Big Sky Football Week 0 Predictions: Idaho-Cal Poly, Montana-Southern Utah & Every Matchup Picked

Kickoff week is here. Big Sky Now host Luke Schmit is joined by Fritz Neighbor, Jon Allen, Mark Nelke and Mike Maynard to preview every Big Sky Conference football matchup in week zero.

The panel breaks down a nationally televised Idaho-Cal Poly opener, Eastern Washington's trip to Flagstaff against Northern Arizona, Southern Utah's first Big Sky test at Washington-Grizzly Stadium, Montana State's week zero tune-up against Utah Tech, UC Davis on the road at Portland State, Idaho State's home opener against VMI, and Weber State's first game under new head coach Eric Care at Northern Colorado. The show also reads two fan comments from YouTube and closes with the panel's full slate of week zero picks.

New this season! Play along with us and make your weekly picks in our season-long Pick 'Em. Someone needs to beat Jon! No registration required, and it's free to play: https://qr1.be/D321P8

Chapters:
00:00 - Intro 
01:32 - Idaho vs Cal Poly Preview
04:19 - Fan Mailbag: Is Idaho Underrated?
06:13 - Eastern Washington vs Northern Arizona Preview
09:38 - Southern Utah vs Montana Preview
14:07 - Montana State vs Utah Tech Preview
16:40 - UC Davis vs Portland State Preview
18:20 - Cade Penick Named Washington State's Starting QB
18:50 - Idaho State vs VMI Preview
22:19 - Fan Mailbag: Idaho State's Playoff Case
23:10 - Weber State vs Northern Colorado Preview
25:35 - Week Zero Pick 'Em
30:16 - Closing Thoughts 

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Transcript

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SPEAKER_03 0:21

On this episode of Big Sky Now, we are able to discuss the week one previews as we are only days away from college football. We then jump into a couple fan discussions and talk about a new pick segment that is coming our way. Before we start, I'd like to thank MNC Tires for sponsoring this podcast. Let's not waste any time and get right to it. Welcome back everyone to the Big Sky Now podcast. I am your host, and we are days away from football. If you're listening to this, it's probably two days away as we have games Friday and Saturday in the Big Sky conference. But first I need to introduce my panel with me who always shows up on time with a great spirit. First from the Daily Interlake sports editor, I have Chris Neighbor. Next, also from the Daily Interlake, I have sports reporter John Allen. And then over to the Columbia-based Nerald sports reporter Mike Maynard. And last but not least from the Quarterlane Press, we have Mark Nelke. Guys, thank you again for being here. Very excited to talk about week one as we actually get to talk about some big sky football matchups. In the past, we have not seen big sky teams play right out of the gate to start their season, but this year we get to jump fully in on just about every team, except Fritz's Bengals. They are not going to be playing the big sky team this week. I'll dive right into it because there's a lot of games to talk about, and we have a little bit more to talk about later in the episode with some fun uh addition to our pick segment. Uh I'm going to go right out here to Mark. I just want to jump and talk about the Idaho versus Cow Poly game. You know, Mark, this game's going to be national on TV or nationally televised, excuse me. And it's going to be an immediate test for both. I want to hear, you know, your thoughts on the game and you know how important is a week one matchup? You know, what's your thoughts on that already?

SPEAKER_00 2:14

Yeah, I mean, you kind of, you know, in conference especially, you have to kind of have to win the games that you're supposed to win. I mean, there's going to be some games that are pick-ems and some you're going to be an underdog, but the games you're kind of supposed to win, you need to win because that otherwise it puts you behind the eight ball later on in the season, you end up playing catch up and stuff. So yeah, this is a big, it's a big game for for Idaho and for Cal Poly, but you know, from our um perspective for Idaho, I mean, they they kind of need this win. Otherwise, like I said, they'll be playing some catch up. Um, the thing about Idaho, we kind of don't have any idea how good they are because they kind of brought in since spring ball, they brought in another quarterback, a backup quarterback, and some receivers and stuff like that. They're coming off a tough season, but they got they got a lot of experience, and so they they should be better. Um, Cal Poly's got a new coaching staff, so they're a whole different their quarterback, Diffenbah. Um, he was he was a good quarterback last year, and of course, they got scarfed up by UCLA in the transfer portal. So they got another quarterback, Bo Kelly, who's who's played a little bit last year, a couple good linebackers. They're um got a kick out of their their football facility named the John Madden Football Center, and you just kind of expect to walk into that building and and see someone just come crashing through the wall, going boom, suckle, bif, bow, and stuff like that. Get everybody all fired up to play. So, like I said, like I said, it's a big, you know, especially with Idaho's um you know, remaining conference games, Montana State, Weber, Montana, Southern Utah, you know, Portland State, Eastern, UC Davis, and ISU. I mean, this is the game, you know, they gotta win, or they're, you know, like I said, behind the eight ball the rest of the way.

