4 Top Ten Teams for Big Sky?

[Rich K]

Craig Haley notes a bit of a scheduling issue that could have playoff ramifications:
http://www.fcs.football/cfb/story.asp?i ... 8564287804

The 13-team Big Sky uses an unbalanced schedule in which its members play eight conference games and miss the four other opponents. This year, there are only two games between last year's four playoff qualifiers - UC Davis hosts Weber State on Oct. 26 and Montana State on Nov. 16. Eastern Washington, the 2018 national runner-up, isn't playing the other three after playing all of them last season.

All four powers already are strong enough talent-wise, but the scenario could be alarming to the other Big Sky members, including the likes of Idaho State, Montana and Northern Arizona, heading toward the conference schedule.

Unfortunately this might also mean the Big Sky v. Big Sky in an early round if those teams did not play each other in the regular season.

[Anacomando]

I just don't like the 13 teams and it presents this exact scenario and it also does not always define a true league champion. I would prefer a 10 team league. I haven't looked at everyone's schedules but EWU has a clear advantage from the article...

[oedipuss]

This doesn't seem that hard.
Northwest Division

PSU
EWU
UI
Um
MSU
ISU
UNC

Southwest Division

Weber
Sac St
NAU
SUU
Dixie St (football only)
UC-Davis (football only)
Cal Poly (football only)

[BleedingBLue]

This doesn't seem that hard.
Northwest Division

PSU
EWU
UI
Um
MSU
ISU
UNC

Southwest Division

Weber
Sac St
NAU
SUU
Dixie St (football only)
UC-Davis (football only)
Cal Poly (football only)

Still no true champ though because you can't have a conference title game. The conference as it currently sits would benefit from a 9 game conference schedule with 3 rivals per team.

[Grizaddict]

I just don't like the 13 teams and it presents this exact scenario and it also does not always define a true league champion. I would prefer a 10 team league. I haven't looked at everyone's schedules but EWU has a clear advantage from the article...

MSU Conf Sched:
NAU
At CP
Sac St
At UND
SUU
At UNC
At UC Davis
Montana

EWU Conf Schedule:
UND
At Sac St
UNC
At Montana
NAU
At Idaho St
At CP
PSU

Griz Conf Schedule:
At UC Davis
Idaho St
At Sac St
EWU
At PSU
Idaho
Weber
At MSU

Griz play 5 of the top 5 from last year (EWU, Weber, UC Davis, ISU, and MSU)

Cats play 1 of the top 5 (UC Davis)

EWU plays 1 of the top 5 (ISU)

[mslacatfan]

having this many teams in the big sky is just stupid.

[Cataholic]

I just don't like the 13 teams and it presents this exact scenario and it also does not always define a true league champion. I would prefer a 10 team league. I haven't looked at everyone's schedules but EWU has a clear advantage from the article...

MSU Conf Sched:
NAU
At CP
Sac St
At UND
SUU
At UNC
At UC Davis
Montana

EWU Conf Schedule:
UND
At Sac St
UNC
At Montana
NAU
At Idaho St
At CP
PSU

Griz Conf Schedule:
At UC Davis
Idaho St
At Sac St
EWU
At PSU
Idaho
Weber
At MSU

Griz play 5 of the top 5 from last year (EWU, Weber, UC Davis, ISU, and MSU)

Cats play 1 of the top 5 (UC Davis)

EWU plays 1 of the top 5 (ISU)

Kind of looks like MSU and UM flipped schedules from ast year. MSU played 5 of the top 6 conference teams while UM played only Davis and MSU. I bet MSU will end 2019 better than UM’s record of 6-5 last year.

[Bobcat4Ever]

One problem, that will go away, is that UND is still being treated like a conference team, which makes these disparate schedules even more likely. So, if I haven't slipped a cog somewhere, it's really like a 14-team league.

[Grizaddict]

I just don't like the 13 teams and it presents this exact scenario and it also does not always define a true league champion. I would prefer a 10 team league. I haven't looked at everyone's schedules but EWU has a clear advantage from the article...

