Big Sky Power Rankings 9-27

[JALMOND]

The first week of conference play is in the books and the top teams pretty much held serve. A few crazy matchups are on tap for this weekend that may give a much clearer view of what the season holds. A second full week of conference play this weekend with Sacramento State drawing the short stick and is sitting this weekend out. Here are this week's power rankings in the conference (last week's rankings in parenthesis). All are my opinion only. Here we go.

1. Montana (1)---Last week, beat Cal Poly at home 49-7, this week at Eastern Washington---Never the one to look ahead to a big game on the horizon, the Grizzlies took care of the Mustangs at home. Now they move on to a good early season tussle at Eastern Washington. This will be a big test with a big game on the road.

2. UC Davis (2)---Last week, won at Weber State 17-14, this week Idaho at home---Down late in the game on the road at Weber State without their starting quarterback, the Aggies rallied and got the big win. They now return home to face an Idaho team that had a couple weeks to prepare for them. The daunting question is who will play at quarterback.

3. Eastern Washington (3)---Last week, won at Southern Utah 50-21, this week Montana at home---No one has been able to ground the high flying Eagle offense so far as they got another high output from the offense last week. They get a strong defense coming in this weekend for a big showdown. Can the Eagles continue to fly?

4. Montana State (4)---Last week, won at Portland State 30-17, this week Northern Colorado at home---After getting off to a rather slow start, the Bobcats defense kept them in the game until the offense got it going in the second half. They return home this weekend, facing off against one of the more unpredictable teams in the conference.

5. Sacramento State (7)---Last week, won at Idaho State 23-21, this week bye---The Hornets averted an upset on the road in the Idaho State barn last week with some road magic of their own and escaped with a road victory. Still clinging to the idea of a great season this year, they take the week off to regroup and focus on the stretch run.

6. Weber State (5)---Last week, lost to UC Davis at home 17-14, this week at Cal Poly---The Wildcats watched a good home victory last weekend go awry as they took a heartbreaking loss to a good conference foe. They will try to regroup and refocus this weekend with a trip on the road, desperately needing a win.

7. Idaho (8)---Last week, bye, this week at UC Davis---The last team to start conference play as they took a bye while everyone else was playing, the Vandals hope that two losses to the Pac-12 and Big 10 (and that extra week) has prepared them enough to garner a strong conference road win. Time will tell if they are ready.

8. Northern Colorado (12)---Last week, beat Northern Arizona at home 17-10, this week at Montana State---The roller coaster ride for the Bears continue as they take their conference opener last week. Two wins is already where most people had them for the year. This weekend may be a bit difficult but they are riding a good wave into Bozeman.

9. Northern Arizona (6)---Last week, lost at Northern Colorado 17-10, this week Idaho State at home---Well, talk about a roller coaster ride. The Lumberjacks now have one FBS win and three FCS losses as they could not come up with a conference road win last weekend. They come back home looking for win number two against a good opponent.

10. Cal Poly (9)---Last week, lost at Montana 39-7, this week Weber State at home---The Mustangs headed into the Grizzly den and got run out of the stadium. Things don't get much better this weekend as they face another one of the conference powerhouses. Better, though, that the game is at their place this weekend.

11. Portland State (10)---Last week, lost to Montana State at home 30-17, this week at Southern Utah---A strong effort in the first half went by the wayside as the Vikings could not sustain the effort in the second half. Now, they head out on the road in search of their first conference win. Can they bring the win back to Portland?

12. Southern Utah (11)---Last week, lost to Eastern Washington at home 50-21, this week Portland State at home---After getting a good DI win the week before, the Thunderbirds ran into a strong conference foe and took some lumps at home. Now they have a much better chance this weekend for a win, especially with the game being at home.

13. Idaho State (13)---Last week, lost to Sacramento State at home 23-21, this week at Northern Arizona---Still searching for their first win of the year, the Bengals had the game in hand last week only to see it slip through their fingers. Another chance for a win comes quickly as they hit the road at altitude for a conference tilt.

