Big Sky Power Rankings 10-3

[JALMOND]

Well, better late than never, I guess. Personal issues going on prevented me from getting these out on time this week. Anyway, all home teams won last weekend, including Sacramento State over Montana State. This week, five conference games and Montana plays a non-conference game. Here are this week's power rankings (last week in parenthesis). All my opinion only.

1. Eastern Washington (1)---Last week beat UC-Davis at home 63-30, this week Northern Colorado at home---The Eagles took the game over early in the second half with their high flying offense.

2. Montana (3)---Last week beat Southern Utah at home 43-20, this week SWAC's Mississippi Valley State at home---The Grizzlies take a break from the conference grind for a non-conference tilt at home.

3. North Dakota (5)---Last week, beat Cal Poly 31-24, this week at Sacramento State---The Hawks rode a great all around performance to get back near the top. Can the good things continue on the road?

4. Cal Poly (2)---Last week lost at North Dakota 31-24, this week bye---The Mustangs take this week off to recover from the loss at North Dakota and another tough road game at Portland State.

5. Southern Utah (4)---Last week lost at Montana 43-20, this week UC-Davis at home---The Thunderbirds came up short in a tough place to play. Now they return home, hoping for better results.

6. Northern Colorado (8)---Last week beat Northern Arizona at home 21-18, this week at Eastern Washington---The Bears looked good against a team missing its quarterback. How will they do against one firing on all cylinders?

7. Portland State (9)---Last week beat Idaho State at home 45-20, this week at Weber State---The Vikings may have found a way to recover from the turnover bug. Just keep running the ball!

8. Northern Arizona (6)---Last week lost at Northern Colorado 21-18, this week at Montana State---The Lumberjacks have found life pretty rough without their quarterback, yet they still made the game last week interesting at the end.

9. Weber State (10)---Last week bye, this week Portland State at home---The Wildcats become the second of five teams to play Portland State a week after a bye. Will they follow Southern Utah's example?

10. Montana State (7)---Last week lost at Sacramento State 41-38, this week Northern Arizona at home---A serious case of What Happened last weekend for the Bobcats as they lost a game they had won. Now things get tough.

11. UC-Davis (11)---Last week lost at Eastern Washington 63-30, this week at Southern Utah---The Aggies actually hung with Eastern Washington for over a half. They will be looking for a more complete game this weekend.

12. Sacramento State (13)---Last week beat Montana State at home 41-38, this week North Dakota at home---The Hornets came back in the fourth quarter to steal one, but this week is tough.

13. Idaho State (12)---Last week lost at Portland State 45-20, this week bye---The Bengals looked totally lost last week until a couple scores late made the game look more respectful. A bye at a good time.

RECAP: 1-5 bunched together, 6-10 a step behind, 11 trying to keep up, 12 on its heels, 13 fading.

[tomq04]

I think you could argue 1-2 are bunched together, and 3-5 are a bit behind. None of those teams want to be playing EWU or Montana right now.

[slostang]

I think you could argue 1-2 are bunched together, and 3-5 are a bit behind. None of those teams want to be playing EWU or Montana right now.
Last I checked Cal Poly beat Montana two weeks ago so I would not say they are untouchable.

[Grizalltheway]

Last I checked Cal Poly beat Montana two weeks ago so I would not say they are untouchable.

I don't think he said they were? However when the offense and defense both show up like they did against SUU they're a pretty tough team to beat.

[wapiti]

As tomq mentioned I would change your recap.
1-2 at the top,
3 - 5 a half step back
6 - 9 a little bit further back
10 - 13 Start preparing for next year.

[F'N Hawks]

I don't think he said they were? However when the offense and defense both show up like they did against SUU they're a pretty tough team to beat.

SUU isn't Cal Poly. There is a reason they both showed up last week, at home.

Like the MSU media telling us the Cats finally found their QB cause he ran all over Sac State. He may have to actually throw one of these weeks, however.

[Grizalltheway]

SUU isn't Cal Poly. There is a reason they both showed up last week, at home.

Like the MSU media telling us the Cats finally found their QB cause he ran all over Sac State. He may have to actually throw one of these weeks, however.

Our defenses always struggle with the option, for whatever reason. And you can't blame the short fields Poly had due to turnovers by the offense on our defense.

