Big Sky Week 1 Shockers and Week 2 Preview: Gilman's Record, MSU-Nevada Looms

On this episode of Big Sky Now, host Luke Schmit is joined by Daily Inter Lake sports editor Fritz Neighbor, Daily Inter Lake sports reporter Jon Allen, Coeur d'Alene Press sports editor Mark Nelke and Columbia Basin Herald sports reporter Mike Maynard to break down every Big Sky Conference football week 1 result and preview the full week 2 slate. 

Idaho State stunned FBS opponent Utah State 29-17 for the program's first win over an FBS school since 2017. Southern Utah outlasted Weber State 47-42 in the Beehive Bowl shootout. Montana handled Drake 21-3 as running back Eli Gilman broke the program's all-time career rushing touchdown record, passing Chase Reynolds with his 53rd. Eastern Washington rallied behind quarterback Nate Bell to beat Northern Iowa 34-24. Utah routed Idaho 66-14, and Montana State rolled past Butler 51-24 behind a Jabez Woods kick return touchdown. The panel also runs through Cal Poly's narrow win over Central Washington, South Dakota over Northern Colorado, Northern Arizona's loss to Arizona, Portland State's loss to San Diego State, BYU's blowout of Utah Tech and UC Davis over San Diego.

Then the crew previews Big Sky Conference football week 2, headlined by Montana State hosting Nevada in a game with extra storylines after former Bobcats coach Jeff Choate's comments about scheduling and Montana State's athletic director producing emails from the 2024 negotiations. Other week 2 previews include Utah Tech at Montana, Eastern Washington at South Dakota, San Diego at Idaho State, UC Davis at SMU, Lamar at Idaho and Southern Utah at Colorado State, plus quick hits on Weber State at Colorado, Northern Colorado at Wyoming, Cal Poly at San Jose State, Incarnate Word at Northern Arizona and North Dakota at Portland State. The episode wraps with the crew's weekly pick 'em standings and this week's predictions from every panelist.

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:
0:00 - Intro
1:10 - Idaho State Upsets Utah State 29-17 
3:56 - Southern Utah Outlasts Weber State 47-42 (Beehive Bowl) 
6:49 - Montana Handles Drake, Gilman Sets Rushing TD Record 
9:52 - Eastern Washington Rallies Past Northern Iowa 
13:46 - Utah Routs Idaho 66-14 16:16 - Montana State Rolls Past Butler 51-24 
17:39 - Quick Hits: Cal Poly, South Dakota, Northern Arizona, Portland State, BYU, UC Davis 
21:38 - Week 2 Preview
21:57 - Montana State vs Nevada Preview 
24:33 - Utah Tech at Montana Preview 
27:07 - Eastern Washington at South Dakota Preview 
29:01 - San Diego at Idaho State Preview 
30:04 - UC Davis at SMU Preview 
31:01 - Lamar at Idaho Preview 
32:32 - Southern Utah at Colorado State Preview 
34:50 - Quick Hit Slate: Weber State-Colorado, N. Colorado-Wyoming, Cal Poly-San Jose State, Incarnate Word-Northern Arizona, North Dakota-Portland State
36:47 - Week 2 Pick 'Em: presented by Mountain Pass Safes & Coins

Big thanks to Mountain Pass Safes & Coins for sponsoring our Pick 'Em segment!  They are a family-owned business proudly serving the Flathead Valley with a wide selection of high-quality safes ready for immediate delivery - no long wait times. Whether you’re protecting firearms, valuables, or important documents, their safes offer advanced fire protection, reinforced construction, and customizable storage options backed by strong warranties. They also buy and sell gold and silver with a reputation for fair, transparent pricing. Stop by their showroom at 2593 US Highway 2 E Suite 4 in Kalispell or visit https://mountainpasssafes.com/ to learn more.

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Transcript

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SPEAKER_03 0:21

On this episode of Big Sky Now, we discussed the week one results that saw Idaho State take down FBS Utah State and both Montana teams winning as well as Eastern Washington getting an impressive win. Then we jumped to talk about the week two preview and give our picks of the week. Before we start, I'd like to give a thank you to 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, Louisman, and we are back to talk about the week one results with the week two matchups. And I can't wait to get to that. Before I do that, let me introduce my panel. From the Daily Interlake, we have sports editor Fritz Neighbor and sports reporter John Allen. Next from the Quarterlink Press, we have Mark Nelke. And last but not least, from the Columbia Base Narald, we have Mike Maynard. So much to talk about. Lots of games, but we have to jump to the first game right away as Idaho State defeats FBS School, Utah State, 29-17. Fritz's Bengals are on the up. It's an exciting time, especially for this podcast. Mark, I'm just going to throw it right to you if you wanted to uh give me your synopsis of the game and you know how exciting this was for that program.

SPEAKER_00 1:42

Yeah, I didn't catch much of it, but I did catch parts of it. And my first thought was maybe it I don't know, didn't know whether to be more impressed with ISU or less impressed with Utah State, but you look at the numbers, and Utah State dominated the stats. They all gained him 407 to 241, um, 2914 in first downs. Um, but they also threw four interceptions, and two of those turned it into like short field scores for ISU. So they they took advantage of that. Um it was kind of funny their ISU placed kicker Mason Lindbergh, five field goals, ends up special teams player of the week in Big Sky. And if you remember their kicker from last year, Trajan Sinatra, he ended up being the Mountain West special teams player of the week, too, for last week. So that was kind of funny. Um, first win over an FBS school for ISU since 2017, and first first ever win over a Pac-12 school for them.

