Latest / The Blue Creek Outdoors Podcast / Ep#98 Frontier Showdown: Tech, C of I & the 2026 NAIA Title Chase

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Ep#98 Frontier Showdown: Tech, C of I & the 2026 NAIA Title Chase · The Blue Creek Outdoors Podcast

• 0:04
  Welcome to the Blue Creek Outdoors podcast, where we're talking faith,
• 0:08
  family, sports, and the great outdoors.
• 0:15
  Welcome back, everybody, to another season of the Blue Creek Outdoors podcast.
• 0:20
  It is 2026. It is the fourth year that we are beginning a season of this show, which is pretty crazy.
• 0:28
  Started in 2023. 23, 24, 25, now 26.
• 0:32
  We've gone through a lot of changes in the last year, so we have not yet ended
• 0:36
  a season in what I would consider fine fashion in the springtime, but here's what we do do.
• 0:43
  We always start them off, and we get through December very strong,
• 0:47
  so I'm excited for college football. I'm excited for hunting season.
• 0:51
  We've got Les Meyer and Austin Saad here with us, as always,
• 0:54
  and today, we're going to talk about the Frontier Conference. How are you guys doing?
• 0:58
  Doing pretty good man it's good to see your guys's beautiful faces again and
• 1:01
  excited that some of our favorite seasons of the year are upon us and i don't
• 1:06
  know about you guys but with the fall camp starting,
• 1:10
  i felt a little bit of an itch and that i was already behind on my hydration right,
• 1:17
  So that's good. Good seeing you guys. Good, good to be back.
• 1:21
  Very excited for the upcoming season. And I'm going to tell you right now,
• 1:26
  I am going to have some hunting stories to share this year, rather than just
• 1:31
  sitting around, listening to you guys talk hunting.
• 1:36
  The wars might be a little bit reversed this this year there.
• 1:43
  Yeah it'll be it'll be a good fall we'll have to get out and do some adventure
• 1:46
  and I did draw a coil tag this fall so we'll obviously be talking about as the season goes on,
• 1:51
  but yeah lots of exciting things in football this fall I'm getting back into
• 1:56
  the coaching realm which is which is also very exciting so it's going to be
• 2:00
  interesting transition kind of back to the the normal world as opposed to
• 2:04
  just sitting and filming a bunch of hunts. But,
• 2:09
  the reasons and the considerations will all be talked about as we go along in
• 2:12
  this show. So without further ado, the one thing I don't like about the NAIA
• 2:17
  is they don't really put out a top 25 poll until basically like right before the season starts.
• 2:22
  I mean, then it lasts like, I can't remember, two or three weeks into the season.
• 2:26
  But VSN Sports, which is where I consume a lot of NAIA football content,
• 2:32
  They did release a top 25, and we'll round that out here.
• 2:36
  Grandview, the champion, national champion, the last two national championships, they have won.
• 2:42
  They capped off an undefeated season last year, beating Kaiser in the chipper.
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  They are one and two. The top frontier team is the College of Idaho at number three.
• 2:50
  We got number four, Lindsey Wilson. Number five is Montana Tech.
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  Number six is Benedictine. Seven is Indiana Wesleyan. Eight is Friends.
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  Nine is Morningside. Number 10 is Marion.
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  11 is Dort. Number 12 is William Penn. And the next frontier team is Carroll College at number 13.
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  Number 14 is Southeastern. McPherson sits at 15. St. Thomas at 16.
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  St. Francis out of Indiana at 17. Montana Western sits at number 18.
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  Number 19 is Campbellsville. Dakota State is in the top 25 where they ended
• 3:21
  the rat last season at number 20.
• 3:23
  Number 20 is 21 is Evangel. 22 is Ottawa University, Arizona.
• 3:28
  Georgetown at 23. 24 is Reinhardt. And Southwestern sits at number 25.
• 3:34
  And that concludes the top 25 roundup where we begin the frontier standings.
• 3:39
  And what I did was VSN also just
• 3:42
  ranked all 96 NAIA teams. So I pulled the preseason rankings out of there.
• 3:48
  Montana Tech won the Eastern Division last year, going 6-0 in division play,
• 3:52
  the lone playoff team out of the Eastern Division.
• 3:56
  College of Idaho won the Western Division, also 6-0.
• 3:59
  And them and Carroll both made playoff appearances last year out of the West.
• 4:04
  So this year, out of the VSN poll, and I'm going to actually,
• 4:08
  we'll just say what each team is ranked out of that poll as well.
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  Top team in the East is Montana Tech at number five. Dakota State at number 20.
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  Valley City State is next in that division at number 39.
• 4:21
  Mayville State is then at 49. Dickinson at 51. Rocky Mountain at 60.
• 4:26
  And MSU Northern at 86.
• 4:29
  Here's what I don't understand in that realm.
• 4:34
  Rocky beat Dickinson, Mayville, and didn't they also – did they lose to Valley
• 4:39
  City last year? I'm going to jump ahead in our thing here really quickly because I'm like –.
• 4:45
  I'm a little bit slightly confused on that one. They did, they beat Valley City last year.
• 4:52
  So what I don't understand in that ranking is I don't understand having Rocky
• 4:58
  Mountain at number 60 overall and at number six in the East, only ahead,
• 5:06
  of Northern.
• 5:08
  Granted, new head coach, some new things going on there.
• 5:11
  But we will once we finish the eastern division we'll kind of outline at you know what we think as
• 5:17
  as a top two bottom two middle three type scenario here as we go through there
• 5:22
  but just just some food for thought there out of the west vsn had college of
• 5:27
  idaho at number three in the country the next is carroll and third at 13 in the country
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  montana western at 18 southern oregon at 41.
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  So a big jump down in that division from 18 to 41.
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  Eastern Oregon at 50, Arizona Christian at 72, and Simpson U at the next to
• 5:44
  last worst team in the country at 95.
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  That brings us, let's talk about the Eastern division. All right,
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  we have Dakota State is the first team that we'll talk about here.
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  We've got the head coach who is Josh Anderson entering his 18th season.
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  He is 72 and 102 all time in his career there.
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  They were ranked in 2018 at back-to-back winning seasons in 21-22 and they went
• 6:12
  eight and two last year to hopefully make it back-to-back winning seasons again.
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  They lost to Dakota Wesleyan to open the season. They then beat Nebraska Wesleyan,
• 6:21
  Arizona Christian and Southern Oregon in non-conference play.
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  They lost at Montana Tech in their very first Eastern division game,
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  then they did not lose another one. They beat Dickinson, Valley City,
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  Mayville, Rocky Mountain, and
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  Northern, narrowly missing and at-large bids into the playoffs this year.
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  They again, this coming fall,
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  They start off with a scrimmage against Mount Marty, which won't count for a record.
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  But then they host Dakota Wesleyan. They're at Division II Black Hills State.
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  They host Nebraska Wesleyan. They host Arizona Christian in a non-conference
• 6:54
  matchup. They are on the road at Southern Oregon in a non-conference matchup.
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  They then host Tech, host Dickinson at Valley City, followed by a bye.
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  And they round out their season at home against Mayville and then at Rocky Mountain and at MSU Northern.
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  And I would love to hear your guys' thoughts on how Dakota State will move forward this season.
• 7:18
  I think the Trojans are almost going to maintain where they're currently at.
• 7:23
  They have a returning starting quarterback, which is a huge thing.
• 7:26
  I know they started the season 1-1, but they were without him.
• 7:29
  I mean, granted, Black Hill State is not a bad Division II team,
• 7:33
  just a little bit harder to overcome.
• 7:36
  But with kind of those core things coming back, I would like to see them maintain
• 7:43
  kind of that 8-2 record and have a fighting chance to potentially make the playoffs.
• 7:47
  Yeah, that's what I would say, too. And looking at their schedule,
• 7:50
  you know, if they were to beat Black Hill State, then I think then it gets into,
• 7:57
  you get on a roll and then you play Montana Tech.
• 8:01
  And I don't know. I do know that facilities are improving. I know that that's going to be a big boon.
• 8:08
  If you think about somebody that's been there as long as he's been and then
• 8:13
  turn around and have that back-to-back winning seasons, what's going on with
• 8:17
  a losing overall losing record and now back-to-back winning seasons,
• 8:23
  facilities something is going on there i don't know if it's enough to overcome
• 8:29
  a montana tech but it might be if you can beat dickinson state again you,
• 8:35
  you the expectation should be eight and two and overachieve you should be nine and one.
• 8:40
  Absolutely i think that dakota wesleyan at home this year tight game last year
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  which dakota wesleyan didn't have as strong of a season as dakota state did so
• 8:50
  there's probably a little bit more momentum coming in more momentum coming in
• 8:53
  i think they beat dakota wesleyan at home black hill state
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  when it comes to the rocky mountain athletic conference shout out to wild trembling
• 9:00
  who's from dubois wyoming plays running back at black hill state right now but.
• 9:05
  They struggled in the RMAC, and it's a winnable game for Dakota State.
• 9:10
  I feel like it. However, losing to a Division II team isn't going to hurt them,
• 9:14
  in their playoff outlook, I don't think.
• 9:16
  They'll beat Nebraska Wesley, and I think they'll thump on Arizona Christian,
• 9:20
  and I think they'll beat Southern Oregon too.
• 9:22
  I think Tech is the only, I guess you could say, acceptable loss,
• 9:27
  I guess, on this schedule.
• 9:30
  I'm just going to go ahead and give a spoiler alert.
• 9:32
  I think the East Division is Tech's to lose.
• 9:37
  And after that, it's Dakota State's to lose.
• 9:41
  I think those are the two teams to beat, and I think Tech edges out Dakota State.
• 9:45
  And after that, they should not lose to anybody if they want to continue to
• 9:48
  make a step forward. And I honestly think if they can go 9-1,
• 9:52
  like you were just saying, Les, I think they earn themselves a playoff spot.
• 9:56
  Granted, they don't have quite the resume builder as they would if they go 9-1
• 10:00
  out of the West, but I still think that they make it happen so I think I I have
• 10:05
  num I have I'll just say it in the east I have number one two and seven,
• 10:10
  firmly locked and then I have three through six for what I think is going to shake out in this season,
• 10:16
  you know as a little bit of a as argument to be had but I think Dakota State
• 10:21
  is firm number two team in the east as long as they don't screw it up.
• 10:26
  Yeah, I do have to say overall, the Eastern division, I think,
• 10:30
  is going to be the most improved in the Frontier Conference.
• 10:33
  I think we are going to see a step forward.
• 10:35
  Obviously, Tech is ruling the division. I don't think anybody has any quarrels
• 10:41
  with that or qualms with that.
