Big Sky Conference

It's amazing, too, to do, like, personnel analysis when you're watching the film back of these games.

And, you know, sometimes you watch the Cats specifically against some of the teams in the Big Sky that are maybe in the bottom third of the league standings.

You look, and that other team might have, like, one or two, if any, guys that would actually be on – being able to be on the two deep for the Cats.

But then you watch a team like NAU, and you're like, okay, Ty Pennington, he's pretty good.

Totally.

Shoes was great, man.

But then – It's the place where you see the biggest disparity when Montana State's lining up against these, like, good playoff caliber but not elite championship contender Big Sky teams is the Lions, man.

Like, I thought the Cats just dominated the point of attack on both sides of the ball.

And dude, it's, it's exciting that Idaho State is playing this well.

Um, the Big Sky has been a ton of fun so far.

Like, again, you look at Northern Arizona, Idaho State, Montana, Montana State, like really, really fun top of the Big Sky.

I am gonna go with the Bengals.

Um, I'm a little bit biased 'cause I just did a deep dive video on the history of the ICCU Dome, and the Idaho State fan base has been delightful to deal with in commenting on that video and telling me about Idaho State football.

Like, what a...

Uh, it is the SEC of the FCS, and I will take no arguments otherwise.

For me, MVFC is the SEC And the Big Sky is the Big Ten.

He breaks Montana's 25-year-old single game rushing record.

Uh, he also has a conference record for scores, brought a career total to 60, passing Charles Roberts to become the Big Sky's all-time leader in rushing touchdowns.

So congratulations to Eli Gilman.

We've talked about him a good bit, but, uh, what a young man, what a performance he's doing for the Griz there in Montana.

All of a sudden Cal Poly is, is a school that we're talking about in a positive light.

It's a Saturday kickoff there at Alex G. Spanos Stadium in San Luis Obispo.

A key, a Big Sky match-up.

Uh, Weber State, they're putting up some points, as well as Cal Poly.

People were questioning, like, what is the identity of this team? W- what is, what, what are things looking like exactly under Bobby Kennedy? And I wrote about it a little bit that in past years Montana has mable- has been able to flip a squ- Flip a switch right around this year, you know, e- every year under Hoke.

Was that going to continue under Bobby Kennedy, where once full-time Big Sky play begins, they just flip a switch and start to roll? And that's exactly what they did.

I mean, that was the most complete performance I've seen the Griz play in, in quite some time, and the defense was flying around making plays.

Obviously, Eli Gilman just keeps on adding records [laughs] to, to his resume.

It sounds like he'll be working his way back sooner, uh, than later.

But none of the, none of the Montana State injuries sound like season-enders.

Uh, it's just, you know, can they sustain the success, uh, as, as they go through the Big Sky slate without some of these, uh, headline names that might be out just, just a couple more games?

Feels like you're just limping along to a bye week.

We've had something going at Idaho since Jason Eck was there.

So I presented this to Coach Plough at the Big Sky Kickoff.

I said, hey, once conference play starts, let's do a weekly hit.

He said, I'd love to do it.

Kistler, I think Kistler was part of that group.

Yeah, so like they – that performance, I'm looking at the team stats right now.

They ran for 366 yards against the number one rush defense in the Big Sky.

Like that was – Punishing.

Austin Peay, I don't know, like some really impressive performances, and then I find myself just kind of glancing more at the top nine being our playoff potential, our playoff hopefuls.

really the quarterfinals kind of being that, One through five, maybe you add in SFA or Tarleton if they go on a Cinderella run, but really kind of the Missouri Valley and the Big Sky are definitely head and shoulders above most teams on this list.

I think Lamar, Tennessee Tech, they're kind of interesting.

We've both agreed that they've shown signs of life to really pop in there.

But...

So is this who UC Davis is? And maybe it's Montana State, Montana, then...

eight teams to eight to 10 teams that can beat any other big sky team on any given night.

And then Utah tech, or is it, or is this like a blip on the radar? And I've always, I've been a Tim plow guy the last couple of years.

So I was, uh, on the road, um, to Terre Haute.

But I, I got back in time, which was the great thing about having a, calling a game which is early in the day, and then being able to catch some of the, you know, whether it be Big Sky or Mount West or whatever game's tonight.

So I'm catching that game, Kyle, and I wanted to text you, DJ, and I told you this earlier, late at night, 'cause I'm wa- I'm, I'm taking in all of the Montana game.

I'm just locked in and I'm like, "They are sticking it to Da- I mean, they are sticking it to Davis." And I thought about this.