Big Sky suffers rough week in matchups versus bigger opponents


Save Story
Leer en español

Estimated read time: 1-2 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

OGDEN — Week one of the season for FCS opponents should be known more accurately as “the Struggle.”

Why? Because most FCS teams are required to face off against larger FBS opponents, whether it is for payouts or scheduling purposes. For that reason alone, members of FCS conferences, like the Big Sky, get a big victory every now and then. However, it’s nearly impossible to sustain those victories across the conference.

The Big Sky Conference finished 2-10 in the first full week of play. Notable losses included University of California-Davis’ loss to No. 11 Stanford, 45-0. Weber State also lost to a nationally ranked Pac-12 opponent, falling to No. 19 Arizona State, 45-14. Idaho State fell to Utah, 56-14, and Portland State fell to Oregon State, 29-14. Overall, the conference finished 0-4 in this year’s foray against the Pac-12.


Big Sky teams combined for an 0-8 record against FBS schools.

Several Big Sky schools also played schools from the Mountain West Conference, with four games between the two. The closest game came between Montana and Wyoming, where the Grizzlies fell to the Cowboys, 17-12. Southern Utah, which has beaten FBS opponents in the past several seasons, fell to Nevada, 28-19, in the first game of offensive coordinator Gary Crowton’s tenure at the school. North Dakota fell to San Jose State, 42-10, and Northern Arizona fell to the San Diego State Aztecs, 38-7.

Other Big Sky results include Eastern Washington’s 41-9 victory over Montana-Western, and Montana State’s 37-10 loss to Sun Belt member Arkansas State. Also, Cal Poly fell to New Mexico State, 28-10.

Former Weber State coach Jody Sears earned his first victory as the coach at Sacramento State, as the Hornets defeated Incarnate Word, 49-13.

Related stories

Most recent Sports stories

Related topics

SportsWeber State Wildcats
Jon Oglesby

    ARE YOU GAME?

    From first downs to buzzer beaters, get KSL.com’s top sports stories delivered to your inbox weekly.
    By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

    KSL Weather Forecast