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  But overall, of the teams that we're going to talk about, I think there is going
• 10:46
  to be a step forward and there's going to be a little bit more competition.
• 10:50
  But I also think that there's still going to be a lot of separation between,
• 10:53
  you know, that number four team and the number seven team. But that's fair.
• 10:58
  Yeah, the only question I would have is, you know, we're looking at Dickinson
• 11:02
  and kind of writing them off right away.
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  Is, you know, I don't know what their offseason's been like,
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  but that's a pretty, obviously a proud tradition, good staff, been there a long time.
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  Took a step back last year. They don't take too many steps back.
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  They don't always beat the frontier.
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  But they, so that would be the only thing I think we need to keep an eye on is just.
• 11:24
  How good is Dickinson rebounding? Well, funny enough, they're the next team
• 11:30
  on our list. So that's a, man, that's a heck of a segue there, Les.
• 11:35
  It's almost like you had that all planned out. That was beautiful.
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  So we'll talk about the Blue Hawks here.
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  We got head coach Pete Stanton entering his 13th season as head coach after
• 11:45
  14 years as an assistant, 98 and 36 overall.
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  And he went to 10 straight North Star Athletic Conference championships and playoff appearances.
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  And then we talk about 2025. There, hence, is the step back.
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  3-7 overall, 1-5 in Frontier Conference play.
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  They started out strong 2-0 with wins at home against Valley City and then a
• 12:12
  win on the road at Northern, both of which were non-conference games.
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  They then lost to Carroll, lost at Western, lost at Mayville State to open Eastern Division play.
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  That was a triple overtime game at Mayville.
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  They lost to Dakota State in a tight one. They lost to Rocky Mountain in a one-score
• 12:30
  game. They lost to Valley City in an eight-point game.
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  They won against Northern, and then they lost against Montana Tech to finish the season.
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  And by that time, we knew that this season, the wheels had fallen off the bus
• 12:41
  for Dickinson Because at the very beginning of the season,
• 12:44
  we were eyeballing that Dickinson Tech game as like, man, one of you or both
• 12:49
  of you could be possibly going to the playoffs and that'll be a clash of the Titans.
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  And then it could not have been further from the truth.
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  2026, they open August 27th at Midland University in a non-conference game at
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  Valley City at home against Northern at Carroll and at home against Western.
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  Those are all non-conference matchups.
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  They then start Eastern Conference play with Mayville on or at home on the road at Dickinson.
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  I'm sorry, on the road at Dakota State at home against Rocky Mountain at home
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  against Valley City at Northern and then at Tech to finish out the season.
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  And I have like a giant question mark on Dickinson.
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  Part of me wants them, you know, because it's Dickinson State,
• 13:34
  part of me wants to stick them in that number three spot and have like eight out of 10 confidence.
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  However, I do also think they could possibly get jumbled up in that three through
• 13:43
  six mayhem that I think is about to ensue,
• 13:47
  and i man it's one of those things where none of us thought last season was
• 13:52
  going to happen so did the blue hawks come back with a vengeance,
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  or or did they really lose that many pieces to the puzzle from the season previous
• 14:01
  and we're going to be in another rebuilding year.
• 14:05
  Yeah i think i think that's the biggest question is what are we going to define a bounce back?
• 14:09
  Are we going to call a 500 record a bounce back or are we talking about more
• 14:15
  of a playoff style of a football team?
• 14:19
  And in general, based off of what happened last year with kind of what I've
• 14:25
  read about a little bit in the preseason, I think the 500 mark is going to be
• 14:29
  more of a reality when we really get down to the nothing goals.
• 14:34
  Which is great because you don't want to see another losing record.
• 14:38
  And so now I think, you know, if they can, if they can think their way through now,
• 14:45
  Confidence And they might be able To string more than A few games together In
• 14:49
  the win There in the Eastern play,
• 14:52
  Yeah I'm just looking at them I think they should be You know I think they should
• 14:56
  be 3-0 When they go to Carroll,
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  Fair And then I'm going to say They're going to They're going to lose to Carroll,
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  Then they're at home Against Western We're going to say I think we're all going
• 15:06
  to say They're going to lose to Western And then at this point in time Where's
• 15:09
  Dakota State Where are they at,
• 15:13
  And then And then you know, probably lose to Tech.
• 15:16
  What I will say, though, when you start looking at their losses.
• 15:21
  When they lost to Carroll 35-7, I think that was a pretty close game,
• 15:24
  if I recall, at halftime.
• 15:26
  The Western score of 41-21 last year felt closer than it was. Right.
• 15:31
  And then they lose to Mayville in overtime, lose to Dakota State by two,
• 15:36
  lose to Rocky by seven, lose to Valley City by eight.
• 15:41
  You know kind of beat northern and then lost the tech probably pretty handily there but like,
• 15:48
  What's going on? Are they injured when they're losing those kinds of games by that close of a score?
• 15:56
  Right. And so I would say I would chalk them up for three losses and then four,
• 16:05
  depending on Dakota State.
• 16:06
  Right. I liked how you put Dakota State. I think you said something to the effect
• 16:11
  of the expectation is eight and two and or the expectation is eight and two,
• 16:16
  but nine and one is would be phenomenal.
• 16:18
  Phenomenal what is what what's a fair expectation for dickinson state are you
• 16:22
  thinking you just said three losses count them for it but you think the blue
• 16:26
  hawks go seven and three like as a baseline or do you think that's the ceiling,
• 16:31
  that's what they that's probably the ceiling gotcha gotcha i would agree with
• 16:36
  that yeah they're not going to be carol they're not going to be western they're
• 16:39
  not going to be dick right what do you think the floor is for the blue hawks,
• 16:43
  yeah let's give you The old Rocky Bears won.
• 16:49
  Dakota State. Yep. So then you're at five losses there.
• 16:55
  Right, right. Yeah, yeah, five and five. I would think that's probably pretty fair.
• 17:00
  Yeah, man, I'd be interested to see what Valley City and Mayville come up with this fall.
• 17:06
  We'll be moving on to them here shortly. But yeah, I think that's fair.
• 17:10
  I think that I would lean towards them snatching that number three spot.
• 17:14
  However, I do have Dickinson, Rocky, Valley City, and Mayville.
• 17:19
  In the quagmire of three through six where, you know, I'm leaving it open.
• 17:23
  I know that's such a chump move to say, you know, like, oh, by golly,
• 17:26
  I have no idea what's going to happen, but I have no idea what's going to happen.
• 17:29
  I think those four teams are going to be in the, in those four slots in some
• 17:33
  way, shape or form at the end of it. But we'll move on now to Mayville.
• 17:37
  That being said, head coach Rocky Larson entering his seventh season. He's 19 and 42 overall.
• 17:43
  Fun fact, did not play college football, began coaching as a freshman in college
• 17:48
  at the University of Wisconsin River Falls, who won the Division III National
• 17:51
  Championship last fall, which was pretty cool.
• 17:54
  So in 2025, they were 5-6, 3-5 in the frontier. They opened the season with a win against Judson.
• 18:01
  They lost at Concordia College. They won at Nebraska Wesleyan. They won at Simpson.
• 18:06
  And then they lost at home to Arizona Christian to round out non-conference
• 18:09
  play. They beat Dickinson stayed at home 34-32 in three overtimes.
• 18:14
  They lost at Valley City. They won at home to end against Northern.
• 18:18
  They then lost at Tech, lost at home to Dakota State, and then lost at Rocky Mountain.
• 18:23
  So a three-game losing skid to finish the season.
• 18:26
  At one point in time, they were 5-3, and they were 3-2 in conference play.
• 18:33
  So this season gets a little interesting. They open up august 29th at briar
• 18:38
  cliff they are then at oklahoma panhandle state and then they are again at home
• 18:42
  against the university of minnesota morris,
• 18:45
  they're at home against simpson and at arizona christian to round out their,
• 18:49
  non-conference schedule they're then at dickinson at home against valley city
• 18:53
  at msu northern at home against rocky mountain i'm sorry at home against montana
• 18:58
  tech at dakota state followed by a bye and then at home against rocky mountain,
• 19:03
  again i've got Mayville anywhere in that three through six category.
• 19:07
  However, with the glimpses that they showed last fall, if, if a step is taken forward, I think,
• 19:17
  I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility to be looking at a 4-0.
• 19:26
  Mayville State entering Eastern Conference play. Am I crazy?
• 19:31
  Yes. I do not think you're crazy, and this is why.
• 19:35
  I think, after all of the research I've done of the Eastern teams,
• 19:40
  Mayville State is the most improved team in this division, and this is why I say that.
• 19:44
  They have a strong defense. they're returning eight solid contributors if not
• 19:48
  starters and 18 total players on both sides of the ball,
• 19:52
  okay which includes all of their rushing attack and every pass catcher that
• 19:57
  caught a pass last year dang seriously,
• 20:00
  no but here's the deal they have a tough road schedule truly yeah which if they
• 20:05
  can if they can squeeze out a couple of away games,
• 20:08
  we we're looking at probably the three or four team no joke that's bold what
• 20:14
  do you think less no you think i'm crazy i think you're crazy.
• 20:19
  But actually listen to austin i mean those are those are pretty good numbers
• 20:22
  you know i mean if you're if you're going into spring ball knowing that you're
• 20:25
  going into the summer and fall ball you know i think you should be optimistic,
• 20:30
  i'm just gonna say i'm probably gonna take simpson really wow they lost they lost,
• 20:39
  They beat Simpson 21-17 last year. Right. I'm saying Simpson is going to be
• 20:44
  a vastly improved football team.
• 20:47
  I'm actually super excited to talk about Simpson. At the same time,
• 20:51
  they do have Simpson at home.
• 20:53
  Yeah. And then they're an Arizona Christian. I'm just going to say,
• 20:56
  I mean, Arizona Christian should be improving every year. Yes.
• 21:03
  Yes, they should. You're in Arizona. You got a place to recruit to.
• 21:06
  That's the only thing I'm thinking about this Simpson game at home.
• 21:10
  That is a road trip and a half. I don't care if you're flying.
• 21:14
  That's a long way to go. Yeah. Yeah.
• 21:17
  So, I mean, also, you've got to beat University of Morris.
• 21:22
  And I just don't know. If you, yes, I think you should be favored to beat Simpson.
• 21:29
  If you don't beat them, you're probably not going to beat Arizona Christian.
• 21:33
  Right, right. I think if they lose to Simpson, we've got a problem moving forward.
• 21:37
  Okay, let's see here. I'll give them four.
• 21:42
  I'll go with ceiling here. Briarcliff, OPSU.
• 21:46
  Let's say they lose to Morris or Simpson, one of the two. We'll go three.
