MISSOULA — It'll be a top-eight showdown at Washington-Grizzly Stadium on Saturday.
The Montana Grizzlies and Idaho Vandals are ranked fifth and eighth, respectively, in the Stats Perform FCS Top 25 Poll, which was released Monday. Montana and Idaho will meet in the Big Sky Conference opener for both teams at 8:15 p.m. Saturday. The game will be broadcast to a national audience on ESPN2.
The rest of the top 10 mostly held from last week's rankings, with North Dakota State, South Dakota State, Tarleton State and Montana State again occupying the top four places. Rhode Island and Illinois State swapped places to represent the only change to this week's top 10; the Rams are now sixth and the Redbirds are seventh.
UC Davis is ninth and Lehigh is 10th. View the complete poll.
Big Sky teams Northern Arizona and Sacramento State also climbed in the poll. The Lumberjacks are now 15th, up from No. 17 last week, after their 31-23 win over then-No. 19 Incarnate Word. Incarnate Word fell out of the top 25.
Sac State, meanwhile, is back up to No. 21 after slipping to 24th last week. The Hornets defeated Central Arkansas 45-16 last week.
Conference play begins this week for teams in the Big Sky. The schedule is highlighted by the Montana-vs.-Idaho game. The Grizzlies are 3-0, including a 63-20 win over Indiana State last week.
The Vandals are 2-2, coming off a 31-28 loss to FBS San Jose State.
Other Big Sky games on the schedule this week include:
- Eastern Washington (1-3) at No. 4 Montana State (2-2), 2 p.m.
- No. 15 Northern Arizona (3-1) at Portland State (0-4), 3 p.m.
- Cal Poly (2-2) at No. 21 Sacramento State (2-2), 7 p.m.
- Weber State (2-2) at No. 9 UC Davis (2-1), 8 p.m.
- Idaho State (1-3) at Northern Colorado (2-2), 1 p.m.
