1. Eastern Washington - There's no question they're flying high as the #1 team right now. Vernon Adams looks like a baller, and they straight up ruined OSU's season. Their defense may not be as strong as some others in the conference, but if they can put up 49 on the AP #25 team, who cares? Eastern welcomes Western Oregon next week.
2. Montana - As shocking as the Eagles' game with OSU was, the Griz game was only slightly less shocking. While the score read 30-6, it never was really that close, as Montana squandered away two red zone attempts and kneeled down on the 3 yard-line to end the game. App State was simply outmanned and outplayed all night long by a team many had already written off based on their subpar season last year. The same defense that gave up a record 660 yards passing last year held what was assumed to be one of the FCS's best passing attacks to 205 yards. All is right with the Griz world once again, and they have a rare early-season bye week ahead.
3. Montana State - The Bobcats jumped out early and never looked back against overmatched Monmouth. Some garbage TDs late against the MSU third-stringers made it seem closer than it was. The only shocking thing was that Denarius McGhee didn't throw a single TD pass. Not a lot to go off of after this game, but they did exactly what they needed to. The Bobcats travel down to SMU next.
4. Cal Poly - The Mustangs welcomed San Diego to Alex G. Spanos, and had a game for a while before putting it away in the third. Like MSU, not a whole lot to go on, as the rushing attack did it's job, but the new QB Vince Moraga was a serviceable 15/21 for 226 yards, but no TDs. CP takes the short bus ride to Fresno State next week.
5. Southern Utah - While USA is probably not much of a FBS team, they're still technically FBS. After losing all-world QB Sorenson last year, SUU rebounded nicely with a surprising win. Colton Cook probably has a whole lot of new friends this week after hitting three field goals, one to give the T-Birds the win as time expired. SUU takes on perennial Big Sky punching bag Fort Lewis next week.
6. Sacramento State - While they were taking on San Jose State, an FBS team who went 11-2 last year, they really didn't do a whole lot besides frustrate the SJSU passing game. Saffron threw 2 INTs, and the Hornets only gained 86 yards on the ground, despite holding the ball for 36 minutes. It's a good defensive sign, but not the performance they were obviously looking for. Doesn't get much easier with Arizona State next on the schedule.
7. Northern Arizona - I'm not saying I think NAU will finish 7th in the Big Sky, but there was nothing really good about their performance against Arizona, other than the fact that they held them to under 40 points. Zach Bauman was a tepid 71 yards on 21 carries, and NAU QB Kyren Poe threw 3 INTs in his debut. Like Montana, NAU has a bye next week.
8. North Dakota - Ok, so it was Valpo, who are absolutely terrible, but UND did look pretty good in its thrashing. New QB Bartels was pretty efficient, but what was surprising was the UND rushing attack that scored 6 TDs, definitely not what I was expecting. UND plays a tough South Dakota State team next week.
9. Weber State - Wow, the cellar-dweller from the previous year goes on to beat a decent SFA team. Despite having their secondary absolutely shredded for 450 yards, the Wildcats ran for a surprising 315 yards on the ground, had a 100-yard kickoff return, and a 70-yard pick six. Weber will have a bigger challenge next week when they play Utah.
10. Portland State - They rushed for 405 yards, had 672 total yards, and score 57 points....but it was against Eastern Oregon. A pretty promising showing from the Vikings, but they're going to have to beat a better team to move up in these rankings. They'll get their chance to shine next week when they take on Cal.
11. Northern Colorado - Well, they got the win, Lobato threw for 3 TDs, and held the opponent to 10 points, but the opponent was still NAIA Langston. After a coming out season last year, the Bears have high hopes for this season. They're going to have to perform better, even against NAIA schools to keep up with the ever-improving Big Sky. Next week they turn up the difficulty a notch to welcome Colorado State Pueblo.
12. Idaho State - Idaho State was idle last week, and managed to climb up from the very bottom, which means someone has some explaining to do. They start their season a week late, welcoming Dixie State next.
13. UC Davis - It takes a lot to unseat ISU as the bottom of the Big Sky, but UC Davis certainly didn't disappoint. In a game between cellar-dwellars of their respective conferences, neither team could top 300 yards total offense, while converting on less than 25% of third downs. Both teams also had kicking struggles, with UC Davis missing both attempts, finally getting on the board with 3:05 left to play. South Dakota may be improving, but they still went 1-10 last year. They get a chance to redeem themselves next week when they travel to Nevada.
The Big Sky went 9-3 this week.
2-2 against FBS, 5-1 OOC in FCS, and 2-0 v.s lower divisions.
