Big Sky Breakdown

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Idaho sophomore captain quarterback Joshua Wood and first-year Idaho head coach Thomas Ford Jr. (13:21) joins Colter Nuanez to talk all things Vandal football on the debut episode for the 2025 season of "Vandals Weekly" presented by Array Real Estate.

In this Week's Akem's Analysis, Samuel Akem goes through all the games from Week 0 and give his assessment on what we saw! The good, the bad, and the ugly. 

0:00 - Intro 
2:03 - 8 UC Davis vs 11 Mercer Reaction 
4:04 - Idaho State vs UNLV Reaction 
25:21 - 5 Incarnate Word vs Nicholls Reaction 
41:02 - Big Sky vs MVFC In Allegiant Stadium (2027 & 2029) 
45:10 - Should Preseason Polls Be Finished? 
1:00:48 - Final Thoughts 1:03:28 - End

Montana State named Justin Lamson as its starting quarterback on Monday. MSU opens its 2025 season at No. 7 Oregon on Saturday afternoon. Lamson is a senior who transferred to MSU from Stanford. He's been on campus since after. Lamson addressed the media on Monday.

Montana State opens its 2025 football campaign at No. 7 Oregon in Eugene on Saturday afternoon. The Bobcats are coming off a 15-1 season that ended with a 35-32 loss to North Dakota State in the FCS national title game. MSU fifth-year head coach Brent Vigen hosted his first press conference of the season on Monday.

Grace Lawrence is the sideline reporter for all Montana State and Big Sky Conference football games for KBZK TV of Bozeman and Scripps Sports. She also is a co-host of the Bobcat Insider TV show and a reporter for KBZK in Bozeman. Each week, she will join Colter Nuanez of Skyline Sports to share some of the tidbits from her reporting that doesn't make the TV broadcasts.

Kyle Hansen is the man on the Griz football sidelines during television broadcasts. He also covers Big Sky Conference football for Scripps Sports. 

Each week throughout the season, Kyle will join Colter Nuanez of Skyline Sports to go through the story lines that don't make the TV broadcast. 

The conversation continues with the exploration of the difference in roster construction strategies at UM and MSU.

Ryan Tootell returns to the studio to break down the biggest, broadest narratives for the Griz and the Bobcats entering the 2025 football season. Tootell and Colter Nuanez of Skyline Sports lead with Junior Bergen & Tommy Mellott's NFL prospects. The conversation continues with the exploration of the difference in roster construction strategies at UM and MSU.

In this week's Akem's Analysis, we talked about the upcoming games in the Big Sky as well as the rest of the FCS. UC Davis vs Mercer is the biggest game of the weekend, and it will tell us a lot about what to expect from UC Davis this season. 

The FCS Stats Perform Preseason poll gives us an idea of how many ranked opponents each Big Sky team will be playing. What does that look like this season? Ace Sauerwein talked about his top 9 Montana football players of the last 9 years on The Daily Drive. Are t...

Former Montana Grizzly All-American Junior Bergen was a 7th round draft pick by the San Fransisco 49ers last spring.

The wide receiver and punt returner is cutting his teeth trying to make the roster for San Fran. 

Saturday, Bergen had 3 kick returns for 63 yards, a punt return for 1 yard and one catch for one yard in a 22-19 San Fran victory. 

Montana State is coming off a 15-1 season that included its second Big Sky Conference championship in 3 seasons and its 2nd national title game loss since 2021. MSU is picked to win the league once again despite losing a star-studded senior class. Austin Parr of SWX Montana Television joins Colter Nuanez of Skyline Sports to break down all things Bobcats so far in this fall camp.

The University of Montana opened fall camp on Wednesday before taking the field for the first time on August 9, 2025.

The Griz are preseason No. 7 coming off a 9-5 campaign in 2024 and a Big Sky Conference title in 2023, the first for the program since 2011.

Samuel Akem and Colter Nuanez do a "Griz by the Numbers" after getting their first look at Montana for fall camp 2025. 

The Big Sky Conference hosted its annual media conference Big Sky Kickoff on July 22, 2025 in Spokane, Washington.

Each of the 12 Big Sky members brought their head football coach and a standout from each their offense and defense.

Cody Hawkins enters his third season as Idaho State's head coach. He helped ISU win five games last season and hopes to take another step in 2025. He chatted with Samuel Akem of Skyline Sports. 

This is the debut episode of a new "spinoff" podcast featuring former Griz RB and NFL agent Andrew Schmidt along with Colter Nuanez of Skyline Sports. 

Andrew & Colter break down the narratives around Griz football entering the 2025 season. UM is coming off a 9-5 season that ended in the second round of the playoffs. 

The Griz brought in 28 transfers and 18 freshmen to the current roster.

In this week's Akem's Analysis, Samuel Akem gives his thoughts about Montana's first day of Fall Camp. 

Stats Perform has released its annual preseason poll. Week 0 has been the topic of discussion in a lot of FCS conversations with the transition to a 12-game schedule; more teams will now be starting their seasons in Week 0. What does that mean for the coverage of FCS football? The ramifications of an all-FCS Week 0 could be great for the landscape of FCS football.

0:00 - Intro
4:08 - Reaction To Montana’s First Day Of Fall Cam...

Montana redshirt freshman QB Luke Flowers addressed the media following the Grizzlies' first fall camp practice for 2025. 