SPEAKER_03 2:49

Just a remarkable, you know, start of the season for Idaho State. I know that you know, some people may have had them lower in their big sky rankings, but I believe we're starting to see them climb as uh maybe the Ida other school in Idaho is starting to fall on the vandals. Uh Fritz, how are you feeling about your Bengals?

SPEAKER_01 3:05

Well, I I don't think I picked them last week and I'm kicking myself for it. Um, I'm pretty proud of them. I thought they uh that was a nice one. Uh Mark pointed out the uh glaring uh difference in total yardage, but uh those interceptions help. And they they had back-to-back ones, you know. I um I believe um Utah State took a 17-16 lead and they threw back-to-back interceptions and uh um one of them set up first and goal and that uh Jordan Cook cash that in for an eight-yard touchdown pass, and uh all of a sudden that's 26-17, and and the Aggies are on the ropes and good for the Bengals.

SPEAKER_03 3:45

Great win for the Bengals. Also, yeah, Trey Shorty is a two interceptions, uh 42-yard return that helped them take that go-ahead touchdown. And uh we're gonna talk about their next game soon, but you know, this this is starting to get the conversation for Idaho State State is you know, where's their ceiling? Are we talking about a playoff team? We're talking, you know, how far in the big sky rankings can they go? So very excited to see what they can do. And they've got another test coming up this week to see if they can handle the maturity of playing a team at home. Not as good. We're gonna go on to the next game here. I'm gonna throw it over to John. Uh, this was actually not a conference game between Southern Utah and Weaver State. Uh, Southern Utah wins 47-42, but it is the Beehive Bowl shootout. So uh the floor is yours, John. This game was uh exciting and there is a lot going on at the time in the college football world. So if there's any fans out there watching this, I give you all the credit.

SPEAKER_04 4:37

Yeah, Saturday was a busy day all around for college football with uh with whatever you were looking at. But uh yeah, I I it's always good to get a win, of course, for southern Utah. I don't think that I really expected this game to be quite as tight as it did based on how Southern Utah played in that first week against Montana. But you know, when you go out and look at the stats, over 500 yards of offense, uh 368 yards on the ground. They went out and did what they needed to do and uh and put up the points. And defensively, even though they gave up 42 points, they still held Weaver State's quarterback to 21 of 44 passing. Um, and yes, it's not Devin Brown as we've talked about, but we we don't really know exactly everything with that Weaver State team. So um for both teams, I feel like they should kind of look at the positives of a one-in-one start here. Weaver state, two games on the road, being able to you know stay in the second one and get a win there, uh, especially with the whole quarterback issue of Devin Brown dislocating his finger. Um and Nate, is it Dale? Nate Dale coming in and uh playing quarterback, probably mispronounced that, so I apologize. But um, yeah, uh, and for Weaver for Southern Utah being able to now go two games into the season, you're allowing quarterbacks to only throw 50% against you. You get a big defensive stop when you needed it in a shootout game, which shows that that defense, even if they are giving up points, can still hold their ground when they need to. Uh, and you get a one-in-one start with with a game that you should win over a rival potentially, and uh a very tough uh performance in Montana. So I think both teams have a lot to uh take from positives of these first two weeks.

SPEAKER_03 6:13

Mike, uh, did you have anything to add on this game? Are you able to check this one out? No worries if not. I just wanted to get maybe your input on this one as well.

SPEAKER_02 6:20

Uh no, I did not get a chance to uh to check this one out, but you know, not surprising to see Southern Utah continue to be very explosive on offense and find themselves in yet another another shootout game. I won't be surprised that that is a trend this year because it was off in the trend last year as well.

SPEAKER_03 6:37

No one's been able to stop Will Burns rushing the ball yet. So when we see that happening, I'll change my mind. But for right now, it's it's one of the most efficient offenses in the big sky. And given that game last week with Montana, they held in till the end. Things are on so on the up for southern Utah. And Freyer Care and Weaver State, you know, it's tough for them starting that way, but they've still got an opportunity to bounce back. Gonna go back over to Fritz here. Fritz was at this game. Montana takes care of Drake. A lot more of an efficient game uh for Montana as they were able to get this win, leading 21 to 3 at the half. Uh, Fritz, what was your synopsis on this one?

SPEAKER_01 7:15

Well, I just thought um, you know, they played a lot better, um, more balanced on offense, seemed to uh get things going a lot quicker. Uh a lot of people played. I I know I mentioned last week I didn't think a single uh receiver besides the three-starters saw a rep in the first game against Southern Utah. And on this past Saturday, they had 11 different kids be targeted with passes, five of them receivers, so two receivers kind of in off the bench, although Jordan Devers dropped the first one that came his way. Um I thought Eli Gilman absorbed a pretty pretty good wall-up and came back and kept on ticking, you know. Um for a couple of seconds I was like, Well, we're not gonna see him the rest of the day. And then uh about nine plays later, he scores the first of his four touchdowns. So he's still for real. Uh other teams are gonna have their hands full with him. Um but um penalties were a concern. Uh injuries are already become a little bit concerned. There's no Kate Cutler last week. He started the first game at safety. Um 16 penalties accepted uh by the other team. Not that it mattered much, but it will matter when they when the competition gets better. And you know, it's just good to see a lot of uh a lot of backups, a lot of twos and threes get in, including Columbia Falls uh quarterback Cody Schweikert came in and uh and uh should have scored. I think he was more interested in running a guy over than finding the end zone. So he went down at the one-yard line, but uh um it turned out okay as well.

