Big Sky Predictions 9-23

[JALMOND]

As I mentioned before, I will be unavailable most of the week so I am posting my Big Sky picks early in order to get them out there. This week marks the start of conference play for all the Big Sky schools. Six games on tap involving all 12 teams, and each one is rather intriguing. It is going to be tough to be perfect this week but I sure could use a perfect week. I am currently 31-5. Here are the schedule of games this week and my attempt at perfection.

CP at PSU---Last week the Mustangs played a team not many had heard of before and they were gracious to let that opponent stick around for a half. On the other hand, the Vikings played a team not many had heard of before and demolished them. How does that translate here?...PSU 35, CP 21.

EWU at UCD---Not much was expected from the Eagles this season, yet they set up a tough schedule and looked good against 2 FCS teams and one FBS team. A lot was expected of the Aggies and they have been kind of holding their own and not making much noise. Is it time?...EWU 26, UCD 22.

UM at NAU---The Grizzlies have barely broken a sweat as they've gone 3-0 to start, and kept the games interesting throughout. The Lumberjacks have gone 0-3 to start and have dug themselves holes, then tried to make come back and make the games interesting. Can they do that here?...UM 40, NAU 20.

MSU at WSU---The Bobcats only have one loss and that was to the top team in all of FCS. They've looked sharp against other FCS opponents, albeit at home. The Wildcats looked strong against DII and the FCS, and was OK against the FBS. Another great matchup here...MSU 21, WSU 17.

UNC at ISU---The Bears played two games against the Southland and lost, and then played the FBS and looked better in that game. The Bengals looked good against the Mountain West, then didn't look so hot against the FCS last week. One of these teams will be 1-0 at the end...ISU 31, UNC 27.

SAC at UI---Tale of the Tape. Hornets have a win over the FBS Pac-12, Vandals have a win over FBS Mountain West. Hornets have two wins over the Southland, Vandals have one. Vandals could have had a win over the Pac-12 but could not get it. Who wins this? The home team...UI 37, SAC 35.

[bonarae]

Viks
UC Davis - toss-up
Griz
Montana State
ISU orange
Vandals - toss-up perhaps?

[THE DANIMAL]

Last Week Record 10-2 Overall Record 33-3

Portland St. 31 Cal Poly 28
UC Davis 35 EWU 33 (Going with the home team)
Montana 42 NAU 10
MSU 35 Weber St. 20
Idaho St. 30 UNC 21
Idaho 38 Sac St. 35 (Going with the home team)

[wapiti]

CP 17 at 27 PSU--- The Vikings impressed me more in the OOC games and they are the home team as well.

EWU 24 at 32 UCD--- Davis is hosting and probably has slightly better talent, but EWU is showing they are improved over last year.

UM 38 at 14 NAU--- They each have a common opponent in Utah Tech. Look at those results and the prediction here is an easy one to make.

MSU 25 at 17 WSU---The Bobcats will have their hands full with this game. Should be a good one. I see the Bobcats as having more depth being the difference maker.

UNC 14 at 24 ISU---How many fans are going to want to watch this game?

SAC 27 at 35 UI---This should be a whale of a game. I see the Vandals home field advantage being the difference maker. This one may attract Vandal fans out of the woodwork. If there was voting for game of the week, this one would win it.

[MSUBobcat]

CP 17 at 27 PSU--- The Vikings impressed me more in the OOC games and they are the home team as well.

EWU 24 at 32 UCD--- Davis is hosting and probably has slightly better talent, but EWU is showing they are improved over last year.

UM 38 at 14 NAU--- They each have a common opponent in Utah Tech. Look at those results and the prediction here is an easy one to make.

MSU 25 at 17 WSU---The Bobcats will have their hands full with this game. Should be a good one. I see the Bobcats as having more depth being the difference maker.

UNC 14 at 24 ISU---How many fans are going to want to watch this game?

SAC 27 at 35 UI---This should be a whale of a game. I see the Vandals home field advantage being the difference maker. This one may attract Vandal fans out of the woodwork. If there was voting for game of the week, this one would win it.

Does ISU have any fans? If so, this is the one to come out for. Most likely the only chance to get a W all year. Hilariously, ISU's own box score showed the attendance for the UNI game as..... ONE. Somebody's mom was in town, probably.

[SeattleCat]

Does ISU have any fans? If so, this is the one to come out for. Most likely the only chance to get a W all year. Hilariously, ISU's own box score showed the attendance for the UNI game as..... ONE. Somebody's mom was in town, probably.
#SELLOUT

[bobcathpdevil56]

BUMP.

Big week in the Big Sky!!!

[FUBeAR]

FUBeAR predicts whichever team Montana defeats this week will have been last year's and will be next year's Super Bowl Champions.

[uofmman1122]

FUBeAR predicts whichever team Montana defeats this week will have been last year's and will be next year's Super Bowl Champions.
Looks like you're still upset that Ferris State would beat Furman and Mercer.

My condolences.

[THE DANIMAL]

Looks like you're still upset that Ferris State would beat Furman and Mercer.