Montana senior quarterback Jake Jensen joined the team in the off-season as a transfer from USC. He's expected to compete for UM's starting job under center. 

Montana quarterback Keali'i Ah Yat made six starts as a redshirt freshman last season. He is in the mix to start this fall for the Griz. 

Montana head coach Bobby Hauck addressed the media ahead of his team's first practice of its 2025 fall camp on August 9, 2025. 

Montana State junior Taco Dowler set an MSU single-season record for punt return yardage in a season as a sophomore last fall. 

Senior defensive tackle Paul Brott, the latest Montana-made Bobcat to dawn MSU's No. 41 legacy jersey, addressed media.

Adam Jones was the runner-up for the FCS National Freshman of the Year last year. Coming into his sophomore year, he was named the Big Sky preseason Offensive MVP.

Montana State junior offensive tackle Titan Fleishmann, a preseason FCS All-American, addressed the media 

In this week's Akem's Analysis, we will be examining all the schedules for the Big Sky Conference and predicting wins and losses for each team. We will also be discussing Tim Rosario's article, which examines the number of TRUE contenders in each season of FCS football; the numbers are quite surprising. We also predict the FCS Top 25. In the beginning, we look at how many Big Sky players made the #ShrineBowl1000, some big-time names on there, and even some juniors made the list."

0:00 - Intro 
3:57 - Big Sky Players on the #ShrineBowl1000 List 
12:43 - Montana St...

In this week's Akem's Analysis, Samuel Akem talk about the nature of "annual opponents" in Big Sky football and what that looks like for each team in the Big Sky Conference. Tom Wistrcill mentioned the concept last week in his time with the media at Big Sky Media Day.

Tim Plough commented on one of his young QBs. Have they already found their starting QB for 2025? Late last week, Zack McKinnell tweeted about the transfer of Sacramento State QB Kaiden Bennett, and it sent shock waves across the Big Sky and the entire college football landscape. 

J.T. Reed was an All-Big Sky selection in 2022 who then missed 2023 with an injury and split time coming back from another injury last season.

This off-season, the Bobcat OL earned his degree and is expected to be one of the top linemen in the Big Sky. He sat down with Colter Nuanez of Skyline Sports. 

Big Sky Conference commissioner Tom Wistricill took questions after giving his annual address at the Big Sky Kickoff in Spokane, Washington on July 21, 2025. 

Bobby Hauck enters his 14th season between two tenures as the head coach of his alma mater. He sat down with Colter Nuanez of Skyline Sports at the Big Sky Kickoff.

Montana State was picked to win the conference by both the league's coaches and media. 

Montana State head coach Brent Vigen joined Colter Nuanez of Skyline Sports to preview the 2025 season

In this week's Akem's Analysis, Samuel Akem discusses the 2025 Big Sky Media Day and all the weekend's happenings. Tom Wistrcill addressed the media and spoke about some of the exciting updates coming to the conference in 2025 and beyond. The preseason all-conference picks, as well as the preseason coaches' and media polls, were also discussed. 

0:00 - Intro 
3:08 - Tom Wistrcill’s State of the Conference Address 
24:19 - Big Sky Preseason Media/Coaches Polls 
32:51 - Big Sky Preseason All-Conference Picks 
40:01 - Final Thoughts 
41:51 - End

In this week's Akem's Analysis, Samuel Akem discusses Montana's recent decision to opt into the house settlement and what it means for the university's future and its athletics. The change for them was a little last-minute, but in the end, due to the roosting adjustment, they were able to make it work for themselves.

Sammy also makes his 2025 preseason award picks for the Big Sky Conference, some may surprise you, and some may be expected. An article was written last week discussing the potential financial distribution numbers Tennessee Chattanooga could have for its athletics in this first...

In this week's Akem's Analysis, Samuel Akem discuss some of the most pivotal games happening this year in the Big Sky Conference. With many question marks, it isn't easy to know who will shine above the rest this season, but we can look at some of the games and anticipate high drama based on previous seasons. 

Sammy also delves into what Southern Utah and Utah Tech will bring to the Big Sky in 2026. Their entrance into the conference sparks a lot of discussion about the future. Sac State is still pushing forward with its FBS push, despite b...

Colter Nuanez is joined by Matt Brown of Extra Points newsletter to discuss the latest in Division I sports, including Sac State's continued FBS push and exit from the Big Sky Conference. 

Clay Oven, a redshirt sophomore linebacker out of Billings who was just named the University of Montana football team's No. 37, addressed the media for the first time since receiving his new garment. 

In this week's Akem's Analysis, Samuel Akem discusses his 5 biggest questions for the Big Sky Conference heading into the 2025 football season. There has been a lot of movement throughout the conference. Will the same teams emerge, and if so, will they look the same? 

Akem will also examine some of the top statistical leaders returning to the conference. One team seems to have retained some good talent. He will also be getting into Colter Nuanez's conversation with Tom Wistrcill on the Big Sky Breakdown (linked below). 

0:00 - Intro 
2:46 - My 5 Biggest Big Sky Questions Com...

Former Montana State and NFL cornerback Joey Thomas, a third round pick in 2004, joins Colter Nuanez to talk about his upcoming induction into the Montana Pro Football Hall of Fame. 

Northern Arizona head coach Brian Wright joins Colter Nuanez for this week's Big Sky Spotlight.