• 21:53
  They lost to Valley City last year. They'll beat Northern. All right,
• 21:56
  out of 10 games, we've got 10 games here. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7,
• 22:00
  8, 9, 10, 11. We've got 11 games. 11 games here.
• 22:03
  Am I crazy to think that 6-5 is out of the realm of possibility No,
• 22:10
  not at all I think that's within the threshold.
• 22:14
  I'm giving you a 4-0 to start the season and then lose every game after that.
• 22:20
  Dang. You think they're going to lose to Northern? Yeah.
• 22:24
  No way. No way. I do have some things to talk about Northern now. I do, too. I do, too.
• 22:30
  Northern gets really interesting, and I didn't even realize this.
• 22:33
  Let's scroll down. We're at Northern now. So this will tie into wrapping up Mabel. Sorry.
• 22:39
  So you like the tie-ins, do you? Yeah, yeah. That was nicely done.
• 22:43
  That was nicely done. So, all right, here's why Northern's interesting, okay?
• 22:47
  Head coach Jerome Showers entering his fourth season, three and 38 overall in four seasons.
• 22:53
  At one time, Coach Sowers was the winningest head coach in Big Sky Conference
• 22:57
  history during his tenure at Northern Arizona.
• 22:59
  He was also the longest tenured coach in Big Sky history at one point in time. He's not anymore.
• 23:04
  Now, Carroll College has a new offensive coordinator. I'm sorry,
• 23:09
  Northern, what am I talking about?
• 23:10
  Northern, let me talk about last season first. Last season, 1-10, 0-6 in frontier play.
• 23:17
  They lose to Carroll at Western, Dickinson State. They lost to College of Idaho.
• 23:22
  None of these games were particularly close. They beat Eastern Oregon at home
• 23:26
  23-17, good non-conference win.
• 23:28
  They then lose to Tech, Mayville. They lost to Mayville by four.
• 23:32
  They lose to Rocky Mountain by two scores, Dickinson by three scores,
• 23:35
  Valley City by one score, and get blown out by Dakota State 50-3 to end the season.
• 23:40
  This year, this is what I don't understand about Northern. What are you doing
• 23:44
  in the non-conference schedule?
• 23:45
  What on God's green earth are you doing to help yourself out entering Eastern
• 23:51
  play? Because I don't understand it.
• 23:53
  Here is Northern's non-conference schedule.
• 23:56
  August 27th at Carroll, followed by at home against Montana Western,
• 24:01
  then at Dickinson State, at home against College of Idaho,
• 24:05
  at Eastern Oregon, a bye, then enter conference play, at tech at home against
• 24:10
  mayville at rocky mountain at home against dickinson at valley city at home against dakota state
• 24:15
  i don't know what your athletic director i maybe wants head coach fired i don't
• 24:19
  know why you would do this i don't understand it it doesn't make any sense to
• 24:22
  me here's the bright spot,
• 24:25
  msu northern has a new offensive coordinator and a new offensive line coach
• 24:28
  who are both together at stanford if i remember correctly,
• 24:32
  and they're young, they're fired up. It's kind of a, Northern is the perfect
• 24:37
  place to bring two guys in who in other places would nowhere be close to calling
• 24:41
  plays in their careers, most likely, but you bring them into Northern,
• 24:45
  and everyone in Northern has said the weight room is different,
• 24:48
  the practices are different,
• 24:50
  the intensity is different.
• 24:53
  If there was a bright place for football in Havert, it sounds like it's this fall.
• 25:01
  That being not until week five yeah there's no bright places until well I didn't
• 25:08
  even yeah not until their bye week which is week five yeah there's no way they
• 25:12
  could beat Eastern Oregon they beat them last year they did beat them last year,
• 25:17
  Eastern Oregon has a new head coach we'll see how that goes as well but yeah
• 25:21
  I think you might come out of conference play one and four and that's might,
• 25:28
  and then And let's say you could pick up a Mayville and could pick up a Valley city.
• 25:35
  I think we're sitting here at three and eight. And I think that's the ceiling. Yeah, I do too. Yeah.
• 25:43
  I do think the ceiling is, is three wins for them, but you know,
• 25:47
  trying to stay positive, not only are they going to squeeze one game out before
• 25:51
  the bye week, but they're also going to get their first conference win in four years.
• 25:56
  You think so? Who are they going to be? So I think that is the best step in
• 26:01
  the right direction is to get a conference win somewhere.
• 26:04
  It doesn't matter if it's some BS win against any of those teams or it's a one
• 26:09
  possession win, a one point win, a one inch win, whatever it is.
• 26:13
  If they squeeze out a conference win, that proves that the energy has changed.
• 26:21
  And it's much needed for that program, I think, truly.
• 26:24
  And that's what they're going to fight for. Now, as you stated earlier, that is a gauntlet.
• 26:32
  If their hopes and dreams aren't crushed by the bye week, they have a chance
• 26:37
  to win that one conference game.
• 26:40
  But that athletic director was just like, I don't care. We'll play them all. Let's do it all.
• 26:47
  Might as well just play them all on the road anyways. I don't understand it at all. I truly do not.
• 26:53
  I do know that they've, you know, in terms of they've brought in transfers.
• 26:58
  I mean, they have some talent. They have some new people and new blood and all
• 27:04
  that kind of stuff, which is great.
• 27:05
  The issue is if you win, then everybody buys in.
• 27:10
  If you don't win, then that could be problematic.
• 27:14
  Right, right. Then the team cohesion leaves really quickly. But yeah,
• 27:19
  best of luck to Northern this fall. Granted, I'll say something,
• 27:22
  and this probably makes me a jerk, and I'll own it. That's fine.
• 27:26
  But I actually was talking to somebody the other day, and we were talking about Frontier football.
• 27:31
  And I told him, I was like, you know how I can tell I'm really far out from
• 27:37
  being a competitor myself?
• 27:39
  It's because I caught myself thinking in the last year, well,
• 27:42
  at least there's a Northern around because then basically anybody who wants
• 27:46
  to go play college football can which is cool,
• 27:49
  like that's that's what i was thinking to myself and then i caught myself and
• 27:53
  i was like what am i saying right now like.
• 28:01
  That sounds so disrespectful and i i i don't know if i mean it like that or
• 28:06
  not i do think it's cool that more dudes have the ability to go play college football,
• 28:11
  because there's a Northern. I, I'm sorry. Like, and I hope, I hope we're sitting
• 28:17
  here at the end of November and we're thinking to ourselves like,
• 28:20
  dang, that's not the case anymore. Northern's playing a pretty good football. You know what I mean?
• 28:24
  But I did have that thought and that's probably not a great thought to have
• 28:28
  that you don't want to be on the receiving end of that thought.
• 28:30
  It is still some dudes got to play college football.
• 28:35
  I don't know. So if that makes me a jerk. I apologize, but we'll move on here
• 28:41
  to the conference favorite, Montana Tech, Kyle Sampson entering his sixth season
• 28:46
  as head coach. He's 40 and 16 overall.
• 28:49
  I've read the articles. I've read the hype and coach Sampson has said,
• 28:53
  and I think it's, in my opinion, I think that a lot of coaches around the country
• 28:57
  say this, and I think a lot of them are absolutely full of it.
• 29:00
  However, I think it's warranted to say here, coach Sampson says a national championship is the goal.
• 29:07
  Not to make the playoffs. It's not to make a run. It is to win the national championship.
• 29:12
  They went 12-1 last season, 6-0 in Frontier Conference play with wins against
• 29:17
  Montana Western, Carroll College, Rocky Mountain, Southern Oregon,
• 29:21
  and College of Idaho in their non-conference schedule.
• 29:24
  And then in-conference Eastern play, they beat Dakota State,
• 29:28
  beat Northern, beat Mayville, beat Rocky Mountain, beat Dickinson,
• 29:31
  and beat Valley City to go 6-0 there.
• 29:33
  And got a first-round bye. They beat Carroll College in the second round,
• 29:38
  which I didn't write the score down, obviously.
• 29:40
  And then they lost in the quarterfinal to the College of Idaho, 41-26.
• 29:45
  The Coyotes came and got some revenge after week five, I think it was,
• 29:49
  when Tech beat them by three.
• 29:51
  At home in Butte, tough one there. College of Idaho's a great football team.
• 29:55
  We'll talk about that here in a little bit as well. But the 2025 schedule for
• 29:59
  the Orediggers, and here's the crazy part about that.
• 30:03
  They played two playoff games, and they played four, five non-conference games
• 30:09
  last year, and they did not play a team that is not in the Frontier Conference.
• 30:14
  Which is pretty wild. So they played Carroll twice, College of Idaho twice, Rocky Mountain twice.
• 30:22
  It's like the old days of the frontier.
• 30:25
  But 2025 is a changing of that fact. August 27th, they play Ottawa University of Arizona in Butte.
• 30:33
  They then host Carroll College. They're at Montana Western at home against Southern
• 30:37
  Oregon and at College of Idaho to round out their five games of non-conference play.
• 30:41
  They're then at Dakota State, at home against MSU Northern, a bye,
• 30:46
  at Mayville, at home against Rocky, at home against Dickinson,
• 30:49
  and then at Valley City State.
• 30:51
  I don't think they'll have a problem against Ottawa out of Arizona.
• 30:54
  I think they'll beat Carroll. I think they'll beat Western. I think they'll
• 30:57
  beat Southern. College of Idaho, that'll be a heck of a matchup in week five.
• 31:02
  Overall, I understand and I love the lofty goal of a national championship,
• 31:06
  but with the schedule that they do have to start the season off.
• 31:12
  They must not overlook any team at any point because Ottawa University traditionally
• 31:17
  is a good football program.
• 31:19
  They're already ranked 22nd in the nation right now.
• 31:22
  That's going to be a tough team. Carroll College is a playoff team.
• 31:25
  Western is a playoff team.
• 31:27
  And College of Idaho is very obviously a playoff team as well.
• 31:32
  And that's before you start conference play. And if at any point they look past
• 31:35
  them as if they have something else to play for, that's going to be a loss.
• 31:41
  As much as they are returning all conference players, they have the former Frontier
• 31:47
  Conference player of the year.
• 31:48
  They've signed a lot of really good guys. There are a lot of returning players.
• 31:52
  Jarrett Stidman from Polson, he's a stud, right? But if they...
• 31:56
  Wilson, Jarrett Wilson. Jarrett Wilson, my apologies.
• 32:01
  If they get impatient with any of this then I think it's going to be their own
• 32:05
  demise now I would love to see a Frontier Conference team make it to the National
• 32:09
  Championship to represent the conference and I think Tech is,
• 32:15
  one of the two teams that could do that but,
• 32:19
  they need to be patient and focus on the present yeah that actually scares me
• 32:24
  a little bit when you put the National Championship or bust,
• 32:29
  basically, at the beginning of the season.
