This week’s games and TV/Streaming Coverage

Standings

Power Rankings

How does Montana’s win over South Dakota compare with Weber State’s close loss to FBS San Diego State? Will Idaho State climb our rankings with an opening week bye? Should we read more into Idaho’s 79-7 blowout at Penn State than we do in Montana State’s 45-10 loss at Texas Tech? Contributors throughout the Big Sky Podcast Network vote who’s up and who’s down, then newsletter editor Brian Marceau writes about what happened and what’s next, with particular attention given to the Montana Grizzlies and Montana State Bobcats. 

#4 Montana: Unlike most of the Big Sky, there’s a lot to take away from Montana’s opening win at South Dakota starting with the work-in-progress offensive line. The Grizzlies had essentially no success (or space) on the ground, but looked much better while protecting quarterback Dalton Sneed during his 52 pass attempts. An exclusively aerial offense is not what most expected to see under Head coach Bobby Hauck, but against the Yotes the Grizzlies pass attack looked unstoppable…

#6 Montana State: Redshirt freshman quarterback Casey Bauman’s 31 yard touchdown pass to Coy Steel in the second quarter of Montana State’s week one loss at Texas Tech gave fans a taste of what soon could be. A reliable threat to stretch the field should open up the Bobcats’ rushing attack and compliment the Big Sky’s third-best scoring defense from 2018 which, with the return of nine starters and the addition of Troy Anderson at his true position looks to be even stronger this season…

Full Power Rankings Available Here

Montana vs. North (not Northern) Alabama

Brint Wahlberg took a deep dive into everything Griz fans should know about the North Alabama Lions, including a few notes on last year and the Lions’ week one win, North Alabama players to watch, and keys to a Montana win. Below is a sample Brint’s comprehensive look, click here for the rest.

Montana vs N. Alabama: Scouting Report
The UNA Lions are headed to Missoula, fresh off a MVFC win of their own. This is their 2nd year in the FCS and it appears their first year as a recognized member of the Big South Conference. Last year, interestingly enough, the Lions had an 11th game booked that was cancelled. It was against Incarnate Word – who wound up going to the playoffs and losing to Montana State. Being year 2 of moving up I believe UNA is still ineligible for the playoffs. They’re returning 11 players on offense with starting experience, but just 3 on defense.Continue reading

Over at Skyline SportsMT, Colter Nuanez also went into the North Alabama players and storylines to watch as UNA heads to Washington-Grizzly Stadium in FIRST LOOK: Athletic North Alabama come to Missoula for home opener.

Frank Gogola of 406 MT Sports wrote up an interesting Q&A with North Alabama beat writer Gregg Dewalt, and another piece about the way the Lions view the Grizzlies as their program’s best measuring stick.

Montana State vs. Southeast Missouri State

Greg Rachac looks at what head coach Jeff Choate believes his Bobcats must fix from last week to pick up an important early season win.

406 MT Sports covers how the Montana State defense must regroup against 12th ranked SEMO to help the Bobcats avoid an 0-2 start.

Colter Nuanez at Skyline SportsMT wrote the most comprehensive piece we could find on the Bobcats’ home opener in FIRST LOOK: SEMO comes to Bozeman for early-season showdown. 

Other stories worth your time…

Hot Take Nate gives his five takeaways from Montana State’s week one loss at Texas Tech.

Brint Wahlberg looks at what worked and what didn’t for Montana against South Dakota.

The Idaho Vandals mine for anything to take away from their 79-7 loss at Penn State.

UC Davis moved up to fourth in the latest FCS coaches poll after losing 27-13 at Cal.

Ryan Collingwood writes about which Eastern Washington Eagles shined in an otherwise awful afternoon against the University of Washington.

The University of Arizona’s SB Nation affiliate takes a first look at Northern Arizona.

Minty Coach is back with this AA tidbits and building upon his 5-2 prediction record!

Big Sky Podcast Network

Montana Mint Sports sat down with Bobcat beat reporter Greg Rachac to talk MSU, and Hot Take Nate attempts to pronounce the word “anecdotally”

GrizFan dissects the Grizzlies’ win at South Dakota, preview Montana’s home opener against North Alabama, and debate the best former Grizzly to protect your family.

Big Sky, Big Takes tells us which FBS games mattered, and what week one means for the Big Sky.

Tubs at the Club runs as far away from Penn State as possible while seeing light at the end of the tunnel against DII Central Washington.

R&R Catcast interviews Montana State legend Travis Lulay about his time as a Bobcat, the CFL, and what pro-footballers due after hanging up their cleats, then preview Montana State vs. SEMO.

All podcasts from the Big Sky Podcast Network are available on iTunes, Stitcher, and all major podcast carriers.

Big Sky in the Big Show

NFL teams are down to their final 53 man rosters. Here’s a list of which schools fielded the most 2019 pros:

Eastern Washington: Kendrick Bourne (49ers), Jake Rodgers (Broncos), Samson Ebukam (Rams), Cooper Kupp (Rams), Nsimba Webster (Rams), Taiwan Jones (Texans)

Idaho: Elijah Penny (Giants), Kaden Elliss (Idaho), Mike Iupati (Seahawks), Jesse Davis (Dolphins), Benson Mayowa (Raiders)

Portland State: Patrick Onwuasor (Ravens), Kameron Canaday (Steelers)

Sacramento State: Todd Davis (Broncos), DeAndre Carter (Texans)

Idaho State: Josh Hill (Saints)

Montana: Trumaine Johnson (Jets)

Montana State: Mike Person (49ers),

UC-Davis: Colby Wadman (Broncos)

Weber State: Taron Johnson (Bills)

Noteworthy final cuts: Alex Singleton (Montana St.), Keelan Doss (UC-Davis), Emmanuel Butler (NAU), Sua Opeta (Weber St.), Ketner Kupp (EWU), and Jay-Tee Tiulli (EWU) were all victims of final cuts.