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JALMOND
September 10th, 2006, 04:02 PM
Here are the week 2 rankings of the Big Sky schools (open for discussion of course). Last week's ranking in parenthesis.

1. Montana (1)---Griz followed up their showing at Iowa with an expected win at home against South Dakota State. Maybe a little shaky in the beginning but still a win. Still the team to beat and an off week to prepare for conference play.

2. Portland State (3)---Eye opening performance to start conference play. Viking D still has not allowed a touchdown in the first two games. The gap between the Griz is closing. Vikings step back up to I-A big time playing Cal in Berkeley.

3. Weber State (6)---Defense played Cal Poly tough but no offense. How far can the defense carry the team? The gap is widening between the Wildcats and the top two. Maybe the offense can find itself this week against Southern Utah.

4. Northern Arizona (5)---Good performance the first half against Utah. Two games against I-A teams hard to figure how they will do against I-AA and the Big Sky. This week against Dixie College may also be difficult to assess where the Jacks will be.

5. Montana State (2)---1-1 is about where everyone had the Cats at the end of the first two weeks, but the win against Colorado and the loss to Chadron? With Davis coming to town, which Cat team will show (maybe the real Cat team is still locked in some frat house in Boulder)?

6. Eastern Washington (4)---Blowout at Morgantown pretty much expected and, with the results from the rest of the conference, maybe the Eagles will be fine. A hiccup against Central Washington this week won't do them any favors, though.

7. Idaho State (7)---A win against Fort Lewis showed promise. This weeks game at Idaho could get the Bengals on the right path.

8. Sacramento State (8)---An off week (actually an off week and a half) has the Hornets looking forward to their game at home against Cal Poly. Can they upset?

9. Northern Colorado (9)---A blowout at Portland to go with their season opening blowout against Davis. Next, a trip to Texas State? Who designed this schedule?

Right now, it looks like a two horse battle with the Griz and the Vikings. The next five (3-7) are bunched pretty much together with the Hornets a ways behind and the Bears further behind. One more round of non conference play before the season begins.

CatFan22
September 10th, 2006, 04:09 PM
Way wrong on putting NAU up ahead of MSU. And I really question your reasoning for putting WSU up there too. You say Weber has no offense, yet MSU displays that in both games they played, plus very good defense in the first game against a IA school. I think the Chadron game was a fluke and a giant wakeup call to the Cats, but putting two 0-2 teams ahead of MSU who is 1-1 is quite a stretch in my opinion. ISU should be ahead of WSU and NAU as well.

JALMOND
September 10th, 2006, 04:22 PM
Way wrong on putting NAU up ahead of MSU. And I really question your reasoning for putting WSU up there too. You say Weber has no offense, yet MSU displays that in both games they played, plus very good defense in the first game against a IA school. I think the Chadron game was a fluke and a giant wakeup call to the Cats, but putting two 0-2 teams ahead of MSU who is 1-1 is quite a stretch in my opinion. ISU should be ahead of WSU and NAU as well.

Fair opinion. In making the rankings, I thought about #3-7 a lot. I'd say all five could be lumped together right now. Cats could clear a lot of it up with a win against a good Davis team this week and show that the team that played Colorado is the real Cat team this year. A good showing by the Bengals against what I think is still a beatable I-A team in Idaho could also move them up as well. Weber had a strong game against Cal Poly (a top 10 team in all the polls) and any offense could have made it more interesting. Anyone could make a strong case where #3-7 should be as you showed.

CatFan22
September 10th, 2006, 04:34 PM
Fair opinion. In making the rankings, I thought about #3-7 a lot. I'd say all five could be lumped together right now. Cats could clear a lot of it up with a win against a good Davis team this week and show that the team that played Colorado is the real Cat team this year. A good showing by the Bengals against what I think is still a beatable I-A team in Idaho could also move them up as well. Weber had a strong game against Cal Poly (a top 10 team in all the polls) and any offense could have made it more interesting. Anyone could make a strong case where #3-7 should be as you showed.

Fair enough justification. I agree to a certain extent on #3-7, but I think there is a big disparity between Sac, UNC, EWU, NAU and then the rest of the league.

griz37
September 10th, 2006, 04:38 PM
Right now my picks would look like this.
1. Portland St.
2. Montana
3. Montana St.
4. Northern Arizona
5. Idaho St.
6. Weber St.
7. Eastern Washington
8. Sac St.
9. UNC

DaGriz
September 10th, 2006, 04:40 PM
I wouldn't put Weber that far up. I don't think they have scored a point yet this year. I would actually put ISU at #3. As far as NAU and EWU, I think they have to go to #5 and #6. They have played tough I-A games but they are still 0-2 and until they play a I-AA school it's going to be hard to get a read on them. I think the Cats are at #4. I think their loss was a fluke but they do this every year. They win the tough games and lose or almost lose the easy ones. They will bounce back but until they do I put them at #4. I'm a homer Griz fan or I would put PSU at #1. Crazy what they are doing.