• 32:31
  I'd be doing it the other way, telling, saying how good everybody else is and
• 32:36
  kind of downplaying ourselves a little bit. Classic Les Meyer.
• 32:41
  So, I mean, in terms of the, hey, here's a fun fact.
• 32:47
  Rosie, Tim Rosenbach, is the offensive coordinator, the former offensive coordinator
• 32:51
  at the University of Montana, is the OC at OUAZ. Oh, gotcha.
• 32:58
  Go Tech D Go Tech D,
• 33:04
  So
• 33:07
  And you're at carol or no no no you're hosting carol yeah you're hosting carol
• 33:11
  hosting carol which is good you're at lester i mean to austin's point i mean your first your your,
• 33:21
  every game is a challenge there out of the first one two three four five and
• 33:28
  then if dakota state's good that's six right yeah,
• 33:33
  and you're at Dakota State like you might be a very very very good football
• 33:39
  team you might be a playoff football team and you still might lose two or three games,
• 33:45
  Yeah, that is a gauntlet of six games right there.
• 33:50
  At CFI, that's a tough one. That is a very hard place to play football.
• 33:55
  Yeah, I don't know. I'm looking at that, and I'm, like, confident. Here's the deal.
• 34:01
  Ugh, man. Are they going to be undefeated?
• 34:05
  I think that's the ceiling. Yeah, yeah. I think going, what do we got, 11 here?
• 34:10
  We got 4, 7, 10, 11. Yeah, yeah. I think 11-0 is in the realm of possibility. That is the ceiling.
• 34:18
  What I'm struggling with right now is the floor. Struggling with,
• 34:22
  is it a, you know, are we talking a 9-win floor, an 8-win floor?
• 34:29
  Because you could justify a 9-win floor just as much as you could justify a
• 34:33
  7-win floor. You know what I mean?
• 34:36
  I think three losses is not... That's catastrophic.
• 34:40
  Yeah it is that that hurts but it could happen,
• 34:44
  because if they let's say let's say they beat Ottawa but they lose to Carroll
• 34:47
  and Western that's back-to-back games okay you get you get you know Southern
• 34:52
  Oregon at home to get your confidence back up but then now you have a no joke
• 34:57
  real football game on the road against CFI,
• 34:59
  well and I think saying Southern Oregon is a confidence game I yeah that even
• 35:03
  makes me nervous too I know they were very good last year but the The Red Raiders are like,
• 35:08
  not a bad football team. Yeah.
• 35:11
  Yeah. I just don't like that.
• 35:14
  That kind of pressure because what if you do lose the first game right and in in,
• 35:22
  or the second game whatever i mean is it i mean you you have you have to pull
• 35:28
  up your bootstraps and get ready to play the next game because you you don't have time to pout.
• 35:36
  Right yeah i think we're talking 11-0 very much in the realm of possibility,
• 35:42
  just as possible as eight and three,
• 35:47
  and I don't think that'll happen but if it could happen are we gonna be rooting
• 35:52
  for them to be undefeated
• 35:53
  to make you know that statement come true or are we wanting them to lose a game
• 35:57
  to make them come down to earth a little bit this is gonna sound this is gonna sound
• 36:02
  like obviously everybody knows where my heart lies in Billings Montana however
• 36:05
  at the same time if I'm rooting for a frontier team to make the national championship,
• 36:09
  here's where my heart is.
• 36:11
  I'm rooting for the C of I and for tech until week five or six. That's week five.
• 36:19
  And then after week five, I'm rooting for one of them.
• 36:26
  You know what I mean? However, I would love a Pulse in Montana product to lead
• 36:33
  the ore diggers to a national championship.
• 36:35
  So I want it to be tech. I want it to be tech. But here's the deal, too.
• 36:39
  I don't think either one of them is out of the playoff race with a loss to each other.
• 36:44
  Yeah, I like those guys and the staff and the players. I mean,
• 36:49
  I wish the best for them. I really do.
• 36:52
  I really do. I want to be wrong, obviously. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 36:59
  I think Tech's playoff-bound as long as they don't drop too many.
• 37:02
  But even if they're 10-1, 9-2 maybe even, I think they're playoff-bound.
• 37:06
  Because I don't think Dakota State's quite on their level yet.
• 37:10
  And we'll see. Best case scenario is Frontier gets four teams to the playoffs.
• 37:13
  And I guess we'll be talking about what that's going to look like in November.
• 37:16
  But we'll move on to another interesting team here. Rocky Mountain College, Go Bears.
• 37:22
  A head coach, Randy Bandalow, entering his first season as a college head coach.
• 37:27
  Last year, they were 4-6, 4-2 in the frontier with losses to College of Idaho
• 37:31
  to enter to begin the season. Lost at Tech, lost at home to Western,
• 37:35
  and then lost at Carroll. We were 0-4 at the beginning of the season.
• 37:39
  Then they rattled off some wins at Valley City, at home against Dickinson State, at MSU Northern.
• 37:44
  Lost to Tech, lost to Dakota State, and then beat Mayville State to end the season.
• 37:49
  They kicked a field goal with very little time left to win that game.
• 37:52
  And this season is kind of interesting.
• 37:54
  They open August 27th. That is next Thursday night, not this coming Thursday
• 37:58
  night, but next Thursday night against the University of Mary,
• 38:01
  a Division II program who has struggled mightily in the last few years.
• 38:04
  This game is being played in Glendive, Montana.
• 38:08
  I coached a couple of high school games in Glendive, and you know...
• 38:14
  It's not a bad stadium. It's kind of a cool place, actually.
• 38:17
  It's kind of a cool place to play football.
• 38:19
  If it's a nice August evening, it'll be very cool. I think it's not a bad place
• 38:24
  to gather for some small town college football.
• 38:27
  They used to do it in Mile City. I actually think Glendive's better,
• 38:30
  to be honest with you, as just a cooler venue. That's just my opinion.
• 38:33
  But what do you guys think about the Eastern Montana Prairie meeting between
• 38:38
  two small college programs?
• 38:40
  I think it's great. You know, bring a little bit of excitement to not just small
• 38:43
  town Montana, but there is a sense of excitement for the teams playing at a neutral site.
• 38:50
  Something new. Yeah, I think it's awesome that they're going to go play somewhere
• 38:54
  else there. And that makes great.
• 38:57
  The only thing I would say, though, in terms of maybe the venue is better.
• 39:02
  But the prestige and the history of Mile City, you know, Duster County Cowboys,
• 39:08
  in terms of football, a football town and football fans, I guess,
• 39:13
  you know, hopefully Glendive shows up and shows out.
• 39:16
  I just think they would at Mile City. Right, right.
• 39:21
  Well, they open the season there. They're then at the College of Idaho,
• 39:24
  followed by a bye week. They're at Montana Western at home against Carroll.
• 39:28
  That rounds out the non-conference schedule. They're then at home against Valley
• 39:32
  City State, followed by a second bye week.
• 39:34
  Then at Dickinson, at home against Northern, at Tech, at home against Dakota
• 39:38
  State, and then at Mayville State to round out the season.
• 39:41
  Like I said, I like to think they're in that three or four realm,
• 39:44
  but that three to six could get real convoluted real quick.
• 39:47
  You know, I want to see them in Dickinson competing for the next two teams,
• 39:51
  next tier below Tech and Dakota State.
• 39:54
  I think that'll be what happens. I'm not sure, but I think they can beat Mary.
• 39:59
  I don't know how much of a step forward Rocky takes this year,
• 40:01
  but maybe there's some hype with a new head coach.
• 40:03
  I think they'll lose to the College of Idaho. I think they'll lose to Western.
• 40:06
  I think they'll lose to Carroll. So you're sitting at one and three there.
• 40:09
  I think you could beat Valley City, beat Dickinson, beat Northern,
• 40:13
  lose to Tech, lose to Dakota State, and beat Mayville.
• 40:16
  So we're looking at one, two, three, four, five.
• 40:19
  I think we could potentially be looking at a, let's see here,
• 40:23
  they're playing 10 games.
• 40:24
  So five and five, I don't know if that's the, based on the losses,
• 40:29
  I think the losses are Dakota State, Tech, Carroll, Western, C of I.
• 40:35
  So I don't think you're picking up one of those. I think five and five looks like the ceiling to me.
• 40:41
  Yeah, I do. I do agree with that only because I feel like there's some big question
• 40:46
  marks with the team and with some of their returners coming back.
• 40:51
  They do have a strong rushing attack coming back, but there's still a lot of
• 40:53
  question marks with key positions like the O-line and the linebackers group.
• 40:57
  And if they respond, I think the schedule is boating in their favor.
• 41:01
  Bi-weeks are well placed. I know as much as this is the controllables,
• 41:06
  they're going to be very important in keeping and their confidence up and being
• 41:10
  able to string some wins together.
• 41:13
  Yeah, I just, I mean, I hope five and five, that would be an outstanding season.
• 41:18
  For a first-year head coach going into the land of the battling bears.
• 41:23
  I just, you know, I don't have the confidence right now. And,
• 41:28
  you know, like we had with the Jason Petrino, like we had with Brian Armstrong,
• 41:34
  you know, just don't have that confidence. And so, but time will tell.
• 41:38
  Yeah, and I think overall, all of us being former Rockheads,
• 41:43
  it's hard coming to this realization that they are.
• 41:48
  In this state of football, I guess, kind of in limbo overall with their ceiling
• 41:52
  being 5-5 when we used to be expecting 8-9 win seasons.
• 41:59
  And being here where if they can squeak out a 500 season, that's a step in the
• 42:05
  right direction, especially for a new head coach. Yeah.
• 42:09
  I won't disagree with you there. I think those five that I mentioned,
• 42:12
  I think, are probably not going to be wins, but the rest of them definitely
• 42:16
  could be and maybe hopefully should be. So we'll round out the Eastern Division.
• 42:21
  The other five really good wins.
• 42:23
  Yeah, they needed to be really, really good wins. You're correct about that.
• 42:26
  We're going to round out the Eastern Division here. Valley City State with Dennis
• 42:31
  McCulloch entering 30th season as head coach and his 33rd year at VCSU.
• 42:37
  Vcsu he is 169 and 121 overall,
• 42:42
  and the dc greg horner also enters his 33rd season i didn't realize i knew the
• 42:49
  head coach had been there a long time i did not realize the dc has been there that long 2025
• 42:54
  they were six and four overall three and three in the frontier,
• 42:58
  they lost to dickinson state to open the season they beat augsburg at home 27
• 43:02
  to zero that game is called something special.
• 43:05
  It's kind of a rivalry game. I can't remember what it's called,
• 43:07
  but they beat Eastern Oregon on the road 3-0.
