Very Early Big Sky predictions

[Wildcat Ryan]

Cal Poly- 6-5. 5-3
@ Nevada-L
San Diego-W
@ South Dakota State-L
Montana-W
@ North Dakota-L
@ Portland State-L
UC Davis-W
@ Sac State-W
Eastern Washington-W
@ Weber State-L
Northern Colorado-W

Eastern Washington- 4-7, 4-4
@ Washington St-L
@ North Dakota St-L
Northern Iowa-L
@ Northern Arizona-L
UC Davis-W
Northern Colorado-W
@ Montana State-L
Montana-W
@ Cal Poly-L
Idaho State-W
@ Portland State-L

Idaho State- 2-9, 1-7
Simon Fraser-W
@ Colorado-L
@ Oregon State-L
Sac State-W
@ Portland State-L
@ Northern Arizona-L
North Dakota-L
Southern Utah-L
@ Montana-L
@ Eastern Washington-L
Weber State-L

Montana- 7-4, 5-3
St. Francis-W
@ Northern Iowa-L
@ Cal Poly-L
Southern Utah-W
Miss Valley St-W
Sac State-W
@ Northern Arizona-L
@ Eastern Washington-L
Idaho State-W
@ Northern Colorado-W
Montana State-W

Montana State- 6-5, 4-4
@ Idaho-L
Bryant-W
Western Oregon-W
North Dakota-W
@ Sac State- W
Northern Arizona-L
@ Weber State-L
Eastern Washington-W
@ Southern Utah-L
UC Davis-W
@ Montana-L

North Dakota- 9-2, 7-1
@ Stony Brook-W
@ Bowling Green-L
South Dakota-W
@ Montana State-L
Cal Poly-W
@ Sac State- W
Southern Utah-W
@ Idaho State-W
Weber State-W
@ Northern Colorado-W
Northern Arizona-W

Northern Arizona- 9-2, 7-1
@ Arizona State- L
@ Western Illinois-W
New Mexico HL-W
Eastern Washington-W
@ Northern Colorado-W
@ Montana State-W
Idaho State-W
Montana-W
@ Weber State-W
@ North Dakota-L
Southern Utah-W

Northern Colorado- 2-9, 1-7
Rocky Mountain-W
@ Abilene Christian-L
@ Colorado State-L
Northern Arizona-L
@ Eastern Washington-L
@ UC Davis-L
Sac State-W
@ Portland State-L
North Dakota-L
Montana-L
@ Cal Poly-L

Portland State- 8-3, 7-1
Central Washington-W
@ San Jose State-L
@ Washington-L
@ Southern Utah-W
Idaho State-W
@ Weber State-L
Cal Poly-W
Northern Colorado-W
@ UC Davis-W
@ Sac State-W
Eastern Washington-W

Southern Utah- 4-7, 3-5
@ Utah-L
SE Louisiana-W
Portland State-L
@ Montana-L
UC Davis-W
@ North Dakota-L
Weber State-L
@ Idaho State-W
Montana State-W
@ BYU-L
@ Northern Arizona-L

Sacramento State- 1-10, 0-8
Western Oregon-W
@ Fresno State-L
@ Weber State-L
@ Idaho State-L
Montana State-L
North Dakota-L
@ Montana-L
@ Northern Colorado-L
Cal Poly-L
Portland State-L
@UC Davis-L

UC Davis- 3-8, 2-6
@ Oregon-L
Southern Oregon-W
@ Wyoming-L
Weber State-L
@ Eastern Washington-L
@ Southern Utah-L
Northern Colorado-W
@ Cal Poly-L
Portland State-L
@ Montana State-L
Sacramento State-W

Weber State- 7-4, 6-2
@ Utah State-L
@ South Dakota-L
Sacramento State-W
@ UC Davis-W
Portland State-W
Montana State-W
@ Southern Utah-W
@ North Dakota-L
Northern Arizona-L
Cal Poly-W
@ Idaho State-W

Final 2016 Big Sky standings
1. North Dakota (Co-BSC Champs, autobid, playoffs)
2. Northern Arizona (Co-BSC champs, playoffs)
3. Portland State (Playoffs)
4. Weber State (Playoffs)
5. Montana (Playoffs/Outside looking in)
6.Cal Poly
7. Montana State
8. Eastern Washington
9. Southern Utah
10. UC Davis
11. Idaho State
11b/12. Northern Colorado
13. Sacramento State


Discuss , hate on , agree with , analyze , belittle , rant about , etc below.

What are your predictions?