SPEAKER_03 4:03

I'm spot on with you, Mark. I think this is gonna be really important for Idaho to make sure if they want to get back to where they've been contending, getting in the playoffs, be taken seriously in the big sky. They've got to come out and take care of business. But as you also have said, uh Kapelli is no joke with Mikey Diamato, Kenny Olson, both linebackers that uh are gonna be big names for them this year. But I think the offensive line, Idaho has has a few key names as well, um, such as Keegan Henson, also on notable on the big sky, uh, all big sky selections in the preseason. So that's gonna be I'm gonna be watching for is seeing who's winning the ground game uh on the front uh for Idaho if they're able to run the ball well. I wanted to bring up uh we had a fan comment on our YouTube page last week. Rob from YouTube, really appreciate this. Uh, kind of wanted to go through some of his thoughts and his main argument, you know, were are people really underrating Idaho this season? Uh considering how difficult their circumstances are last year and how tough the schedule is, as you said, uh this year. They have the eighth hardest schedule, supposedly, he said. And uh give or take, but he thinks uh Thomas Ford's been doing a good job uh rebuilding after Jason Eck has left. So uh some people could have different opinions there. I also thought it was interesting uh that he said uh he really likes Joshua Wood and uh think he could be an MVP level player, which would be awesome to see for the Vandals. And last thing I wanted to you know claim that I thought he said was uh really important is Eth also thought they were bitten by the injury bug last year. So if you didn't know, Idaho is coming back for a little bit of uh revenge to the big sky tour, and it all starts on Friday night.

SPEAKER_00 5:42

Yes, they do have the hardest schedule or the eighth hardest schedule in all of FCS. I think a key is keeping Josh Wood happy or healthy. You know, that would keep everybody happy, but um I think uh what happened with Idaho is when when Eck was there, the his second year is when all that portal stuff happened. He lost like 20 guys in the portal, but he also brought in a bunch of guys. And then the the year that he left, they lost another 20 or so guys. And I don't think forward and his staff was able to bring in quite quite what what they lost. And so they kind of suffered a little last year. Um, they brought in a few more this year in the in the portal, and and I think they're they're gonna be better this year. Um but they're still an unknown until we see them. But they you know they look good, they look better on paper than did last year.

SPEAKER_03 6:32

We're gonna jump over to the next game here. Mike, let's go to you. We're gonna talk Eastern Washington versus Northern Arizona. Uh, I personally think this is gonna be the best game of the week. Both teams trying to prove uh if last year was gonna be something to leave in the past or it's gonna come back and return again. Uh Mike, what are your thoughts about this matchup?

SPEAKER_02 6:51

Yeah, uh this is I agree. This is a huge matchup. Um, I don't know if any of you are familiar with the phrase, Monday sets the tone. Or in this case, week one will definitely set the tone, especially for it being the first big conference game for each team. Um so, you know, starting with NAU, just kind of having those arguments for the for the opponent there. Um last season, uh, they never really won commandingly. A lot of their wins were shootouts, with the exception of an overtime win over Idaho. So, sort of what's gonna be big for them is, you know, if they're truly a contender, this is exactly the kind of game that they need to win. And they ought to show they can do it convincingly. Um, in theory, an undefeated team that wins high with that wins a ton of high-scoring shootouts is often more doubted more than they are revered. Um, so to see what how how this team shows up on the gridiron is gonna be really important for NAU. Um, and they'll need to do that against Eastern Washington theoretically to get off to a good start. But for Eastern, um I'm anxious to see what this team will look like this season. Um, there is a lot of optimism surrounding uh a lot of their position rooms. The coaches feel really good about it, um, all the changes that they that they've made, but kind of in the same sentiments as head coach Aaron Best at Big Sky. You know, you gotta still gotta go out and prove it and show it. Um at their most recent camp that they just had, Best kind of spoke with the media and sounded really encouraged uh by where the team is heading, but is emphasizing a strong finish to camp and maintaining physicality. Um, another thing that he highlighted was the way that the defense uh performed at camp. Um, they had a few times where they gave up some pretty big plays, including like a busted coverage, 75-yard touchdown. However, he really pointed out that the thing that didn't catch his attention was the busted coverage. It was how the defense responded afterward. Um, they forced three turnovers, generated several takeaways and scoring territory. Um, so he really was praised their response and resilience. So it's gonna be important to see when NAU uh inevitably punches them in the mouth uh in game one. How is that defense gonna respond? Because, you know, like last year we saw how good that offense was and they're able to hang with some of the conference's best. Um, so it's just gonna be on the defense to be able to do their job and do it well. So uh it's gonna be really exciting to see how these two teams um bring out their best punches this weekend.