• 43:11
  They then beat Simpson at home by 27-21. They opened conference play with a
• 43:15
  loss against Rocky Mountain.
• 43:17
  They beat Mayville. They lost to Dakota State.
• 43:19
  They beat Dickinson. They beat Northern, and they lost to Tech 41-0 to start to end the season.
• 43:24
  I actually thought last season that Valley City State was a team that could
• 43:29
  potentially wreck shop that obviously didn't happen. However,
• 43:33
  six and four, it's not a bad showing.
• 43:35
  This year, they open up August 27th at Southwest Minnesota State.
• 43:40
  They're at home against Dickinson, followed by a bye. They're at home against
• 43:43
  Eastern Oregon. They're then at Simpson. That rounds out their non-conference play.
• 43:48
  Conference play, they're at Rocky Mountain, at Mayville, at home against Dakota
• 43:52
  State, at Dickinson State, followed by a bye week, and then two home games,
• 43:56
  Northern at home and then Tech at home.
• 43:59
  I think that 6-4 is probably what they are going to be looking at again as a decent season.
• 44:07
  But let me check here. We've got 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. Ten games again.
• 44:11
  So, again, I am predicting that they finish in the 5-6 range of the 17 Eastern
• 44:19
  Conference. And I don't know that we're going to see a massive swing one way or the other.
• 44:25
  Yeah, I wouldn't say they're in the same shoes as Rocky Mountain when it comes
• 44:29
  to more of like a rebuilding scenario.
• 44:31
  Although one of the articles I did read, they have 55 incoming signees of this
• 44:37
  last recruiting class, whether or not there are transfers or new recruits.
• 44:41
  Whether or not they're just trying to pad the roster or they had a bunch of
• 44:44
  people transfer away or a lot of graduates, who knows, that's just a lot of
• 44:49
  people to manage, I think, even for a college football program.
• 44:54
  But with that being said, you know, I think them and Rocky are really going
• 44:59
  to be battling for who's the most mediocre team.
• 45:05
  Are you, I would be counting a trip to Southwest Minnesota State as a loss.
• 45:14
  That's fair. Yeah,
• 45:17
  I don't know where they would go. One, two. Now you're home against Eastern Oregon.
• 45:25
  Maybe a win there. I just have a hard time seeing that Eastern Oregon has a
• 45:30
  new head coach too, right? Right, right.
• 45:33
  Yeah, so I would say 0-2, 1-3.
• 45:40
  I'm going to pick Simpson. Dang, there you go. You're high on it.
• 45:43
  Man, I'm the one to skip to Simpson here. This is going to be a good one because
• 45:46
  I'm pumped about him too, but I'm ready to hear your thoughts. But, yeah.
• 45:52
  They might have two wins. Yeah, dang.
• 45:55
  I mean, it's definitely possible. I knew the floor would be pretty low.
• 45:58
  I was kind of hoping that 6-4 as a ceiling would be like, you know,
• 46:02
  there'll be a mediocre team, kind of like Austin said, but mediocre team means
• 46:06
  your floor is dangerous.
• 46:08
  I mean, some of that, though, is like, I mean, obviously I'm rooting for MSU
• 46:13
  Northern, but MSU Northern might be long gone and done by then. Right, right.
• 46:21
  Yeah, I hope not. They were scoring a ton of points last year,
• 46:23
  which gives me a little bit of hope. Yeah.
• 46:26
  Yeah, it'll be interesting to see here. Like you said, I think there'll be that
• 46:31
  five or six team battling it out with Mayville for those two spots.
• 46:36
  That's kind of where I have them at the moment, but we'll see what happens.
• 46:40
  I think they're one of those teams that they're going to be lower.
• 46:42
  Well, even last year, they were lower on the ranking list than you would.
• 46:46
  Like you see six and four and you're like, oh, all right.
• 46:49
  But they're pretty low in the conference ranking, so I wouldn't be surprised if that happened again.
• 46:54
  But again, you know, that's not a great non-conference schedule.
• 46:57
  You're on the road to California, Eastern Oregon, who knows Dickinson State,
• 47:01
  who knows Southwest Minnesota State. I'll be honest, don't know anything about
• 47:04
  that football team, but could not, who knows, could be a giant question mark there.
• 47:08
  You could go 0-4 in non-conference play.
• 47:13
  And then, and then it's all bets are off for Rocky, Mayville,
• 47:16
  Dickinson, and Northern. so tough could be a tough road but hopefully they hold
• 47:21
  their heads above water and kind of maintain that mediocrity I know that's a
• 47:24
  terrible way to put it but like Austin was saying so.
• 47:27
  But we'll round out there. We go over to the western side of the Frontier Conference
• 47:32
  with Arizona Christian, another new head coach, Drew Maddox,
• 47:36
  entering his first season.
• 47:38
  He took over Louisiana Christian in 2020 following five losing seasons that
• 47:42
  they had had, and he achieved two playoff appearances.
• 47:45
  He comes to Arizona Christian after being the defensive line coach at Southeast
• 47:49
  Missouri. And in 2025, they went 2-8, 1-5 in the Frontier.
• 47:54
  They lost to division two fort lewis lost to dakota state beat mayville state
• 47:57
  on the road heck of a road trip they lose to carroll college lose to eastern
• 48:02
  oregon lose to ottawa arizona,
• 48:04
  lose to southern oregon lose to cvi lose to western and then they beat simpson
• 48:07
  46 to 39 simpson puts up 39 points on them though to end the season 2026 september
• 48:13
  5th they don't start they don't start until a couple weeks after everybody else does
• 48:17
  september 25th they're at fort lewis college division two school followed by
• 48:21
  a bye they're then at dakota state at home against mayville at carroll college
• 48:26
  at home against eastern oregon,
• 48:28
  at home against ottawa arizona at southern oregon at home against cvi at home
• 48:33
  against western and then at simpson so,
• 48:36
  fort lewis is obviously vastly improved because they used to be terrible but
• 48:39
  they were thumping arizona christian the last couple years don't count that
• 48:43
  as a win you can beat mayville.
• 48:46
  I you can beat Mayville you can beat Simpson after that I hope you pick one up I hope you pick one up,
• 48:56
  you know Eastern Oregon a Southern Oregon maybe depending on how they're doing,
• 49:00
  I don't know I don't know I think four wins is a very high ceiling for this
• 49:04
  team and like you said we're high on Simpson,
• 49:08
  who knows about Mayville I hate to say it but I Four wins is a high ceiling, and,
• 49:15
  this team could be vastly improved and not win a game. Am I crazy for thinking that?
• 49:21
  Yeah, that's exactly right. Go ahead, Austin. I'm sorry I jumped in there.
• 49:25
  No, it's okay. You can finish your thought.
• 49:28
  It's like you were saying about Montana Tech. Montana Tech can be a very,
• 49:31
  very, very good football team and maybe have three losses.
• 49:36
  These guys could be a good football team and play everybody tough and not win.
• 49:41
  Yeah, I think at this point, we cannot chalk it up to being inexperienced against
• 49:47
  the Frontier because now this is what their third season in the conference.
• 49:51
  And so they now understand their opponents a little bit better.
• 49:54
  Obviously, the recruits have seen these teams, Made the travel To a lot of these
• 50:00
  places And let's say You know for all intents and purposes,
• 50:05
  The team stay All the teams stay the same You just reverse the schedule Do they
• 50:10
  win the same amount of games,
• 50:12
  As last year Because that's what the schedule is reflecting right now,
• 50:16
  They beat Mayville and they beat Simpson Is that what you're saying Yeah that
• 50:20
  was their two wins last year But now all the games are reversed Do you think
• 50:23
  it stays the same Well, they beat Mayville at Mayville by one, right?
• 50:28
  And they beat Simpson. They hung 46 on him, but Simpson scored 39.
• 50:32
  We think Simpson's going to be vastly improved.
• 50:34
  I don't think Mayville's going to be worse.
• 50:37
  Yeah, I don't know, dude. I think there's not a game on this schedule that I'm
• 50:43
  comfortable hanging my hat on as a win. Right.
• 50:47
  That does not mean they won't win the game. That's only because they're in their
• 50:52
  first year with a new head coach.
• 50:54
  I get that. But would you put a paycheck on these guys beating Eastern?
• 50:58
  No, no, no, I wouldn't.
• 51:02
  Yeah. Again, the one thing I would say is like, you know, I don't necessarily
• 51:06
  know what's going on there, but like you should be able to recruit there. Right, right. Right.
• 51:13
  Because there's two NAIA schools in Arizona. There's one FCS program.
• 51:20
  There's two FBS programs. Like,
• 51:23
  there's a lot of kids that you should be keeping in the state of Arizona.
• 51:28
  Because there's a lot of Arizona kids that play NAIA football.
• 51:32
  And I don't know how old Ottawa's program is. And I don't know how old.
• 51:36
  I do know how old Arizona Christian's program is. I can't remember when they
• 51:39
  started, but we went over that one year on the show here. but it's not like
• 51:44
  it's since we were in college, like around that time they started their program basically.
• 51:49
  And so there's kids they should be keeping, keeping at home.
• 51:55
  Yeah. And it's in Glendale, right? Like good gracious. You're telling me you can't recruit Phoenix.
• 52:02
  I mean, you have California kids going all over the nation to play NAI. Right. Right.
• 52:09
  Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Out of the entire conference, this Arizona Christian
• 52:16
  is probably my biggest head-scratcher.
• 52:18
  Like you said, they could be a vastly improved football team and not win a football game.
• 52:23
  We also could be sitting here. I also truly, in my heart of hearts,
• 52:28
  believe we could be sitting here week eight, week nine, going,
• 52:33
  where did Arizona Christian come from?
• 52:36
  I believe that's a possibility. I think four but I think that's what four win
• 52:41
  season I think they I think they beat a couple people that'd be their most successful
• 52:45
  season in the frontier by far,
• 52:47
  and I think if we're sitting here week eight week nine they've got four wins
• 52:50
  on their belts or or hunting for a fourth one then you know,
• 52:55
  I don't think that's out of the realm of possibility I have no idea what's going
• 52:58
  to happen but I hope I hope September 5th shows us a lot I hope they go and
• 53:03
  they thump Fort Lewis because they beat them four years ago.
• 53:08
  And then I don't think they've beaten them since they joined the frontier.
• 53:11
  And if they did, they beat them their very first season in the frontier,
• 53:15
  if I remember correctly.
• 53:17
  But they got beat by them the last couple of years. So it's time to go thump
• 53:21
  those Division II boys in Colorado and then go give Dakota State a game after
• 53:25
  a bye week. That's what I think. We'll see if it happens.
• 53:29
  But we will move on to the Fighting Saints in Helena, Montana of Carroll College.
