Montana will visit Ogden on Aug. 28 in the season opener for both teams, according to the 2027 league schedule released by the Big Sky Conference on Tuesday.

The Big Sky continues with a conference game as the season opener after FCS leaders voted to permanently increase the regular season to 12 games and the conference will be in its second year with a nine-game schedule.

WSU is 5-2 in its last seven matchups with Montana. That dates back to 2015, as the Wildcats and Griz are rarely scheduled to face each other in consecutive seasons (2024 and 2025 were the only such pair in the last 11 years). The teams were not scheduled to play in the current 2026 season.

With the imbalanced nature of a nine-game conference schedule, that matchup with Montana will be one of four Big Sky home games for the Wildcats in 2027. Northern Arizona visits on Oct. 2, Cal Poly arrives on Oct. 23, and Northern Colorado trips to Ogden on Nov. 6 next year.

Though a five-game set, it’s a slate of reasonable travel for the Wildcats next year, with all main rivals on the road. WSU goes to Idaho State on Sept. 25, Eastern Washington on Oct. 9, Utah Tech on Oct. 16, Portland State on Oct. 30, and Southern Utah on Nov. 13.

In the 13-team Big Sky, the opponents Weber State will not face next season are Idaho, Montana State and UC Davis.

Weber State’s only announced 2027 nonconference game is Sept. 4 at BYU. The Wildcats currently have open dates on Sept. 11, Sept. 18 and Nov. 20 to add two more games; the team’s Big Sky bye week comes at the very end.

It’s possible WSU tries to line up a nonconference game for Nov. 20 to avoid playing 12 straight weeks, and instead keeps one of the September dates open that would normally be used for a nonconference opponent.

Currently, WSU has four home games and six road games on the schedule, so the remaining nonconference additions will help determine the home-road balance.