Big Sky, Pioneer Football League Not Playing Conference Schedules; FCS Playoffs in Peril

The Big Sky Conference and Pioneer Football League have both announced they will not be playing a conference schedule for the 2020 season. As a result, the 2020 FCS Playoffs are in serious jeopardy of not being contested as 50% of the eligible teams have to be playing in the fall for the championship to happen.

The Big Sky announced it would play its conference schedule in spring 2021 but did not explicitly rule out non-conference games occurring in the fall by saying, “Non-conference play for the conference’s football programs is still pending further review.”

Update 8/13/20: The Big Sky will not play any non-conference schedules according to a press release as all fall sports were officially postponed to spring 2021.

A total of 75 games featuring Big Sky teams are listed below with the 52 conference games scheduled for the fall now postponed until the spring. The non-conference matchups are marked with an asterisk.

Date	Away	Home
8/29*	UC Davis	Nevada
9/5*	Cal Poly	Louisiana-Monroe
9/5*	Dixie State	Southern Utah
9/5*	Idaho State	Fresno State
9/5*	Sacramento State	San Diego State
9/5*	Weber State	Wyoming
9/12*	Montana	Missouri State
9/12*	South Dakota	Northern Arizona
9/12*	Northern Colorado	McNeese
9/12*	Idaho	Temple
9/12*	Northern Iowa	Idaho State
9/12*	Southern Utah	Utah State
9/12*	UC Davis	San Jose State
9/12*	Western Illinois	Eastern Washington
9/19*	Dixie State	Montana State
9/19*	Northern Arizona	Eastern Washington
9/19*	Northern Colorado	Colorado State
9/19	Southern Utah	Sacramento State
9/19*	Weber State	Northern Iowa
9/19*	Idaho State	New Mexico
9/26	Cal Poly	Montana
9/26	Eastern Washington	Southern Utah
9/26	Montana State	Portland State
9/26	Northern Arizona	Northern Colorado
9/26	Sacramento State	Idaho State
9/26	UC Davis	Weber State
10/3*	Dixie State	Sacramento State
10/3	Idaho	UC Davis
10/3	Idaho State	Northern Arizona
10/3	Montana	Eastern Washington
10/3	Northern Colorado	Montana State
10/3	Portland State	Southern Utah
10/3	Weber State	Cal Poly
10/10	Cal Poly	Montana State
10/10*	Dixie State	Weber State
10/10	Eastern Washington	Northern Colorado
10/10	Portland State	Idaho
10/10	UC Davis	Idaho State
10/17	Idaho	Eastern Washington
10/17	Idaho State	Portland State
10/17	Montana State	Weber State
10/17	Northern Colorado	UC Davis
10/17	Sacramento State	Montana
10/17	Southern Utah	Northern Arizona
10/24	Idaho State	Montana State
10/24	Montana	Idaho
10/24*	North Dakota	Portland State
10/24	Northern Arizona	Sacramento State
10/24	Northern Colorado	Southern Utah
10/24	UC Davis	Cal Poly
10/24	Weber State	Eastern Washington
10/31	Cal Poly	Portland State
10/31	Eastern Washington	UC Davis
10/31	Northern Arizona	Idaho
10/31	Sacramento State	Northern Colorado
10/31	Southern Utah	Montana
10/31	Weber State	Idaho State
11/7	Cal Poly	Sacramento State
11/7	Montana	Northern Colorado
11/7	Montana State	Eastern Washington
11/7	Portland State	Weber State
11/7	Southern Utah	Idaho
11/7	UC Davis	Northern Arizona
11/14	Idaho	Montana State
11/14	Idaho State	Cal Poly
11/14	Montana	Northern Arizona
11/14	Portland State	Sacramento State
11/14	Weber State	Southern Utah
11/20	Eastern Washington	Portland State
11/21	Idaho	Idaho State
11/21	Montana State	Montana
11/21	Northern Arizona	Cal Poly
11/21	Northern Colorado	Weber State
11/21	Sacramento State	UC Davis
11/21*	Southern Utah	Abilene Christian

Meanwhile, the Pioneer Football League had previously canceled its non-conference schedule last month. Friday’s decision wipes out the remaining 36 games, which are listed below.

Date	Away	Home
9/12	Davidson	Valparaiso
9/12	Marist	Morehead State
9/26	Stetson	Butler
9/26	Dayton	Marist
9/26	San Diego	Valparaiso
10/3	Marist	Drake
10/3	Butler	San Diego
10/3	Morehead State	Davidson
10/3	Valparaiso	Dayton
10/10	Valparaiso	Stetson
10/10	Drake	Dayton
10/10	Davidson	Marist
10/10	San Diego	Morehead State
10/17	Stetson	San Diego
10/17	Drake	Morehead State
10/17	Dayton	Butler
10/24	Morehead State	Stetson
10/24	Davidson	Drake
10/24	Butler	Valparaiso
10/24	Dayton	San Diego
10/31	Stetson	Dayton
10/31	San Diego	Drake
10/31	Butler	Davidson
10/31	Valparaiso	Marist
11/7	Marist	Stetson
11/7	Drake	Valparaiso
11/7	Davidson	San Diego
11/7	Morehead State	Butler
11/14	Stetson	Davidson
11/14	Morehead State	Dayton
11/14	Butler	Drake
11/14	San Diego	Marist
11/21	Drake	Stetson
11/21	Dayton	Davidson
11/21	Marist	Butler
11/21	Valparaiso	Morehead State

The number of games canceled involving FCS teams now stands at over 500 for the 2020 season.

Photo courtesy of UC Davis Athletics.