• 53:35
  Head coach Troy Purcell, who's entering his eighth season, is 46-22 overall.
• 53:41
  In 2025, they were 9-3, 5-1 in the Frontier Conference.
• 53:45
  They beat Northern to open the season. They lost at home to Tech, 30-19.
• 53:49
  They beat Dickinson State. They beat Rocky Mountain. They beat Arizona Christian,
• 53:54
  beat Montana Western, beat Simpson, beat Southern Oregon, and they lost to the CFI in Helena.
• 54:01
  They then beat Eastern Oregon to finish the season off. They beat St.
• 54:04
  Thomas, and I also didn't put that score down apparently. They beat St.
• 54:07
  Thomas out of Florida in the first round of the playoffs, and then the second
• 54:11
  round of the playoffs, they lost to Montana Tech 31-21.
• 54:14
  This season, they open up the season August 27th against MSU Northern at home.
• 54:19
  They're at Montana Tech followed by a bye.
• 54:22
  Then they're against Dickinson State at home at Rocky Mountain. Then they enter.
• 54:27
  Western Division play at home against Arizona Christian, at home against Montana
• 54:30
  Western, at Simpson, followed by a bye, at home against Southern Oregon,
• 54:35
  and then at C of I and at Eastern Oregon.
• 54:38
  I'm sitting here thinking to myself, Northern, Dickinson, Rocky,
• 54:41
  Arizona Christian, Simpson, that's five.
• 54:45
  I think they'll beat Southern Oregon, that's six. I think they'll beat Eastern Oregon, that's seven.
• 54:50
  So I think that a seven win season is the expectation that I would have for
• 54:56
  Carroll College at this point in time and a 10 win a 10 game season we're talking about Tech,
• 55:02
  C of I and let's see here never mind that that might be it Tech and C of I,
• 55:09
  Western Western sorry so we got those three teams that could go either way but
• 55:14
  I think that seven I honestly think that seven wins needs to be the floor for
• 55:19
  Carroll. And I think that's probably the case.
• 55:21
  I think so, too. I always kind of battle with myself is, do you want a tough
• 55:26
  opponent week one, or do you want more of a tune-up game?
• 55:31
  And I think between Carroll's schedule and Tech's schedule, that's what it reflects,
• 55:38
  right? You know, Carroll has a tune-up game against Northern,
• 55:40
  which we expect them to win.
• 55:42
  And then going into Tech with a little bit of confidence, albeit a road game,
• 55:47
  I think will also help a little bit, even though it's not much competition going
• 55:51
  into that football game.
• 55:53
  Overall, I think seven wins should be the standard.
• 55:58
  If they get a couple of good wins on the road, whether or not it's against Tech
• 56:04
  or CFI, obviously CFI is a little bit more important, not only because of the
• 56:08
  away game, but also it's an in-conference game.
• 56:12
  One thing I would say is, yeah, seven wins, anything less than seven wins is,
• 56:17
  you might see a different change at the helm at Carroll if that was to happen
• 56:21
  with the expectations that they have.
• 56:23
  I know too, I know that they have an outstanding receiver transfer from Fresno State,
• 56:33
  that they're really high on. And just a side note in terms of an explosive kiss.
• 56:40
  Right. You know, in terms of the big game versus a tune-up game,
• 56:45
  I think either way, I'm just psychologically going into the game week of MSU Northern.
• 56:52
  I think all sites are, yes, you're preparing for MSU Northern,
• 56:58
  but I think that the mindset's got to be how well prepared are we, you know, in terms of.
• 57:06
  You know, you got a lot on the line, but it boils down to flat out.
• 57:11
  How well are we fundamentally prepared to play.
• 57:16
  It doesn't matter who game won against MSU Northern.
• 57:20
  Right. And yes, you're preparing for Northern, but it's about us and how well
• 57:27
  we are, how well, how hard, how fundamental we are going into that first game.
• 57:35
  Absolutely. And I think if Carroll can find their own identity moving into that
• 57:40
  game and play that way and focus on themselves.
• 57:43
  Yeah, I think seven wins is the floor. And, you know, it's just it's just not
• 57:48
  out of the realm of possibility that we're looking at a 10 and 0 Carroll Carroll
• 57:51
  College football team here. I think that's, you know, obviously a ceiling and
• 57:55
  it's possible. I think that is a possibility.
• 57:58
  Yeah, if you look at last year, to me, you look at the Northern score of 20-0,
• 58:06
  you're not focused on getting better. You're focused on Montana Tech. Right, right.
• 58:12
  And you should learn from that.
• 58:14
  This isn't about Northern. This isn't about Tech. This is about you,
• 58:20
  me. Right. This is a football team.
• 58:22
  Yeah, it'll be interesting to see what happens August 27th in Helena that night.
• 58:27
  And we'll move on to College of Idaho, one of the favorites to go deep in the
• 58:31
  playoffs, the highest-ranked Frontier team in the VSN poll.
• 58:34
  Head coach Mike Morosky entering his 12th season. He's 81-47 overall.
• 58:39
  He was a player and then a coach at UC Davis for 30 years before taking over
• 58:44
  the helm at College of Idaho.
• 58:46
  In 2025, they were 11-2, 6-0 in the Frontier Conference.
• 58:50
  They started off with three wins right away with beating Eastern Oregon,
• 58:55
  Rocky Mountain, and Northern.
• 58:56
  They then lost at Montana Tech by three points, 27-24.
• 59:00
  They then rattled off a whole bunch of wins against Simpson,
• 59:03
  Western, Eastern Oregon, Arizona Christian, Carroll, Southern Oregon to win the Western side.
• 59:08
  They then beat Morningside. They had a first round bye in the playoffs.
• 59:12
  They then beat Morningside at home, 37-19 in the second round.
• 59:16
  They then traveled to Montana Tech and then got some revenge,
• 59:19
  winning 41-26 in the second round.
• 59:22
  And then they lost to Kaiser 36 to 27 in the semifinals.
• 59:26
  So I would assume the College of Idaho is also looking to potentially make an
• 59:31
  appearance in the national championship game as well. Or hopefully that's,
• 59:34
  you know, maybe if they haven't vocalized it, hopefully that's a deep down expectation.
• 59:39
  They opened the season, August 29th at Eastern Oregon. They're at home against
• 59:42
  Rocky mountain, followed by a bye.
• 59:44
  They're then at Northern at home against tech. And then at home against Simpson
• 59:47
  to open up Western play followed by a bye week.
• 59:51
  And they're at Western, at home against Eastern Oregon, at Arizona Christian,
• 59:54
  at home against Carroll, and then at Southern Oregon. And here's what I like about this schedule.
• 59:59
  What I like about this schedule is that non-conference tech.
• 1:00:04
  Conference, Western, Conference, Carroll are at home.
• 1:00:10
  I'm sorry, Western's at Dillon. Sorry, but Carroll and Tech are at home.
• 1:00:14
  You have one road game at Western. It makes you a little nervous.
• 1:00:18
  But I'm sitting here thinking to myself, like we said, Tech game in Caldwell,
• 1:00:24
  week five. That is a very big football game if both of them are 4-0 already.
• 1:00:29
  And other than that, you know, the Carroll game's a big game.
• 1:00:33
  Western could potentially be a big game, but I think they could possibly be 9-3.
• 1:00:40
  I'm sorry, they're playing 10 games.
• 1:00:43
  Not everybody's playing the same amount of games. We've got 5.
• 1:00:46
  10 games, 10 games. We've got 10 games, and potentially 7-3 as a floor, but 10-0 as a ceiling.
• 1:00:53
  Have you guys seen a game in Simplot Stadium yet? Yeah, I got thumped there.
• 1:01:01
  Well as as a spectator i would say that it's it's a it's a great venue i think
• 1:01:06
  personally and so the the home field advantage is definitely felt there much like the rock bowl is,
• 1:01:12
  which whenever you you do get these these higher tiered home games it's nice
• 1:01:18
  that they are at home and i think that is working in their favor overall the
• 1:01:22
  only frontier stadium that's louder than,
• 1:01:25
  Simplot Stadium is not Simplot. Is it called Simplot? What's it called?
• 1:01:29
  Yeah, it's Simplot. Simplot is Carroll.
• 1:01:32
  Yeah, and they actually, I was going to say this earlier, Carroll just got turf
• 1:01:36
  and lights. They're going to have their first night games in 112 years.
• 1:01:39
  That's pretty true.
• 1:01:41
  But Caldwell's loud. It's very, very loud.
• 1:01:45
  Yeah, so overall, I think, you know, same thing as Tech, right?
• 1:01:48
  You have a bunch of really good talent. I mean, they had six players in the
• 1:01:52
  top 99 that the NAIA poll sent out there, which is a good base to have,
• 1:01:57
  both on the offensive and defensive side of the ball.
• 1:01:59
  And they should expect nothing less than the playoffs, period.
• 1:02:04
  But as we said earlier, we cannot overlook any team. You know,
• 1:02:08
  play it week by week, go 1-0, and focus on what's right now, the win philosophy.
• 1:02:15
  I think they have a great schedule. Yeah. Two buys within the season there.
• 1:02:21
  It's interesting. If you look at their last year's scores, their first three wins, they barely...
• 1:02:27
  Eastern did not have a good season, and they barely beat Eastern.
• 1:02:31
  Rocky was average at best.
• 1:02:34
  And, yeah, they beat them by 17. But, I mean, Rocky scored points.
• 1:02:39
  There's some opportunity there.
• 1:02:41
  And even the Northern score is underwhelming.
• 1:02:46
  Right. And then they got beat by Tech.
• 1:02:49
  And then look at what they did from then on out. Even though Southern Oregon was a pretty close game.
• 1:02:57
  Eastern was a weird one, the 7-0 score, but Eastern played a...
• 1:03:02
  When we get to Eastern, we'll talk about this.
• 1:03:05
  Eastern played a lot of teams weirdly, weirdly close. And lost.
• 1:03:11
  And lost, yeah. Yeah. They lost 3-0 against... Valley City.
• 1:03:17
  Valley City, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that'll be a different conversation we'll have
• 1:03:21
  about Eastern there. But College of Idaho, 10-0 or 7-3, they should make the
• 1:03:27
  playoffs. You know what I mean? That's their playoff team, and that should be the expectation.
• 1:03:31
  Once you're in it, you win it, even if you've got a couple battle scars.
• 1:03:39
  What did you say, Les? I'm sorry. Yeah, I'm sorry, too.
• 1:03:42
  I like the two buys. Yeah, big deal, especially before a Western game.
• 1:03:47
  That's a big five-game stretch. They're going to get ready for us.