MSU Conf Sched:
NAU
At CP
Sac St
At UND
SUU
At UNC
At UC Davis
Montana

EWU Conf Schedule:
UND
At Sac St
UNC
At Montana
NAU
At Idaho St
At CP
PSU

Griz Conf Schedule:
At UC Davis
Idaho St
At Sac St
EWU
At PSU
Idaho
Weber
At MSU

Griz play 5 of the top 5 from last year (EWU, Weber, UC Davis, ISU, and MSU)

Cats play 1 of the top 5 (UC Davis)

EWU plays 1 of the top 5 (ISU)

Kind of looks like MSU and UM flipped schedules from ast year. MSU played 5 of the top 6 conference teams while UM played only Davis and MSU. I bet MSU will end 2019 better than UM’s record of 6-5 last year.

The top 5 from 2017 in conference standings were:

1. SUU
2. Weber
3. EWU
4. Sac St
5. NAU

The Cats played 2 of them last year (EWU and Weber) and the Griz played 2 of them (Sac St and SUU).

[Team10]

I just don't like the 13 teams and it presents this exact scenario and it also does not always define a true league champion. I would prefer a 10 team league. I haven't looked at everyone's schedules but EWU has a clear advantage from the article...

MSU Conf Sched:
NAU
At CP
Sac St
At UND
SUU
At UNC
At UC Davis
Montana

EWU Conf Schedule:
UND
At Sac St
UNC
At Montana
NAU
At Idaho St
At CP
PSU

Griz Conf Schedule:
At UC Davis
Idaho St
At Sac St
EWU
At PSU
Idaho
Weber
At MSU

Griz play 5 of the top 5 from last year (EWU, Weber, UC Davis, ISU, and MSU)

Cats play 1 of the top 5 (UC Davis)

EWU plays 1 of the top 5 (ISU)

Kind of looks like MSU and UM flipped schedules from ast year. MSU played 5 of the top 6 conference teams while UM played only Davis and MSU. I bet MSU will end 2019 better than UM’s record of 6-5 last year.

The top 5 from 2017 in conference standings were:

1. SUU
2. Weber
3. EWU
4. Sac St
5. NAU

The Cats played 2 of them last year (EWU and Weber) and the Griz played 2 of them (Sac St and SUU).

Are you trying to say that previous years rankings don't mean much? Because if you did, then, your're correct. If you're trying to say that um's schedule was as difficult as MSU's schedule, well, we all know you're an idiot.

[jgrilley406]

Just look at what each team lost just on the offensive side of the ball at the skill positions only too...ISU and Weber lost their QB and one of their top RBs, UC loses their top WR and one of their top RBs, and MSU loses their QB/leading rusher however you want to label him as. And that’s not including TEs either. Just look at the top 5 list from 2017 to 2018 only two teams finished on the list for each year, and I’m guessing it’ll look pretty similar in 2019, with maybe 3 teams finishing in the top 5.

[Grizaddict]

I just don't like the 13 teams and it presents this exact scenario and it also does not always define a true league champion. I would prefer a 10 team league. I haven't looked at everyone's schedules but EWU has a clear advantage from the article...

MSU Conf Sched:
NAU
At CP
Sac St
At UND
SUU
At UNC
At UC Davis
Montana

EWU Conf Schedule:
UND
At Sac St
UNC
At Montana
NAU
At Idaho St
At CP
PSU

Griz Conf Schedule:
At UC Davis
Idaho St
At Sac St
EWU
At PSU
Idaho
Weber
At MSU

Griz play 5 of the top 5 from last year (EWU, Weber, UC Davis, ISU, and MSU)

Cats play 1 of the top 5 (UC Davis)

EWU plays 1 of the top 5 (ISU)

Kind of looks like MSU and UM flipped schedules from ast year. MSU played 5 of the top 6 conference teams while UM played only Davis and MSU. I bet MSU will end 2019 better than UM’s record of 6-5 last year.

The top 5 from 2017 in conference standings were:

1. SUU
2. Weber
3. EWU
4. Sac St
5. NAU

The Cats played 2 of them last year (EWU and Weber) and the Griz played 2 of them (Sac St and SUU).

