Rest of Sky dropping money games while Griz, Cats move up rankings (Great Falls Tribune).
Early season results have Griz on top (Independent Record).
Oachs, Heidelberger Big Sky Players Of The Week (BSC Media Relations, I-AA.org).
---
Griz fall to fifth in Sagarin Ratings.
I-AA Wrapup: UNH Shines As Upsets Reign; Creampuffs And Cupcakes (Coulson, I-AA.org).
Kats contemplate the one that got away (Huntsville Item).
WSU Notes: Second-half sputter means Wildcats need to refine game plan (Standard-Examiner).

***


Rest of Sky dropping money games while Griz, Cats move up rankings

By George Geise, Great Falls Tribune

http://www.greatfallstribune.com/news/s ... 25484.html

The dame of football fortune certainly has been smiling on the Montana
Grizzlies and Montana State Bobcats so far this fall.

The season is barely two weeks old, and already a half-dozen NCAA Division
I-AA powerhouses have bitten the dust. The list of early victims includes
Georgia Southern, McNeese State, Western Illinois, Colgate and Northern
Iowa.

With preseason favorite Delaware tumbling the first weekend and top-ranked
Southern Illinois falling last Saturday, it's likely the Montana Grizzlies
(2-0) will ascend to the I-AA throne when the weekly Sports Network poll
results are announced today.

Montana State (1-0) jumped up three places to No. 12 in the poll without
even playing the weekend of Sept. 4, so it's possible the Bobcats could
crack the top 10 after a 19-point victory in their opener.

While the Griz and Cats have been thriving, their Big Sky brethren have been
diving. Five of the other six teams in the league are still winless midway
through September. That group includes programs like Northern Arizona (0-2)
and Eastern Washington (0-2), which were widely considered to be formidable
rivals for the Griz and the Cats this season.

Continued…
http://www.greatfallstribune.com/news/s ... 25484.html


***


Early season results have Griz on top

By TOM STUBER, Helena Independent Record, 9/13/04

http://www.helenair.com/articles/2004/0 ... 304_04.txt

The 2004 season was supposed to be the year the Big Sky Conference would
turn into a multi-team dogfight for the league title.

It still may, but early returns show that the ever-powerful Montana
Grizzlies are clearly ahead of the pack.

The Big Sky has just four wins in 13 games and Montana has half of those.
The Grizzlies have downed a pair of what appear to be solid Division I-AA
teams. The other two league' wins (Montana State over Adams State and
Portland State over Western State) have come against Division II teams. In
the Big Sky's defense, four of the losses have come against Division I-A
squads.

The Grizzlies are now 2-0 and go on the road for the first time this year
when they travel to Huntsville, Tex. to take on Sam Houston State. MSU and
PSU, both at 1-0, take on Cal Poly and Fresno State respectively this
weekend.

Montana used its full arsenal Saturday in a 41-23 win over Hofstra. The
Grizzlies had a kickoff return, an interception return, a 75-yard pass play
and two running touchdowns to go along with two field goals by true freshman
Dan Carpenter, who is now 4-for-4 on the season.


The Grizzlies play four of their next six games on the road and should they
come away from that unscathed, could be looking at a perfect regular season
mark.

MSU appears it still needs to work out a few kinks on offense, but is more
than ready on defense and had some positive signs from its special teams.

Continued…
http://www.helenair.com/articles/2004/0 ... 304_04.txt


***


Big Sky Announces Players Of The Week

BSC Media Relations, I-AA.org, Sep 13, 2004

http://www.i-aa.com/news/article_5022.shtml

Ogden, Utah -- The Big Sky Conference has announced its football Players of
the Week for games played on Saturday, Sept. 11. The Offensive Player of the
Week is Montana quarterback Craig Ochs. Northern Arizona linebacker Bruce
Branch earned Defensive Player of the Week honors, while Montana’s Jefferson
Heidelberger was tabbed the Special Teams Player of the Week.

Ochs, a 6-foot-2, 205-pound senior from Boulder, Colo., won the award for a
second straight week. Ochs completed 30-of-42 passes for a career-high 364
yards and a touchdown in second-ranked Montana’s 41-23 win over Hofstra.
Ochs threw a 75-yard touchdown pass to Levander Segars to give Montana a
27-20 lead with 2:21 to play in the third quarter. For the season, Ochs has
completed 52-of-76 passes (68.4 percent) for 591 yards with four touchdowns
and two interceptions. His pass efficiency rating is 144.7.

Branch, a 6-foot-1, 225-pound senior linebacker from Flagstaff, Ariz.,
registered a team-high 13 tackles in No. 13 Northern Arizona’s 24-17
overtime loss at Stephen F. Austin. Branch had two tackles for loss and
recovered a fumble and returned it 17 yards for a touchdown to put Northern
Arizona ahead 7-0 less than a minute into the contest. Branch also broke up
one pass. This is the first Player of the Week honor for Branch.

Heidelberger, a 5-foot-9, 175-pound senior from Nevada City, Calif.,
returned a kickoff 96 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter of
Montana’s win over Hofstra. The return tied the fourth longest in Montana
history. Heidelberger also returned a kick 96 yards for a touchdown in a
2002 first-round playoff victory over Northwestern State of Louisiana.
Heidelberger finished with 114 return yards on two kicks against Hofstra.
Heidelberger also had a career-high 12 catches for a career-high 147 yards
against the Pride. Heidelberger leads the Big Sky Conference in receptions
(19) and receiving yards (262) after two games. This is the first Player of
the Week honor for Branch.

***


Sagarin Ratings

I-AA (I-A marked with an A)

Games through September 11

69 Georgia Southern
70 Western Kentucky
71 UAB A
72 Northwestern A
73 San Jose State A
74 Ball State A
75 Tulsa A
76 Kentucky A
77 Furman
78 Middle Tennessee A
79 Oregon A
80 New Hampshire
81 Rice A
82 Wyoming A
83 Montana
84 Louisiana Tech A
85 Utah State A
86 Florida Atlantic A*
87 UNLV A
88 Toledo A
89 Western Illinois AA
90 Mississippi State A
91 Navy A
92 Michigan State A
93 Illinois State
94 New Mexico State A
95 South Florida A
96 Temple A
97 Southern Illinois
98 Stephen F. Austin
99 Pennsylvania
100 Connecticut A
101 Air Force A
102 San Diego State A
103 Illinois A
104 Louisiana-Monroe A
105 Massachusetts
106 Northern Iowa
107 UTEP A
108 Maine
109 Rutgers A
110 Cal Poly-SLO
111 Houston A
112 Idaho A
113 Northern Arizona
114 William & Mary
115 Villanova
116 Delaware
117 North Texas A
118 Richmond
119 Western Michigan A
120 Hawaii A
121 Eastern Michigan A
122 Arkansas State A
123 UCF(Central Florida) A
124 Northeastern
125 Ohio U. A
126 Nevada A
127 Vanderbilt A
128 UC Davis
129 Kent State A
130 East Carolina A
131 Akron A
132 SE Louisiana
133 Louisiana-Lafayette A
134 Duke A
135 Wofford
136 Tulane A
137 Montana State
138 Chattanooga
139 Western Carolina
140 Colgate
141 Baylor A
142 Southern Utah
143 Central Michigan A
144 Portland State
145 SMU A
146 Harvard
147 Army A
148 Appalachian State
149 NW Louisiana
150 Fla. International A*
151 Tennessee Tech
152 Buffalo A
153 Rhode Island
154 Hofstra
155 James Madison
156 Nicholls State
157 Northern Colorado
158 Bethune-Cookman
159 Samford
160 SE Missouri State
161 Towson
162 Idaho State
163 Jacksonville State
164 McNeese State
165 Indiana State
166 Yale
167 North Dakota State
168 Hampton
169 Bucknell
170 Youngstown State
171 Tennessee State
172 SMS(SW Missouri St.)
173 Gardner-Webb
174 Weber State
175 Lehigh
176 Eastern Washington
177 Murray State
178 Brown
179 South Dakota State
180 Texas State
181 Citadel
182 Florida A&M
183 Eastern Kentucky
184 Fordham
185 Sacramento State
186 Alcorn State
187 Sam Houston State
188 Alabama State
189 Princeton
190 So. Carolina State
191 Lafayette
192 Liberty
193 Dartmouth
194 VMI
195 No. Carolina A&T
196 Jackson State
197 Eastern Illinois
198 Columbia
199 Robert Morris
200 Alabama A&M
201 Elon
202 Ark.-Pine Bluff
203 Cornell
204 Duquesne
205 Morgan State
206 Drake
207 Dayton
208 San Diego
209 Delaware State
212 Grambling
213 Southern U.
216 Albany (NY)
221 Central Conn. State
222 Davidson
223 Valparaiso
224 Texas Southern
240 ***UNRATED***

***


I-AA Wrapup: UNH Shines As Upsets Reign; Creampuffs And Cupcakes

By David Coulson, I-AA.org

http://www.collegesports.com/sports/m-f ... 04aat.html

Boone, NC -- It was just another ho-hum Saturday in I-AA.

All you had was the top ranked team in I-AA losing to a team that had been
ranked in the I-A top 25 last season on a two-point conversion.

And a team that had beaten the defending national champion last week
following up on that by upsetting a I-A squad.

For the second week in a row, you had one of I-AA's traditional powers lose
a significant player to a season-ending injury.

And that was just scraping the surface on this wild day.


Creampuffs And Cupcakes

Get me a game with Creampuff College. See if we can schedule Cupcake State.

You have to wonder what was going through the heads of the athletic
directors that scheduled games between Georgia Southern and Johnson C.
Smith, as well as Western Illinois and Cheyney on Saturday.

For those of you who missed the carnage -- and believe me there definitely
was carnage in both Statesboro, Ga. and Macomb, Ill. this weekend -- Georgia
Southern rolled over Johnson C. Smith 84-3 and Western Illinois destroyed
Cheyney 98-7.

Now I know that the Eagles of GSU took their licks at Georgia last weekend
and WIU was plastered by Nebraska, but does a win like this do anybody any
good?

And I don't want to hear the excuse of how "we couldn't find anyone else to
play." How about this for a novel approach. Georgia Southern could have
played Western Illinois.

Now that's a game I would have liked to have seen.

On a day where you had inter-conference battles between Appalachian State
and Eastern Kentucky, Massachusetts and Colgate (UMass won, 30-20),
Villanova and Lehigh (Villanova pulled one out, 22-16), Stephen F. Austin
and Northern Arizona (SFA won, 17-10) along with Montana and Hofstra
(Montana won, 41-23), we deserved better from Georgia Southern and Western
Illinois than 81 and 91-point routs.


Continued…
http://www.collegesports.com/sports/m-f ... 04aat.html


***


Sam Houston State

Kats contemplate the one that got away

By Brian Lacy, Huntsville Item

http://www.itemonline.com/articles/2004 ... ports1.txt

After an emotionally draining last-second loss at Southwest Missouri State
that saw the Bears score a touchdown with two second left and saw the
Bearkats almost make a 57-yard field goal with no time remaining, SHSU's
players and coaches had nine-and-a-half hours to stare out a bus window and
contemplate what went wrong.

Lots of things did. The offense turned the ball over six times, the defense
surrenders two lengthy touchdown drives in the final two minutes of the game
and as a team the Kats picked up 14 penalties.

Despite all the problems that should have kept the Kats from having any
chance of returning home victorious, they almost pulled it out.

So, what did they do right?

"The biggest positive is our kids never quit," SHSU offensive coordinator
James Ferguson said Sunday evening. "We were struggling, but their attitude
wasn't a give-up attitude. They felt like we had a chance. As long as there
was a few ticks on the clock we felt like we had a change. But we didn't
play our best game by far."

Struggling is an understatement for how senior quarterback Dustin Long
played for the first three quarters Saturday: 14-of-31 for 132 yards and
three interceptions.

Ferguson said his in-game advice to Long was minimal - set your feet, follow
your reads and focus on pre-snap decisions making.


Continued…
http://www.itemonline.com/articles/2004 ... ports1.txt