SPEAKER_03 8:41

So yes, shout out to Columbia Falls's Schweikert, uh, and also shout out to Fritz writing a great piece about him uh in the paper. It's been uh fun to watch. And you know, if you didn't know, Eli Gilman broke uh the all-time uh career rushing touchdown record with 53 um over Chase Reynolds. Best part about it, Chase Reynolds is on the radio call during it, so really cool moment for Grizz fans and uh return of Samari Torre. He's raving the 37 flag. Uh, he was a previous Grizz standout receiver and on the NFL. So just an overall really fun Saturday for Grizz fans. Uh John, I'll let you, if you wanted to, add any notes if you wanted on the game and we'll move on.

SPEAKER_04 9:20

Yeah, I just uh glad you kind of touched on it, but getting uh Gilman his uh his dues for for breaking that record this weekend. Uh, you know, watching Montana growing up with Chase Reynolds and Lex Hilliard and seeing seeing Eli Gilman pass both of them uh on his way here. He's just such a good running back to watch. And uh and the big sky is just full of great running backs to watch. Uh so uh it's just for for him to be able to set those records, it's uh uh pretty impressive.

SPEAKER_03 9:49

Very impressive. And he's chasing another 212 yards, I believe, rushing away uh 212 rushing yards from Montana's all-time rushing record. So the year for Gilman continues, but I know uh I'm sure he's thinking more about the team than his own personal accolades. Mike, Eastern Washington, you're at this game. They win 34 over northern Iowa. They have 24 points. Uh, I saw you sent me a picture of the red field. What were your takeaways of that one?

SPEAKER_02 10:16

Oh, yeah, I had a front row seat. Um, yeah, so I mean, there's a few a few things I'd like to kind of hone in on. One being Nate Bell's uh offensive performance, leading to him getting big sky offensive player of the week, but also the tail of two halves with that defense um first half, things looked a little rough. They were having a really hard time stopping uh Northern Iowa. Um, they were kind of moving the ball with ease at one point. And uh, you know, it was looking to be a shootout in the first half with the halftime score being 24-20 with you and I up over the Eagles. Um, but then they come out and there was just like this energy shift. And uh after the game, Coach Aaron Best was sort of like, yeah, I didn't really say much at halftime, just that we really need some organic energy here. Uh something's what are we doing right now? And that worked because I mean that's exactly what the Eagles defense came out with. Uh a lot of energy. Um, they were getting in the backfield, making that quarterback's life miserable. Um, several tackles for loss, a couple sacks. Uh, even if they weren't getting those, they were chasing him around and forcing him off off balance. And um ultimately uh I can't remember his name off the top of my head. His name is uh Ambrose should have had this at the ready. Uh Ambrose Marsh uh forced an interception on UNI, which really provided um a lot of life for that defense and really fired up the crowd and the sidelines. And um so just a total night and days completely shut out UNI in the second half while they continued to build their lead. Um, so which kind of takes you to the offensive side. Nate Bell um just is having quite the start to the to his season. Um went 24 for 33, 257 pass yards with two touchdowns, no picks, uh, along with you know a net of 94 rush yards and three rushing touchdowns. I mean, the offense just runs through this guy. Um, and you kind of look at him, he's he's he's probably about my high. I mean, he's not a not your your average build for a quarterback, but it's just I mean, has that offense humming. And um, when he's throwing that ball, he's throwing it accurately. Uh, he's even even some of his incompletions were were right there. And it's just, you know, he takes a lot of throws. He trusts his receivers and will take a lot of throws to to kind of give his his players a chance. Um, you know, he's got a couple contested throws to uh Jackson Branch and uh Jamai East. Um, but I would say the highlight play from Nate Bell was on their first drive, and it was fourth and probably a couple inches. And, you know, so they went with QB Sneak to try to get a first down. And uh so Bell kind of pops up, pops out of the trenches, jukes two defenders, and takes it for a 34-yard rushing touchdown. It was just like out of nowhere, totally unexpected. Um, really brought some life to to Roose Field uh right away. So um strong game all around. Uh I will say the defense still is kind of concerning, um, especially going up against South Dakota next week, you know, or this coming weekend. You know, defense is gonna have to start hot sooner. Um, because that's that's a very talented team that they're going against. Uh so it'll be interesting to see how they kind of build off this momentum and carry it forward.

SPEAKER_03 13:32

Taylor, two halves, uh two different games for Eastern. Week one, you know, 24 to lead they had over Northern Arizona, and they blow it. And then the second half dominance uh for not letting Northern Iowa score. Uh maturity. That's what you want to see with the programs, and that's what it came around to. Uh Nate Bell, correct me if I'm wrong, converted receiver to quarterback before he was throwing the ball. Uh 24 for 33 passing, as you said, 257 yards. Uh, very impressive. These starting once he's gonna be able to take that next step, which it looks like he is. Uh Eastern's looking pretty dangerous, and especially you never want to go to that field. You know, it's it's a different level there. So uh we'll talk about their next game here soon. I'm gonna jump it back over here to Mark. Mark, you don't have to spend uh as much time as you want, really. Um, Utah defeats uh Idaho 66 to 14. Uh let's hear your thoughts really quick.