CatFan22
September 10th, 2006, 05:04 PM
Right now my picks would look like this.
1. Portland St.
2. Montana
3. Montana St.
4. Northern Arizona
5. Idaho St.
6. Weber St.
7. Eastern Washington
8. Sac St.
9. UNC

I would have to say the same except I would switch ISU and NAU around.

MylesKnight
September 10th, 2006, 05:28 PM
What are the BSC fans opinions on UNC and their ability to compete in this league down the road? I know the same struggles that exist on the gridiron right now more than likely will take place in Men's Hoops as well, at least in the short term.

Also, any MSU'ers remember OL Brent Solheim? Old High School Teammate of mine.

Cheers!

JALMOND
September 10th, 2006, 05:38 PM
What are the BSC fans opinions on UNC and their ability to compete in this league down the road? I know the same struggles that exist on the gridiron right now more than likely will take place in Men's Hoops as well, at least in the short term.

Also, any MSU'ers remember OL Brent Solheim? Old High School Teammate of mine.

Cheers!

Give the Bears a few years to work out the growing pains. Following PSU since they moved from DII to the Big Sky, I've seen big time losses like this past weekend. Not many teams can rebound from four early turnovers like what UNC had. Take those away and the score is actually respectable. You'll take the lumps early, but you are in a prime recruiting spot (Denver area). My opinion, you'll like what you see in 4-5 years. Hang in there.

elkmcc
September 10th, 2006, 05:47 PM
1. Montana (1)---Griz followed up their showing at Iowa with an expected win at home against South Dakota State. Maybe a little shaky in the beginning but still a win.

A little shaky but still a win? I guess it should have been 77-7. Thanks for the vote of confidence. :bang:

CatFan22
September 10th, 2006, 05:50 PM
A little shaky but still a win? I guess it should have been 77-7. Thanks for the vote of confidence. :bang:

In the beginning is what he said.

JALMOND
September 10th, 2006, 06:00 PM
A little shaky but still a win? I guess it should have been 77-7. Thanks for the vote of confidence. :bang:

Go back and read the SDSU/Montana game thread. Seemed like there were a few nervous Griz fans in the first quarter. Griz got their act together and put the Jackrabbits away at the end.

Almost gave me a heart attack, anyway.

elkmcc
September 10th, 2006, 07:46 PM
Go back and read the SDSU/Montana game thread. Seemed like there were a few nervous Griz fans in the first quarter. Griz got their act together and put the Jackrabbits away at the end.

Almost gave me a heart attack, anyway.

I remembered the game against the Jacks last year and I really expected them to challenge the Griz this year too. Kardoes is elusive and tough and their punter is one of the best, period.

You are right. I guess I was a little dissapointed that the Griz D allowed SDSU to drive and score on its first possession and that did make me a little nervous but it was obvious Montana was going to have its way with the Jacks pretty early in the game. I read somewhere that 20 different defensive players were credited with at least one tackle for the Griz Saturday. Lots of sustitutions on both sides of the ball and the Jackes never had an answer for any of them.

I really like SDSU. Tough, gutsy and talented. They will end up ruining someones season and I'm glad it wasn't the Griz'.

BigSkyFan
September 10th, 2006, 09:15 PM
Fair enough justification. I agree to a certain extent on #3-7, but I think there is a big disparity between Sac, UNC, EWU, NAU and then the rest of the league.

I agree interesting move

Mike Johnson
September 10th, 2006, 10:20 PM
I wouldn't put Weber that far up. I don't think they have scored a point yet this year. I would actually put ISU at #3.

Not many, that is. There were two field goals at Colorado State.

If I understand the logic of the second sentence, a massacre at UNLV (10-54) worse than Weber State took at Colorado State (6-30) or against Cal Poly (0-17), coupled with a blowout of a weak Division II school (48-12), puts a team ahead. By this logic, Southern Utah, if it were in the conference, should be ranked ahead of both, after all it has blown out two "weak" lower division opponents by a combined score of 89-3 (actually one is a top 10 NAIA team and the other about the same as Fort Lewis).