[nevadagriz]

Poly is second best team in conference when healthy. Without prothroe or any other part of that 3 headed monster they are between 3-10.
When will their Fullback be back from injury?
As of today 1-2 are ahead of pack
3 half step back I would put poly 3 und 4
4-9 back
the rest meh

[nodak651]

Poly is second best team in conference when healthy. Without prothroe or any other part of that 3 headed monster they are between 3-10.
When will their Fullback be back from injury?
As of today 1-2 are ahead of pack
3 half step back I would put poly 3 und 4
4-9 back
the rest meh

How can you put Poly at 3 if you think they are so dependent on individual players? Injuries happen and college football is about depth.

[F'N Hawks]

How can you put Poly at 3 if you think they are so dependent on individual players? Injuries happen and college football is about depth.

If that is true UND is in TROUBLE. Studsrud goes down...F'd. Reyes does down....F'd. 1-2 more OL go down.....F'd.

[BadlandsGrizFan]

Poly is second best team in conference when healthy. Without prothroe or any other part of that 3 headed monster they are between 3-10.
When will their Fullback be back from injury?
As of today 1-2 are ahead of pack
3 half step back I would put poly 3 und 4
4-9 back
the rest meh


xlolx
xlolxxlolxxlolxxlolxxsmiley_wixxsmiley_wixxlolxxlo lx

[UNDBIZ]

It's weird that last year Poly averaged 390 rushing yards per game but only put up 150 on UND, and then this year Poly has averaged 360 yards rushing per game through its first 4 games but only 200 against UND. For some reason Poly keeps putting up duds against UND. I'm sure it's all because one player was injured though, their rushing yards aren't based on the style of offense or anything.

[Grizalltheway]

It's weird that last year Poly averaged 390 rushing yards per game but only put up 150 on UND, and then this year Poly has averaged 360 yards rushing per game through its first 4 games but only 200 against UND. For some reason Poly keeps putting up duds against UND. I'm sure it's all because one player was injured though, their rushing yards aren't based on the style of offense or anything.

They had 274 against us with Protheroe healthy. They definitely burned us on a few long passes, though.

[nevadagriz]

It's weird that last year Poly averaged 390 rushing yards per game but only put up 150 on UND, and then this year Poly has averaged 360 yards rushing per game through its first 4 games but only 200 against UND. For some reason Poly keeps putting up duds against UND. I'm sure it's all because one player was injured though, their rushing yards aren't based on the style of offense or anything.
No where did anyone say that you guys did not do a good job shutting the TO down. You did, you won and all the weightroom stuff is paying off.
Would you not agree that Protheroe is a major weapon that makes them better?? Do you think they throw the ball as much as they did against UND if he is healthy? UND probably would have won even if he played.
Montana always struggles with option teams why I don't know.
On a side note had a buddy call to express concern about Bsu playing NMSU and their damn TO friday night. Asked my opinion I told him don't ask I hate that offense/

[UNDBIZ]

They had 274 against us with Protheroe healthy. They definitely burned us on a few long passes, though.

And they'll put up 325+ against everybody left on their schedule, regardless of whether Protheroe plays or not. Running the ball is what they do.

[BadlandsGrizFan]

And they'll put up 325+ against everybody left on their schedule, regardless of whether Protheroe plays or not. Running the ball is what they do.

And they will manage to lose 3-4 of those games.

[F'N Hawks]

They had 274 against us with Protheroe healthy. They definitely burned us on a few long passes, though.

Us, too. Graves is good. He completely changes the dynamic of that offense. Not as good on the ground as Chris Brown but 50x better through the air.

[abc123]

Poly is good because their offense is tough to stop. UND runs a defense that was originally built to specifically to stop the option and because of that, UND will always be a tougher match-up for CP than most other teams in the Big Sky. There has been a comments about how Protheroe would have made a big difference but not much on the same line of thinking where UND still managed to be effective after losing their All-American RB on the second play of the game. UND got a ton of yards on the outside without him, using a RFr who didn't have a carry this season before this game and their up-the-middle bruiser. Pretty fair to say that Santiago would have been even more dangerous than those two, who combined for just short of 200 yards.