The Paper Chase - May 4, 2010

It may seem like a slow time of the sports calendar, but there's plenty going on in the Big Sky right now. Let's take a spin through the league...

Craig Haley is staying busy in his new post as FCS editor at The Sports Network. Today he takes a look at a small handful of 2010 breakout candidates, although stopping at the 98th meridian would not please famed historian Walter Prescott Webb. Haley also glances at some key FCS vs. FBS matchups next fall, again failing to venture west of the Great Plains.

Big Sky schools have their hands full against FBS opponents this fall. Games that might most interest Big Sky fans include Eastern Washington at Nevada, Sacramento State visiting Stanford, and, of course, the Bobcats’ trip to Washington State. A week-by-week look: Sept. 2-EWU at Nevada; Sept. 4-Sac State at Stanford, WSU at Boston College, and PSU at Arizona State; Sept. 11-MSU at Washington State, ISU at Utah State, NAU at Arizona State; Sept. 18-PSU at Oregon; Sept. 25-UNC at Michigan State; Nov. 6-ISU at Georgia; Nov. 20-WSU at Texas Tech.

Don’t rub your eyes, you read that right – Arizona State, under the guidance of former Bobcat Dennis Erickson, plays two Big Sky schools, Portland State and NAU, in back-to-back weeks. Three Big Sky schools play a pair of FBS games (PSU plays at ASU and Oregon, Idaho State plays at Utah State and Georgia, and Weber State plays at Boston College and Texas Tech).

And if you’re looking for the toughest start to a season in all of college football, start with Portland State. In his first three games as Vikings' head coach, Nigel Burton opens at Arizona State, travels to UC Davis, then visits Oregon. In his first three games.

If you haven’t already, take a look at Chris Syme’s outstanding look at Dustin Cichosz’s attempt to break a one-to-one Big Sky title tie with his father. This two-generation league championship father-son bond is incredible, and so is the family background.

If the name Travis Brown rings familiar to Bobcat football fans, it should. He was Northern Arizona’s record-setting quarterback in the late 1990s, and played for a small handful of NFL teams covering six seasons. He coached high school ball for a year and spent one season as color commentator for NAU’s football broadcasts, and has now resurfaced as a quarterback guru in the Phoenix area.

Idaho State Journal sportswriter Dan Angell is in the midst of analyzing the recruiting efforts of each Big Sky school. On Monday, he posted an extensive and information Q&A with Bobcat coach Brad Huse. Coach Huse, thoughtful and insightful as usual, explains that championship-level playing experience helps mitigate the infusion of youth on next year's Bobcat team.

Staying on the hardwood, Sacramento State and Idaho State each added pieces to the 2010-11 puzzle with junior college transfers. Interestingly, this year’s only two of the five Hornet signees in the current recruiting class hail from California. By contrast, 10 of Sac State’s 12 U.S.-born players 2009-10 players came from the Golden State.

If you’re yearning for more ISU football and basketball information, Bengals color commentator Brad Bugger blogs some of both.

Matt Schuman of the Greeley Tribune took a look recently at Northern Colorado’s new head men’s basketball coach B.J. Hill.

While plenty is happening on the hardwood, blogger extraordinaire Will Holden at the Bozeman Chronicle continues to look at spring football camps around the Big Sky. He may not know his way around a map, but he hast he league’s football scene covered like no one else.

Staying on the gridiron, Montana’s Class AA ranks will have a different look next fall after some head coaching changes. At Great Falls High, Gregg Dart moves from the field to the gym, taking over the Bison girls’ basketball program, but the Great Falls Tribune's fine prep writer Mike Towne says that on his way to climate-controlled coaching Dart wishes his successor well against the state’s “big three.”