My condolences.

xlolxxlolx

[FUBeAR]

Ferris State would beat Furman and Mercer.
Oh yeah…yeah…well…well…FUBeAR’s Dad would beat up your Dad. So there!

[The Cats]

Portland St.
UC Davis
Montana
MSU
Idaho St.
Idaho

[mvemjsunpx]

Cal Poly 27-38 Portlol St. — Can the Viks return the "lol" curse they inherited from Cal Poly at the end of last season?

EWU 28-34 Davis — I guess we'll find out if Week 1 was a better measure of these two teams, or if the last two weeks were more accurate

Sac State 31-38 Idaho — Sac has won 22 straight regular-season games, but getting #23 against this Vandal team in the Kibbie Dome is a tough ask

NoCo 20-28 Idaho St. — The Holt renovations should be good enough for a win against the punchless Bears, at least

Montana St. 23-20 Weber — The Cats are without Mellott, but Weber's passing game has been anemic thus far

Montana 41-17 NAU — The 'Jacks can't possibly be as awful as they looked last week… right? xnutsx

[MSUBobcat]

Poly 13 @ Portland State 35 - Poly is just bad. Down 13 to whatever Lincoln is on 2 occasions before the defense finally woke up?! Jebus.
Sac St 20 @ Idaho 24 - FCS GOTW. Giving the home team the slight edge, but a Sac win would be far from an upset.
UM 34 @ NAU 17 - NAU lost to a team that got thumped by Montana. Only thing keeping it this close is playing at Walkup, which is always hard for conference foes.
MSU 24 @ BBQ 17 - I'm expecting a physical game against the Grills, with the Bobcats holding Bankston down just enough to come away with a quality road win. For the degenerate gamblers out there, Sports Bet MT has the over/under at 65.5, which seems very high to me.
EWU 30 @ UC-Davis 38 - EWU has been a bit of a surprise. If this was on the horrendous turf in Cheney, I might give them the slight edge. But it's in Davis.
https://postimg.cc/WtznGtmh
NoCo 20 @ ISU-o 31 - The game no one wants to see. Is it possible they have less attendance than the game against UNI (1)?
https://i.postimg.cc/L4BbM1nB/Capture.jpg

[mvemjsunpx]

NoCo 20 @ ISU-o 31 - The game no one wants to see. Is it possible they have less attendance than the game against UNI (1)?
https://i.postimg.cc/L4BbM1nB/Capture.jpg



They finally finished cleaning that place up. You think they're gonna allow people back in just to get it dirty again? Come on, now… xsmiley_wix

[JALMOND]

As I mentioned before, I will be unavailable most of the week so I am posting my Big Sky picks early in order to get them out there. This week marks the start of conference play for all the Big Sky schools. Six games on tap involving all 12 teams, and each one is rather intriguing. It is going to be tough to be perfect this week but I sure could use a perfect week. I am currently 31-5. Here are the schedule of games this week and my attempt at perfection.

CP at PSU---Last week the Mustangs played a team not many had heard of before and they were gracious to let that opponent stick around for a half. On the other hand, the Vikings played a team not many had heard of before and demolished them. How does that translate here?...PSU 35, CP 21.

EWU at UCD---Not much was expected from the Eagles this season, yet they set up a tough schedule and looked good against 2 FCS teams and one FBS team. A lot was expected of the Aggies and they have been kind of holding their own and not making much noise. Is it time?...EWU 26, UCD 22.

UM at NAU---The Grizzlies have barely broken a sweat as they've gone 3-0 to start, and kept the games interesting throughout. The Lumberjacks have gone 0-3 to start and have dug themselves holes, then tried to make come back and make the games interesting. Can they do that here?...UM 40, NAU 20.

MSU at WSU---The Bobcats only have one loss and that was to the top team in all of FCS. They've looked sharp against other FCS opponents, albeit at home. The Wildcats looked strong against DII and the FCS, and was OK against the FBS. Another great matchup here...MSU 21, WSU 17.

UNC at ISU---The Bears played two games against the Southland and lost, and then played the FBS and looked better in that game. The Bengals looked good against the Mountain West, then didn't look so hot against the FCS last week. One of these teams will be 1-0 at the end...ISU 31, UNC 27.

SAC at UI---Tale of the Tape. Hornets have a win over the FBS Pac-12, Vandals have a win over FBS Mountain West. Hornets have two wins over the Southland, Vandals have one. Vandals could have had a win over the Pac-12 but could not get it. Who wins this? The home team...UI 37, SAC 35.

5-1 this week, missed the Grizzlies/Jacks game (I think everyone did). 36-6 overall.

[BlueGoldAg]

EWU at UCD---Not much was expected from the Eagles this season, yet they set up a tough schedule and looked good against 2 FCS teams and one FBS team. A lot was expected of the Aggies and they have been kind of holding their own and not making much noise. Is it time?...EWU 26, UCD 22.

