Big Sky Power Rankings 10-1

[JALMOND]

September has come and gone, and October is where the action begins usually. Conference play is heating up and most of the questions surrounding the teams should be answered by now. Last week's slate of games did answer many questions and many teams positioned themselves to make a great run this season. Here are this week's power rankings in the Big Sky conference. This week (last week). Once again, all are based on my opinion only so we should all have some great discussion on them. Have at it.

1. Montana State (1)---The Bobcats made their first trip south to Southern Utah and escaped with a scrappy hard fought victory. Winning conference games on the road will always test one's mettle and the Bobcats are showing they eventually will succeed. This weekend, a trip once again, this time to UC-Davis.

2. Eastern Washington (2)---Talk about taking victory from the jaws of defeat. The Eagles were looking at a big loss to a wounded Montana team, then somehow miraculously escaped with a win. Really impressive how they did it. Whether that magic will continue remains to be seen, but they get to stay home this weekend and play upstart North Dakota.

3. Cal Poly (3)---While everyone else is making quite a bit of noise, the Mustangs keep plodding along, finding their own ways to win. Last weekend, they went into enemy territory and got a strong win at North Dakota and emerged as a team to be taken seriously. This weekend, they head over to Weber State for a Friday night game.

4. Northern Arizona (4)---After their emotional win at Montana the week before, the Lumberjakcs were ripe for an emotional letdown at home against Portland State. Whether or not that was the case as to the low margin of victory, they did in fact get the win. This wee, they take a much deserved week off.

5. North Dakota (5)---On the verge of making a statement, the Dakotans ended up losing their game at home against Cal Poly, relegating themselves to second class for the moment. Many chances left to right the ship. This weekend, another shot at making waves as they go on the road to Eastern Washington.

6. Southern Utah (7)---On paper it was a loss at home by the Thunderbirds, but they gave Montana State all they could handle and then some before finally running out of bullets. They need a chance to get back on the winning edge and this weekend, they welcome Sacramento State to their cozy home.

7. Montana (6)---Victory virtually taken away from them at Eastern Washington, the Grizzlies emerged from their game stunned to say the least. Now in unfamiliar territory with all the losing, they need to fix the leaks quickly. This weekend is a chance to get back on the winning way with a trip to Northern Colorado.

8. Sacramento State (8)---The Hornets headed into the barn at Idaho State last week bruised and beaten, but they were able to return to the team that beat Colorado earlier in the season. Now they need to continue this. This weekend, they head on the road to Southern Utah.

9. UC-Davis (11)---The Aggies have shown tha they have a great defense but no one could have seen their offensive explosion last week against Weber State. Just a little bit of offense could make a big difference in how they may finish the season. This week, they hope to keep that powerful offense against Montana State.

10. Portland State (10)---The Vikings headed to a rejuvinated Northern Arizona team last weekend, hoiping to somehow get the win. But they had to settle for being so close. They still need to work on coming out on top. This weekend they stay at home and entertain Idaho State.

11. Northern Colorado (13)---The Bears had the weekend off last week to prepare for their conference season. They have come close and have been relatively impressive so far, but only the DII win to show for it. Can they break through somewhere and get a conference win? This weekend they bring in reeling Montana to their home field.

12. Idaho State (12)---Sure the Bengals have quite the passing attack, but Sacramento State scorched their defense and left the Bengals on the short end of the score. Now they will need to regroup and hope to gain confidence on the defensive end. This weekend will find them on the road at Portland State.

13. Weber State (9)---Another weekend gone by and still no wins so far for the Wildcats. Perplexing is how well they played at the beginning of the season, then they pretty much did not show up at UC-Davis last week. Now they must try again at home against Cal Poly.

[frozennorth]

1 cal poly
2 ewu
3 montana state
4 nau
5 und
6 um
7 suu
8 sac state
9 psu
10 ucd
11 isu-potato
12 noco
13 weber state

[BISON Thunder]

What is the deal with Portland State? Were they not preseason upper tier favorites? Injuries?

[darell1976]

What is the deal with Portland State? Were they not preseason upper tier favorites? Injuries?

Freshman QB and they fired their DC after UND lit them up.

[wapiti]

1. Eastern Washington ---A nice victory over UM, but it required some heroics late in the 4th quarter to earn it. But the good teams know how to pull off great plays.