SPEAKER_03 9:09

One of these teams is leaving 0-1 in this game, and that's gonna start causing question marks right away. And a little bit of the history, uh, these last time these two schools played, Northern Arizona has one. Uh last day played 2024, Northern Arizona won 30 to 18. And then uh 2023 and Cheney, they were up 35 to 7, and Eastern scored 28 unanswered points to tie the game, but NAU ended up pulling that one out too. So I just wanted to uh give a little bit of history of the game. And overall, it's uh Eastern Washington leads a series 23 to 14 still. So the pass of the Eagles, we'll see if they can become current when they take that trip down to Flagstaff. Fritz, let's go to you here. Talk about another big game. I think it could be in contention for game of the week as well. Um, because I know how you feel about Southern Utah. They're they're no one to be taken, uh take a joke with. I think they're gonna be a serious team this year. Let's hear the matchup. Southern Utah, their first Big Sky game at Washington Grizzly Stadium.

SPEAKER_01 10:06

Well, it's not their first. They ran a in our conference for a while and then they left. And uh I think if you count uh the year that they left the big sky, this is this will be their third conference in four seasons or five seasons. I think it's four. And um uh if they happen to win, which I think they could, they're pretty good. That wouldn't be the first time that uh the Thunderbirds were victorious at Washington Grizz. And um their team that runs the ball really well. Um they had a guy named Joshua die last year who ran for 1800 yards. He's now at Ole Mass. Uh they have a couple cruising senior transfers, one's from San Jose State, Floyd Chalk, uh the other guy's from Western Carolina, Camry Reed. And um they also have a local kid named Rand Sawyer, R-A-N Sawyer from uh St. George. So um I think uh what I'm most interested in is how the how the Grizzly offense uh holds up. You know, they've had to re reconfigure the O line quite a bit. Um they've given a lot of reps to the quarterbacks that don't wear number eight in practice, which you know makes you question the relative health of of Keeley Ayat. Whose dad was, you know, always seemed to be being banked up a little bit back when he played for the grass too. So I'm interested in that and uh how things go. Um you know, I think MSU obviously has the longest win streak in FCS. And I think Southern Utah might have the second longest because they won their last six games last year to finish seven and five. And uh they're for real. So we'll see we'll see how it goes. We'll see how you like Yellman and uh Rick Stavis look, you know, they were both banged up at the end of last season. And um hopefully Ayah can play. I think that's something they maybe have to manage his legs the whole season, off and on. And um, and then obviously the defense has uh been retooled both both in terms of coaching staff and personnel, although those linebackers are for real. So it'll be fun.

SPEAKER_03 12:09

John, how about you? I didn't get to ask you much about Montana last week. I wanted to, you know, get your opinion on them and if you want to talk about this matchup too.