Are you trying to say that previous years rankings don't mean much? Because if you did, then, your're correct. If you're trying to say that um's schedule was as difficult as MSU's schedule, well, we all know you're an idiot.

Not saying that at all. My first post was simply providing the schedules as the poster stated they hadn’t compared them and that it looked liked EWU had an easy one. I based the so called “easy” schedule after last year’s top conference finishers in an effort to be objective as opposed to subjective. So based on last year’s top 5, Griz have an insane schedule and play all 5 whereas MSU and EWU only play 1. I think MSUs schedule looks as easy as I can remember.

Using the same method, top 5 from 2017, the Cats and Griz each played 2 of them last year. As simple as that no less and no more.

Overall (Conf and non Conf) the cats had a tougher schedule last year, even though when you look at sagarin it wasn’t as separated between cats and Griz as much as you’d think. It was like 10 spots diffference. This upcoming year it looks as if the Griz will have one of the toughest schedules in all of FCS. Will be lucky to go 6-6. The cats and EWU look like they have way easier schedules. I haven’t looked at Weber’s or Idaho St yet.

[Cataholic]

I just don't like the 13 teams and it presents this exact scenario and it also does not always define a true league champion. I would prefer a 10 team league. I haven't looked at everyone's schedules but EWU has a clear advantage from the article...

MSU Conf Sched:
NAU
At CP
Sac St
At UND
SUU
At UNC
At UC Davis
Montana

EWU Conf Schedule:
UND
At Sac St
UNC
At Montana
NAU
At Idaho St
At CP
PSU

Griz Conf Schedule:
At UC Davis
Idaho St
At Sac St
EWU
At PSU
Idaho
Weber
At MSU

Griz play 5 of the top 5 from last year (EWU, Weber, UC Davis, ISU, and MSU)

Cats play 1 of the top 5 (UC Davis)

EWU plays 1 of the top 5 (ISU)

Kind of looks like MSU and UM flipped schedules from ast year. MSU played 5 of the top 6 conference teams while UM played only Davis and MSU. I bet MSU will end 2019 better than UM’s record of 6-5 last year.

The top 5 from 2017 in conference standings were:

1. SUU
2. Weber
3. EWU
4. Sac St
5. NAU

The Cats played 2 of them last year (EWU and Weber) and the Griz played 2 of them (Sac St and SUU).

Are you trying to say that previous years rankings don't mean much? Because if you did, then, your're correct. If you're trying to say that um's schedule was as difficult as MSU's schedule, well, we all know you're an idiot.

Not saying that at all. My first post was simply providing the schedules as the poster stated they hadn’t compared them and that it looked liked EWU had an easy one. I based the so called “easy” schedule after last year’s top conference finishers in an effort to be objective as opposed to subjective. So based on last year’s top 5, Griz have an insane schedule and play all 5 whereas MSU and EWU only play 1. I think MSUs schedule looks as easy as I can remember.

Using the same method, top 5 from 2017, the Cats and Griz each played 2 of them last year. As simple as that no less and no more.

Overall (Conf and non Conf) the cats had a tougher schedule last year, even though when you look at sagarin it wasn’t as separated between cats and Griz as much as you’d think. It was like 10 spots diffference. This upcoming year it looks as if the Griz will have one of the toughest schedules in all of FCS. Will be lucky to go 6-6. The cats and EWU look like they have way easier schedules. I haven’t looked at Weber’s or Idaho St yet.

Last season, the only team that the Cats did not play in the top 6 finishers of the conference was Davis. The Griz played only Davis and MSU.

[onceacat]

This doesn't seem that hard.
Northwest Division

PSU
EWU
UI
Um
MSU
ISU
UNC

Southwest Division

Weber
Sac St
NAU
SUU
Dixie St (football only)
UC-Davis (football only)
Cal Poly (football only)

Still no true champ though because you can't have a conference title game. The conference as it currently sits would benefit from a 9 game conference schedule with 3 rivals per team.

Why can't you have a championship game? You just leave the last week of the season open for every team in the league, then the #1 from the North plays the #1 from the South. #2 plays #2, #3 plays #3, and so on.

Its pretty straightforward.