2. Montana State---A nice road victory for MSU. Just like in the Bobcat's first 2 games of the season, MSU is still showing vulnerablilities. Such as secondary coverage, no pressure on the QB, and interceptions. But despite these glaring weaknesses they are still good enough to earn the wins.

3. Cal Poly ---An excellent road win over a good ND team. One could argue for CP to be ranked #1 in BSC, but the teams ahead of them keep on winning too. The ranking differences between the top 4 teams is razor thin.

4. Northern Arizona ---NAU has shown they are a team on a mission, will that continue or will they have a melt down in the 2nd half of the season as in previous seasons?

5. Montana ---The griz are wounded after two conference losses. When was the last time the griz had two conferences losses in a row? (I am not going to go look it up.) The griz do not need to panic yet, one more loss and they still have 7 Div 1 wins.

6. North Dakota ---ND was on the verge of making a statement game, but then they lose at home to a pretty good CP team. Plus ND has a brutal few weeks of tough BSC teams coming up.

7. Sacramento State ---Sac State earned a nice road win at ISU. They are on the raod again this weekend against a wounded thunder bird. A victory there and Sac will move up the rankings.

8. Southern Utah ---SU nearly had the W, but fell short even though they had won the turnover battle. One more loss and SU will not be able to get 7 Div 1 wins this year. They are in a must win situation to make the playoffs.

9. UC-Davis ---UCD played a great game against CP and continued that playing against the BBQ. UCD is in a must win situation to keep playoff hopes alive.

10. Portland State ---I thought PSU would have had at least one Div 1 win by now. There only playoff hope is to win the auto bid and they will need some help to get that.

11. Idaho State ---ISU still has a chance at 7 Div 1 wins. But they are still at 0 Div 1 wins. They need some victories to move up the rankings and for that to happen they need to improve on defense.

12. Weber State---The coaching turnover was not kind to the BBQ. This week they get CP at home and despite being at home it will be a tall task for Weber to get a W.

13. Northern Colorado ---They still have a shot at 7 Div 1 wins, but with a wounded Griz coming to town and then on the road to CP, it does not look good for the Bears.

[darell1976]

1. Eastern Washington ---A nice victory over UM, but it required some heroics late in the 4th quarter to earn it. But the good teams know how to pull off great plays.

2. Montana State---A nice road victory for MSU. Just like in the Bobcat's first 2 games of the season, MSU is still showing vulnerablilities. Such as secondary coverage, no pressure on the QB, and interceptions. But despite these glaring weaknesses they are still good enough to earn the wins.

3. Cal Poly ---An excellent road win over a good ND team. One could argue for CP to be ranked #1 in BSC, but the teams ahead of them keep on winning too. The ranking differences between the top 4 teams is razor thin.

4. Northern Arizona ---NAU has shown they are a team on a mission, will that continue or will they have a melt down in the 2nd half of the season as in previous seasons?

5. Montana ---The griz are wounded after two conference losses. When was the last time the griz had two conferences losses in a row? (I am not going to go look it up.) The griz do not need to panic yet, one more loss and they still have 7 Div 1 wins.

6. North Dakota ---ND was on the verge of making a statement game, but then they lose at home to a pretty good CP team. Plus ND has a brutal few weeks of tough BSC teams coming up.

7. Sacramento State ---Sac State earned a nice road win at ISU. They are on the raod again this weekend against a wounded thunder bird. A victory there and Sac will move up the rankings.

8. Southern Utah ---SU nearly had the W, but fell short even though they had won the turnover battle. One more loss and SU will not be able to get 7 Div 1 wins this year. They are in a must win situation to make the playoffs.

9. UC-Davis ---UCD played a great game against CP and continued that playing against the BBQ. UCD is in a must win situation to keep playoff hopes alive.

10. Portland State ---I thought PSU would have had at least one Div 1 win by now. There only playoff hope is to win the auto bid and they will need some help to get that.

11. Idaho State ---ISU still has a chance at 7 Div 1 wins. But they are still at 0 Div 1 wins. They need some victories to move up the rankings and for that to happen they need to improve on defense.

12. Weber State---The coaching turnover was not kind to the BBQ. This week they get CP at home and despite being at home it will be a tall task for Weber to get a W.

13. Northern Colorado ---They still have a shot at 7 Div 1 wins, but with a wounded Griz coming to town and then on the road to CP, it does not look good for the Bears.

I would have had UND in the top 3 if they would have beaten Cal Poly....#6 is the right spot. If we beat EWU maybe we can sneak back into the top 5.