SPEAKER_04 12:17

Yeah, I'm I mean, uh with this matchup, I guess it's kind of Fred's kind of not nailed everything that I was gonna talk about, too. It's just Southern Utah won't be a slouch. You know, they know what they're getting into with uh playing at Washington Grizzly in the past. So there's some things that they can draw on from maybe some former players that that give them the uh a little bit of experience without maybe playing in it themselves. Um, as for just what they can do, it's yet to be seen. Like meant uh Fritz mentioned with Joshua die off to Olliss as their leading rusher, uh, and seemed to be a lot of their offense last season. So, where can they uh make up for his loss? Um, and I don't think that Southern Utah is gonna be quite as good as what Fritz maybe thinks with he voted them third, I think he said last week. Uh, but I do think that they should be, you know, 5'6 in the conference and uh at worst uh and can definitely make a splash with Montana, you know, um yeah, it's all the new coaching staff that's gonna be the talk, how how everything kind of works with the offense, and and and I think having a receivers coach being brought up into that head coaching position should make the offensive transition a little seamless. Um Montana's defense is always good. They always seem to retool for sort of calling this last week about how their linebacker you that shouldn't change at all. So uh yeah, I I think uh just kind of how how that how that works with the you know new receiving core, Ayat maybe staying healthy. We know he uses his legs. He's he's had a fourth rushing touchdown game before. So last year it was a lot of his arm. Um, so yeah, just kind of see how that how that works for Montana this season.

SPEAKER_03 13:50

And for those Grizz diehards, there's a couple numbers Gilman's chasing this year. He's got 49 career touchdowns. Lex Hilliard, a legend for the Grizz, is at 50, and then Chase Reynolds with 52. So Gilman's Prey for Health is should be on pace to uh beat that record. Also, 394 yards away from becoming Montana's all-time leading rusher. So for those Grizz fans running about those numbers, he's close to becoming uh quite the cowboy he's always been. And Gilman, great player, even better person on top of it. So just really excited to watch him this season. We'll jump over, John, right back to you again. We'll talk about the Montana State game. You don't have to go too deep into it because uh it is Utah Tech's first game. I believe the line is set up 37, 38 points. I'm sure Mark will probably be hammering that one. Um, but John, let's hear about what your thoughts are uh on that game.

SPEAKER_04 14:40

Yeah, well, uh it's week one or week zero technically. So you're always gonna be wondering what a team's gonna do when they when they come out for the first time that year. So uh for Montana State, yes, it looks on paper like it's gonna be a walkover, but in reality, you have to you have to still play the game. And Brent Vegan's gonna want to know exactly what his squad has here in week zero. Um, and even not just maybe the starters, but you know, two deep, three deep on that roster. Because you never know how many players you're gonna need throughout a season. You're gonna, you know, it's not just 22 players that make it out. So um that's gonna be a big thing for Montana State with this one. Um, and as we saw with Idaho a couple years ago when they traveled to Oxen Stadium against Oregon, you can't count out an underdog in the early season. If they come out, you know, have a good have some good practices. Idaho took Oregon into the fourth quarter, only lost by 10. And Oregon was, you know, a top five team in the FBS at that time. So um it's week zero, anything can happen, and you you just need to get the best out of your players, and that's gonna be the case throughout the season. So you you just need to get off to a hot start.

SPEAKER_01 15:48

Watching the press conference they had yesterday down at MSU and Vegan noted they have uh they're taking probably 12 defensive linemen down there to Utah tech, uh, because you know they just need to see who plays, and that's uh it's uh it's just a time to get those kids some Saturday action and see how they um see how they um go up against uh the kind of stuff, you know. You have your obvious leaders like Zach Cruz on the D line, but uh they need to find some other guys in there and then and then the O-line I think is just gonna be nails again. Um they did lose Cedric Jefferson to uh Utah. He's a Utah Ute now, but they they just always seem to have a great O line and uh three of those guys are back and they're all horses. And uh I imagine uh Adam Johnson whoever ends up being RB running back to is gonna find some yardage on Saturday. Oh, and the other biggest uh uh foe for him down there is the heat. It's gonna be a hot one again like it was two years ago. It was 100 degrees on the field a couple years ago.

SPEAKER_03 16:45

Yeah, there's a slight advantage you're talking about for Utah Tech, if there could be one possibly in this matchup. Uh, one thing I caught from Montana State this week for the Bobcat fans out there, they elected their captains. Uh first time ever in Montana State history for a pair of brothers to serve as captains on the same teason season. Excuse me. That'll be Taco and Caden Daller, along with them for captains Justin Lampson, Adam Jones, Titan Fleshman, and Zach Cruz. So just wanted to get that little bit of information out there. Also, really cool for the Dowler brothers to have that achievement. Going to the next game here. Uh, gotta go to John. John, we're gonna talk UC Davis, Portland State, a little bit of the same factors of uh we've got a returning school that's expecting to do a lot this year. And then as we saw Portland State last year, not the best performances and ultimately having a new coach. John, you can take this one away.