[Grizalltheway]

Final 2016 Big Sky standings

4. Weber State (Playoffs)
5. Montana (Playoffs/Outside looking in)

[Wildcat Ryan]

Final 2016 Big Sky standings

4. Weber State (Playoffs)
5. Montana (Playoffs)

Fine they're in

[Grizalltheway]

Fine they're in

On second thought, that order of finish isn't so outlandish. I just felt like ejaculating emoticons.

[Mvemjsunpx]

I think you're overrating MSU.
EWU is probably being overrated by most, but I don't see them being 4-7.
I doubt Montana is going to lose every coin flip, and I don't see them losing to EWU if they're a 4-7 team.

Other than that, it all makes sense.

[Wildcat Ryan]

I think you're overrating MSU.
EWU is probably being overrated by most, but I don't see them being 4-7.
I doubt Montana is going to lose every coin flip, and I don't see them losing to EWU if they're a 4-7 team.

Other than that, it all makes sense.

MSU was a hard one to rate, It'll be interesting to see how their new coach will get this Bobcat team prepared for the new season, MSU still has a lot of talent, though their defense needs to improve. MSU has a lot of 50/50 games. I can see MSU losing to both UND and Eastern, but gave them the edge due to being played in Bobcat Stadium.

In my opinion, with that schedule Eastern is going to have to be crazy good to keep from going 3-8 on the season.

Montana was tough as well, it would all depend on if Montana is a lot like they were last year, it almost seemed like there were two or three different Montana teams last year. However Montana got a great recruiting class, but most recruits usually take at least a year to get fully into the system.
There were a few 50/50 games for UM for me to, most notably the Cal Poly and EWU games, the reason I have the Griz losing both is.
A. Cal Poly has a knack for beating the Griz, including 2 straight, plus it's in SLO.
B. Montana hasn't won in Cheney since 2008, and it's a game the Eagles and their fans get hyped up for, sets up for a down game for the Griz.

Of course like all preseason predictions, they mean diddly, they are just fun conversation.

[Mvemjsunpx]

I think you're overrating MSU.
EWU is probably being overrated by most, but I don't see them being 4-7.
I doubt Montana is going to lose every coin flip, and I don't see them losing to EWU if they're a 4-7 team.

Other than that, it all makes sense.

MSU was a hard one to rate, It'll be interesting to see how their new coach will get this Bobcat team prepared for the new season, MSU still has a lot of talent, though their defense needs to improve. MSU has a lot of 50/50 games. I can see MSU losing to both UND and Eastern, but gave them the edge due to being played in Bobcat Stadium.

They do?

They lost Prukop, by far their best offensive player, and their defense has been devoid of talent for a few years now. They weren't giving up 8 bazillion yards a game just because of coaching.

In my opinion, with that schedule Eastern is going to have to be crazy good to keep from going 3-8 on the season.

I would pick them to beat MSU and probably Cal Poly (they haven't lost to CP since 2005). UNI is plausible as well since they're at home and home field means a lot OOC. You're right that it's a brutal schedule, though.

B. Montana hasn't won in Cheney since 2008, and it's a game the Eagles and their fans get hyped up for, sets up for a down game for the Griz.

It's a rivalry game, so I doubt it'll be a "down" game for the Griz. This year's EWU team is also likely to be weaker than the ones UM lost to in '10, '12, and '14.

[Wildcat Ryan]

MSU was a hard one to rate, It'll be interesting to see how their new coach will get this Bobcat team prepared for the new season, MSU still has a lot of talent, though their defense needs to improve. MSU has a lot of 50/50 games. I can see MSU losing to both UND and Eastern, but gave them the edge due to being played in Bobcat Stadium.

They do?

They lost Prukop, by far their best offensive player, and their defense has been devoid of talent for a few years now. They weren't giving up 8 bazillion yards a game just because of coaching.

In my opinion, with that schedule Eastern is going to have to be crazy good to keep from going 3-8 on the season.

I would pick them to beat MSU and probably Cal Poly (they haven't lost to CP since 2005). UNI is plausible as well since they're at home and home field means a lot OOC. You're right that it's a brutal schedule, though.

B. Montana hasn't won in Cheney since 2008, and it's a game the Eagles and their fans get hyped up for, sets up for a down game for the Griz.

It's a rivalry game, so I doubt it'll be a "down" game for the Griz. This year's EWU team is also likely to be weaker than the ones UM lost to in '10, '12, and '14.

Ok, enough talent to win those 50/50 but also not enough talent to also lose them, but like I said to the edge goes Bobcat Stadium.

I can see Eastern beating MSU, but like mentioned above, MSU is at home and that has to help a little, hence is also why I picked them to lose to Poly, Cal Poly is at home and it took everything Eastern had to beat Poly in Cheney, now the game is in SLO. I think Poly gets the edge.

