Coaches voted WSU in ninth place and voters from media organizations slotted the team in 10th for Eric Kjar’s first season in charge of the Wildcats.

Weber State finished 11th in a 12-team league last year, going 4-8 overall and 2-6 in the Big Sky and landed ahead of just one team. In 2026, a ninth- or 10th-place finish would put WSU ahead of four or three teams in a 13-school football conference (Southern Utah and Utah Tech join the league while Sacramento State departs).

It seems expectations are that Kjar and company won’t be terrible but, at least in Year 1, may struggle to truly compete. But there’s not much to base any assessment on; even in a sport that sees increased turnover year to year, it’s difficult to evaluate a team with a new head coach and mostly different coaching staff, and with two-thirds of the roster changing over from last year.

Montana State, the defending FCS national champion, was picked to finish first for the sixth straight season.

Expectations differ for the two newcomers; Southern Utah, with one of the nation’s best run games in recent years, was picked sixth by coaches and seventh by media. Utah Tech, meanwhile, is 3-21 in the first two years under Lance Anderson and was voted last in both polls.

Coaches and media members seem to expect Idaho State to make a dark-horse bid come league play.

Below are the two polls, with vote totals following each school and first-place votes, if received, in parentheses. In the coaches poll, coaches do not vote for their own teams.

BIG SKY FOOTBALL COACHES POLL

1. Montana State 143 (11)

2. Montana 130

3. UC Davis 121 (2)

4. N. Arizona 108

5. Idaho State 99

6. Southern Utah 82

7. Idaho 77

8. E. Washington 70

9. Weber State 48

10. N. Colorado 47

11. Cal Poly 46

12. Portland State 24

13. Utah Tech 19

BIG SKY FOOTBALL MEDIA POLL

1. Montana State 490 (35)

2. Montana 448 (1)

3. UC Davis 421 (2)

4. Idaho State 349

5. N. Arizona 339

6. Idaho 283

7. Southern Utah 273

8. E. Washington 246

9. Cal Poly 168

10. Weber State 155

11. N. Colorado 153

12. Portland State 68

13. Utah Tech 65

WEBER ALUM IS ALL-AMERICAN

Weber High alum and Idaho State player Stryker Rashid was voted to the FCS Preseason All-America First Team by STATS Perform, the organization announced.

The senior offensive lineman is one of 30 players in the country named to the preseason First Team. After Weber High, Rashid spent two years at Utah Tech before transferring to ISU. In 2024, he was named a second-team all-Big Sky player and became a full starter in 2025 for an offensive line that allowed the fewest sacks in the country.