SPOKANE, Washington — The 2021 season will mark the final campaign for Southern Utah in the Big Sky Conference.
The Thunderbirds leave the league as the member with the second-shortest tenure in the history of the conference. North Dakota joined the Big Sky with Southern Utah (and Cal Poly & UC Davis) in 2012. UND exited the league three years ago, moving to the Missouri Valley Football Conference.
SUU is out to the Western Athletic Conference, a league with a totally different look than back in the early 2000s when former Big Sky members like Idaho, Boise State and Nevada roamed the league.
While the future of the league’s landscape is almost certainly going to remain in flux, the ascension of a few of the league’s most visible programs — namely Montana, Montana State and four-time defending BSC champion Weber State — means that the hierarchy is most advantageous for the conference when it comes to the national narrative.
When Southern Utah and North Dakota were winning the Big Sky during the mid-2010s, league champions were getting sent on the road in the first round of the playoffs. But Weber State’s assumption of the Big Sky’s premier program combined with the resurgence of the Bobcats and the Grizzlies back into the top echelon of the Football Championship Subdivision has meant the league was riding high coming out of the 2019 season.
Montana won 10 games for the first time in nearly a decade, advancing to the quarterfinals of the FCS playoffs for the first time in eight years. Montana State earned its first playoff seed since 2012 and advanced to the semifinals of the FCS playoffs for the first time since 1985. And Weber State made the first Final Four run in program history, beating Montana 17-10 in the quarters along the way.
The 2019 season saw Sac State, MSU, Weber State and Montana all earned playoff seeds and the first round byes that come with.
The spring of 2021 saw Weber gut its way to a fourth straight league title and a fifth straight playoff appearances. WSU posted an 18-13 win over UC Davis, a 28-23 win over Northern Arizona, a 19-16 win at SUU, and a 20-15 win over Idaho State among its five spring wins. Weber lost 34-31 to No. 14 Southern Illinois in the first round of the spring playoffs.
Yet Weber remains the team to beat, at least if you put stock in the preseason polls. WSU earned 14 of 24 first-place votes in the preseason media poll and seven of the 13 possible votes in the coaches poll.
“Jay Hill at Weber, they’ve done a great job and they are the reigning champions so until someone knocks them off, they are kings of the conference,” EWU head coach Aaron Best, who led his team to the spring playoffs, said at the Big Sky Kickoff.
But the Griz and Bobcats did not participate in the championship portion of the schedule. Sac State, which shared the league title with Weber in 2019, did not play in the spring whatsoever. Portland State’s only action came in a bludgeoning at the hands of Montana in Missoula, one of just two games the Grizzlies played so far in 2021.
“Our league has always been competitive,” Hauck said. “That’s not some new phenomena. The fact that there are 12 teams and everybody doesn’t play everybody, that adds a different layer. But the league has always been good.
“But we feel pretty good about our team.”
That unbalanced schedule means each team’s strength of schedule varies. This season will be the last (for now at least) that league members don’t play four other Big Sky teams in a given year.
The coaches and media polls mirrored each other aside from which team would finish in 13th place. The coaches said Cal Poly while the media said Northern Colorado.
Skyline Sports has constructed a simple formula assigning point values to each team’s position in the poll. For example, Weber State is the preseason favorite; therefore the strength of schedule formula means that a team that plays Weber receives a maximum of 13 points in their strength of schedule gage. Second-ranked Montana is worth 12 points, third-ranked Eastern Washington is worth 11 points, fourth-ranked Montana State is worth 10 points and so on.
“This league is as strong as it has been top to bottom — we said this last year when six of the 13 teams got first-place votes — there’s a reason for that: great student-athletes, great coaching, great development,” Best said. “You have to beat the best to be the best. We anticipate to do that week in and week out.”
Big Sky preseason media poll
Strength of schedule point values
- Weber State – 13 points
- Montana – 12 points
- Eastern Washington – 11 points
- Montana State – 10 points
- Sacramento State – 9 points
- UC Davis – 8 points
- Northern Arizona – 7 points
- Idaho – 6 points
- Idaho State -5 points
- Portland State – 4 points
- Southern Utah – 3 points
- Northern Colorado – 2 points
- Cal Poly -1 points
The preseason strength of schedule barometer gives a point total for the eight game schedules of all 13 Big Sky teams. Here’s how the strength of schedules stack up.
