More thoughts on the Sky in football
After spending one morning the other day in Spokane listening to all things Big Sky Conference football, here are some thoughts:
- Even though the lunch spread might have been a little more interesting in New Orleans, where the Idaho Vandals spent the last four media days as members of the FBS Sun Belt Conference, staying close to home this year, as they return to the Big Sky for the first time since 1995, seemed to suit them well.
Other coaches spoke highly of them — and voted highly of them too, picking them to finish fourth in the 13-team Big Sky. It had to be tough to judge — how will a team that is doing pretty well in a lower-end FBS league perform in one of the top FCS conferences. Some mentioned the fact they’ve been recruiting to an FBS league means they should have the talent to hang with the top-tier Big Sky schools.
We’ll see how it plays out this fall.
- As you might expect, the “area” teams — Idaho, Eastern Washington, Montana, Montana State, Idaho State — garnered the most attention from the media in a room where coaches from each school sat at tables along opposite walls, with chairs provided on the inside for media to “drop in” and chat with each coach. Ditto with the players a little later in the morning.
You felt a little sorry for some of the far away schools that didn’t get as much attention during that segment — the teams from California, Utah and Arizona in particular — whose media didn’t travel for the event.
Fortunately, everybody from each school got equal time in front of the TV cameras, as well as on the conference’s web stream, so they didn’t feel totally left out.
- The coaches and the media both picked the order of finish in the Big Sky. Both picked Eastern to win it. They were also close on everybody else — a one-spot difference from one poll to the other. The biggest “discrepancy” was Sacramento State picked fifth by the coaches and seventh by the media.
In conferences like the Big Sky, where teams only play eight of a possible 12 teams in their league, who you play is a big factor in where you finish.
So, using the coaches rankings, I went through and figured a quasi “strength of schedule” for each Big Sky team. If they were scheduled to play Eastern, they got one point; if they play Portland State, picked to finish last, they got 13. I added up the points and divided by eight, for eight league games, and came up with a strength of schedule total.
(Seven of the teams, including Idaho, Montana and Montana State, play North Dakota, which left the Big Sky following last season. The game counts as a conference game for the Big Sky team, though they’re playing a team no longer in the league. So in that case, I added up the “points” from the other seven games and divided by seven. Who knows if that’s the most fair way to figure it, but that’s my format and I’m sticking to it. For now.)
I used the coaches poll, which went: 1, Eastern Washington. 2, Weber State. 3, Northern Arizona. 4, Idaho. 5, Sacramento State. 6, Southern Utah. 7, Montana. 8, Montana State. 9, UC Davis. 10, Cal Poly. 11, Northern Colorado. 12, Idaho State. 13, Portland State.
Anyway, here’s how it turned out, with the lower the point total average, the “tougher” the schedule:
1, Southern Utah, 5.4. 2, Northern Colorado, 6.0. 3, Cal Poly, 6.4. 4, Weber State, 6.57. 5, UC Davis, 6.62. 6, Portland State, 6.9. 7, Idaho State, 7.0. 8, Sacramento State, 7.1. 9, Montana State, 7.5. 10 (tie), Northern Arizona, Montana, 7.85714. 12, Eastern Washington, 7.875. 13, Idaho, 8.0.
Observations:
- Southern Utah is scheduled to play the predicted top five finishers in the league, as well as the team picked seventh (Southern Utah is picked sixth).
- Montana doesn’t play the predicted top three teams in the league — Idaho is its “toughest” opponent.
- Montana State is scheduled to play the top two teams in the league (Eastern and Weber), but is also slated to face the bottom four teams in the league.
- Five of Eastern’s eight opponents are picked to finish eighth or lower in the league. The others — Weber State (2), Idaho (4) and Southern Utah (6). Not that the Eags, the best team in the conference over the past decade, needed the scheduling help.
- Idaho plays Sky favorite Eastern, but misses teams picked to finish second (Weber State), third (Northern Arizona) and fifth (Sacramento State).
We’ll find out how this really plays out starting in early September.
Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter@CdAPressSports.