SPEAKER_00 14:23

Yeah, you asked if there was any silver linings, and um not really, other than the the six, uh whatever silver linings that $600,000 can buy, which is what they got from the youths for coming down there. Um it's one of those games, small school, you know, big school that the small school's got to play perfect to have a chance. And so Utah or Ido comes out, throws an interception on the first drive, leads to a touchdown. They fumble on the second drive, leads to a field goal, and then they're and then they're the one time they had a break where it looked like the punt was muffed by Utah. Um, it was not, it was ruled not touch by the receiver, even though he ran after it right afterwards, which is a pretty good sign that he thought he touched it. And Ida recovered it, but it's ruled it was a down punt, and so they didn't get that ball. And then after that, it was just kind of one of those FCS versus FBS games that we probably you know watched last weekend and the weekend before that and stuff like that. The other thing that kind of jumped out was the week before against Cal Poly, the the receivers, Zach Carr and Tony Harstey, and Ryan Jeziaro, they they all kind of got open and made plays, and they didn't against Utah, but that you know that's going against uh obviously a better defense. Um, they ran it okay against Cal Poly, not really against Utah. Coach Ford in his pressure this week said their their lines played well, offensive and defensive, but the problems on defense mostly um communication um and execution on the back end. They got a lot of inexperience there, which they had against Cal Poly, too. So it it's not it wasn't just a Utah thing. So that's something they have to clean up. Uh, I think we'll learn more about Idaho in the next couple weeks when they play, you know, a couple of kids their own size and Lamar and Abilene Christian.

SPEAKER_03 16:23

You put it best, I think, Mark. We just got to see now what's gonna happen. They start 0-2, expected to lose that Utah game. That makes you know, week one stings a little bit more. Um, but no one expected, you know, Idaho to show up and do what they almost did to Oregon that one year. Uh, we're gonna keep moving on here, throwing it to John. John, you can briefly go on this one. You know, Montana State 51, Butler 24. Uh, it was a little slower to start for Montana State. Didn't actually uh really start uh killing the other team just like they were against Utah Tech uh until there was uh a special teams touchdown. But John, uh, whatever notes or comments you have on this one.

SPEAKER_04 16:58

Yeah, I mean, once they get rolling, MSU looks like MSU. Uh, I mean, it's the team that's unanimous number one for a reason. Um, that definitely took a little bit of a jump start from Jabez Woods getting that 100-yard kick return, uh breaking a 3-3 tie. Um that got that got them rolling. But this is the result that they should be getting against a scholarship, a non-scholarship pioneer league team. And, you know, kind of like how Montana had to play Drake, it should look like this when you're a top three team in the country, number one team in the country. Um, so it's uh a couple of fairly easy games to start, and we'll see how they can do this week as they go up against an FPS opponent in Nevada.

SPEAKER_03 17:39

Only uh one really critical thing uh I saw Caden Dowler exited the game and came out with his pads off. Coach Began said he's unsure, you know, how long this injury is gonna take. They're not gonna give any answers, you know, right away without more testing. But uh, watch out for Caden Dowler. I don't know if he's gonna play for a couple weeks, but that's a huge part of their defense that needs to be out there and uh also wish him a speedy recovery. Uh really quick, I'm gonna hit on the Cal Poly Central Washington game. Uh Anthony Greeksby Jr., uh three touchdowns, you know, only 200 passing yards. And Cal Poly only wins this game by seven. Uh I think one of the biggest plays was the first, I believe the first scrimmage play out of halftime. Cal Poly got an interception, and they started blitzing really well. And overall, I thought the defense started picking it up after a little bit of a slow start. Central Washington was able to go down the field on their first drive, believe it was an eight or nine-minute drive, and kind of do what they wanted and take their time. Maybe that Southern Utah approach we saw against the Grizz, where you know they were just taking it one play at a time, three, four yards, play it smart. Uh, but Cal Poly, you know, was outgained 430 to 384, but one. And uh Cal Poly has uh two wins now with combined 11 points, and Central Washington had 36 minutes of possession. So the linebacker duo for Cal Poly is very impressive. Uh, I thought Mikey DiMonteo had a couple blitzes and you saw him getting none in there when I was watching the game back. Moving on to the next one. Uh Mike, you can quick hit this one as well. South Dakota defeats Northern Colorado. Uh if you had any notes there, Mike, what are your thoughts?

SPEAKER_02 19:15

Yeah, just sort of overview of that. It's just it's nice to see that Northern Colorado seems like a pretty competitive team. I mean, they came out uh and scored a 50-yard 54-yard touchdown uh to open the game against South Dakota, but you know, they I think defensively struggled to kind of get some consistency going and get some stops going in their favor because you know, some of those scores are starting to really add up, and I think it just by by some point it just was too far out of reach. Um, so it'll be interesting to see how they fine-tune those things that they need to work on and and bounce back the rest of the year.