SOS HARDEST TO EASIEST
Hardest No. 13 – Northern Colorado – 73 points
Non-conference schedule
- At Colorado
- Houston Baptist
- Lamar
Conference points
- Northern Arizona – 7 points
- At Montana State – 10 points
- Eastern Washington – 11 points
- At UC Davis – 8 points
- At Southern Utah – 3 points
- Sacramento State – 9 points
- Montana – 12 points
- At Weber State – 13 points
No. 12 – Cal Poly, 69 points
Cal Poly non-conference schedule
- At San Diego
- At Fresno State
- South Dakota
Conference points, predictions
- At Montana – 12 points
- Weber State – 13 points
- At Montana State – 11 points
- UC Davis – 8 points
- At Portland State – 4 points
- At Sac State – 9 pints
- Idaho State – 5 points
- Northern Arizona – 7 points
No. 11 – Southern Utah, 64 points
Southern Utah non-conference schedule
- At San Jose State
- At Arizona State
- Tarleton State
Conference points, predictions
- Eastern Washington – 11 points
- Portland State – 4 points
- At Sacramento State – 9 points
- At Northern Arizona – 7 points
- Northern Colorado – 2 points
- At Montana – Loss – 12 points
- At Idaho – L – 6 points
- Weber State – L – 13 points
No. 10 – Idaho, 60 points
Idaho non-conference schedule
- Simon Fraser
- At Indiana
- At Oregon State
Conference points, predictions
- At UC Davis – 8 points
- Portland State – 4 points
- At Eastern Washington –11 points
- Montana – 12 points
- Northern Arizona – 7 points
- Southern Utah – 3 points
- At Montana State – 10 points
- At Idaho State – 5 points
No. 9 – Eastern Washington, 58 points
Eastern Washington non-conference schedule
- At UNLV
- Central Washington
- At Western Illinois
Conference points, predictions
- At Southern Utah – 3 points
- Montana – 12 points
- At Northern Colorado – 2 – points
- Idaho – 6 points
- Weber State – 13 points
- Montana State – 10 points
- At UC Davis – 8 points
- At Portland State – 4 points
No. 8 – Idaho State, 58 points
Idaho State non-conference schedule
- North Dakota
- At Nevada
- At BYU (Nov. 6)
Conference points, predictions
- Sacramento State – 9 points
- At Northern Arizona – 7 points
- UC Davis – 8 points
- At Portland State – 4 points
- At Montana State – 10 points
- Weber State – 13 points
- At Cal Poly – 1 point
- Idaho – 6 points
No. 7 – Portland State, 56 points
Portland State non-conference schedule
- At Hawaii
- At Washington State
- Western Oregon
Conference points, predictions
- Montana State – 10 points
- At Southern Utah – 3 points
- At Idaho – 4 points
- Idaho State – 5 points
- Cal Poly – 1 point
- At Weber State – 13 points
- At Sacramento State – 9 points
- Eastern Washington – 11 points
No. 6 – Montana State, 55 points
Montana State non-conference schedule
- At Wyoming
- Drake
- San Diego
Conference points, predictions
- At Portland State – 5 points
- Northern Colorado – 2 points
- Cal Poly – 1 point
- At Weber State – 13 points
- Idaho State – 5 points
- At Eastern Washington – 11 points
- Idaho – 6 points
- Montana– 12 points
No. 5 – UC Davis, 54 points
UC Davis non-conference schedule
- At Tulsa
- At San Diego
- Dixie State
Conference points, predictions
- At Weber State – 13 points
- Idaho – 6 points
- At Idaho State – 5 points
- Northern Colorado – 2 points
- At Cal Poly – 1 point
- At Northern Arizona – 7 points
- Eastern Washington – 11 points
- Sac State – W – 9 points
No. 4 – Montana, 49 points
Montana non-conference schedule
- At Washington
- Western Illinois
- Dixie State
Conference points, predictions
- Cal Poly – 1 point
- At Eastern Washington – 11 points
- Sacramento State – 9 points
- At Idaho – 6 points
- Southern Utah – 3 points
- At Northern Colorado – 2 points
- At Northern Arizona – 7 points
- Montana State – 10 points
No. 3 – Northern Arizona, 46 points
Northern Arizona non-conference schedule
- Sam Houston
- At South Dakota
- At Arizona
Conference points, predictions
- At Northern Colorado – 2 points
- Idaho State – 5 points
- Southern Utah – 3 points
- At Sacramento State – 9 points
- At Idaho – 6 points
- UC Davis – 8 points
- Montana – 12 points
- At Cal Poly – 1 point
No. 2 – Weber State, 44 points
Weber State non-conference schedule
- At Utah
- At Dixie State
- James Madison
Conference points, predictions
- UC Davis – 8 points
- At Cal Poly – 1 point
- Montana State – 10 points
- At Eastern Washington – 11 points
- At Idaho State – 5 points
- Portland State – 4 points
- At Southern Utah – 3 points
- Northern Colorado – 2 points
No. 1 – Sacramento State, 42 points
Sacramento State non-conference schedule
- At Dixie State
- Northern Iowa
- At Cal
Conference points, predictions
- At Idaho State – 5 points
- Southern Utah – 3 points
- At Montana – 12 points
- Northern Arizona – 7 points
- At Northern Colorado – 2 points
- Cal Poly – 1 point
- Portland State – W – 4 points
- At UC Davis – L – 8 points
SOS Easiest to hardest
- 1. Sac State, 42 points
- 2. Weber State, 44 points
- 3. Northern Arizona, 46 points
- 4. Montana, 49 points
- 5. UC Davis, 54 points
- 6. Southern Utah, 54 points
- 7. Montana State, 55 points
- 8. Portland State, 56 points
- 9. Idaho State, 58 points
- 10. Eastern Washington, 58 points
- 11. Idaho, 60 points
- 12. Cal Poly, 69 points
- 13. Northern Colorado, 73 points