RECAP: 1-6 out front, 7-13 lagging behind.

[SuperHornet]

Your front end and back end are pretty good here, JAL, but I kind of have issues with your middle.

1. I just can't see dropping Weber for losing that close to a team you rank #2.
2. I can't see raising Idaho on the basis of a bye.
3. As much as I love my team, I can't see jumping us two spots on the basis of an eke-out win in a game we should have won handily.
4. UNC's defeat of a team that was coming off a scalp was not only unexpected, but very impressive. You rightly jumped them up a ton of spots, but I think that, due to Idaho's bye, you should have jumped UNC one more, as I don't like to move a team on a bye unless it's really necessary.

I think I'd rank that section like this:

5. Weber
6. Sac
7. UNC
8. Idaho

[JALMOND]

Your front end and back end are pretty good here, JAL, but I kind of have issues with your middle.

1. I just can't see dropping Weber for losing that close to a team you rank #2.
2. I can't see raising Idaho on the basis of a bye.
3. As much as I love my team, I can't see jumping us two spots on the basis of an eke-out win in a game we should have won handily.
4. UNC's defeat of a team that was coming off a scalp was not only unexpected, but very impressive. You rightly jumped them up a ton of spots, but I think that, due to Idaho's bye, you should have jumped UNC one more, as I don't like to move a team on a bye unless it's really necessary.

I think I'd rank that section like this:

5. Weber
6. Sac
7. UNC
8. Idaho

Fair questions. Let me see if I can provide some clarity.

1. If you expect to contend, you cannot lose games at home, even if you were in control most of the game and by rights, you should not have lost it. Weber's only win this year has been to an FCS transition team. They need to start winning games, even ugly if they have to.
2. Idaho may be overrated, but really, most FCS teams can expect to lose big to P5 teams and win handily over DII. Keeping the Vandals close to the middle until they prove otherwise is a safe bet.
3. Every year it seems the Pocatello barn is tough for anyone to get a road win. Most teams will take any win there, regardless of the margin.
4. I wasn't going to move the Bears past NAU as a home OT win doesn't really mean you are better than the opponent. Both UNC and NAU seem to be rather inconsistent so they seem to be even, so I ended up going with the winner.

[SuperHornet]

OK. You have some good reasoning there. Nice....

[SDHornet]

Your front end and back end are pretty good here, JAL, but I kind of have issues with your middle.

1. I just can't see dropping Weber for losing that close to a team you rank #2.
2. I can't see raising Idaho on the basis of a bye.
3. As much as I love my team, I can't see jumping us two spots on the basis of an eke-out win in a game we should have won handily.
4. UNC's defeat of a team that was coming off a scalp was not only unexpected, but very impressive. You rightly jumped them up a ton of spots, but I think that, due to Idaho's bye, you should have jumped UNC one more, as I don't like to move a team on a bye unless it's really necessary.

I think I'd rank that section like this:

5. Weber
6. Sac
7. UNC
8. Idaho

Fair questions. Let me see if I can provide some clarity.

1. If you expect to contend, you cannot lose games at home, even if you were in control most of the game and by rights, you should not have lost it. Weber's only win this year has been to an FCS transition team. They need to start winning games, even ugly if they have to.
2. Idaho may be overrated, but really, most FCS teams can expect to lose big to P5 teams and win handily over DII. Keeping the Vandals close to the middle until they prove otherwise is a safe bet.
3. Every year it seems the Pocatello barn is tough for anyone to get a road win. Most teams will take any win there, regardless of the margin.
4. I wasn't going to move the Bears past NAU as a home OT win doesn't really mean you are better than the opponent. Both UNC and NAU seem to be rather inconsistent so they seem to be even, so I ended up going with the winner.

Good questions by SH, and good responses. I'm hesitant to move the Hornets up, but with all the other results it's one big quandary. Things should start to shake out from here on out.

[Vidav]

FYI Montana scored 39

[kalm]

FYI Montana scored 39

Hi Vidav.

[JALMOND]

FYI Montana scored 39

Oops.

Got by the proof. My bad.