You nailed that prediction, JALMOND. This was a very disappointing loss for the Aggies in front of 14,742 which is a huge crowd for us. EWU took advantage of 3 Aggie TO's and a late blocked FG to continue their curse over the Aggies who have never beaten them.

EWU is better than a lot of people give them credit for. They took Fresno State to 2OT on the road after Fresno had beaten Purdue on the road and then they had 530 yards in their impressive win over SE Louisiana. That said, the Aggie defense held them to 319 yards and the Aggie offense gained 435 yards. However, the Aggies shot themselves in the foot with 2 early TO's giving EWU 2 very short field opportunities leading to 10 points. The Aggies have had trouble with TO's this year and the 3 last night cost them the game.

Unfortunately, the Aggies have had a lot of early season injuries also and two more starters went down last night. We have now lost our first 2 RB's including Lan Larison who had 256 yards in 22 carries before he went out of the game with a right knee injury late in the third quarter. He was on pace to break the Aggie, all-time, single game rushing record of 301 yards before he was injured. We are a middle of the pack Big Sky team now considering all the injuries we have and our inability to take care of the ball.

[dudeitsaid]

You nailed that prediction, JALMOND. This was a very disappointing loss for the Aggies in front of 14,742 which is a huge crowd for us. EWU took advantage of 3 Aggie TO's and a late blocked FG to continue their curse over the Aggies who have never beaten them.

EWU is better than a lot of people give them credit for. They took Fresno State to 2OT on the road after Fresno had beaten Purdue on the road and then they had 530 yards in their impressive win over SE Louisiana. That said, the Aggie defense held them to 319 yards and the Aggie offense gained 435 yards. However, the Aggies shot themselves in the foot with 2 early TO's giving EWU 2 very short field opportunities leading to 10 points. The Aggies have had trouble with TO's this year and the 3 last night cost them the game.

Unfortunately, the Aggies have had a lot of early season injuries also and two more starters went down last night. We have now lost our first 2 RB's including Lan Larison who had 256 yards in 22 carries before he went out of the game with a right knee injury late in the third quarter. He was on pace to break the Aggie, all-time, single game rushing record of 301 yards before he was injured. We are a middle of the pack Big Sky team now considering all the injuries we have and our inability to take care of the ball.

Great comments. I was really impressed with the fan turnout for the Aggies. And, I personally believe that had Larison not been injured, you guys would've won. EWU had no answer for him. He was a dominating force. Hope he's ok, he's a baller!

[BlueGoldAg]

Great comments. I was really impressed with the fan turnout for the Aggies. And, I personally believe that had Larison not been injured, you guys would've won. EWU had no answer for him. He was a dominating force. Hope he's ok, he's a baller!

Thanks. I hope you had an enjoyable time in Davis. The Aggie Stadium is a very nice facility and the athletics department is doing a great job to make it very fan friendly and fun to attend an Aggie game.

There's no word yet on the injury to Lan Larison but it didn't look good after the trainers attended to him after he came out of the game. He had a big brace on his right leg and a huge ice pack wrapped around his right knee. He's a special talent. Teams know he carries our offense but they still have trouble stopping him. He's not the biggest TB at 6'0 and 199 pounds but he's very quick, has tremendous stamina and has a very high football IQ which is apparent when you see him hesitate, juke and pick his spots before exploding through the hole. He apparently has the strongest arm on the team also according to Coach Hawkins. He was a state champion steer wrestler in Idaho so maybe that's where he gets his strength!

[MSUBobcat]

Thanks. I hope you had an enjoyable time in Davis. The Aggie Stadium is a very nice facility and the athletics department is doing a great job to make it very fan friendly and fun to attend an Aggie game.

There's no word yet on the injury to Lan Larison but it didn't look good after the trainers attended to him after he came out of the game. He had a big brace on his right leg and a huge ice pack wrapped around his right knee. He's a special talent. Teams know he carries our offense but they still have trouble stopping him. He's not the biggest TB at 6'0 and 199 pounds but he's very quick, has tremendous stamina and has a very high football IQ which is apparent when you see him hesitate, juke and pick his spots before exploding through the hole. He apparently has the strongest arm on the team also according to Coach Hawkins. He was a state champion steer wrestler in Idaho so maybe that's where he gets his strength!

Not sure if they have a source or just going off the appearance of the brace/ice and the reaction of coaches/players, but the Sacramento Bee called it a potentially-season-ending-injury (https://www.sacbee.com/sports/college/article279696904.html). That would be a brutal blow to the Aggies, but CP should be a win w/o him, then the who-knows-what-you'll-get Griz come to Davis, followed by a game in Weber that no longer strikes fear in the opponent after last weekend. If he can come back in 5 weeks at Flagstaff (a House of Horrors, ask UM), great. Otherwise, it's 8 weeks til the Causeway Classic and a potential playoff bid. 3 easy wins without him, home against UM and PSU, away against WSU and NAU... Davis could still feasibly be 8-2 going into the last game even if he doesn't play. Even dropping one of the UM/Weber/NAU games puts them at 7-3, leaving them in control of their own destiny for a playoff berth.