A level playing field: Teams around the Big Sky relish chance to go against similar FCS football programs in early season

In early September, it can be difficult to make much sense of national FCS rankings.

This week, for example, 17 of the teams ranked in the Stats Perform Top 25 are 0-1, a product of so many playing teams from the FBS as a means of bringing in revenue.

But the nonconference games that are usually played in August and September can be key indicators to determine the relative strength of conferences, and this year there are more of those games because of the extra weekend during the FCS calendar.

It means that this week – and the next two – many Big Sky teams are playing teams from other FCS conferences, and that gives the Big Sky the chance to solidify its reputation as one of the nation’s best conferences, potentially helping it get more teams into the 24-team FCS playoff bracket.

“Any opportunity we have to play a team from out East, we’ll take it,” Montana State head coach Brent Vigen said Monday during media availability. “It is a good barometer of where we’re at relative to that league, (and) traditionally the CAA has been a good league.”

Montana State hosts Maine on Saturday, the second weekend in a row that a team from the Coastal Athletic Conference (formerly the Colonial Athletic Conference) will head west to face a Big Sky team.

Eastern Washington beat Monmouth (New Jersey) 42-27 on Thursday; Idaho will host Albany on Sept. 14.

The Big Sky is 3-2 against other FCS conferences, and this week four of its teams will add to either end of that record.

EWU hosts Drake (of the Pioneer League), UC Davis hosts Texas A&M-Commerce (Southland), Montana State hosts Maine (CAA) and Montana visits North Dakota (Missouri Valley Football Conference).

“(North Dakota is) a good team,” Montana linebacker Ryder Meyer said Monday during media availability. “They’ve got good skill, and I think it’s a great opportunity for us to go face another quality opponent, another Missouri Valley team, to see where we match up with the rest of the country.”

The Big Sky has six teams ranked in the Stats Perform Top 25.

Montana State, whose 2-0 record includes a win over FBS team New Mexico, is third and received eight first-place votes.

Montana (1-0), which beat Missouri State of the MVFC last week in Missoula, is ranked fourth.

Idaho (0-1) is seventh, Sacramento State (0-1) is eighth, UC Davis (0-1) is 18th and Weber State (0-1) is 24th. All four lost to FBS teams in their openers.

Because of the way the schedule falls this year and next, FCS teams can schedule four nonconference games instead of three. Every Big Sky team aside from Cal Poly did so this year.

The other 11 teams all scheduled at least two games against other FCS teams, and five – including Eastern – will play three. Idaho, Portland State and Sacramento State scheduled games against two FBS programs this season.

“First off, you’re trying to get as many wins by the end of the regular season as possible. They all add up,” Vigen said. “The Division I wins, wherever they’re coming from, matter, and to have two under our belt, one having an FBS win, I’m really excited about that for what it’s going to mean for us down the road.”

Eastern knows the potential perils of scheduling lower-division foes. In 2019, the most recent year teams could play four nonconference games (plus their usual eight conference games), the Eagles finished 7-5, including a 6-2 mark in Big Sky play. But one of their wins came against Division II Lindenwood, a blemish – or perhaps more aptly, a blank – on their postseason resume.

After playing an FBS-heavy schedule over the past couple of seasons, with games at Florida, Oregon and Fresno State occupying three of their six nonconference dates in 2022 and 2023, the Eagles open this year against three consecutive FCS teams (Monmouth, Drake and at Southeastern Louisiana) before playing at FBS Nevada on Sept. 21.

This arrangement gives the Eagles six home games, including conference matchups with Montana (Sept. 28), UC Davis (Oct. 19), Montana State (Nov. 2) and Idaho State (Nov. 16) at Roos Field in Cheney.

“In a 12-game season, minimum you want half those games at home,” EWU head coach Aaron Best said Tuesday during media availability, “because home field is such an advantage.”

Three Big Sky teams (Cal Poly, Idaho State and Northern Arizona) have played or are scheduled to play a Division II team this year.

The conference will play 10 games against the Southland Conference, more than against any other.

The Big Sky will also play seven games against the United Athletic Conference, four against the MVFC, three apiece against the Pioneer League and CAA, two against teams from the Southern Conference and one against the Northeast Conference. Each of those conferences receives one automatic bid to the FCS playoffs.

The MVFC sent six teams to the playoffs last year, while the Big Sky and CAA each sent four. The Southern Conference sent three. No other conference had more than one in the postseason.

In 2025, when FCS teams can again play four nonconference games, Eastern is scheduled to play three FCS teams – at Incarnate Word, at Northern Iowa and home against Western Illinois – as well as at Boise State of the FBS.