SPEAKER_03 19:50

Kevin Luth didn't finish this game. Some were wondering if he got hurt. This is the quarterback for Northern Colorado. Uh, they actually made the decision to take him out due to score and time. So I just wanted to clear that up if anyone was wondering or saw that out there. And yeah, I really think uh to this game I saw the one that popped out to me, you know, Northern Colorado passed for 260 yards, 266 yards, only ran for 55. So the trenches were not won. And ultimately, I think the better quarterback uh for South Dakota came to play, Austin uh Moderensky, uh 178 yards, two touchdowns. Just an efficient game. Gonna recap a couple of these before we talk about week two. Uh, Northern Arizona lost to Arizona 35 to 7. Uh, they could not replicate that Eastern Washington comeback they had the week before. Uh Arizona outgained Northern Arizona 520, I believe, 520-ish to you know under 200. And NAU had negative rushing yards and a couple box scores, I even saw. So tough game there for Ty Pennington. It's not a game they're expected to win, but uh it's a good talent level. Jumping over Portland State loses uh to San Diego State. Uh Portland State started, as you know, in that week zero game, uh scaring UC Davis. Haven't seen that mentality or maybe that physicality from the first half uh when I was watching this game back as well. Uh, we will see, you know, if Portland State is real, or you know, that first half against Davis was maybe a fluke. I don't know. Um we're gonna keep going. BYU uh just really quick here 63, uh Utah Tech seven. Uh Utah Tech scores their first touchdown of the season, but they've been outscored 117 to 7. Uh two extremely hard games to start with, Montana State and BYU. So I think we're gonna start seeing soon here. Utah Tech maybe take on a couple teams and we can start seeing where where they line up. And last, UC Davis 49, San Diego 17. Uh, this was the exact response I thought UC Davis needed after trailing to Portland State early in week zero. Uh Trainar Cleveland threw five touchdown passes. Samuel got to nine catches, 129 yards. Personally didn't watch this game. Uh, figured UC Davis would take care of business, and they did. Now, the week two preview, there's uh a lot of fun games to talk about here. Maybe even another FBS team uh beating an FCS or FCS team being an FBS team. Because Montana State is the favorite in this game uh over Nevada. Fritz, I'm gonna throw this one over to you. This is gonna be the game I think I'm keyed on this weekend. Uh do you think Montana State should be the favorites?

SPEAKER_01 22:18

Well, um the bookmakers I'm five and a half. or six point favorites depending on where you look and uh and uh you know it's just an interesting game because uh whether Jeff Schoot says it's not personal or not, you know he he's the former Montana state coach based on his old team, you know, and Brent Vegan took over in the spring of 2021 when when uh Schote kind of uh kind of bolted for an assistant's job at Texas and um kind of left everybody scrambling including his uh most of his staff so now he's been in Nevada a few years and he's starting to get him built up and they had a nice win last week over uh western Kentucky a former FCS power the Hilltoppers but he said uh in his pressure yesterday that you know if Montana State and Western Kentucky played A he's root for Montana State and B he thinks the Bobcats are a better team than uh the team that just beat 49-27 I think um I think the Cats can do it I do think uh Schultz's doing a nice job there in year four I believe with the Wolfpack and uh um you know Bobcats didn't come out of that game super healthy. Uh King got rolled up on while he was blocked blocking on a punt return for his brother and the punt return only happened because a block punt was taken off the board the play before um and then um I think after the game uh Brent Vington kind of crossed a little bit about his own line and I don't think they're quite where he wants them to be I don't think they were through two games last year and and people forget that they lost through two first games last year.

SPEAKER_03 23:56

And now they haven't lost since uh Saturday marked uh a 16th straight win for the Cats that's a school record program record so they'll be uh they'll travel well and they'll give uh the Wolfpack all they can handle and I think they'll pull it off yeah this is really think this is the first game we've seen Montana State and we're gonna learn about the Bobcats this year they've had two uh dominating wins John if you wanted to add anything on this matchup before we move on no I I think Fritz kind of touched on pretty much everything that I had I'd just like to say if this was last year's Nevada team I definitely think the Bobcats are winning it this year. I think it's gonna be a pretty tight game uh I still could see why Montana State's the favorite though yeah and I'm asking you know the question as well of you know where this what does Montana State have to do to make this even more of a statement or is it you know if they win by three three points four points is that is that a statement in itself so I'll be excited to watch that or Nevada everyone was wrong about Nevada and you know if as an FBS school you know I I find it interesting uh to have an FCS team come in getting paid and you're not the favorite so I'm sure that locker room uh for Nevada is going to be ready to play and prove a point. Moving on again here we have Utah Tech going to Missoula playing Montana John will actually be at this game. So John uh I'll start with you and then I'll throw it over to Fritz again.

SPEAKER_04 25:19

Yeah uh like uh Southern Utah and Weaver State I believe this is a conference non-conference game um an agreed upon uh an agreed upon matchup back in from 2019 where they initially set up a four-game slate with three in Missoula and one in St. George so um I expect it to kind of be similar to how Montana State played against Utah Tech. I think Montana will roll at home um I think it's gonna be another great game to see more reps for the second and third stringers. And you know Fritz kind of touched on it and he wrote that piece about Schweikert and I'm excited to just kind of see how that develops with him coming in sort of a wildcat situation like they've put him in it a couple times and see if maybe that turns into something that they can use a little later on this season uh big body to kind of give a second power back situation where you could use him and Gilman in the same backfield. So um but yeah I think uh this shouldn't be too much of a difficult situation for Montana against Utah Tech. Um and yeah another welcome to the big sky moment for Utah Tech was uh now a third straight difficult game to start the season pretty brutal stretch for Utah Tech Fritz uh anything here and we'll move on to the next one well I'm kind of wondering how the defense will approach this one you know the first game they had to deal with a really potent rushing attack um from southern Utah last week uh Drake came in and threw it six threw the ball around 60 times and uh and now I really can't uh predict what Utah Tech will do because they just really haven't gotten on the board except for one time through two games.

SPEAKER_01 26:56

And uh you know I think they'll play a lot of players not just on offense but on defense and um I'm wondering if they will start adding stuff.

SPEAKER_03 27:04

I think both both games afterwards uh Bobby Kennedy said well we kept things pretty much vanilla on defense and I I would just wonder if they're gonna mix in a little more stuff as far as uh multiple fronts and uh blitzes you know they blitzed in obvious uh passing situations and uh maybe that's uh something that might happen on first and second down a lot more keep moving on here uh Mike I'm gonna give you the floor and this next game this is gonna be a fun one to talk about for you Eastern Washington at South Dakota. I think we get another measuring stick game for Eastern and see if they can do it on the road. Uh the floor is yours Mike.

