This Week’s Sky Highlights
Eleven teams are in action this upcoming Saturday on a slate that includes two non-conference games between conference teams. No. 2 Eastern Washington will travel to No.14 Montana State for a non-conference tilt. The game will be televised live on ROOT SPORTS.
Cal Poly will gun for its first victory as it plays host to Portland State in a non-conference game.
The week’s schedule also includes five matchups against other FCS conferences. Top-five teams Montana and North Dakota State of the Missouri Valley battle in Fargo. No. 1 NDSU enters on a 27-game winning streak.
North Dakota will play host to Stony Brook of the CAA.
No. 22 Northern Arizona travels to South Dakota of the Missouri Valley. The Coyotes are coming off a loss to Montana, while the Lumberjacks sport an impressive 10-4 road record over the past three seasons
Northern Colorado will take on No. 11 Northern Iowa of the Missouri Valley...Weber State travels to Stephen F. Austin of the Southland Conference. The Wildcats beat the Lumberjacks to open the 2013 season in Ogden
Sacramento State looks to move to 3-1 as it plays host to Menlo
Southern Utah’s difficult schedule continues as it travels to Fresno State of the Mountain West. Both teams are looking for their first wins
UC Davis and Idaho State have the week off.
This Week’s Sky Schedule
Around the Big Sky
BEARS END STREAK: Northern Colorado snapped a 12-game losing streak with a hard-fought 28-20 victory over Houston Baptist of the Southland Conference last Saturday at Nottingham Field in Greeley. The Bears trailed 20-15 entering the fourth quarter, but quarterback Sean Rubalcaba and running back Darius Graham scored on runs in the final 10:04. For the second straight game, Northern Colorado’s defense intercepted four passes. Northern Colorado’s eight interceptions through two games is tops in the nation. No other FCS team has more than six interceptions. The Bears are allowing 142 passing yards per game, which leads the Big Sky and is tied for the 14th-fewest in the nation. The win was the first by the Bears since opening the 2013 season with a 31-10 win over Langston.
BIG SKY DEBUTS ON ROOT SPORTS: Big Sky Conference football makes its 2014 debut on ROOT SPORTS on Saturday. ROOT SPORTS, the official TV partner of the Big Sky Conference, will televise 11 games this season. Saturday’s matchup features No. 14 Montana State playing host to No. 2 Eastern Washington from Bobcat Stadium in Bozeman. Coverage begins at 1 p.m. Mountain. The game will be televised on ROOT SPORTS, as well as DirecTV’s Audience Network. The Audience Network is available to all DirecTV subscribers. ROOT SPORTS is widely available on cable outlets throughout Washington, Oregon, Montana, Idaho, Utah, Colorado, Alaska, Wyoming, and parts of Idaho, Kansas, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico and South Dakota. Tom Glasgow, Jason Stiles and Jen Mueller will call the game. Saturday’s game is a non-conference game. The Eagles and Bobcats will also play a non-conference game in Cheney in 2015.
BUCHANAN BOYS: Buck Buchanan Award candidates James Cowser of Southern Utah and Zack Wagenmann of Montana are both off to torrid starts to the 2014 campaign. Cowser recorded 12 tackles - nine solo - with 5.5 tackles for loss and a sack. Cowser’s 5.5 tackles for loss tied for the fifth-most by a Big Sky player since 2000. Cowser leads the Big Sky with 11 tackles for loss. His average of 3.67 per game ranks second in the nation. Cowser is second in the Big Sky with four sacks. Wagenmann tallied three sacks in Montana’s 28-20 win over South Dakota. Wagenmann leads the nation with six sacks and is second in the Big Sky with 6.5 tackles for loss.
BIG NUMBERS FOR BENGALS: Idaho State snapped an eight-game losing streak with a 39-34 victory over Division II Chadron State. The Bengals amassed 550 yards of total offense, the fourth most in a game since 2004. Quarterback Justin Arias completed 31-of-45 passes for 318 yards and four touchdowns. Arias moved into 10th place on the school’s all-time passing yardage list with 4,678. Arias has 34 career TD passes, which puts him eighth in school history. ISU gained 232 yards on the ground, the most for the Bengals since Sept. 8, 2007 when they had 245 vs. Southern Oregon. Xavier Finney rushed for a career-high 158 yards with two touchdowns. Sophomore Madison Mangum caught a career-high 11 passes for a career-high 123 yards and scored two touchdowns. Sophomore Broc Malcom caught eight passes for 126 yards and two touchdowns.
