Below are the Top 25 rankings based on the Sagarin rankings for the week ending Oct. 16th, 2021. CSJ will show weekly rankings from the Sagarin rankings throughout the season and will have a final ranking after the national championship game in January. South Dakota State remains atop the ranking after the Jackrabbits defeated Western […]
It was a late start being on the west coast, but it was worth staying up for.
The Big Sky Conference showed up for a fight against the FBS competition.
Can the Eagles send Barriere onto his pro aspirations with a conference title or better this season?
This fall will be a chance to revamp the entire resume of the Big Sky as the craziness of opt-outs and forfeits should be behind us.
I thought it would be interesting to look back through FCS history to figure out the top teams of the last decade.
The Big Sky crashed out of the spring FCS Playoffs, with Weber State and Eastern Washington losing early leads in two defeats.
Find everything you need to know about this weekend’s FCS Playoff games, including full previews, and our staff’s predictions on how the games are going to go.
This season, I had the honor to be included by Craig Haley as one of the 40 voters in the STATS Perform FCS Top 25 for the Spring. Along with the Top 25 vote comes the opportunity to vote for the FCS Legacy Awards: Walter Payton, Buck Buchanan, Eddie Robinson and Jerry Rice.
The Big Sky Conference earned two bids for the Football Championship Subdivision Playoff bracket. Eastern Washington will travel to Fargo, North Dakota to face the Bison and Weber State will play host to the Southern Illinois Salukis. Both Big Sky teams drew stiff Missouri Valley Conference competition that will provide sufficient challenges for being able […]
The FCS Playoff bracket was announced this past Sunday at the conclusion of the historic spring football season. After the euphoria of realizing that the FCS actually made it to the finish line, despite lots of uncertainty, CSJ then proceeded to do what they do best – enter a spirited discussion on who really should have been in, out, seeded, or not.
After watching and following all spring, here’s my prediction of who’s in and who’s out of the FCS Playoff bracket this spring. The selection special is at 11:30 AM Sunday and will be unveiled on ESPNU.
The Big Sky Conference saw another competitive week of action as each contest was decided by one possession. Idaho State took Weber State to the brink of losing the outright conference title.
The Big Sky conference’s season is coming to a close and some serious questions have yet to be answered before the playoffs.
Another close week made waves across the Big Sky as Weber State holds on late in the fourth quarter, Eastern Washington improves their resume for an at-large playoff spot, and Idaho crumbles in the Battle of the Domes. How long can we make excuses for Weber State’s close games? EWU took another step towards playoffs, […]
Below are the Top 25 rankings based on the Sagarin rankings for the week ending April 3rd. These rankings are amongst the now 88 schools participating in the spring schedule. Joining Illinois State, who opted out the prior week, to opt out of the season after starting their season are Albany, Chattanooga, and Cal Poly […]
This week was full of surprises and highlights in the Big Sky, including a Sports Center Top Play of Weber State winning by a 50-yard Hail Mary throw to Justin Malone. In a week that should have been “blowout week” all but one contest was way closer than it should have been. In fact, those […]
Below are the Top 25 rankings based on the Sagarin rankings for the week ending March 28th. These rankings are amongst the now 91 schools participating in the spring schedule. NOTE: the Ivy League and Mid-Eastern (MEAC) conferences are not participating in the 2021 spring schedule. The Big Sky Conference was the big winner […]
In one of the more normal weeks of college football the Big Sky saw a trio of close contests at four, five, and ten point differences. Weber State outlasted a gutsy performance from UC Davis. Southern Utah pulled far enough away from Cal Poly before they started to awaken. And Eastern Washington stormed back from […]
Like many other football fans across the nation of FCS, we watched North Dakota State’s 39 game winning streak come to an end in Carbondale, Illinois, but it wasn’t the only event this weekend that had us shaking our heads.
In a week of chaos and controversy around the FCS we saw the Big Sky feature one of the top headlines. Undoubtedly, the top headline was the end of the North Dakota State winning streak, but a close second was the “missed” field goal during the Eastern Washington/ Idaho game. For those who missed it, […]
This week we welcome the SWAC, Big Sky, and Big South to the wonderful world of spring FCS football, to go with the Missouri Valley, SoCon and OVC, who started their spring conference slates last week, and Tarleton State, who spent their time crushing FBS New Mexico State 43-17.
The Big Sky Conference starts their six week conference only schedule this weekend. The teams opting not to play include Sacramento State, Montana, Montana State, Portland State, and Northern Colorado. The rest of the conference looks to navigate the six game schedule into an automatic qualifying position or an at-large big for the abbreviated 16 […]
This weekend saw the best-ever spring weekend of FCS football in history, with a near-full slate of thrilling Missouri Valley conference action, a back-and-forth affair in the OVC, the start of SoCon play, and even a good old-fashioned FCS over FBS upset. It’s like a typical FCS football weekend. Except it’s February 22nd.
The CSJ writing staff answer the questions many of us have about the beginning of this unprecedented FCS season.
The Big Sky plans for a six-game conference-only schedule with two open weeks (March 20th & April 17th). In the time leading up to that, there has been a lot of changes in staff and players, with plenty of time for more chaos.
Montana pulled the upset so things could get messy in the Big Sky as to who is or is not a champion. The rare, but special three way tie is a very realistic possibility for the Big Sky. Montana needs to survive “Brawl of the Wild”, Weber surviving Idaho State, and Sacramento State surviving UC […]
The Big Sky is a pendulum of normal games to chaotic endings many would not have suspected. What will we get Saturday? Despite the Northern Colorado betting line being the highest at 12.5 underdog, I think every team this week has a legitimate shot of winning their perspective game.