[John K]

This doesn't seem that hard.
Northwest Division

PSU
EWU
UI
Um
MSU
ISU
UNC

Southwest Division

Weber
Sac St
NAU
SUU
Dixie St (football only)
UC-Davis (football only)
Cal Poly (football only)

Still no true champ though because you can't have a conference title game. The conference as it currently sits would benefit from a 9 game conference schedule with 3 rivals per team.

If the goal is less inequality from year to year, then a 9 game conference schedule is good, but 3 rivals instead of 2 actually makes it even worse. If you're playing the same 3 teams every single year, some team's group of rivals could be collectively much stronger traditionally than other team's rivals. A certain level of inequality is going to be baked in every single year, and having more rivals only increases the level of annual inequality. I'd actually be in favor of having just 1 rival rather than 2, which would minimize year to year inequality even more, allowing teams to play a larger number of the teams from their pool of potential non rival opponents every year.

[John K]

This doesn't seem that hard.
Northwest Division

PSU
EWU
UI
Um
MSU
ISU
UNC

Southwest Division

Weber
Sac St
NAU
SUU
Dixie St (football only)
UC-Davis (football only)
Cal Poly (football only)

Still no true champ though because you can't have a conference title game. The conference as it currently sits would benefit from a 9 game conference schedule with 3 rivals per team.

Why can't you have a championship game? You just leave the last week of the season open for every team in the league, then the #1 from the North plays the #1 from the South. #2 plays #2, #3 plays #3, and so on.

Its pretty straightforward.

I love the idea of leaving the last weekend of the season open for inter-division, intra-conference playoff games.

[gtapp]

We just don't have enough FCS teams in the West. For years the trend was for many FCS teams to move up to FBS. Hopefully that trend is ending. Now we need more FBS teams in the West to go the route of Idaho and move down. UNM, NMSU, Wyoming, SJSU, UTEP and Texas State would all be good candidates for FCS. Not that any of them will see the light and move down. I have heard rumors of UNM and NMSU looking at that possibility. I know it is about money but let's face it. UNM and NMSU are never going to be good at the FBS level.

[John K]

We just don't have enough FCS teams in the West. For years the trend was for many FCS teams to move up to FBS. Hopefully that trend is ending. Now we need more FBS teams in the West to go the route of Idaho and move down. UNM, NMSU, Wyoming, SJSU, UTEP and Texas State would all be good candidates for FCS. Not that any of them will see the light and move down. I have heard rumors of UNM and NMSU looking at that possibility. I know it is about money but let's face it. UNM and NMSU are never going to be good at the FBS level.

I agree with you 100%. I have never understood the big attraction for teams like NMSU (and UI before they saw the light) to be a perennial bottom feeder at the FBS level, rather than having a program that could be competitive nationally at the FCS level. I know some people will argue that it's driven purely be economics....that there is just so much more money available by staying in FBS. That may be true, but there are also a lot more expenses. I suspect that UI never would have dropped down, if they were faced with the prospect of taking a significant financial hit by doing so, so I really believe that argument is a bit of a red herring.

[BleedingBLue]

This doesn't seem that hard.
Northwest Division

PSU
EWU
UI
Um
MSU
ISU
UNC

Southwest Division

Weber
Sac St
NAU
SUU
Dixie St (football only)
UC-Davis (football only)
Cal Poly (football only)

Still no true champ though because you can't have a conference title game. The conference as it currently sits would benefit from a 9 game conference schedule with 3 rivals per team.

Why can't you have a championship game? You just leave the last week of the season open for every team in the league, then the #1 from the North plays the #1 from the South. #2 plays #2, #3 plays #3, and so on.

Its pretty straightforward.

If that would be allowed then great, but I would think the NCAA would consider that a title game since it is in everything but name.

That also adds an additional game for one of the teams in each matchup to make travel plans fast. For the playoff teams that's probably an issue. Plus do you schedule 5 home games and hope you get a final week home game? Nobody is going to be able to schedule 6 home games and 4 away games. And nobody would want to play the last weekend game at a neutral site.

[Hawks86]

There's no rule in FCS that there can't be a conference championship game.