DOUBLE THE HORNET FUN: For the 11th time in school history, Sacramento State had two 100-yard rushers last Saturday in a 42-31 non-conference win over Weber State. For the first time in school history, the pair of 100-yard rushers included a quarterback. Senior QB Garrett Safron rushed for 115 yards on eight carries, scoring on a 70-yard run in the first quarter to give the Hornets a 7-0 lead. Sophomore Jordan Robinson rushed for a career-high 130 yards on 17 carries and scored two touchdowns. Robinson’s 30-yard fourth-quarter scoring run put the Hornets ahead 36-24. Sacramento State finished the game with 265 rushing yards. Wide receiver Nnamdi Agude caught seven passes for 124 yards with a touchdown. Agude has two 100-yard receiving games through the first three games. The game also included a school single-game record five field goals by Brad Cornish. Four of Cornish’s kicks were from at least 40 yards.
BOBCATS JUST FINE: No quarterback in the Big Sky has been under the microscope quite like Montana State sophomore Dakota Prukop. The sophomore is replacing four-year starter DeNarius McGhee. So far, the sophomore is completing 68.1 percent of his passes. He’s carried the ball 47 times for 270 yards, and has five rushing touchdowns. Prukop is averaging 301 yards of total offense per game, which ranks second in the Big Sky and fifth in the FCS. Transfer running back Anthony Knight has also proven to be a solid pickup. Knight scored three rushing touchdowns against Central Arkansas last week and five for the season.
NATIONAL POWERS MEET IN FARGO: No. 1 North Dakota State and No. 4 Montana will square off in Fargo, N.D. on Saturday. The two teams will play in 2015 in Missoula, Mont. North Dakota State enters the game riding a 27-game winning streak, the longest in FCS history. Montana won 24 games in a row from 2001-02, which tied Penn for the longest in FCS history until the Bison broke the mark earlier this season. This is the first meeting between the teams since 2003, when the Bison rallied from a 24-2 halftime deficit to stun Montana 25-24. NDSU was a Division II program at the time. The teams first met in 1914. The teams have combined for five FCS national titles and 10 title-game appearances since 1995.
FRESHMEN BREAK THE BARRIER: A pair of Northern Arizona running backs surpassed 100 yards in the Lumberjacks’ 62-23 win over New Mexico Highlands. True freshman Marquice Paige rushed 10 times for 136 yards and scored on a 21-yard run. Redshirt freshman Corbin Jountti rushed 10 times for 124 yards and scored on an 11-yard run in the third quarter. Northern Arizona rolled up 288 yards on the ground and averaged 6.7 yards per carry.
IN THE POLLS: Eastern Washington, which was idle last week, maintained the No. 2 spot in both major FCS polls. The Eagles earned 15 first-place votes in the Sports Network Poll and one in the Coaches’ poll. Montana remained fourth in The Sports Network poll moved up one spot to third in the Coaches’ poll. Montana State jumped three spots to 14th in The Sports Network poll and moved up two spots from 18th to 16 in the Coaches’ poll. Northern Arizona moved up two spots to 22nd in the TSN poll, and is returned to the Coaches’ poll at 23.
IN THE SAGARIN: The Big Sky ranks fourth among FCS conferences in this week’s Sagarin Ratings: The Missouri Valley is first, followed by the Ohio Valley and the CAA. Eastern Washington ranks fourth among FCS teams and 67th overall. Montana is ninth, and 95th. Montana State is 19th, followed by Northern Arizona at 23 and Cal Poly at 27. NDSU is the No. 1 FCS team with an overall ranking of 37. Villanova is second and South Dakota State is third.
Extra points: Weber State sophomore QB Billy Green threw for a career-high 377 yards against Sacramento State. It was the most passing yards by a WSU QB since Cameron Higgins threw for 410 in Sept. of 2009...Montana drew a stadium-record crowd of 26,303 against South Dakota. The previous record was 26,293 set last season vs. Appalachian State...Alex Toureen had a career-high seven catches for 100 yards and scored on a 24-yard reception in Portland State’s loss to Washington State...Montana State Trevor Bolton leads the nation in punting at 48.8 yards per punt. The Bobcats are second in the nation in net punting...Sacramento State kicker Brad Cornish was named the Special Teams Player of the Week by the Sports Network, and a Weekly All-Star by College Sporting News...Southern Utah linebacker Chinedu Ahanonu continues to lead the nation in tackles with an average of 17 per game. He tallied 12 in the loss to South Dakota State...The Big Sky is currently 5-1 against the Southland Conference, and 1-4 against the Missouri Valley Conference...Gabe Manzanares, the 2013 Big Sky Newcomer of the Year saw his first action of the season for UC Davis. He carried the ball six times for 12 yards in a loss to Colorado State...Big Sky teams are currently 2-20 on the road with 15 of the losses coming to FBS teams. Sacramento State and Northern Arizona are the only teams with road victories.