So far this year, and more than any early season we’ve seen lately, football in the Big Sky Conference is a game of inches.

You can ask the Montana State Bobcats, who came up short on fourth-and-1 in the second overtime of their 30-24 home loss to South Dakota State. 

Two hundred miles away, the Montana Grizzlies were backed up to their own 38 and nursing a 21-17 lead over Central Washington when Kyon Loud got a hand on a pass by Kendall McGill and teammate Kade Boyd intercepted it in the Grizzlies end zone. 

“I really thought we could go into halftime with that momentum,” CWU coach Brett Fisk said afterward. “How that wasn’t an interference call is beyond me.” 

Turning south, it’s beyond all of us, and we are counting Colorado State fans, how a last-second touchdown pass from Northern Colorado’s Eric Gibson, Jr., to Carver Cheeks was overturned, preserving the Rams’ 21-17 win over the Bears Saturday. 

That looked like a catch, smelled like a catch and — given the silence of the home crowd — sounded like a catch.  

The replay rule is pretty simply stated: “Without... clear and obvious video evidence, the replay official must uphold the ruling on the field.”  

Unless he doesn’t.  

Said Colorado State coach Jay Norvell: “We were fortunate to win the game.” 

So Close

Both the UNC Bears, now 2-22 under Ed Lamb, and Sacramento State had shots at knocking off FBS foes Saturday. A couple inches of replay tape in the Bears’ case. A late pick-6 sent the future FBS Hornets to 0-2. 

Meanwhile the University of San Diego out of the non-scholarship Pioneer League walked off future Big Sky Conference (63 scholarships) program Southern Utah 30-27 in overtime. 

Matt Colombo scored the game-winner from 3 yards out. 

“It’s all credit to the O-Line,” Colombo said, in a release from USD. “I just did my job. I saw our attack on the left, Oscar Weigel. He’s a true sophomore and a really good player for us. He destroyed the defensive end and Peyton Smith got a good block on the edge. So, just read it, saw the open space, blacked out, and went and scored.” 

Colombo, a graduate transfer from Southern Cal, had a career-high 34 carries for 208 yards in the win; he had seven carries in three seasons with the Trojans.  

Quarterback Dom Nankill threw for 64 yards and a score, and ran for 78 yards and two scores. It was Nankill who was on MSU coach Brent Vigen’s mind Monday. 

“Defensively they’ve been able to stop the run,” Vigen, whose club hosts the Toreros Saturday, added. “They’re a 3-4 team that is really I would say aggressive and fundamentally sound.” 

Tough Loss

Vigen was still chewing on the loss to South Dakota State Monday, noting that his program had suffered no blocked punts in four seasons and suddenly have had two in two weeks. 

“Looking back at it, I thought our effort and ‘get after it’ was there,” he said. “Our execution was just off enough. A play here, a play there is the way a game like that went. If we’d ended up on the other side, I think (Jackrabbits’ coach Dan) Jackson would’ve said the same thing. We just have to find a way keep getting better.” 

Establishing The Run

Vigen also wanted better production up front, noting that there was improvement from the Week 1 loss to Oregon through Week 2. 

Then again. ... 

“We rushed for 200 yards but that was in large part because Justin (Lamson) scrambled around,” he said. “An area for us to improve is how we handle movement. However it’s happening: blitzes, slants, whatever it may be. We can’t allow that be an issue from the jump.” 

Lamsen ran 20 times for 96 yards, but Vigen wanted one carry from near midfield, back. 

“Eleven seconds left, Justin ran and we had a guy (receiver Dane Steel) wide open,” Vigen said. Out of timeouts, it might have been impossible for the Bobcats to line up, spike the ball and line up a long field goal. But the fifth-year coach would have liked a shot at it. 

“Those points at the end of the half and the game are obviously critical,” he said. “We didn’t really function at a high level in those situations.” 

UND DNA

Montana coach Bobby Hauck can be happy that his Grizzlies, with 11 new starters on defense, tightened up to shut out DII Central Washington over the final two-plus quarters in a 42-17 win Saturday.  

The Wildcats had some talent and a deliberate approach. Montana scored the final 28 points. 

“It’s hard to blow a team out when they’re bleeding the clock down the entire game,” Hauck said Monday. “And we did in fact, blow them out. So that was good.” 

Saturday brings a marque matchup to Washington-Grizzly Stadium: The No. 17 North Dakota Fighting Hawks kick off with the No. 7 Grizzlies.  

It’s the return game of a 2024 battle at Grand Forks that UND won 27-24 after the Grizzlies led 24-7. 

“They’ve got a new head coach in Eric Schmidt, but their DNA is still the same,” Hauck said of the Hawks. “He’s a North Dakota guy and they look like they’re a very tough football team. They’ve changed some, particularly on the defensive side. What hasn’t changed is they’re really good up front on both sides of the ball.  

“Shawn (Kostich, UND’s special teams coach) does a great job in their kicking game year in and year out. All those things make them a really tough opponent to get ready for.” 

Nathan Hromadka, a 6-foot-6 freshman tight end, stood out in UND’s 50-20 blowout of Portland State. But Hauck said sophomore quarterback Jerry Kaminski is key. 

“He looks like he’s really prepared,” he said. “He’s just a sophomore but he looks pretty veteran. He’s run the ball well.” 

Both the Grizzlies and Bobcats kick off at 1 p.m. Saturday.