Montana, Weber St. the teams to beat in Big Sky

For the past 11 years, the road to the Big Sky championship has gone through Montana.

The Grizzlies have won at least a share of the conference title every year since 1998. Even last year, after getting routed by Weber State 45-28 in the regular season, Montana backed into a share of the league championship when the Wildcats were upset by Eastern Washington on the final day of conference play.

Big Sky teams will again have to go through Montana to challenge for the conference championship.

Montana, 2-0, was again picked to win the Big Sky title in the preseason coaches and media polls. Weber State, coming off arguably its best season in school history, was picked to finish behind the Grizzlies at second.

Many people expect the Big Sky to be a two-team race this season, with the conference title being decided on Halloween between Montana and Weber State. Wildcats coach Ron McBride said it wouldn't be wise to think the league championship will be decided by just that one game.

"It's really wide open," McBride said. "There are a lot of good teams in the Big Sky, so you just don't know. Obviously, Montana is the team that's proven itself for many, many years so they got to be the favorite. But there are a lot of good teams in the Big Sky."

A look at each of the Big Sky teams, as six of them open conference play on Saturday:

MONTANA (2-0)

The Grizzlies have dominated their conference like few others in the history of college football. Only one other team (Oklahoma) has won or shared a conference championship in more consecutive years than Montana has on its current streak. The Sooners' record is 14 straight seasons.

Montana looks as tough as ever this season. The Grizzlies return a bruising running back in Chase Reynolds, who scored 22 touchdowns last season. Two quarterbacks — Justin Roper and Andrew Selie — have rotated at the position and will continue to do so until one distances himself from the other.

The Grizzlies opened their season with a 38-0 win over Division II Western State. They earned a come-from-behind 17-10 road win over UC Davis last week.

WEBER STATE (0-2)

The Wildcats are one of two Big Sky teams to face a pair of FBS teams in their first two games. Weber State came close to pulling off upsets over Wyoming and Colorado State but fell short each time.