SPEAKER_04 17:36

Yeah, well, not to spend too much time on it because, like you mentioned, it's a little similar situation to Montana State. Um, but just reading kind of some of the stuff that Portland State put out this week, uh, looking to go into a whole new era, um, maybe just kind of a redefining uh with Chris Fist taking over, the unveiling some new jerseys as well this week, uh a little new look. Um, so that they do bring back their leading uh quarterback from last season, John Kiawe Sagapolo-Tele, brother of the Cal quarterback Jeron Kiawe Sagapolo-Tele. So don't get them mixed up. Um leading rusher also, Delon Thomas, and their leading receiver with Terrence Low Bill also back. So um there's some some good options there. Seven up seven starters actually returning for Portland State on a team that you know wasn't exactly great last season, but uh new coach, see what Chris Fis can maybe get out of this team, and and you know, getting thrown to the Wolves right away with a UC Davis team that you know returns the Connors brothers and and has a great defense. So uh that offense is gonna be challenged early, uh, and and we'll see just what they can get out of it.

SPEAKER_03 18:41

I did want to bring up actually Fritz let me know yesterday, uh old UC Davis quarterback standout freshman is going to be starting at Washington State this year. He got an announced quarterback one. So congratulations to Kane Pennock. Uh a lot of Washington State quarterbacks have done well throughout the career. Gardner Minshew is one of my favorite quarterbacks, even though he's not ever been on my favorite team. That's that's one of the Washington State quarterbacks I always look out for. And John Mateir is from there as well. So wishing the best for Pennick. Let's go to uh Fritz's Bengals. They're not actually going to have a big sky game this week. They're going to be playing the Virginia Military Institute, which does have a ton of history. I do want to bring up a couple facts about them, but first, uh, I gotta ask Mark, you know, his opinion on this game.

SPEAKER_00 19:26

Yeah, I was looking them up too, because obviously we don't we're not too familiar with them. They're coming off uh 1 and 11 in last year, 1 and 10 in 2024. And you think Idaho State has had kind of a sorry history over the last three or four decades. Uh BMI has them beat, unfortunately, you know, uh fortunately or unfortunately. Other than what year was that? 2021 when they went six and five. The only time since 1981 that they've had a winning season, other than that, was in that COVID spring year of 2021 when they went six and two and made the first round of the FCS playoffs when obviously like Montana and Montana State didn't play football in the spring, and everybody else, a lot of the others just kind of played a few games and stuff like that. So they they're it's a good game for ISU, even though it's not a conference game, it's probably good that it's not a conference game because they got a lot of new faces to um to break in. They're quarterbacks back, running backs back, a lot of new receivers, and a lot of new people elsewhere. So it's probably worked out well for them that it's not a league game to start with.

SPEAKER_03 20:39

And I think what's super interesting about this game, maybe from the Idaho State standpoint, they're gonna be able to see a lot of how their players react. We'll see how the score goes and what players can get in. But on the other side of it, VMI has to go to Virginia Tech the week after and play uh James Franklin's first game. So for this uh Virginia Military Institute, I'm interested to see, you know, what they come out and look like because they know they have a full schedule on their hands, uh something they haven't seen quite in the past, and with the success, as Mark said, might be tough. But you know, I feel like there could be a little bit of motivation for these guys to come out knowing they've got some tough games out the gate. And Idaho State still needs to make sure uh they're locked in and ready, similar with uh UC Davis and Montana State. Fritz, did you have something to add?

SPEAKER_01 21:25

Oh, I just wanted to mention uh not only has VMI really lost a ton of games, but their starting quarterback from last year, uh Colin Shen is now at Marie State. He hit the portal after the season, and I'm not exactly sure who's gonna quarterback for him. They have a guy named JoJo Crump. So based on name alone, I'm rooting for him to start uh in Pocatello. And uh, I don't know who IOSU has at quarterback either. Maybe Mark has a handle on that. And then, you know, we'll see how Jason Brooks does. Um the Key Dets, as they're called. They have they do have a returning running back that was pretty good, uh Leo Bowling. So but yeah, uh the key dets are definitely the the uh underdog.