SPEAKER_02 27:43

Yeah arguably probably the first real test for the Eagles this season um you know going up against the team that was in the playoffs last year made it past a couple of games before getting eliminated by the Grizz. I have all the confidence in the world that the Eagles offense will be able to compete. It's gonna come down to the defense and the way that they show up you know um I make sure I pronounce his name right Austin we'll just call him Austin for now. He's off to a hot start this season as well. Week one uh 16-20 304 six test downs no picks and then last week uh a little bit of a step down impression but still kind of led the team to victory uh there so you know this is a real test I mean they're playing a playoff team that's how they ought to be looking at it I wouldn't be surprised if Coach Bess is kind of relaying that message to them and in in the way that they prepare for for this team so and it's on the road so uh it's gonna be really really big on on the defense specifically the secondary to make sure uh Austin doesn't blow the top off throughout that game so yeah it'll it'll it'll be interesting we're gonna learn a lot about Eastern this weekend we will and you know it it sparks a conversation if they finish that fourth quarter against NAU you know we're talking about a surprise contender potentially in the playoffs with Eastern um so this is a chance for them to get that redemption in my opinion uh I didn't pick eastern last week fully regretted that as they were able to take care of business gonna keep going on we got a lot of games still um mark we're gonna do San Diego at Idaho State uh some could call it a trap game after such an exciting win for for the Bengals uh let's hear your thoughts mark yeah I guess it's kind of like their opener against VMI where it was a game that ISU was expected to win and they took care of business.

SPEAKER_00 29:31

Um that kind of scenario is has kind of bit the Bengals in the past but this seems like a little more mature program under um Cody Hawkins in his third year and and I don't I don't think that'll be a problem especially at all.

SPEAKER_03 29:49

Yeah I'm with you as as well I think uh Idaho State will take care of this one I'm interested to keep seeing that running back room after uh Deshaun Brooks goes down for the season so we'll see if they uh have a couple excuse me running backs they roll out and uh that room might have a better idea but overall I do think they take care of business and uh just hopefully they they keep uh their maturity level as it should be because coming off a big win like that you can overlook a team uh at home especially really quick I'm gonna hit on the UC Davis uh SMU game for anyone that watched uh SMU defeated Florida State uh quite a game that was delayed uh by the power outage so I think the only advantage uh really to talk about here is UC Davis has quite the rest advantage on this game as SMU played late last night and uh today's Tuesday that we're recording. They were only going to have a couple days to prepare as today's going to be a rest day I'm sure so one advantage for for the Aggies is they're gonna have the rest and we're gonna see you know if Trainor Cleveland can continue that productive uh efficiency he's had five touchdowns like we said earlier and uh you know if SMU's gonna have a challenge Samuel Gatu he's one of the best receivers in the FCS I'm excited to see you know if they are shadowing him double coveraging him because so far this season uh he's off to the start everyone expected. Mark throwing it back to you as we're gonna talk about a team that really needs needs to win that's gonna be Lamar playing at Idaho uh for the Vandals as the Vandals haven't picked up a win yet but this is certainly one that they should in my opinion.

SPEAKER_00 31:21

Mark your thoughts yeah it's gonna help that it's their home opener and they they they play really well at home um it's a really good home field advantage and so they in theory they should come out fired up and stuff like that. The two extra days of rest will help you know that see it seemed um you know playing last Thursday seemed like the first two weeks were kind of rushed they went down to Cal Poly on a Friday and then hurried up turned around and went down to Utah and collected a check and tried not to get beat up too badly so this this will be more of a a a barometer of of maybe how good Idaho is um kind of hard to tell about Lamar they did beat Abilene Christian last year or last or in their opener I'm sorry but they they lot the team they lost to last year in the playoffs and they lost last week at Louisiana I was reading where they've had several practices canceled during due to a tropical storm down there. So I know that's done to their practice schedule and consistency and stuff like that. So but I I would think Idaho should come out and play well and and and we'll see if they get their defensive woes figured out.

SPEAKER_03 32:35

Yeah we'll see you know especially expecting they win but what can they do in that win to give Vandals fans a little bit of a breath of fresh air a little bit more excitement coming back into the big sky season in a couple weeks so uh that'll be one to see how they win and uh if they're dominant in that fashion. Last game we're gonna dive into deep and then I'll just hit all the last couple games quickly um I have John talk about the Southern Utah at Colorado State game. I wanted to talk about this game uh just have a gut feeling that this could be a little bit closer than something to start. John, are you on the same page or is Colorado State just going to be too much?

SPEAKER_04 33:10

Yeah when I looked at it initially just looking at how Colorado State played against Wyoming last week I was kind of thinking you know well it's a Pac 12 team they threw for five touchdowns. Yes it's not the Pac-12 old it's the new Pac-12 but um Colorado State did look really good against Wyoming but then I kind of see how Wyoming played and and where they found their offense it seemed to be more in the rushing game. They got 4.2 yards per carry not entirely ideal but when their quarterback threw three interceptions it was nice that they could at least find some yardage on there to get their 14 points and then you look at Southern Utah and their rushing attack this next week and you know Colorado State's gonna have to really step up that rushing defense or else Utah State is going to be able to stay in this game. So I really do like Southern Utah potentially at least keeping this game close maybe three quarters of the way uh and maybe Colorado State takes over at the end but it it's gonna come down to can Utah State's defense shut down a a quarterback that last week threw five touchdowns and only eight incompletions and you know will the offense be able to put enough put the ball in the end zone enough times to make it into a shootout in in that way. So um yeah I think that this is going to be a lot closer than I initially thought um but I I I really I don't want to say I don't see southern Utah winning it but it's gonna still just be a difficult situation for them to win it.

SPEAKER_03 34:36

Yeah and on the road especially you know it maybe if things were different somehow but that's not how it works for these kind of games. So yeah I'm interested to see you know Colorado State should stop their run um at through two games they have 627 rushing yards uh total so this should be the game we see you know a team figure out how to stop uh Will Burns but you know if they don't it could be uh a big season changing moment and Will Burns could have that moment of that uh big sky player of the year and start climbing those rankings. This is going to quick hit the rest of the games and we'll get to our pick section here. Uh Weber State will be going to Colorado uh it's gonna be their third straight road game for air care to his start for the Wildcats. Colorado won last week on a missed field goal from Georgia Tech. So they've got some momentum coming back to Folsom Field. That's gonna be a fun one to watch uh if Weber State can keep that close early because uh Colorado has a has a lot of transfers. If they have a couple turnovers early you never know and with being an underdog on the road it's gonna be an uphill battle. Northern Colorado's playing at Wyoming as we just talked about with Wyoming um you know I'm just kind of wondering you know if Northern Colorado can run the ball more efficiently they've only had like I said earlier 55 net rushing yards versus South Dakota. Wyoming's gonna be a harder school so you know what can they do to learn from this game to bounce back from last week's rushing performance. Cal Poly uh at San Jose State Cal Poly's 2-0 for the first time since 2012 uh I really like the way Anthony Griegsby's been playing uh no interceptions last week really think that's why Central Washington didn't get that upset win because central Washington had two turnovers themselves. But yeah can Greeksby's offense travel that's really what I wrote down a really sneaky port FCS test incarnate word goes to northern Arizona uh I think if northern Arizona Northern Arizona loses uh you know I might be dropping them from that top five of the big sky I was really high on them to start the year um because I thought you know they didn't have the year they thought they would last year with Ty Pennington. North Dakota goes uh to Portland State Portland State's 0-2 to start the season you know it was the use still the same question was that first half of the UC Davis obtainable can they do something like that again they're gonna get a chance at home and overall just very excited to uh see another FCS matchup there. Now in the moment everyone's been waiting for uh love our pick segment uh if you didn't know below in the description you can make your pick selections with us and tally it each week uh the rankings right now we have uh John another great week he goes 17 for 19 so far uh mark and mike are tied at 16 for 19 for two weeks and Fritz and I are at 15 for 19. But first I just wanted to say thank you to Mountain Pass Staves and Coins for sponsoring this segment. 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 burna launchers.

SPEAKER_04 37:37

They have the products and expertise to help protect what matters most visit mountain pass safes and coins on highway two east in cows bell john I will shut up and let you take your picks alrighty well I'll start it off with an easy one with Montana over Utah Tech. I don't think the girls will have any issues um I do think Colorado will beat Weaver State although Colorado looked like a mess last week we'll see if maybe that lingers over to this week uh although Georgia Tech's a little different opponent than Weber State um I'm gonna pick South Dakota over eastern Washington I I think that we've kind of gone this far without mentioning Charles Pierre as well um another great back for South Dakota who got some good reps against uh northern Colorado um SMU is going to win over UC Davis I don't think the short rest is going to play that big of an effect I'm gonna pick Wyoming over Northern Colorado uh I'm gonna take Lamar over Idaho uh NAU over incarnate word both of those last two were tight ones for me in looking at it but uh think that they could go either way but that's how I'm gonna roll with it. Um Idaho State will not have any issues with the trap game. I'm gonna take Colorado State over southern Utah but I like I mentioned earlier I think that one will be close.

SPEAKER_00 38:54

Uh San Jose State beats Cal Poly North Dakota over Portland State and finally I'm gonna take the Bobcats over their former coach and we will go over to Mark okay there's a lot of good games this week a you can make a lot of cases for the visiting team winning or at least making it close but I went with mostly the home teams just just because they're at home mostly um the first game Montana might take them over Utah Tech anywhere but Montana will beat them um I think weaver state will probably play pretty well at Colorado but Colorado will win um Eastern I was impressed that they finally stopped somebody in the second half and Nate Bell has shown that he can pass as well he was kind of a runner that kind of threw but he he he showed himself to be I mean not quite Eric Berrier but you know at least he was a dual threat and so that that that made eastern's offense a lot better but I'm gonna take South Dakota to win I think SMU um unless there's another power outage or some other problem they should be able to beat UC Davis Wyoming over northern Colorado if they don't beat them the Cowboys are must be really bad. I'm gonna take Idaho to to win at home um northern Arizona to edge incarnate word um fritzes bangles to beat San Diego um Colorado State and this should be a this could be a really good game too and sometimes Colorado State kind of messes up on some of these games they should win but I think Colorado State should beat southern Utah San Jose State over Cal Poly I think North Dakota State's gonna roll into Hillsboro and beat Portland State and the last game Montana State at Nevada it's kind of funny that Fritz um talked about this a little bit um apparently reached out Nevada reached out to Montana earlier about playing them a couple years ago and and Montana uh wanted at least 650 Montana State took 400 000 to come down there I don't I don't see where choke want I really don't think choke would have really wanted to play Montana State he had nothing to to gain if he beats him well he should he's at an FBS school now and if he loses it's like you know I think I think he I think he he said he wanted to play the Grizz so that said I'm gonna I'm gonna take Montana to to beat Nevada in a really in a good game.

SPEAKER_03 41:35

I'm really glad you I totally forgot about that was uh a quite a Twitter discussion today uh Fritz maybe you can fill in a little bit on that situation.

SPEAKER_01 41:44

Yeah well Jeff Chote who was uh uh I don't know if you guys knew this is a little intense that's how he started off his press conference yesterday and one of the statements he said was that he really wanted to play Montana uh this weekend and they uh they showed no interest and if they deny it they're lying well then Kent Haslam who's been the athletic director for Montana for quite a while produced a letter that the uh exchange of emails that happened in 2024 where Nevada said we're interested are you and Ryan Martin who I've known for quite a while replied yes we're interested we just can't do it in 2026 or 2027 and they included what they would expect as far as a a guarantee because that's how much money they make when they have a home game you know they the you know Washington Grizzly fills up every time and it's uh they gotta make up that money somehow if they go on the road uh for a money game it's not a for a non-conference game so I you know show it's kind of right when he says they weren't interested but he got a qualified saying they couldn't have done it this year or next year. So and with that can I do my picks? Go ahead. Okay. Well I'm I I'm gonna regret this I think but I'm gonna pick MSU I think I think the Wolf ran for 325 last week so I could be wrong about that but uh that's one of the few road games I picked road road wins um I'll pick the Grizz over uh Utah Tech um South Dakota over Eastern um Idaho State over San Diego uh Wyoming on over uh northern Colorado I'll pick Colorado over weaver I'll take Idaho over Lamar I'll take any you over incarnate Word that's a top one I think San Jose State's playing pretty good football I think so um they'll take care of Cal Poly Southern Methodist is a uh legit top 25 team so they're my pick to take down Davis um and then I got two road two more roadwinds um every time I think about Colorado State now I think about a north of Colorado should have beat him a year ago and kind of got robbed.

SPEAKER_02 43:58

And so I'm gonna pick Southern Utah to go into uh Fort Collins and win and I'll take uh North Dakota over Portland State Love it Fritz love those picks especially southern Utah I'm excited to watch that one Mike floor is yours yeah absolutely so uh I got South Dakota over eastern Washington um Montana over Utah Tech Idaho over Lamar, SMU over UC Davis, Colorado over Weaver State, Incarnate Word over Northern Arizona, Wyoming over Northern Colorado, Idaho State with the win, Colorado State with the win, San Jose State takes care of Cal Poly. I'm gonna go with a little bit of a gutsy prediction. I'm gonna say Portland State upsets North Dakota. And Montana State upsets Nevada.

SPEAKER_03 44:49

I love it. We've all got picks in here. I forgot to mention if you didn't hear it, uh John took Lamar over uh Idaho. So we have each one of us with a fun selection. Uh really excited for this week. Get into my picks here. Montana over Utah Tech easily. Excited to see a couple second and third stringers uh for the Grizz, see how they do. Gonna take Juju Lewis in Colorado over Eric Kerr and the Wildcats. Too much uh talent, I think, for the Buffs compared to Weber's team. But if things get interesting in the beginning, we'll see how that one goes. Eastern Washington over South Dakota. You know, I'm I'm buying what I saw last week from the Eagles, and I'm eliminating my thought process from week one. So I'm hoping uh Eastern can get it done. SMU over UC Davis. I think that's pretty obvious one. Uh, I'm gonna go Wyoming over Northern Colorado. As we said, Northern Colorado should have beat uh Colorado State last year, so maybe they can get that revenge uh this year, time around uh in that conference. And then we're gonna go Idaho over Lamar. I think the Vandals finally get in the win column. Northern Arizona over incarnate word. I like the Lumberjacks getting back home, taking care of business. Idaho State over San Diego. Uh it's hard to not keep picking, excuse me. It's hard to not keep picking the Bengals, uh, keep taking care of business. I'm gonna go Colorado State over Southern Utah. I think this could be interesting early, as we said, but Colorado State pulls away. San Jose State over Cal Poly, but I'm gonna put this on the fun game alert. If Anthony Griggsby can be an electric, like we saw in week zero against Idaho, I think this could be a fun game, but gotta take San Jose State. I'm gonna take Portland State as well over North Dakota. I thought I was gonna be the only one, but I am not. But that's gonna be my upset pick of the week. I think that week zero games also hopefully comes back out for the bikes. And finally, I'm gonna be the one that takes Nevada over Montana State. I think as an FBS school, being the underdog with Cho in the building, somehow still pissing off Grizz fans, too. Um, that's just gonna be a really fun matchup. I think Chote's gonna have his players ready for this one. Uh, it's gonna be quite an interesting, uh not decision, but it's gonna be interesting to see what happens if Nevada loses this game to Coach Chote. That's a game that really I know Montana State's a defending champion in the FCS, but this is a game that you're expected to win as an FBS school. Last thing I wanted to say, I wanted to shout out uh one of our YouTube commenters, uh, at average outdoor man. Uh he called the Idaho State upset last week. Uh, also thought he said it was interesting. Uh he was a student teacher at Idaho, and he was very impressed uh with the athletes there when he coached there. So that was a cool little bit to add about the big sky. And uh he even said he wanted Idaho to beat Cal Poly, even though he's not a Vandals fan, because he likes when Idaho schools uh win no matter what, because then it's better for the state. But that's gonna be all the time we have today for Big Sky Now. Please leave any comments, questions, and please check out that pick segment we have below. You can click the link, join every week as we keep count of how we're doing. So far, John is in the league. I will see everyone next week on Big Sky Now, and thank you for tuning in to this episode.