transfer portal with Craig Bohl even placing a newspaper style ad on social media looking for quarterbacks. The Bears chances are definitely dampened Without David Hoage and the quarterback position being a giant problem going forward. It looks like the Bears could lose by as many as three touchdowns this week to a potential second to last place finisher in the Mountain West if McCaffrey starts McCaffrey.
  27 - 28Alex G. Spanos Stadium Cal Poly 28, San Diego 27Highlights: Available |
Last Week: San Diego won 58-0 over La Verne (DIII)
Cal Poly lost 35-7 to Fresno State (FBS)
San Diego and Cal Poly meet up for their annual rivalry game this week. San Diego who is usually a top finisher in the pioneer league faces some questions on offense and Cal Poly is a usual bottom dweller in the Big Sky who looks to answer those with a hearty defense. Even though Cal Poly generally recruits higher caliber players than San Diego this could be a competitive game all the way to the last drive.
  10 - 3Bowers Stadium Northern Arizona 10, Sam Houston 3Highlights: Available |
Last Week: Northern Arizona lost 40-3 to Arizona State (FBS)
Sam Houston lost 31-0 to #6 Texas A&M (FBS)
A young Northern Arizona team did not put out a good showing against Arizona State last week. Meanwhile, Sam Houston was shut out at Texas A&M. One of these teams will get to prove that they took this week of practice seriously and want to get better. The other team will still be answering hard questions about what the rest of the season will look like after this game. Northern Arizona doesn’t have to win but a second non-competitive out of conference schedule game doesn’t put morale in a good place with the in conference schedule just around the corner. These young players need a good game to build their confidence.
  22 - 24Dykhouse Stadium South Dakota State 24, UC Davis 22Highlights: Available |
Last Week: UC Davis lost 34-13 to Cal (FBS)
South Dakota State lost 7-3 to Iowa (FBS)
Both of these teams had a competitive loss to their FBS foes, but South Dakota State is still miles more prepared than Aggies could be. As a top three team in the nation the jack rabbits should beat UC Davis by multiple scores. Dan Hawkins will want to keep this game competitive for the sake of morale and staying a middle of the conference team.
  35 - 7Maverik Stadium Weber State 35, Utah State 7Highlights: Available |
Last Week: Weber State won 41-5 over Western Oregon (DII)
Utah State lost 55-0 to Alabama (FBS)
Weber State had a solid all-around performance against DII Western Oregon, while Utah State got beat by Nick Saban University. The Aggies might be on a down year, but the Wildcats will need to pull a lot of tricks out of their hat, sleeves and socks to be able to pull a win against this FBS team. Their offense will have to be able to march down the field at-will and count on their defense to make key turnovers again.
  22 - 35Memorial Stadium (Indiana) Indiana 35, Idaho 22Highlights: Available |
Last Week: Idaho lost 24-17 to Washington State (FBS)
Indiana won 23-20 over Illinois (FBS)
Idaho shocked FCS fans around the country last week with their gritty performance and almost knocking off FBS Washington State. The Vandals should be proud of what they did last week and ready to show a similar but improved performance this week against Big Ten Indiana. If Coach Eck can manufacture another stout all-around performance the Hoosiers might be in trouble late in the game.
  7 - 38Dignity Health Sports Park San Diego State 38, Idaho State 7Highlights: Available |
Last Week: Idaho State Bye Week, Lost 52-21 to UNLV (FBS) in Week 0
San Diego State lost 38-20 to Arizona (FBS)
Idaho State took a rough beating from UNLV in week zero. For the Bengals sake they hope this week at San Diego State might be a closer final score. With a surprising loss to FBS Arizona Idaho State might keep it closer than three scores this week, but they have to keep quarterback Tyler Vander-Wal healthy if they want to be able to move the ball into scoring opportunities.
  14 - 70Autzen Stadium Oregon 70, Eastern Washington 14Highlights: Available |
Last Week: Eastern Washington won 36-29 over Tennessee State
Oregon lost 49-3 to #3 Georgia (FBS)
Eastern Washington has done it again by developing another stud quarterback. This is a perfect storm heading into the game at Oregon with the ducks getting thrashed last week and the Eagles pulling off a solid victory. Eastern Washington should be proud of last week, but focused to play a household name FBS school this week. The ducks stadium is one of the most hostile environments the program has ever played at and players will have to show not only talent but extreme discipline and maturity to navigate the rowdy duck fans and noise level. I wouldn’t expect a win as Oregon will likely be in a revenge mindset after last week, but Eastern Washington could keep the game much closer than national pundits think it will be.
My name is Ben Schleiger and I’m your representative for the Big Sky Conference. I have done work for multiple newspapers and sports blogs including The Johnstown Breeze, The University of Northern Colorado Mirror, and Mile High Maniac. I am a proud alumnus of the University of Northern Colorado with a degree in Psychology and a minor in Political Science. In my free time, I like watching sports, playing video games, and trying new foods.