SPEAKER_03 22:05

The key dets are the underdog, and the other thing I just found on here their mascots of kangaroo, so that's also something you don't see all the time. I'm wondering what the history is behind that. Uh John, did you have anything about this one?

SPEAKER_04 22:18

Yeah, uh just a little uh little fact as well. Um I don't State. This is their first season home opener that you know, opening the season at home, first time since uh 2018. So uh they're used to starting off on the road, so maybe a chance is time to come back to Holt Arena and uh get the home crowd involved here in in August instead of waiting until you know mid-September.

SPEAKER_03 22:40

Speaking of that home crowd, our other comment last week was from Gary on YouTube. Thank you, Gary, for giving us your opinion. Um I wrote down kind of a couple things he said. I won't read exactly uh word for word, but you know, he thinks Idaho State's a legitimate playoff contender and thinks the program's turned around under Coach Cody Hawkins. Uh he's actually was actually an alum of Idaho and Idaho State. So I thought that was cool to see uh he preferred the Pocatello route. Thinks Jordan Cook could be one of the best uh QBs in the big sky, gave a lot of credit, like I said, to Hawkins. And overall, just wanted to thank him for giving his opinion and his uh really hierarchy of thinking where he thinks they could go as long as their uh schedule favors. So appreciate you a lot, Gary, for the feedback. I'm gonna go in a little bit on one game and then we're gonna get out of here to our pick segment. Weber State at Northern Colorado. Uh found a couple of interesting things about this game. Northern Colorado will play its first ever night game under the new lights at Nonnington Field. Uh UNC is gonna make that game a blackout, so I thought that was something cool to share. And this will be the first game for Weeber State's coach Eric Kerr. I said carr last week. I looked into it, it's care. I see some people also online saying it's elsewhere. Um I'm gonna say care until I'm told not to. Um but first game in Division I head coach, he was 110 or 112-10 in his sixth state championship seasons, so more than impressive uh resume. But now he gets the jump up to college football and the whole team starting over. 70 new players. Uh there's a couple players I didn't want to bring up for Weber, quarterback Devin Brown, uh probably the most interesting player in this game. He spent time at Ohio State in Cal, but now he transfers back to play for his old coach, Eric Kerr, who was his high school coach at Corny and Canyon, excuse me, Corner Canyon High School. So the reunion I think is really cool between those two. And they have a safety name, uh Trevi and Tribble, uh, one of the few proven wheel Wildcats that is back from last year, played 34 career games, uh, was on the top 10 in tackles. Jumping over to the Northern Colorado side, a couple players I also brought up or wanted to bring up. Uh Ezra Ecuban, one of UNC's preseason all big sky selections, 37 tackles last year. I'm gonna be looking out for him this year for sure. As there isn't a ton of big names on the defensive side, but this should be one that all teams should fear when they're running the ball. And then on the offensive side as well, you know, they've got a couple returners up front. So if we're looking at this game and I had to break it down in one theme, you know, it's trenches versus transformation on this game. Is the battle of the trenches at home for Northern Colorado gonna stay? Or will this new transformation under Eric Kerr really show that Weeber State can get back to that program they once were? Last thing I have a little bit of fun history on it. We're state has dominated this series 11-2, but I think Northern Colorado is going to this game as the favorite at home. Last meeting was 21 to 17 in Northern Colorado. And right now it's just a debate of who do you trust more? You know, Ed Lamb building at Northern Colorado or the new Eric Kerr uh era. Enough from me though about the games. I wanted to talk about something really cool that's starting here on the Big Sky Now podcast. Uh, we have a new pick sponsor, Mountain Pass Safes and Coins. Mountain Pass, Safes and Coins is your local source for safes, precious metals, and personal defense products from professional safe delivery and relocation to champion safes and buyern and launchers. They have the products and expertise to help protect what matters most. Visit Mountain Pass Safes and Coins on Highway 2 east in Kalispell. Before we get into the picks, if no one knows how it works, we give our picks each week about each game, and I throughout the season count up as we go week to week, and we go in order each week based on who's winning to who's last. So just wanted to fill everyone in who didn't know about the pick segment. We got to start with our champion from last season. It's gonna be John. John, let's hear your picks. I've been waiting all offseason to hear what you're thinking.