In the Cal Poly game, Weber State turned the ball over on its own one yard line on its first offensive play, which Cal Poly coverted. Cal Poly's other touchdown was an interception run back for a score. The defense didn't lose this game, but the offense did. Weber's defense looked very similar to Cal Poly's.

This week we will see whether getting blown out twice by "higher opposition" is inferior to blowing out "lessor opposition" twice when Weber State and Southern Utah play this week.

For the record, I agree that 3-7 right now in the Big Sky are all very close and it will be interesting to see how it breaks out as the season progresses.

DaGriz
September 10th, 2006, 10:48 PM
Not many, that is. There were two field goals at Colorado State.

If I understand the logic of the second sentence, a massacre at UNLV (10-54) worse than Weber State took at Colorado State (6-30) or against Cal Poly (0-17), coupled with a blowout of a weak Division II school (48-12), puts a team ahead. By this logic, Southern Utah, if it were in the conference, should be ranked ahead of both, after all it has blown out two "weak" lower division opponents by a combined score of 89-3 (actually one is a top 10 NAIA team and the other about the same as Fort Lewis).

In the Cal Poly game, Weber State turned the ball over on its own one yard line on its first offensive play, which Cal Poly coverted. Cal Poly's other touchdown was an interception run back for a score. The defense didn't lose this game, but the offense did. Weber's defense looked very similar to Cal Poly's.

This week we will see whether getting blown out twice by "higher opposition" is inferior to blowing out "lessor opposition" twice when Weber State and Southern Utah play this week.

For the record, I agree that 3-7 right now in the Big Sky are all very close and it will be interesting to see how it breaks out as the season progresses.

Okay, you talked me into it. I have a hard time believing ISU with Guiterrez at the helm won't be a top 3 Big Sky team at the end of the year and Weber losing a ton of talent to the NFL at OL hasn't dropped a bit, but until conference play starts, who really knows what's what. Weber at #3 it is!

DaGriz
September 11th, 2006, 12:05 AM
Mike, I just saw the Ft. Lewis QB threw for 209 yards against ISU. That's unreal. I know last year was last year but he only threw for 61 yards against us. He was good but not that good. Weber at #3 in my book.

I Bleed Purple
September 11th, 2006, 12:13 AM
I wouldn't put WSU at #3.

Maybe at #4. A defense giving up 3 points to the #5 team in I-AA is pretty good, but an inept offense can't put you at #3 in the Big Sky.

slostang
September 11th, 2006, 12:55 AM
Mike, I just saw the Ft. Lewis QB threw for 209 yards against ISU. That's unreal. I know last year was last year but he only threw for 61 yards against us. He was good but not that good. Weber at #3 in my book.
He only threw for 7 yards against Cal Poly this year and Fort Lewis as a team only threw for 9 yards.

catbob
September 11th, 2006, 02:20 AM
Mike, I just saw the Ft. Lewis QB threw for 209 yards against ISU. That's unreal. I know last year was last year but he only threw for 61 yards against us. He was good but not that good. Weber at #3 in my book.

And his name was Matt Gutierrez.

I mean seriously what are the odds of two teams having QBs named Matt Gutierrez playing against each other.

eagle1
September 11th, 2006, 11:51 AM
It is so hard to gauge how good EWU is or can be. They have played the toughest two non-conference games thus far and then will play D2 Central Washington. EWU actually competed well at times with WVU and showed signs of life on offense. Defensively they held WVU on a 4 and 1 buy stopping that big fullback that they have. I think that it is fare to put EWU in the lower half but I have a feeling that they won't be down there for long. I think that they will put things together this weekend and then the surprise some people at Bozeman to start off the conference season. My analysis so far is as follows.

1. Portland State (Look solid on both sides of the ball) (Will lose to Cal)
2. Montana (Defensively they are solid) (Maturing offensively)
3. Idaho State (Best offensive team thus far) (Defense is in-consistant)
4. Montana State (Defense is suspect after losing to D2 Chadron State)
5. Northern Arizona (Offense looks to be clicking) (Defense still ?able)
6. Weber State (Where has their offense gone?) (Defense is young)
7. Eastern Washington (Offense is young) (Defense is getting better)
8. Sacramento State (No offense) (Defense is fair)
9. Northern Colorado (Decent running game) (Bad defense)

Go Eagles!!!

Weberrr
September 11th, 2006, 01:45 PM
Weber's offense looked terrible.

The best part of the game was the new purple scoreboard.

:pumpuke: