AZGrizFan said:
Weber is the ONLY one that's made a dent in recent years. We got shit like CP & NAU losing to freaking USD in the past two years....that does NOT "help" the BSC.
Eastern Washington advanced to the semifinals of the FCS playoffs and should have advanced to the title game if not for a one-handed catch as time expired in the end-zone by a Youngstown State receiver.
GlacierGrizX said:
Teams such as: UC Davis this year, Southern Utah the past couple of years, and Portland State a few years back have came out of know where to become champs or really competitive in the Big Sky. Do you feel like this has been good for the Big Sky? Or is it better for the perennial "bell-winners" to continue to go far in the playoffs? If so, is it driving greater fan excitement by putting more butts in chairs at games at these campuses? For example is a UC Davis or Sac State going to have a lot of fans at a playoff game? Are there more rivalries within the confernece now due to some of these teams recent successes? Can the Big Sky leverage Root Sports with their recent successes with tv contracts? Do we have more clout as confernece when bidding for potential playoff spots, knowing we will provide a greater attendance for those games?
Here's a story with quotes from most of the coaches in the league about this subject that we wrote before league play began: Wild, flawed Big Sky race commences this weekend
https://skylinesportsmt.com/wild-flawed-big-sky-race-commences-this-weekend/
In terms of fans at games, UC Davis sold out its stadium for the first time since it opened about 10 years ago when Davis beat Idaho State in overtime. Davis was a Division II power for years and is finally becoming relevant in Division I.
As Southern Utah head coach Demario Warren says in that story above, if SUU is the top team in the Big Sky, the Big Sky will get disrespected on a national level because Southern Utah doesn't have the name recognition Montana, Montana State or Eastern Washington do.
Sometimes these teams come out of nowhere but I think the unbalanced league schedule has a great deal to do with it. You never know who the actual best teams are. If everyone played everyone, the playing field would be much more even. A look at the league champions since the league expanded in 2012 and who they didn't play...
2012
Co-champions
Cal Poly — Didn’t play Montana, Montana State, Southern Utah, one league loss was to co-champion Eastern Washington. Lost in first round
Montana State – didn’t play Idaho State, Weber State, Northern Arizona, Cal Poly – ISU and Weber were bad this season so that’s a disadvantage to not play them but NAU went 8-3 and Cal Poly shared the league title, lone league loss to Eastern. Lost in quarterfinals.
Eastern Washington – Did not play Idaho State, Northern Arizona, Northern Colorado - lone league loss at Southern Utah. Lost in semifinals
2013
EWU won it outright, went undefeated– did not play North Dakota, UC Davis, NAU - went to FCS semifinals.
2014
Eastern Washington outright – did no play Cal Poly, Sac State (Sac’s best team), Weber State - lost at Southern Utah for lone league loss. Went to FCS quarterfinals
2015
Southern Utah outright champ – didn’t play Montana, Idaho State, North Dakota. Got sent on the road for first round of the playoffs, lost 42-39 at Sam Houston
Portland State – got the No.5 seed in the playoffs, did not play North Dakota, Northern Arizona, Sac State. Hosted Northern Iowa, lost in second round of the playoffs.
2016
The stupidest year yet….
Eastern Washington and UND both went undefeated. EWU lost in Semis to Youngstown State, UND blew a lead and lost at home to Richmond 27-24 in second round of first playoff game in school history.
Didn't play each other obviously, EWU didn’t play Weber State, Idaho State
UND didn’t play EWU, Montana, Idaho State
2017
Champs - Weber State and Southern Utah
Weber didn’t play UND, Northern Colorado, NAU - lost in quarterfinals
SUU Didn’t play Montana, Montana State, or Eastern Washington. Received 7 seed, at large bid, lost to Weber at home in second round.
Regardless of if the Montana schools are mediocre, winning a league title or advancing to the playoffs seems less legitimate if you don't play everyone. And who knows what your record might be if you get to play some of the bottom teams, meaning some teams might've shared or won the title if they played the same schedule as some of the league's "best" or top finishing teams since the absorption of the Great West.
The league expanded to 13 teams in 2012 in hopes of having four playoff bids every year. It's only happened in 2013 and 2016. And both years, only Eastern Washington even won one playoff game.
I could go on and on but I'll stop there. This is a really flawed system, a really flawed league and the entire league will continue to suffer to regain national prominence until the league shrinks or some of the top traditional powers return to top form.