SPEAKER_04 26:50

All right. Well, uh to start off with that uh Weaver and Northern Colorado game on Friday night. I'm gonna go ahead and pick Weaver on the road. I think they're gonna get the uh the new era off to a good start over Northern Colorado. I do think that Northern Colorado has more riding on that game, though, in terms of momentum. Um, as for the other Friday night game, I'm gonna pick Idaho on the road as well over Cal Poly. Um then I've got UC Davis over Portland State and Montana State over Utah Tech. I think those two are just kind of kind of gimme's this week, but you know, you can never count anything out. Um I'm gonna pick Northern Arizona over Eastern Washington, Idaho State over VMI, and then I am gonna take Montana at home up over southern Utah.

SPEAKER_03 27:34

Love it, John. Fritz, over to you.

SPEAKER_01 27:37

Okay, I think um that um that coach quarterback reunion makes Weaver State a lot more formidable, I think, but I'm still gonna pick UNC at home on Friday. I'll also pick Idaho over Cal Poly, uh Davis over Portland State, known to Saturday's games. Uh NEU I picked to win over EU. Idaho State over VMI by a lot. Uh Montana over southern Utah in a close one. And then MSU will withstand the heat and uh win at Utah Tech.

SPEAKER_03 28:09

Perfect. Fritz takes his bangles, and we're over to Mark.

SPEAKER_00 28:15

Okay, I'm starting with Weber State over Northern Colorado. Um kind of going against the grain a little bit, at least as far as what Fritz picked, because um, you know, with northern Colorado being at home with their blackout and their new lights and stuff like that. But I think Weber, and I'm looking forward to former Lakeland high star Amon Munyer having a big year at tight end, one of our kids from here, so I'll be kind of following what they do. Um Idaho will take them to win at Cal Poly. Uh Saturday, we'll go with UC Davis winning in Hillsboro. Um I'm gonna take uh Mike's Eagles to win down in northern Arizona. I'm gonna take V, no, I'm not taking VMI. I'm gonna take Idaho State to uh to beat VMI, um Montana to edge southern Utah, and Montana State to beat Utah Tech.

SPEAKER_03 29:11

Let's go down to Mike. Mike, and then I'll give my picks and uh we will get out of here.

SPEAKER_02 29:16

Yeah, absolutely. Uh yeah, I'm going Weaver State over Northern Colorado, I think, here very soon. The rest of the conference is really going to learn a lot about Devin Brown, just in terms of his play. And then Idaho over Cal Poly. Uh I got UC Davis over Portland State, but in a very competitive battle. I have a lot of confidence in Coach Chris Fisk. I think the Vikings will make an impression this year. Um, I got eastern Washington over Northern Arizona, Idaho State over VMI, Montana over southern Utah, and Montana State over Utah Tech.

SPEAKER_03 29:46

Thank you, Mike. Get my mind now. Uh I'm gonna go here with Fritz. I am gonna take Northern Colorado, getting out the gate to a hot start. Not sure they've ever been able to do that. So I know a home game under the lights for the first time is a way to do that. I'm also gonna take Idaho in this matchup as well. Gonna go with UC Davis in that game. I really was torn between taking Eastern Washington and Northern Arizona. Uh, I am gonna take Northern Arizona. It came down to the game being in Flagstaff, especially to start the season. It's gonna be a little bit harder. Fans are a little bit more excited for football. So I'll take the edge there. Not going to take uh, just kidding, yes, I am gonna take Idaho State. And I'm gonna go with both Montana schools to start the season 1-0. We'll see how those picks fare. Last year, I don't think I climbed above third once. I think everyone else here fluctuated. So I gotta figure something out. I gotta find a team this year to get under you guys. But uh that's gonna do it for our episode here on Big Sky now. I wanted to leave uh our listeners, if they wanted to answer this question in the comments, you know, if there was a result this weekend that would change your opinion of the team the most, uh, what result would that be? So feel free to answer that in the comments. But I'd like to thank my panel for being here on time. I'd like to also thank MNT Tires for sponsoring this podcast. We'll be back next week to talk about the week one results and diving into week two. So we're already here in the football season. I really hope you guys enjoy your first weekend of football listening, and uh, we'll catch you next week on Big Sky Now.