Why I must root for Montana

This week the Eastern Washington football program found out that the NCAA had lifted the post season ban on the Eagles. That's great, but as of right now EWU sits in fourth place in the Big Sky Conference with a 4-2 conference record.

Those two losses came against Montana (thanks to the refs) and Weber State (thanks to EWU forgetting they had a game to play). And because of those loses the best Eastern can hope for is an at large bid into the 16 team FCS playoff.

Montana currently sits in first with a 4-0 conference record and has a firm grip on the Big Sky Championship.

In second was is Weber State with a 5-1 conference record. That one loss came against Montana State.

Sitting in third place is Northern Arizona with a 4-1 conference record. Their loss came at the hands of non other than Montana.

Now comes the fun part and why I must go against every fiber of my being and root for the Montana Grizzlies.

If the Eagles and do their part and win out, then they would finish with a 6-2 conference record and an 8-3 overall record. Their other loss came from then ranked #10 California. But that won't be good enough for a Big Sky Championship. However, it would give Northern Arizona at least another conference loss.

However, this weekend Weber State meets Montana. And I will be rooting that Montana will take down the Wildcats. This would drop Weber State to 5-2.

And on November 14, Weber State and Northern Arizona will meet. Guaranteeing that one of these teams will get another conference loss. Which would mean that if everything above happened, Montana would win the Big Sky, and either Weber State or Northern Arizona would have three losses. The other team might only have two losses which would be what Eastern had as well.

If you aren't confused by all this, then what it means is that Eastern would be tied for 2nd in the Big Sky and if they were ranked high enough in the standings, they would get the "at large" bid for the playoffs.

So tomorrow, I will root for the Griz in a hope that they win the Big Sky and can get Weber State a loss.

Oh, and I will root that Eastern wins out. The Northern Rangers will be at Qwest Field tomorrow in our EWU jerseys and cheering louder than ever.

GO EAGLES!!!!