Big Sky notebook: Eastern Washington, Idaho will have six home games each in 2026
After shuffling out one program and replacing it with not one but two new members, the Big Sky Conference’s schedules for the 2026-27 season required significant overhauls.
On Tuesday, the league released its 2026 football schedule, and sure enough, it is vastly different from the previous iteration.
But Eastern Washington probably isn’t complaining much.
The Eagles will open the 2026 season at Northern Arizona on Aug. 29 – the league’s slot for a new ninth conference game – and will play five league games at Roos Field in Cheney. That includes back-to-back home games against Montana and Montana State, sandwiched around the Eagles’ bye week.
Eastern’s previously announced three-game nonconference schedule includes a home game against Northern Iowa on Sept. 5, followed by games at South Dakota (Sept. 12) and at Washington (Sept. 19).
But from there, the Eagles will play four of their next five at home, against Cal Poly (Sept. 26), Northern Colorado (Oct. 10), Montana State (Oct. 17) and, after a bye week, Montana (Oct. 31). They will also close out their regular season at home, against Portland State on Nov. 21.
In addition to the trip to NAU, the Eagles will play conference games at UC Davis (Oct. 3), Idaho (Nov. 7) and Utah Tech (Nov. 14).
Idaho will also play six home games next season, including two in nonleague play against Lamar (Sept. 12) and Abilene Christian (Sept. 19). The Vandals’ will host four Big Sky teams at the Kibbie Dome: Montana State (Oct. 3), Southern Utah (Oct. 24), EWU (Nov. 7) and UC Davis (Nov. 14).
The Vandals will open their season at Cal Poly, followed by a nonconference game at Utah on Sept. 5.
The schedule overhaul became necessary earlier this year, after Sacramento State announced its departure and the league replaced the Hornets with Southern Utah and Utah Tech. The league will have 13 football teams next season.
Ogles earns weekly award
EWU senior punter Landon Ogles was named Co-Special Teams Player of the Week by the Big Sky after landing five of 10 punts inside the 20 yard line in the Eagles’ 23-20 victory Saturday at Weber State. It was his second weekly award this season.
Ogles shared the award with Montana specialist Ty Morrison, who made 7-of-7 PATs and also completed a 28-yard pass on a fourth-and-9 play. It was the first pass completion of the senior’s college career.
Montana swept the other two weekly awards, with the defensive player of the week going to linebacker Peyton Wing and the offensive award going to Michael Wortham.
Wortham, the former EWU quarterback and kick returner, scored three touchdowns and had 238 all-purpose yards in Montana’s 49-35 victory over Sacramento State on Friday. Wortham was also recognized nationally as the Stats Perform FCS Offensive Player of the Week.
“We talk about this every other week, it seems like,” Montana head coach Bobby Hauck said of Wortham during Monday’s media conference. “He’s good in the return game. He catches it. He runs it. He’s very skilled in a lot of different aspects, and obviously we’re glad we’ve got Mike.”
NDSU consolidates No. 1 ranking
North Dakota State (8-0) received all 56 first-place votes in this week’s FCS Stats Perform Top 25 after defeating South Dakota State 38-7 on Saturday in a matchup of the subdivisions top two ranked teams.
South Dakota State (7-1) fell to No. 5 in this week’s rankings, with Tarleton State (9-0) assuming the No. 2 spot, followed by Montana (8-0) and Montana State (6-2).
UC Davis (6-1) is sixth, and Northern Arizona (5-3) is ranked 19th.
NDSU, the FCS defending champion, has won all its games by at least 17 points this season and by an average margin of 33 points.