Maybe down game was the wrong phrase, but the energy of the rivalry and being at home helps Eastern lift over Montana, I don't think Eastern is going to be a bad team, but the strength of the opponents on their schedule is intense.

[AZGrizFan]

Maybe down game was the wrong phrase, but the energy of the rivalry and being at home helps Eastern lift over Montana, I don't think Eastern is going to be a bad team, but the strength of the opponents on their schedule is intense.

Did you watch last year's game? That's a hell of a gap to close in one year.

[Wildcat Ryan]

Maybe down game was the wrong phrase, but the energy of the rivalry and being at home helps Eastern lift over Montana, I don't think Eastern is going to be a bad team, but the strength of the opponents on their schedule is intense.

Did you watch last year's game? That's a hell of a gap to close in one year.

Like I said before, it's a 50/50 game, one that Montana can win just as easliy as lose, Home field helps in a lot of ways, Montana fans should know this more than most. And yes, I can say that I watched part of the game, until it got incredibly lopsided and I turned to a different game.

I watched UM beat NDSU, then turn around and lose to Cal Poly, Watched Montana escape Pocatello with a win thanks to a botched ISU snap then the following week watched them curbstomp EWU. I watched Weber get curbstomped by Southern Utah only to win in Missoula the next week. I also watched a bad Northern Colorado almost beat EWU in Greeley.

What I guess Im saying is nothing is certain anymore.

[AZGrizFan]

Did you watch last year's game? That's a hell of a gap to close in one year.

Like I said before, it's a 50/50 game, one that Montana can win just as easliy as lose, Home field helps in a lot of ways, Montana fans should know this more than most. And yes, I can say that I watched part of the game, until it got incredibly lopsided and I turned to a different game.

I watched UM beat NDSU, then turn around and lose to Cal Poly, Watched Montana escape Pocatello with a win thanks to a botched ISU snap then the following week watched them curbstomp EWU. I watched Weber get curbstomped by Southern Utah only to win in Missoula the next week. I also watched a bad Northern Colorado almost beat EWU in Greeley.

What I guess Im saying is nothing is certain anymore.

What's certain is MSU doesn't have a Travis Lulay and EWU doesn't have a Vernon Adams. Thus, UM rises to the top again and resumes its rightful place as Big Sky champion.

[kalm]

I think you're overrating MSU.
EWU is probably being overrated by most, but I don't see them being 4-7.
I doubt Montana is going to lose every coin flip, and I don't see them losing to EWU if they're a 4-7 team.

Other than that, it all makes sense.

MSU was a hard one to rate, It'll be interesting to see how their new coach will get this Bobcat team prepared for the new season, MSU still has a lot of talent, though their defense needs to improve. MSU has a lot of 50/50 games. I can see MSU losing to both UND and Eastern, but gave them the edge due to being played in Bobcat Stadium.

In my opinion, with that schedule Eastern is going to have to be crazy good to keep from going 3-8 on the season.

Montana was tough as well, it would all depend on if Montana is a lot like they were last year, it almost seemed like there were two or three different Montana teams last year. However Montana got a great recruiting class, but most recruits usually take at least a year to get fully into the system.
There were a few 50/50 games for UM for me to, most notably the Cal Poly and EWU games, the reason I have the Griz losing both is.
A. Cal Poly has a knack for beating the Griz, including 2 straight, plus it's in SLO.
B. Montana hasn't won in Cheney since 2008, and it's a game the Eagles and their fans get hyped up for, sets up for a down game for the Griz.

Of course like all preseason predictions, they mean diddly, they are just fun conversation.

Crazy good to not go 3-8?

Going back to Baldwin's first stint as OC at Eastern in 2004 and his one year as HC at CWU in 2007 he has been a part of one season worse than 6-5 (2006).

This year's schedule is tough, but only 2 are expected losses with UNI, NAU, PSU, UM, and Poly being toss ups.

The defense will be improved and perhaps decent with a ton of returning talent. Safety being the biggest question mark.

On offense you have a passer who lead the nation in several categories through mid-October of last year (against a tough schedule) before a wind storm and platooning situation late in the season grounded him. He might get beat out by one of two equally talented underclass men. QB talent is not a concern.

You have the best receiving corps in FCS all back including Shaq Hill who's absence last year took away our deep threat.

The question marks are OL and RB. We had an senior lead line in 2015 but not enough explosiveness at RB to make them shine. OL coach Aaron Best has a knack for reloading at those positions so if the line creates some holes and we re-establish some balance and threat of big gains a la Quincy Forte, the offense will look like 2012-2014 again.