• 1:03:50
  It'll come in nice and good timing there. But speaking of the Mountaineers out
• 1:03:55
  of Eastern Oregon, head coach Solo Taylor, entering his first season as head
• 1:04:00
  coach, has been on the staff since 2022 as defensive coordinator and the defensive backs coach.
• 1:04:05
  They were 4-6 last year in 2025, 3-3 in the Frontier.
• 1:04:10
  And I am going to rattle off some of these scores because they are pretty weird.
• 1:04:16
  They lost at Sea of I to open the season 21-17. They beat Whitworth at home 16-10.
• 1:04:22
  They beat Valley City at home 3-0.
• 1:04:26
  Sorry, lost to Valley City at home 3-0. They lost at Northern 23-7.
• 1:04:31
  They win against Arizona Christian 26-6. They win at Southern Oregon, 21-7.
• 1:04:37
  They lose at C of I, 7-0.
• 1:04:40
  They lose at Western 56-14, which is the only game they really got blowed out.
• 1:04:45
  And then they beat Simpson 34-0, and they lose at Carroll 12-0.
• 1:04:50
  So they lose to Carroll by two scores, CFI by one.
• 1:04:55
  They lost to CFI by one score twice.
• 1:04:58
  They lose to Valley City by one score. Whitworth, they win by one score.
• 1:05:03
  That was, I maybe didn't take a close enough look at Eastern Oregon's defense last year.
• 1:05:09
  Their offense was obviously horrendous, but their defense must have been something
• 1:05:14
  pretty spectacular, which maybe would lend itself as evidence why their DC was
• 1:05:21
  hired to replace, what was his name?
• 1:05:23
  Camp, Tim Camp. Tim Camp. Who was there for absolute eons.
• 1:05:27
  So maybe this first head coaching job for Solo Taylor is well-deserved.
• 1:05:32
  They opened their season August 29th at home against the College of Idaho.
• 1:05:36
  So we'll find out how that one goes, followed by a bye week.
• 1:05:38
  They're then at Whitworth, a Division III program, at Valley City,
• 1:05:42
  at home against Northern to round out their non-conference play. They got a bye week.
• 1:05:46
  They're at Arizona Christian, at home against Southern Oregon,
• 1:05:49
  at CFI, at home against Western, at Simpson, and at home against Carroll.
• 1:05:54
  And I don't know what to think of Eastern Oregon. I truly do not.
• 1:05:58
  I think there is going to be a little bit of newfound energy because as much
• 1:06:04
  respect as I do have for Tim Camp and what he did at Eastern Oregon,
• 1:06:08
  not having him at the helm, there's going to be a little bit of a different
• 1:06:11
  culture there with the program and it could be some revitalization.
• 1:06:17
  So hopefully they at least repeat what they have. I think there's definitely an opportunity there.
• 1:06:24
  I would say the records probably will be very similar to last year.
• 1:06:31
  And it'll just depend on what does that, what does it feel like?
• 1:06:35
  You know, is a four-win season,
• 1:06:40
  disappointing or is a four-win season exciting? You know, so can you beat Whitworth?
• 1:06:46
  Can you beat Valley City? Can you beat Northern? So there's three.
• 1:06:50
  Arizona Christian. there's you know there's chance of four Simpson five Southern
• 1:06:57
  where you at with Southern I mean there's a chance that to go you know five or six wins maybe yeah.
• 1:07:05
  I didn't really reiterate this early enough in this Western conversation,
• 1:07:09
  but I've got C of I and Carroll as our top two. Who knows what order that'll fall into.
• 1:07:13
  And then personally, I've got Western, Southern, and Eastern Oregon in the 3-4-5
• 1:07:19
  slot. And I think that I can't tell which order that they'll fall into,
• 1:07:23
  but they're going to fall in.
• 1:07:26
  I wouldn't be flabbergasted if either of those teams took the three position
• 1:07:31
  there as the best mid-tier of the Western.
• 1:07:35
  However, I don't think, I think the least likely team that's going to happen to is Eastern Oregon.
• 1:07:41
  I would tend to have them probably in that number five slot,
• 1:07:45
  just with the head coach question mark, but who knows?
• 1:07:48
  We'll see what happens. Maybe they kept a, I think that defense is intact and
• 1:07:52
  it was a very good defense keeping people off the scoreboard last year,
• 1:07:55
  obviously, except for Western, but kind of excited, kind of excited to see what
• 1:07:58
  happens as that's the first new head coach in a very, very long time in the Grand Oregon.
• 1:08:02
  So we'll, we'll see what happens there but the other another team here that is entering with,
• 1:08:08
  a season with a first-time head coach is Simpson University with coach Trevor
• 1:08:12
  Utter entering his first season after his one season as the receivers and tight
• 1:08:17
  ends coach and a past head coach class B here in Montana up in Eureka in,
• 1:08:24
  2025 Simpson went 0-10 and 0-6 in the frontier they were outscored,
• 1:08:31
  434 to 117.
• 1:08:34
  So we're going to have to chip away at that ratio this year.
• 1:08:37
  And they lost to Southern Oregon.
• 1:08:39
  They lost to Pacific Lutheran, Mayville Valley City, CFI, Southern Oregon again,
• 1:08:44
  Carroll College, Western, Eastern Oregon, and Arizona Christian.
• 1:08:48
  This year, they open again at home against Southern Oregon.
• 1:08:51
  They are at Whittier, which is a D3 school, followed by a bye week.
• 1:08:55
  At Mayville State, at home against Valley City.
• 1:08:59
  They're at CFI, at Southern Oregon, at home against Carroll,
• 1:09:02
  at Montana Western, and then two home games to end the season against Eastern
• 1:09:06
  Oregon and Arizona Christian.
• 1:09:07
  Last year, they lost to Mayville 21-17, close game.
• 1:09:11
  Lost to Valley City 27-21, close game. Other than that, well,
• 1:09:15
  in Arizona Christian, they lost 46-39, a one-score game there.
• 1:09:19
  So three one-score games out of 10 losses.
• 1:09:22
  And in my opinion here, picking up, A first college win as a program is a winning
• 1:09:29
  season for this football team.
• 1:09:32
  They could make it two. I think three would be a dream season.
• 1:09:38
  Maybe not out of the realm of possibility. That's the ceiling.
• 1:09:42
  However, if every other team is also taking steps forward and much improved,
• 1:09:47
  Simpson's another one that could be a vastly improved football team and not win a game.
• 1:09:51
  Yeah, you always hope for at least some improvement, obviously,
• 1:09:57
  within the program, but obviously getting something in the win column.
• 1:10:01
  For them, I know we've talked about Northern in this light where they didn't
• 1:10:05
  score many points last year, so score more points this year than you did last
• 1:10:09
  year, and we'll call that a win, right?
• 1:10:11
  And then we'll start chipping away at that win column or improving on the defensive
• 1:10:15
  side of the ball and not give up 40 points a game.
• 1:10:18
  So I think in that light, they could move in the right direction.
• 1:10:24
  They're now an established program. This is going to be their second season
• 1:10:27
  within the frontier and third season overall. I know they had kind of an interim
• 1:10:31
  season where they played teams kind of getting set.
• 1:10:35
  And we hope that they squeak one out somewhere. I don't know who it would be,
• 1:10:39
  maybe Whittier. I don't know anything about Whittier.
• 1:10:41
  Maybe Valley City, maybe Arizona Christian.
• 1:10:45
  Yeah, I just know in terms of talking to some people that they brought in,
• 1:10:52
  they totally changed their roster.
• 1:10:55
  And I think what they're thinking is they've upgraded the roster.
• 1:10:59
  They brought in some new people to go along with some core guys.
• 1:11:04
  So I know they're optimistic. The one thing I would say is that score of 59-0 last year against.
• 1:11:14
  Southern Oregon, I don't really think that's a true score. If you then look
• 1:11:18
  at Southern Oregon, they only won three games.
• 1:11:21
  Right. Simpson played a few teams tight in Southern Oregon. So I don't know if that's a true score.
• 1:11:28
  I don't expect them to beat Southern Oregon, but...
• 1:11:32
  It'll go a long ways in the psyche of the coaches and the program,
• 1:11:37
  if they can reduce that score of 59-0 to Southern Oregon into being some point
• 1:11:44
  in time, a competitive game. Absolutely.
• 1:11:49
  And then, you know, look at what the newness does.
• 1:11:53
  Look at what we've done. And then you get to the film and you start to work
• 1:11:56
  on things that, man, if we could have just done this, if we'd have just done
• 1:11:59
  this, we could have, I don't know, potentially.
• 1:12:02
  Won the game or what but and then you get into a bye i think the bye is a great
• 1:12:06
  place for a young team right,
• 1:12:09
  chance to to regroup and and get going absolutely,
• 1:12:14
  yeah i'm i'm gunning for them i hope they win a football game this year i i
• 1:12:18
  hope they win two or three of the things i will see i guess always right rooting
• 1:12:22
  kind of for the underdog and a new program especially and a head coach for montana
• 1:12:26
  which is pretty cool as well so,
• 1:12:28
  i'm i'm i'm on their uh i'm on their side this fall and And I hope they –.
• 1:12:33
  Get scored on less than 434 points. I hope they score more than 117.
• 1:12:37
  So we'll just keep cutting that ratio down and eventually we'll have a winning formula.
• 1:12:42
  But we got two teams left here to round out the Frontier Conference.
• 1:12:46
  We got Southern Oregon with head coach Burt Brown entering his fourth season, 14-7 overall.
• 1:12:51
  He's a Southern Oregon alumni and was the defensive coordinator for the 2014
• 1:12:55
  National Championship team.
• 1:12:57
  Last year in the Frontier was a rough year for the Red Raiders,
• 1:13:00
  3-7 overall, 2-4 in the Frontier Conference. They beat Simpson, like we said, 59-0.
• 1:13:05
  They lost to Division II Western Oregon 27-7.
• 1:13:08
  Lost to Montana Tech. Lost at Dakota State.
• 1:13:11
  Lost at Western to open up Western play. They beat Simpson again.
• 1:13:15
  They lost to Eastern Oregon. They won at Arizona Christian. They lost to Carroll, and they lost to CFI.
• 1:13:20
  And this fall, they are at Simpson to open the season, at home against Division
• 1:13:24
  II Western Oregon, followed by a bye week.
• 1:13:27
  Then they are at home against Dakota State, and they open up Western play at
• 1:13:32
  home against Simpson at Eastern Oregon, at home against Arizona Christian at
• 1:13:36
  Carroll, followed by a bye week to finish the season off at home against the College of Idaho.
• 1:13:40
  Another head-scratcher team for me, I think, this year, but I think that a step
• 1:13:45
  forward looks like 5-5 for the Red Raiders.
