How The Big Sky Became an FCS Super Conference

Conference realignment isn’t just for the Bowl Subdivision, and not all Championship Subdivision changes are the result of FBS pillaging.

Debate whether trickle down theory works in economics is heated, but in college football its impact is undisputed. Conference shifting that began in June 2010 sent ripples throughout Division I, as such movement has any time it’s occurred in the game’s history.

There’s a typical process in play: a power conference persuades a program to leave its current home. The jilted league looks to a lower tier conference’s best options for replenishment. And so on, on down the FBS, until those conferences with the most shallow pockets turn to the creme de la creme — or most potentially lucrative — of the FCS/Div. I-AA to supplement the ranks.

But as the ripple effects made their way to the Division I that has always had a playoff, a conference didn’t just fend off exodus. The Big Sky actually used the tremors to build one of those super conferences that have been so frequently discussed in the past two years.

Four new additions joined the Big Sky on Sunday: Cal Poly, UC Davis, Southern Utah and North Dakota. The conference’s quality of football gets an immediate boost from Cal Poly, a program with recent, consistent success, and Southern Utah. SUU is not a traditional winner, but should factor into the Big Sky race with an NFL caliber quarterback, Brad Sorenson, captaining its offense.

The conference now hosts 13 members, and has designs on No. 14.

Idaho was a Big Sky member from 1963 until 1996, when it accepted an invitation from the Big West Conference. Big West football dissolved in 2000, UI had a pit stop in the Sun Belt, then joined the WAC in 2004. And now the WAC, formed largely from Big West refugees, is dissolving.

UI has just two bowl appearances in its nearly two decades of FBS membership, plays in the subdivision’s smallest venue, and is not in a coveted media market. The Vandals are on a football desert island, but are surrounded by an oasis.

So what made the Big Sky the veritable oasis that it is?

A primary answer can be found in Missoula. Montana is the most consistent FCS program dating back to the mid-1990s. The Grizzlies are almost annually in contention for the national championship, and their fans reciprocate by filling Grizzly Stadium every Saturday. UM outdraws nearly 40 FBS programs, and that figure might be more if the venue had more seats.

UM’s success and passionate fan base make it a tempting target for FBS conferences looking to expand. With the success former Big Sky member Boise State has had, UM is a program I have heard considered to have “next Boise” potential on more than a few occasions.

But UM made a decision that bucked trends. Rather than go on the Quixotic mission of chasing the rarest of success stories, UM opted to revel in its real-life success. The only thing more full than Grizzly Stadium on game day is the Griz’s trophy case. And in an era when letting go of tradition for hypothetical riches is the norm, UM bucked a trend with a reaffirmed commitment to its century-plus rival, Montana State.

So when the WAC came calling in November 2010, former UM AD Jim O’Day said thanks, but no thanks.

UM’s choice to spurn the WAC may not have been the KO punch that sent the conference to the canvas, but it was at least knee-buckling. Conversely, UM departing would not have killed the Big Sky — not by a long shot. It would have taken a lot of jam out of the conference’s doughnut, though.

Juggling departures is not an ideal proposition for any conference, and has forced some into the footnotes of history alongside the Big West and potentially WAC. The Colonial Athletic Association is widely considered the best FCS conference. It was forged from the breakdown of the Atlantic 10’s football, which had been a collection of members of the deceased Yankee Conference.

The CAA is not in trouble of dissolving. With six teams that could realistically crack the early season top 25, the CAA is chugging along. But it does have to address FBS piracy in the coming years.

The FCS officially parted with Texas State, UT-San Antonio and UMass at midnight, July 1. South Alabama’s brief FCS stopover also concluded, as the Jaguars’ reclassification purgatory shifts to FBS for one season. USA becomes a full fledged Sun Belt member in 2013.

The departure of UMass from the CAA was seemingly offset with Georgia State joining. Rhode Island chose to decrease its scholarship allotment and join the Northeast Conference in 2013, but the newly minted Charlotte football program was on deck. But then GSU and Charlotte accepted invites to FBS conferences, and newbie Old Dominion followed suit. The perhaps surprising invitations are signs of the conference realignment times, the result of each residing in metropolitan areas and thus sizable television markets.

Therein lies much of the Big Sky’s expansion success.

There are noteworthy TV markets represented in the Big Sky’s membership. However, the No. 20 Sacramento/Stockton/Modesto market is split between two programs, Sacramento State and UC Davis. No. 18 Denver covers Northern Colorado’s region, but the UNC Greeley campus is 60 miles north of the metropolitan area. Northern Arizona’s in a similar relationship with the huge Phoenix market; Flagstaff’s TV is provided by Phoenix networks, but NAU is a 150-minute drive from the Valley of the Sun. Portland State calls the No. 22 TV market home, but have a pair of Pac-12 neighbors sharing the landscape.

So the Big Sky now enjoys strength in numbers. Quantity doesn’t outweigh quality, but the conference provides in the latter category, as well. Eastern Washington won the 2011 national championship (2010 season), overcoming a CAA foe for the first time in three years of such match-ups. UM’s aforementioned perpetual success manifested in the two campaigns prior with appearances in the title game.

A Big Sky team could play for the title again in the coming season. EWU boasts the premiere receiving corps in the subdivision, and nearby Idaho State has perhaps the single best WR in the FCS. Montana State has an explosive quarterback, Denarius McGhee, back for his third season running the offense. MSU has made the playoffs in each of McGhee’s first two seasons as starter. Portland State’s ground-based offensive attack will challenge opposing defenses.

The next step for commissioner Doug Fullerton to complete this impressive run is blazing a trail for FCS schools on television. The CAA and Patriot League are slated for an unprecedented amount of national broadcasts for FCS conferences in 2012, via NBC Sports Network. The expansion of cable sports is opening opportunities for schools and conferences that have previously been on regional TV, or online broadcasts like the Big Sky has recently appeared on via America One.

The Big Sky has flourished in many other facets amid college football tumult. Why not on TV, too?
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Editor’s Note: H/T to the Big Sky on Twitter, RE: the conference’s deal with DirecTV