I think 7-4. 5-6 with an injury bug and underperformance. 9-2 if we get some breaks and can pick off at least 2 of the first 4.

[Grizalltheway]

MSU was a hard one to rate, It'll be interesting to see how their new coach will get this Bobcat team prepared for the new season, MSU still has a lot of talent, though their defense needs to improve. MSU has a lot of 50/50 games. I can see MSU losing to both UND and Eastern, but gave them the edge due to being played in Bobcat Stadium.

In my opinion, with that schedule Eastern is going to have to be crazy good to keep from going 3-8 on the season.

Montana was tough as well, it would all depend on if Montana is a lot like they were last year, it almost seemed like there were two or three different Montana teams last year. However Montana got a great recruiting class, but most recruits usually take at least a year to get fully into the system.
There were a few 50/50 games for UM for me to, most notably the Cal Poly and EWU games, the reason I have the Griz losing both is.
A. Cal Poly has a knack for beating the Griz, including 2 straight, plus it's in SLO.
B. Montana hasn't won in Cheney since 2008, and it's a game the Eagles and their fans get hyped up for, sets up for a down game for the Griz.

Of course like all preseason predictions, they mean diddly, they are just fun conversation.

Crazy good to not go 3-8?

Going back to Baldwin's first stint as OC at Eastern in 2004 and his one year as HC at CWU in 2007 he has been a part of one season worse than 6-5 (2006).

This year's schedule is tough, but only 2 are expected losses with UNI, NAU, PSU, UM, and Poly being toss ups.

The defense will be improved and perhaps decent with a ton of returning talent. Safety being the biggest question mark.

On offense you have a passer who lead the nation in several categories through mid-October of last year (against a tough schedule) before a wind storm and platooning situation late in the season grounded him. He might get beat out by one of two equally talented underclass men. QB talent is not a concern.

You have the best receiving corps in FCS all back including Shaq Hill who's absence last year took away our deep threat.

The question marks are OL and RB. We had an senior lead line in 2015 but not enough explosiveness at RB to make them shine. OL coach Aaron Best has a knack for reloading at those positions so if the line creates some holes and we re-establish some balance and threat of big gains a la Quincy Forte, the offense will look like 2012-2014 again.

I think 7-4. 5-6 with an injury bug and underperformance. 9-2 if we get some breaks and can pick off at least 2 of the first 4.

Dare I ask at what pace your defense has been improving since you first started saying this in...like...2011?

[AZGrizFan]

You have the best receiving corps in FCS all back including Shaq Hill who's absence last year took away our deep threat.

Motherfu.......

That guy has been around longer than Ronnie fucking Hamlin!

[kalm]

Crazy good to not go 3-8?

Going back to Baldwin's first stint as OC at Eastern in 2004 and his one year as HC at CWU in 2007 he has been a part of one season worse than 6-5 (2006).

This year's schedule is tough, but only 2 are expected losses with UNI, NAU, PSU, UM, and Poly being toss ups.

The defense will be improved and perhaps decent with a ton of returning talent. Safety being the biggest question mark.

On offense you have a passer who lead the nation in several categories through mid-October of last year (against a tough schedule) before a wind storm and platooning situation late in the season grounded him. He might get beat out by one of two equally talented underclass men. QB talent is not a concern.

You have the best receiving corps in FCS all back including Shaq Hill who's absence last year took away our deep threat.

The question marks are OL and RB. We had an senior lead line in 2015 but not enough explosiveness at RB to make them shine. OL coach Aaron Best has a knack for reloading at those positions so if the line creates some holes and we re-establish some balance and threat of big gains a la Quincy Forte, the offense will look like 2012-2014 again.

I think 7-4. 5-6 with an injury bug and underperformance. 9-2 if we get some breaks and can pick off at least 2 of the first 4.

Dare I ask at what pace your defense has been improving since you first started saying this in...like...2011?

Very similar to the predicted pace of EWU's demise and failure to replace...Eric Meyer, Matt Nichols, Aaron Boyce, BLM, TJ, the Big Three, and VA by Griz fans...

[AZGrizFan]

Dare I ask at what pace your defense has been improving since you first started saying this in...like...2011?

Very similar to the predicted pace of EWU's demise and failure to replace...Eric Meyer, Matt Nichols, Aaron Boyce, BLM, TJ, the Big Three, and VA by Griz fans...

How'd it work without VA last year?

[Jjoey52]

IMHO, you might be over estimating Weber and North Dakota and understating Idaho State. Bengals should beat SUU at home with a much improved special teams game, which cost them at least 2 games last year.