[dystopiamembrane]

What is the deal with Portland State? Were they not preseason upper tier favorites? Injuries?
Our outstanding recruiting class will need a couple of years to get in the groove.
Someday we'll return to the playoffs. xbangx

[frozennorth]

#6 is the right spot.

so what your saying, is that I'm overrating UND. right? xlolx

[Hambone]

so what your saying, is that I'm overrating UND. right? xlolx

Perhaps :) As of right now I'd say that UND and UM are pretty interchangable.

[darell1976]

so what your saying, is that I'm overrating UND. right? xlolx

More like 5 and 5a.

[JALMOND]

What is the deal with Portland State? Were they not preseason upper tier favorites? Injuries?

We are finding out how difficult it is to replace McCaffrey and Kavanaugh. Actually, we do pretty well at stopping the run (held Baumann to 92 yards after he torched the Grizz for 240+). Just can't seem to stop the pass (a broken record there).

[Walkon79]

1. Eastern Washington ---A nice victory over UM, but it required some heroics late in the 4th quarter to earn it. But the good teams know how to pull off great plays.

2. Montana State---A nice road victory for MSU. Just like in the Bobcat's first 2 games of the season, MSU is still showing vulnerablilities. Such as secondary coverage, no pressure on the QB, and interceptions. But despite these glaring weaknesses they are still good enough to earn the wins.3. Cal Poly ---An excellent road win over a good ND team. One could argue for CP to be ranked #1 in BSC, but the teams ahead of them keep on winning too. The ranking differences between the top 4 teams is razor thin.

4. Northern Arizona ---NAU has shown they are a team on a mission, will that continue or will they have a melt down in the 2nd half of the season as in previous seasons?

5. Montana ---The griz are wounded after two conference losses. When was the last time the griz had two conferences losses in a row? (I am not going to go look it up.) The griz do not need to panic yet, one more loss and they still have 7 Div 1 wins.

6. North Dakota ---ND was on the verge of making a statement game, but then they lose at home to a pretty good CP team. Plus ND has a brutal few weeks of tough BSC teams coming up.

7. Sacramento State ---Sac State earned a nice road win at ISU. They are on the raod again this weekend against a wounded thunder bird. A victory there and Sac will move up the rankings.

8. Southern Utah ---SU nearly had the W, but fell short even though they had won the turnover battle. One more loss and SU will not be able to get 7 Div 1 wins this year. They are in a must win situation to make the playoffs.

9. UC-Davis ---UCD played a great game against CP and continued that playing against the BBQ. UCD is in a must win situation to keep playoff hopes alive.

10. Portland State ---I thought PSU would have had at least one Div 1 win by now. There only playoff hope is to win the auto bid and they will need some help to get that.

11. Idaho State ---ISU still has a chance at 7 Div 1 wins. But they are still at 0 Div 1 wins. They need some victories to move up the rankings and for that to happen they need to improve on defense.

12. Weber State---The coaching turnover was not kind to the BBQ. This week they get CP at home and despite being at home it will be a tall task for Weber to get a W.

13. Northern Colorado ---They still have a shot at 7 Div 1 wins, but with a wounded Griz coming to town and then on the road to CP, it does not look good for the Bears.

We had 6 sacks, a forced fumble and tons of pressure last saturday. Other than that i agree :)

[ALPHAGRIZ1]

CP
NAU
ND
Sac St
MSU
SUU
EWU
PSU
UC Davis
ISU
UM
Weber
No Colorado

[darell1976]

CP
NAU
ND
Sac St
MSU
SUU
EWU
PSU
UC Davis
ISU
UM
Weber
No Colorado

Now as a UND fan I love that list, but not realistic. I do hope at the end of the year UND is sitting at least in thrid.xthumbsupx

[Go Lehigh TU owl]

We had 6 sacks, a forced fumble and tons of pressure last saturday. Other than that i agree :)

MSU's ability to get pressure on the QB is what won the game against SUU.

[deez_na]

CP
NAU
ND
Sac St
MSU
SUU
EWU
PSU
UC Davis
ISU
UM
Weber
No Colorado

Going to assume this list is somewhat of a joke or you don't watch much football.

[Walkon79]

MSU's ability to get pressure on the QB is what won the game against SUU.

Agreed!! So glad to have Minter and Daly back. Might miss Schrebeis this week though.