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JALMOND
October 8th, 2013, 11:43 PM
Weird things happening in the Big Sky so far. Near the top is both Sacramento State and UC-Davis who have put both of their poor starts behind them and started off the conference slate perfect. Now the road gets a bit tough for both of them. Can they keep going? Here are this week's power rankings (last week in parenthesis). All are my opinion only. This should make for some great discussion.

1. Eastern Washington (1)---The Eagles kept up their conference supremacy with a big win at home over Weber State. They do seem to be on quite the roll. This week they head east to the struggling North Dakota team to try to continue and not lose their focus.

2. Montana (2)---The Grizzlies rebounded from their poor performance against Northern Arizona with a resounding win at home over mistake prone Portland State. Hopefully they can keep on pace for the conference title. This weekend they try to keep on winning as they head out to UC-Davis.

3. Montana State (3)---The Bobcats got past trouble masked as Northern Arizona last week. Clearly the return of their star quarterback has put them back in position for a conference run. This week they get to relax and prepare for the run.

4. Northern Arizona (5)---The Lumberjacks followed up their awesome performance at home against Montana with a rather dismal showing at Montana State. Just when they thought they were back ready to contend, they fall short. They get a chance this weekend to get back with a trip to Sacramento State.

5. Cal Poly (4)---The Mustangs were anxious for a breather from their tough schedule that they had the Ivy League's own Yale team coming to town. Only problem was that Yale proved to be no pushover and the Mustangs went down. They make a return to conference play this weekend, welcoming Weber State to town.

6. Portland State (6)---The Vikings have shown a penchant for playing with anyone, yet they can't seem to get out of their own way. Montana took advantage of these miscues and the Vikings fell big. This weekend they head out to Southern Utah.

7. Sacramento State (9)---The Hornets handled Northern Colorado for their second conference win in as many tries and seem to be on a good roll. Whether they can keep on winning is the question. This weekend, they bring on Northern Arizona to their home field.

8. UC-Davis (10)---The Aggies have taken what was supposed to be a rebuilding year and quickly turned their season around. Last week they put away Southern Utah early. This weekend they will need the same as Montana comes in to town.

9. North Dakota (8)---This was supposed to be the year that the former Sioux was to contend for the title, however they needed to withstand Idaho State last weekend. They will need a stronger performance this weekend as they welcome Eastern Washington to their dome.

10. Southern Utah (7)---The Thunderbirds had a good year going until they could not do anything against UC-Davis last weekend. The will need to right the ship and return to contending. This week they play Portland State for a chance to get back to relevancy.

11. Northern Colorado (11)---The Bears hoped this year would finally be their breakthrough year, however this season has not gone well culminating in their last loss to Sacramento State. They will need to jumpstart their season this weekend as they visit Idaho State.

12. Weber State (12)---This was supposed to be a rebuilding year but a win in the first game gave the Wildcats hope. Now after a lopsided loss to Eastern Washington last weekend, the Wildcats are slowly losing hope. This weekend offers little hope to recover as they head out to Cal Poly.

13. Idaho State (13)---The Bengals came close to a win last weekend at home against North Dakota, but still came up short. They get another shot this weekend as they entertain struggling Northern Colorado. One would think they would get a win somewhere.

RECAP: 1-3 out front, 4-10 in the middle, 11-13 bringing up the rear.
Walkon79
October 9th, 2013, 12:13 AM
Of COURSE I would flip/flop the Griz and Cats :)


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putter
October 9th, 2013, 12:15 AM
Nice write-up as always. Don't know if I put Montana ahead of MSU. The Griz strength was supposed to be the defense but they have been giving up yardage in chunks and you can't do that against teams like MSU and EWU.. Yards don't equal points but, IMO, against those two teams they will.
robsnotes4u
October 9th, 2013, 01:27 AM
Montana ahead of Montana State, and NAU? In a two week period NAU crushes Montana then MSU crushes NAU.
mvemjsunpx
October 9th, 2013, 02:10 AM
Montana ahead of Montana State, and NAU? In a two week period NAU crushes Montana then MSU crushes NAU.

MSU also lost to SFA, who lost to Weber & Prairie View. And NAU hasn't looked too good aside from the Montana win (beat UCD with less than 200 yards, barely beat SoDak).
mvemjsunpx
October 9th, 2013, 02:12 AM
Nice write-up as always. Don't know if I put Montana ahead of MSU. The Griz strength was supposed to be the defense but they have been giving up yardage in chunks and you can't do that against teams like MSU and EWU.. Yards don't equal points but, IMO, against those two teams they will.

Everybody's gonna give up chunks of yards to Portland State. They probably have the most raw talent of any offense in the league if not all of FCS.

The Viks also have 17 total drop-downs on their roster.
robsnotes4u
October 9th, 2013, 09:45 AM
MSU also lost to SFA, who lost to Weber & Prairie View. And NAU hasn't looked too good aside from the Montana win (beat UCD with less than 200 yards, barely beat SoDak).

Without their QB, and Montana played App State, UND, OK panhandle which are all pathetic teams.

Like opponents

UND. MSU larger point differential. MSU qb plays only a half and UM plays into 4th quarter. I had the luxury of being at both games, and no comparison.
NAU. MSU crushes, UM loses.

Just my opinion
F'N Hawks
October 9th, 2013, 10:05 AM
9. North Dakota (8)---This was supposed to be the year that the former Sioux was to contend for the title, however they needed to withstand Idaho State last weekend. They will need a stronger performance this weekend as they welcome Eastern Washington to their dome.


Ummmm no. Nobody in north america thought UND was going to contend for the title. Oh, and slide them down a couple more spots. Beatdown is on the way....
Grizalltheway
October 9th, 2013, 10:15 AM
Without their QB, and Montana played App State, UND, OK panhandle which are all pathetic teams.

Like opponents

UND. MSU larger point differential. MSU qb plays only a half and UM plays into 4th quarter. I had the luxury of being at both games, and no comparison.
NAU. MSU crushes, UM loses.

Just my opinion

No comparison? The Griz put away the Sioux like 5 minutes into the game.
catbob
October 9th, 2013, 10:50 AM
I can't argue the Griz being ahead of the Cats right now. Our loss was much worse than UMs. But we did crush a team that easily beat UM, so there is that. You can make an argument for either being 2nd, but I agree that EWU is the top dog right now.

I also think it's 1-3, and then everybody else. NAU still has a chance, Poly needs to rebound, and don't look now but Sac is is 2-0 in conference.

Big Sky game of the week has to be NAU against Sac. NAU needs this to stay in the playoff hunt, and Sac needs it to keep their conference championship hope alive.
SochorField
October 9th, 2013, 02:44 PM
Thanks to the Portland-State fan who puts this together.
mvemjsunpx
October 9th, 2013, 07:57 PM
Without their QB…

Being without McGhee doesn't explain why the defense was so bad.

I actually think UM & MSU are pretty much equal right now (I had them right next to each other on my top-25 ballot). There's a good chance the Griz will be better in the end, though, because MSU has a history under Ash of peaking early & not really improving as the season goes on.
darell1976
October 9th, 2013, 08:04 PM
Ummmm no. Nobody in north america thought UND was going to contend for the title. Oh, and slide them down a couple more spots. Beatdown is on the way....

I think UND was going to contend for a playoff spot but agree no one thought we were going to contend for the title. Now UND will be lucky to contend for the .500 spot.
GoCats23
October 9th, 2013, 09:15 PM
Being without McGhee doesn't explain why the defense was so bad.

I actually think UM & MSU are pretty much equal right now (I had them right next to each other on my top-25 ballot). There's a good chance the Griz will be better in the end, though, because MSU has a history under Ash of peaking early & not really improving as the season goes on.

We vastly improved as the season went on last year.. We played pretty awful at the beginning of the year, barely beating teams we should have destroyed. We fixed our major turnover problems. We definitely peaked towards the end of the season, but it was back to the bottom by the second week of the playoffs.

I feel we have nowhere near peaked yet this season. Again, not playing particularly well this year, with our game against SFA and our pretty poor performance against DII Mesa State.
mvemjsunpx
October 10th, 2013, 12:10 AM
We vastly improved as the season went on last year.. We played pretty awful at the beginning of the year, barely beating teams we should have destroyed. We fixed our major turnover problems. We definitely peaked towards the end of the season, but it was back to the bottom by the second week of the playoffs.

I feel we have nowhere near peaked yet this season. Again, not playing particularly well this year, with our game against SFA and our pretty poor performance against DII Mesa State.

MSU failed to exceed 20 points in 4 of their last 5 games last year, so I'm not sure they really "peaked," at least on offense.
GoAgs72
October 10th, 2013, 12:39 AM
Thanks to the Portland-State fan who puts this together.

Ditto. I don't always agree but it's always interesting.
Bohcat
October 10th, 2013, 04:52 PM
I think their should be a second seperation of the Middle group 4-10. I think SUU, NDU, and Davis in their own group 8-10. Or dropping UND into the bringing up the rear group.

As far as the Griz & Cats 2 & 3, I think its a toss up right now, both teams have looked vulnerable and both have looked great, I think this debate will have to wait until November to be settled as long as they continue winning.
GoAgs72
October 10th, 2013, 06:56 PM
I think their should be a second seperation of the Middle group 4-10. I think SUU, NDU, and Davis in their own group 8-10. Or dropping UND into the bringing up the rear group.

As far as the Griz & Cats 2 & 3, I think its a toss up right now, both teams have looked vulnerable and both have looked great, I think this debate will have to wait until November to be settled as long as they continue winning.

I'm just happy to have joined the middle class.
WeAreNorthDakota
October 10th, 2013, 07:17 PM
Gotta love coming here to see two fanbases arguing over who put a bigger beating on us xbangx
Bohcat
October 11th, 2013, 04:30 PM
I'm just happy to have joined the middle class.

The lower middle class. But you would be at the top of it. The only team i think that is better than Davis that you played was NAU and you lost. sorry Ags. Knock off the griz tomorrow and you're upper middle class xthumbsupx
Who says capitalism is dead??
Walkon79
October 11th, 2013, 06:03 PM
Gotta love coming here to see two fanbases arguing over who put a bigger beating on us xbangx

:)