• 1:13:50
  I'm sitting here thinking to myself, you could beat Western Oregon if you've
• 1:13:53
  taken a step forward. You could beat Simpson.
• 1:13:56
  So you beat Simpson twice. You beat Western Oregon. you beat Arizona Christian
• 1:14:00
  you beat Eastern there's five wins and after that I'm not sure what happens so,
• 1:14:05
  I think five and five is an acceptable step forward for Southern Oregon yeah
• 1:14:09
  I think in the Western division they are they're fiercely mediocre.
• 1:14:14
  So you hope that they take a step forward make things a little bit more competitive
• 1:14:17
  it'll make things a little bit more complicated in the in the Western Conference
• 1:14:21
  in general but at the end of the day you never really know what happens in the
• 1:14:24
  frontier from week to week.
• 1:14:26
  So this could be that team that, you know, people aren't going to expect much
• 1:14:30
  from and they're going to squeak out a win somewhere.
• 1:14:33
  Yeah, it reminds me not because they're related to Eastern Oregon,
• 1:14:37
  but kind of like Eastern Oregon did. You know, Eastern Oregon last year plays
• 1:14:42
  in teams tough, and then not.
• 1:14:44
  I wish Southern, Oregon, and Rocky play. That's a good matchup.
• 1:14:51
  Just to see where things sit.
• 1:14:55
  Yeah, I think the bye is terrible. The last week, Bacterfield College of Iowa,
• 1:14:59
  terrible. Right, that's pretty rough.
• 1:15:01
  That's pretty rough. By the time that comes along, you're like,
• 1:15:03
  dude, just let us play the game, bro. I'm ready to be done.
• 1:15:08
  All right, last team in the frontier here. We got Montana Western with head
• 1:15:11
  coach Ryan Norris entering his 13th season, 71-48 overall.
• 1:15:16
  The winningest coach in UMW history in his second longest tenure. year.
• 1:15:20
  He has done two separate stints as head coach in Dillon as well.
• 1:15:23
  And he was alumni as a receiver from 1992 to 1994. And in 2025,
• 1:15:29
  the Bulldogs were seven and three, four and two in the Frontier Conference.
• 1:15:32
  They opened the season with a loss at Tech 38 to 27.
• 1:15:35
  They beat Northern at home. They won at Rocky. They beat Dickinson at home.
• 1:15:39
  They won at Southern Oregon. They then lost to Carroll at home, lost at CFI.
• 1:15:44
  They then beat Simpson, beat Eastern Oregon and beat Arizona Christian to round out the season.
• 1:15:49
  We had fingers crossed for a bid into the playoffs as an at-large bid last year.
• 1:15:54
  In my opinion, they actually kind of got hosed out of it.
• 1:15:58
  Losses to Tech, Carroll, and CFI were all playoff teams.
• 1:16:02
  And there were a couple at-large teams that got bids, in my opinion,
• 1:16:05
  especially with the expansion last year, that I just don't see how they justified it over Western.
• 1:16:11
  So in my opinion, definitely a playoff team. But same slate of games this year.
• 1:16:16
  They are opening the season at Northern, then at home against Tech,
• 1:16:20
  at home against Rocky Mountain, at Dickinson State to round out non-conference play.
• 1:16:24
  Then they're at home against Southern Oregon, at Carroll College,
• 1:16:27
  at home against CFI, at home against Simpson, at Eastern Oregon,
• 1:16:31
  and at Arizona Christian.
• 1:16:32
  Now, the only thing last year was there was clearly a line from Carroll and
• 1:16:37
  CFI to Western. They just were not as good as Carroll and CFI.
• 1:16:42
  And I would I anticipate that being maybe the case this year,
• 1:16:46
  even if they take a step forward, I think both of those other programs are going
• 1:16:49
  to take a step forward as well.
• 1:16:50
  So I don't think they beat tech.
• 1:16:54
  And I don't know if they'd pick up a Carroll or a CFI again.
• 1:16:57
  I honestly think we're sitting here at the end of the season at 4-2 in conference
• 1:17:02
  play and 7-3 overall, praying that we get a playoff bid.
• 1:17:08
  Yeah, I'm of the same mind.
• 1:17:11
  If there is a step forward, they have to win the hard games.
• 1:17:14
  They didn't win any of the hard games last year.
• 1:17:16
  Granted, they were all playoff teams, all good playoff teams.
• 1:17:20
  But if they do want to take that step forward, they have to win against Tech.
• 1:17:24
  They have to win against CFI, or they have to pull out a win against Carroll.
• 1:17:28
  That's what's going to get them into the playoffs.
• 1:17:30
  Either one of those teams, even if they do chalk up a loss at any point,
• 1:17:34
  they're not out of it, but if Western is going to do anything,
• 1:17:38
  I know it's a hard-nosed program over there.
• 1:17:41
  They're tough, but they have to win those hard games because if you look at
• 1:17:44
  the other opponents that they had, they squashed them for the most part,
• 1:17:48
  but when it came to the hard stuff, they dropped them by a possession or two, if not more.
• 1:17:53
  Yeah, if you're going to be the best, you've got to beat the best.
• 1:17:56
  And so that's right what it's down to.
• 1:18:00
  They have a new offensive coordinator. I don't know if you guys knew that,
• 1:18:03
  but it's none other than Tyler Murray, who is a Western alumnus.
• 1:18:08
  There you go. Played receiver there. And then he's been the head coach.
• 1:18:12
  Oh, he's the head coach, I think, at St. Ignatius.
• 1:18:14
  But he's been the head coach at East Helena. Oh, gotcha.
• 1:18:18
  The last few years. And I think his job is to probably get Coach Norris' son the ball a lot.
• 1:18:25
  Right, right. Yeah, he's a good football player. He's an All-American coming
• 1:18:28
  back and one of the top players to watch in the NAIA this season as well.
• 1:18:32
  I've seen a couple articles talking about him as well.
• 1:18:35
  But here's how we'll wrap up this episode really quick.
• 1:18:39
  I scrolled back up in this document. I'm looking at the preseason east and west
• 1:18:43
  standings that we had in there. All right, so here's my question.
• 1:18:46
  I'm going to ask two of them.
• 1:18:47
  The one we'll answer first is, which team does not meet expectations in the frontier?
• 1:18:55
  And then we'll answer the question, who is the dark horse who surprisingly exceeds
• 1:19:01
  expectations? So, East or West, it doesn't matter.
• 1:19:05
  I don't really care to do one of each. But in your minds, both of you,
• 1:19:09
  who is a team that does not meet expectations?
• 1:19:15
  So Valley City is picked number three? In the East, in the Eastern Division.
• 1:19:23
  Okay, no. I was going to go with Valley City as well. Does not meet expectations.
• 1:19:28
  No. Yeah, I agree with that.
• 1:19:31
  But I can tell you right now who over-exceeds. Okay, so we're all just going to go with Valley City?
• 1:19:39
  I mean, that's a fair argument. I think they don't meet expectations.
• 1:19:44
  And who okay austin who doesn't who who exceeds which team are we sitting here
• 1:19:50
  in november talking about bro where did they come from mayville state,
• 1:19:55
  really yep all right i think they're taking a strong step forward i don't think
• 1:20:00
  they're at text level by any means but i think they're they're really going
• 1:20:04
  to give dakota state a run for their money,
• 1:20:06
  huh and dickinson i think dickinson should be ranked a little bit higher but
• 1:20:11
  I understand where they're at based off the season they had last year so hopefully
• 1:20:15
  there's a little bit of a bounce back,
• 1:20:17
  but I still think Mayville has has done all the right things in the offseason,
• 1:20:22
  who do you got less for exceeding expectations yeah to to me Dickinson Dickinson should be,
• 1:20:32
  two there you go dang you know what i mean and that's just where they in my
• 1:20:41
  you know in terms of tradition and all that kind of stuff.
• 1:20:45
  At its finest nepotism at its finest yeah so,
• 1:20:50
  so i you know i was gonna look i was kind of looking at southern oregon but
• 1:20:56
  i i don't know to me to me dickinson should be,
• 1:21:01
  they shouldn't be at five or wherever in the heck they should they should be right,
• 1:21:06
  right there you go i i i don't disagree with you i think that makes a ton of
• 1:21:09
  sense here's my hot take i don't think this means they'll win the conference
• 1:21:14
  i don't think this means they'll be ranked i don't think this means they'll
• 1:21:16
  make the playoffs but i think arizona christian exceeds expectations.
• 1:21:22
  I think they exceed my own. I think we're sitting here in November saying this
• 1:21:25
  is a vastly improved football team and they pick up some ones they're not supposed to pick up.
• 1:21:29
  That's what I, and maybe that's just a vibe thing. I just hope for that.
• 1:21:32
  I don't know. Maybe it's just me being, you know, fanciful, but that's where
• 1:21:36
  I'm at. I think Arizona Christian exceeds expectations.
• 1:21:39
  And that's what I'm saying in terms of Dickinson.
• 1:21:42
  Are they exceeding expectations if they're number two, or is that meeting expectations?
• 1:21:48
  Well, I think that's exceeding at the outside expectations. which,
• 1:21:52
  you know, I think in my personal opinion, outside expectations are the only
• 1:21:57
  ones that truly matter, right?
• 1:21:58
  Because like no team is a fair evaluator of themselves at this point in the
• 1:22:03
  season. They all expect high, great things of themselves until you go stack
• 1:22:08
  up against somebody else, right?
• 1:22:10
  In my opinion, that's just kind of, it's a lot of the times the outside voices,
• 1:22:15
  you don't want to listen to it as a program, but as a fan, you kind of do because
• 1:22:19
  it's the most fair, the fair, fair judgment a lot of the time.
• 1:22:23
  So yes, I think Dickinson state is a fair, a fair team to say that on.
• 1:22:26
  And I, I will see what they do this season, but, uh, but gentlemen,
• 1:22:30
  I'm excited. We are just a couple of weeks away from the first college football games getting played.
• 1:22:35
  And we will be right back here recording next Sunday evening,
• 1:22:39
  looking at the big sky conference, the new and improved big sky conference without
• 1:22:44
  the, uh, without the showboat teams and with, with some new Utah teams that
• 1:22:48
  came in and wanted to play good football. So I'm excited for the big sky.
• 1:22:51
  We'll see what that looks like this. And gentlemen, we will see you here next
• 1:22:55
  week on the big sky preseason episode of the blue Creek outdoors podcast.
• 1:23:00
  I'm excited. And it's good. Like, like I said earlier, it is good to see everybody
• 1:23:03
  again and I'm excited. Football season is upon us. We'll see you guys next week.
• 1:23:08
  Yep. Thanks for the opportunity and, uh, look forward to talking to the big stat.