With Big Sky Conference coaches participating in a conference call on Tuesday morning to discuss the upcoming season, football is officially upon us. Rob Ash's comments are available in podcast form at www.msubobcats.com, and below are one-liners from his Big Sky peers...

Montana's Robin Pflugrad, on transparency in his program: "I don't think there's a whole bunch of secrets out there. There's this thing called the internet, and everything you do is out there." On Montana's tradition: "We have great tradition, but that doesn't carry the ball across the end zone."

Weber State coach Ron McBride, on an FCS team moving to the Football Bowl Subdivision: "I don't think it's tough at all. It's just a matter of finances, and quality of all programs, and the football program is going to carry the torch."

Northern Colorado coach Scott Downing, on his team's offense: "I'm optimistic about our offense as a whole because of changes in our scheme and some of the things we worked on during spring ball."

NAU coach Jerome Souers, on the league's parity: "The Big Sky Conference has historically been a conference of parity. On any given day any team can get somebody."

Sacramento State's Marshall Sperbeck, on his team's move into the upper echelon of the league: "This is going into my fourth year as head coach, and you have to start making that kind of jump and progress... There are a lot of factors that you can't control, things that are out of your hands. But like I said, we're optimistic."

Portland State coach Nigel Burton, on the transition to a more conventional offense than the run-and-shoot: "I've got an O-line coach in Brad Davis who played at Oklahoma and is used to smash-mouth football, and I think he's back in his element."

Eastern Washington's Beau Baldwin, on Bo Levi Mitchell replacing Matt Nichol at quarterback: "It's obviously tough for anybody to come in and be compared to a four-year starter and two-time MVP who did all the things Matt did."