Football is back, baby!

We’re heading into week one of the nonconference season, where dreams are big, the buy games are long, and fans can finally set aside a summer’s worth of speculation and watch some Big Sky football. Throughout the newsletter we’ve got you covered on when and where your team is playing, storylines for all thirteen teams before the first snap, background on a few of the more interesting notes about some of the coaches or players we’ll see later in the season, and a collection of links and podcasts to fill your next few days before the games begin. 

Also, give a big wlecome (and a twitter follow) to our new newsletter editor, Brian Marceau (@BrianMarceau)

This week’s games and TV/Streaming Coverage

Standings

Power Rankings

Each week, The Big Sky Podcast Network publishes a Big Sky conference power rankings column. Contributors from each podcast vote, and Brian Marceau compiles the votes and writes about the most pressing, or most interesting, issues for each team. The writing process is not democratic—the Montana Grizzlies and Montana State Bobcats receive significantly more page space than anyone else, but if there’s reason for intrigue (ex: is it possible for Idaho to be worse in 2019 than in 2018?), or players to watch, other teams receive a little of the deep dive treatment. Below is a taste of what Brian thought about both the Bobcats and the Grizzles, click here for the whole meal.

#4 Montana State: There’s significantly more optimism about the Bobcats’ 2019 outlook than for their rivals in Missoula, and based off the success of 2018, a lot of that enthusiasm is warranted. Coach Choate won nearly as many games last season (eight) as he did in his first two in Bozeman (nine) including a first round FCS playoff win over Incarnate Word, the Bobcats return seventeen including five preseason All-Big Sky selections, and with only one conference matchup against a 2018 Big Sky playoff team, their 2019 schedule is favorable on-paper…

#5 Montana: 2018 was an archetypical what if season for the Grizzlies. Montana finished with the fourth best scoring offense and the fifth best scoring defense in the Big Sky, but were plagued by consistency problems and finished a disappointing 6-5. The term Jekyll-and-Hyde is used to describe teams that look great one moment then awful the next, but using last year’s Grizzlies as an example, Jekyll-and-Hyde teams are truly Mr. Hyde teams, which is why Montana watched the FCS playoffs for the third consecutive season…

Full Power Rankings Available Here

Links from Around the Big Sky

The entire state of Idaho has not yet named a starting QB. Idaho State coach Rob Phenicie has said quite little about the battle to replace Tanner Guellerbetween Gunnar Amos and Matt Struck, and at the University of Idaho, coach Paul Petrino will rotate between Mason Petrino and Colton Richardson through the Vandals’ first three games.

A reminder that whatever you think your coach is doing, Weber State coach Jay Hill is probably doing more. He moonlights as the team’s defensive coordinator, a dual-position he’s held since 2017.

No matter how pumped South Dakota is to host the University of Montana, the Dakota Dome will at max seat 55 percent of capacity. Thanks to unfinished renovations, the stands behind the Griz will be empty. That will likely matter less to Coach Hauck than how much the Grizzlies improve on short-yardage situations.  Check out a full scouting report on the UM vs. USD game here.

In the Old News department, someone other than Gresch Jensen will be the starting quarterback for Texas State and new offensive coordinator Bob Stitt.

A few days ahead of their opener against Texas Tech, Montana State released their depth chart, with a couple surprises on both sides of the ball.

We’re in year four of the Jeff Choate era in Bozeman. The Bobcats expect this to be the year they make the leap.

Troy Taylor only took a 52 percent pay cut from his old position as offensive coordinator at the University of Utah to become Sacramento State’s head coach.

Big Sky Podcast Network

Below are links to the newest contributions from the Big Sky Podcast Network. Either click on the links below, or subscribe via iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, or any major podcast distributor.

The Montana Mint Sports Pod got to sit down with Coach Jeff Choate and read him the tweet that resulted in him blocking them.

Big Sky, Big Takes covers all the biggest Big Sky storylines heading into week 1, including whether Montana and Montana State are over or underrated in the final preseason polls in an Around the Horn-style show with other Big Sky Podcast Network hosts.

GrizFan Podcast previews Montana’s maybe-must-win opener at South Dakota.

Tubs at the Club unpacks Idaho’s impending 300-point loss at Penn State.

R&R Catcast discusses MSU’s depth chart before the Bobcats finance an athletic department against Texas Tech

Big Sky in the Big Show

Some notes on how Big Sky Conference players are faring in the NFL

• Kaden Eliss (Idaho) and Emmanuel Butler (NAU) are fighting to hang-on with the New Orleans Saints. 
• Keelan Doss (UC-Davis) looks like the safest Big Sky lock to make it to opening day as an Oakland Raider.
• Nsimba Webster and Ketner Kupp try to join Cooper Kupp, Aaron Neary, and Samson Ebukam and make EWU the Los Angeles Rams’ minor league affiliate. 
• Weber State alum Sua Opeta (OL) signed a practice squad deal with the Philadelphia Eagles. 
• The Philadelphia Eagles just might hold on to Alex Singleton (MSU).
• Last year’s DPOY Jay-Tee Tiulli (EWU) just missed the cut for the Seattle Seahawks’ 53 man roster.

MSU at Texas Tech: 4 Things I’m Watching For

By Hot Take Nate (@MintsHotTakeN8)

Football is back and it couldn’t have gotten here soon enough!  After Montana State’s third straight win over Montana and their ensuing mini-playoff run (yeah, that was a playoff run), Bobcat fans’ expectations are high.  With the beginning of the FCS season also comes the FBS v FCS payment games and MSU will be taking on the Big 12 Conference’s Texas Tech on Saturday in Lubbock.  While I enjoy watching these games and attending them when possible, it’s tough to get a good feel for your team when they’re playing a team like the Red Raiders in week one of the season.

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AA Season Preview and Tidbits

By Minty Coach (@MintyCoach)

For all Montana high school football fans, Minty Coach is back with a weekly look around the AA.  Some of his tidbits below and whole article here.

• Belgrade joins the AA fray this season and faces a stiff test right off the bat in Butte, which is led by Montana State signee, Tommy Mellott. We’ll see how a former A squad handles it’s first taste of AA football.
• Perennial favorite Bozeman, said to be loaded again this year, travels to Kalispell with revenge on the mind as they take on a Flathead squad that knocked them out of the playoffs in Bozeman last season. The Hawks will be without All-Stater McCade O’Reilly, who suffered a leg injury and is out indefinitely.
• The Hellgate Knights open the season with a forfeit victory as Bozeman Westslope will not field a football team until the 2020 season. The Knights are lead by all-everything QB/S Rollie Worster and are primed to make some noise in the AA this year. Westslope will jump in feet first next year with a full varsity schedule.
• Can Helena High take advantage of one more year of beefed up numbers before East Helena High and the Vigilantes take their slice of the pie next year? The Bengals have come close to securing a state title in recent years and it’ll only get tougher as some of their student population transitions over to East Helena High.
• Will the West High Golden Bears, led by returning starters Josh Erbacher (QB) and Demarcus Carr (RB), take home another trophy this year? They make the long trek to Missoula to take on the Big Sky Eagles on opening night where they’ll be the heavy favorites.

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Brint and Mike of GrizFan always have something to say about Montana.

Nate appears to moonlight as the Bobcats’ most dedicated Grizzly troll.

Brian and Chris of Tubs at the Club remind you that no matter how rough the season, you could always be a Vandal.