The non-conference portion of the schedule is mostly over for the Big Sky with a few exceptions such as UNI vs, Weber this week, Idaho State travels to BYU in November, and a few North Dakota games. So far, the Big Sky is not off to as hot a start as many believed they would […]
Week 4 is upon us and the last of the intriguing non-conference play will be wrapping up for the majority this week. The Big Sky – Missouri Valley games will see several games this week of varying degrees of competitiveness to be observed. Missouri Valley fans will likely be harassing Big Sky fans after this week as the matchups are lopsided even when seemingly close. Despite the spreads, this week will feature two marquee matchups, even if the Big Sky is favored in neither.
Marquee: Jacksonville State def. Eastern Washington 49-45 A tidal wave of shock was sent across the FCS landscape as Jacksonville State pulled off a momentous upset. After the first quarter it seemed as if the fate of the game was going to be easily determined with a 28-7 EWU lead. Things would even out much […]
It was a week of high-profile Top 25 clashes in FCS this week, as the marquee games of the week pitted Delaware vs. North Dakota State and Eastern Washington vs. Jacksonville State. One was a Bison display of dominance, the other a thriller that could be the game of the year. Adding to the fun of this week’s games was a shootout in Vermillion, South Dakota and another big FBS upset in Georgia.
The non-conference gauntlet continues in Week 3 with PAC 12 and Mountain West FBS matches, long distance FCS games, and one D-II game. Weber State has the best chance to make a “Fear the FCS” moment, but all of the FBS games this week have the potential to be ugly. Looking ahead at the FCS games is a different story, as Big Sky teams have the talent to win big. NAU versus Western New Mexico will be an obvious win barring a strong Lumberjack performance.
Marquee: Montana State def. SEMO 38-17 The Redhawks gave their best effort, but the Bobcats prevailed dominant. A close halftime score did not define the game as Montana State went on a 28-7 run to win. Casey Bauman performed adequately, while the running game established itself as a deciding factor. Bauman passed for 136 yards […]
The Big Sky schedule in general switches from an uphill FBS heavy schedule to a now D2 and interesting FCS matches week. With the schedule almost evenly in thirds of D2 (or lower), FCS, and FBS games will show variety of strengths and weaknesses of the Big Sky teams. Considering the hodgepodge of games available the game of the week is centered on SEMO vs. Montana State. Both are last year playoff teams and have a strong depth of players. This could be hard hitting and high-intensity game that gets decided in the fourth quarter.
A Dalton Sneed-led Montana team went on the offensive and never looked back. It took a Coyote field goal in the second quarter for the Grizzlies to jump back from hibernation. That South Dakota field goal would be the only led Austin Simmons and company would enjoy all game long.
The Big Sky Conference is one of the Power 3 conferences in FCS football and will continue that tradition this year too. In our College Sports Journal Top 25 four Big Sky teams placed in the top ten, including Eastern Washington and UC Davis within the top five. A strong year is in store for […]
EWU finished second in the nation just behind the perennial Bison champions. A fantastic season of 12-3 is something to celebrate, minus the title loss. The only other losses would be to Washington State and Weber State.
Big Sky Predicted Order of Finish, Big Conference Games To Watch, And Ten Players to watch.
FRISCO, Tex.— The Bison powered their way to a 38-24 victory against Eastern Washington to repeat as national champions at Toyota Stadium in front of 17,082 fans. NDSU won its seventh national title to make it the most of any program in Division I FCS history, surpassing Georgia Southern, which has six. The Bison (15-0) […]
Here are some photos taken as the field crew prepares the Toyota Stadium Field to be ready for the championship. The weather was rainy the past two days but the sun has broke out today and should have excellent playing conditions for the championship game tomorrow. Kent SchmidtOriginally from LaMoure, North Dakota, Kent is […]
The Eagles key to winning this game is to win the turnover margin. The Eagles also lead the FCS in defensive touchdowns with six (and nearly had a seventh in the playoff win over Maine when CB Josh Lewis returned an interception as close as you can get without scoring to the one-yard line).
This year, Eastern Washington finally got back to Frisco. The Eagles were actually the first national champions crowned in the Dallas metroplex area back in January 2011 when it was awarded to host the game. The Eagles are in the Top 3 this decade in terms of wins within the Division I FCS but playoff […]
CHENEY, Wash.— Eric Barriere threw seven touchdown passes as third seeded Eastern Washington beat seventh seeded Maine 50-19 in the semifinals of the Division I FCS playoffs, to advance to the national title game for the second time in the school’s history. The Eagles broke a three-game losing streak in playoff semifinal games. “We were […]
The Black Bears will need a much better offensive game against a tougher Eastern Washington team and they are going to have to match their defensive pressure to keep Eric Barriere uncomfortable and in the pocket.
Trailing 21-14, Eastern Washington scored twice within a less than three minute span to pull ahead and ultimately prevail 34-29 over Big Sky conferencemate UC Davis in a frenzied fourth quarter of FCS Playoff action.
A rematch between Big Sky Conference teams will take place this Saturday when the Eastern Washington University football team hosts UC Davis in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs.
CHENEY, Wash. – At the close of the first half, Nicholls, up 14-3, had just advanced the ball 68 yards on 11 plays behind the offensive direction of QB Chase Fourcade, and PK Lorran Fonseca was lining up for a field gol try to put the Colonels up two scores. But Eastern Washington rover Kedrick […]
Nicholls at (3) Eastern Washington When: Saturday, December 1, 5:00 PM Where: Roos Field, Cheney, WA TV/Streaming: ESPN College Extra, ESPN3 Nicholls Colonels Thibodaux, Louisiana Southland Conference Enrollment: 5,717 FCS Sagarin Rating: 18 How They Got Here: Nicholls State scored over 40 points for the fifth straight week – all wins – in a first round playoff […]
