2011 Big Sky season

[dakotadan]

2011 Big Sky Conference media guide

[dakotadan]

Here are the interviews from all of the BSC coaches from their media day.

[dakotadan]

EWU picked #1 in both coaches and media polls

Coaches' Poll

Team Total Points

1 Eastern Washington 60

2 Montana State 57

3 Montana 49

4 Sacramento State 46

5 Northern Arizona 35

6 Weber State 32

7 Portland State 23

8 Northern Colorado 13

9 Idaho State 10

Media Poll

Team Total Points

1 Eastern Washington 430

2 Montana State 414

3 Montana 365

4 Sacramento State 273

5 Weber State 247

6 Northern Arizona 228.5

7 Portland State 151.5

8 Northern Colorado 110.5

9 Idaho State 76.5

[jodcon]

The 3 top Big Sky teams didn't look too bad against their FBS opponents this week.

Eastern Washington outplayed Washington badly but 4 turnovers did them in and they lost 30-27, outgained the Huskies 504-250 and Washington was hanging on for dear life at the end...2 more minutes and I think EWU would have had them.

Montana State gave up 2 touchdowns early after a bad pick and a blocked punt put Utah inside the 10 twice, then settled down and played pretty well the rest of the way, held the strong Utah offense under 300 yards and had about 260 themselves, lost 27-10 but looked pretty good actually.

Montana also dug a hole with turnovers early against Tennessee muffing a punt and fumbling which led to 2 early scores, battled back from a 28-0 deficit with a TD and a safety to make it 28-9 but then threw a pick which was returned for a TD and ended up losing 42-16. About what I expected on defense giving up 450 yards, shut the run down pretty well but gave up big plays passing, moved the ball offensively better than I thought they would though, had about 370 yards.

Interesting stat from these 3 games...

3 Big Sky teams turnovers...9

3 FBS teams turnovers........0

[Hambone]

The 3 top Big Sky teams didn't look too bad against their FBS opponents this week.

Eastern Washington outplayed Washington badly but 4 turnovers did them in and they lost 30-27, outgained the Huskies 504-250 and Washington was hanging on for dear life at the end...2 more minutes and I think EWU would have had them.

Montana State gave up 2 touchdowns early after a bad pick and a blocked punt put Utah inside the 10 twice, then settled down and played pretty well the rest of the way, held the strong Utah offense under 300 yards and had about 260 themselves, lost 27-10 but looked pretty good actually.

Montana also dug a hole with turnovers early against Tennessee muffing a punt and fumbling which led to 2 early scores, battled back from a 28-0 deficit with a TD and a safety to make it 28-9 but then threw a pick which was returned for a TD and ended up losing 42-16. About what I expected on defense giving up 450 yards, shut the run down pretty well but gave up big plays passing, moved the ball offensively better than I thought they would though, had about 370 yards.

Interesting stat from these 3 games...

3 Big Sky teams turnovers...9

3 FBS teams turnovers........0

Don't forget that Sac State beat Oregon State and Weber State gave up a late touchdown (22 seconds left) to lose to Wyoming by 3.

[IrishSiouxFan]

Hopefully the BSC can stay un-poached after the next round of raids. One could make the argument that the Big Sky is on par with the current and future WAC. I'm not sure how difficult it would be but the BSC should consider starting an FBS division and shoot invites to Idaho and Utah State.

[Ole in MSP]

Don't forget that Sac State beat Oregon State and Weber State gave up a late touchdown (22 seconds left) to lose to Wyoming by 3.

Not to mention that nemisis; the NAIA schools. Lindenwood beat UNC in Greeley. LIndenwood and Sioux Falls have been the cream of the NAIA playoffs in recent years. Maybe they are not such bad teams, eh? Let's see how strong UNC is this year before any final judgement, but UND will play them and it could be interesting.

[UNDColorado]

Not to mention that nemisis; the NAIA schools. Lindenwood beat UNC in Greeley. LIndenwood and Sioux Falls have been the cream of the NAIA playoffs in recent years. Maybe they are not such bad teams, eh? Let's see how strong UNC is this year before any final judgement, but UND will play them and it could be interesting.

I will be there, should be interesting. I watched the first quarter via webcast on Big Sky tv yesterday and they didn't look that great, but neither did we.

[jodcon]

Don't forget that Sac State beat Oregon State and Weber State gave up a late touchdown (22 seconds left) to lose to Wyoming by 3.

I watched the other 3 games but didn't see the scores of these two games until today, pretty respectable performance by the BSC teams considering they were all big underdogs.

[dakota fairways]

Interview with Portland State coach Nigel Burton on oregonlive.com:

...versus the WAC, top to bottom, we're [the Big Sky] stronger...

PSU Coach Nigel Burton

The comments about the Big Sky teams are at 3:15 and vs the WAC at 3:30 in this 7 minute clip