Sent from my LGLS991 using Tapatalk

[AZGrizFan]

IMHO, you might be over estimating Weber and North Dakota and understating Idaho State. Bengals should beat SUU at home with a much improved special teams game, which cost them at least 2 games last year.

Sent from my LGLS991 using Tapatalk

Weren't you the one who said the Bungles were gonna take the Sky last year?

[kalm]

Very similar to the predicted pace of EWU's demise and failure to replace...Eric Meyer, Matt Nichols, Aaron Boyce, BLM, TJ, the Big Three, and VA by Griz fans...

How'd it work without VA last year?

#1 ranked passing offense in FCS.



(That wasn't our problem... )

[Jjoey52]

Not saying Bengals win it this year. But they should be good for 4-5 wins.

Sent from my LGLS991 using Tapatalk

[catbooster]

Like I said before, it's a 50/50 game, one that Montana can win just as easliy as lose, Home field helps in a lot of ways, Montana fans should know this more than most. And yes, I can say that I watched part of the game, until it got incredibly lopsided and I turned to a different game.

I watched UM beat NDSU, then turn around and lose to Cal Poly, Watched Montana escape Pocatello with a win thanks to a botched ISU snap then the following week watched them curbstomp EWU. I watched Weber get curbstomped by Southern Utah only to win in Missoula the next week. I also watched a bad Northern Colorado almost beat EWU in Greeley.

What I guess Im saying is nothing is certain anymore.

What's certain is MSU doesn't have a Travis Lulay and EWU doesn't have a Vernon Adams. Thus, UM rises to the top again and resumes its rightful place as Big Sky champion.

It's the pre-season dammit - MSU will win the conference.

[Screamin_Eagle174]

What's certain is MSU doesn't have a Travis Lulay and EWU doesn't have a Vernon Adams. Thus, UM rises to the top again and resumes its rightful place as Big Sky champion.

It's the pre-season dammit - MSU will win the conference.

Nobody beats ISU in the preseason. The Bengals are going to be so good, that in 2017 they're going to join the Pac-12.

[AZGrizFan]

How'd it work without VA last year?

#1 ranked passing offense in FCS.



(That wasn't our problem... )

No. The problem was you couldn't out score every opponent like you did for three years.

[Grizalltheway]

How'd it work without VA last year?

(That wasn't our problem... )

Aaaand now we're back to my original question.

[Wildcat Ryan]

MSU was a hard one to rate, It'll be interesting to see how their new coach will get this Bobcat team prepared for the new season, MSU still has a lot of talent, though their defense needs to improve. MSU has a lot of 50/50 games. I can see MSU losing to both UND and Eastern, but gave them the edge due to being played in Bobcat Stadium.

In my opinion, with that schedule Eastern is going to have to be crazy good to keep from going 3-8 on the season.

Montana was tough as well, it would all depend on if Montana is a lot like they were last year, it almost seemed like there were two or three different Montana teams last year. However Montana got a great recruiting class, but most recruits usually take at least a year to get fully into the system.
There were a few 50/50 games for UM for me to, most notably the Cal Poly and EWU games, the reason I have the Griz losing both is.
A. Cal Poly has a knack for beating the Griz, including 2 straight, plus it's in SLO.
B. Montana hasn't won in Cheney since 2008, and it's a game the Eagles and their fans get hyped up for, sets up for a down game for the Griz.

Of course like all preseason predictions, they mean diddly, they are just fun conversation.

Crazy good to not go 3-8?

Going back to Baldwin's first stint as OC at Eastern in 2004 and his one year as HC at CWU in 2007 he has been a part of one season worse than 6-5 (2006).

This year's schedule is tough, but only 2 are expected losses with UNI, NAU, PSU, UM, and Poly being toss ups.

The defense will be improved and perhaps decent with a ton of returning talent. Safety being the biggest question mark.

On offense you have a passer who lead the nation in several categories through mid-October of last year (against a tough schedule) before a wind storm and platooning situation late in the season grounded him. He might get beat out by one of two equally talented underclass men. QB talent is not a concern.

You have the best receiving corps in FCS all back including Shaq Hill who's absence last year took away our deep threat.

The question marks are OL and RB. We had an senior lead line in 2015 but not enough explosiveness at RB to make them shine. OL coach Aaron Best has a knack for reloading at those positions so if the line creates some holes and we re-establish some balance and threat of big gains a la Quincy Forte, the offense will look like 2012-2014 again.

I think 7-4. 5-6 with an injury bug and underperformance. 9-2 if we get some breaks and can pick off at least 2 of the first 4.

All right let me rephrase, "Eastern Washington is going to be hard-pressed to not go 3-8"