Frontier Notebook: Diggers make an early statement

Frontier Conference football is underway. And, it looks like one thing holds true following the first week of conference play - the Montana Tech Orediggers are, and are going to be really good.

Last Thursday night, Tech opened its pursuit of a repeat Frontier championship with a dominating win over a much-improved Carroll College squad at sold-out Alumni Coliseum in Butte.

Here's a few notes on what the Orediggers did to Carroll. Quarterback Quinn McQueary, a ho-hum 300-yard passing game. The No. 2 running back on the depth chart, Dickinson State transfer Jed Fike, over 137 yards rushing in his first game. Total offense: 500 yards, with 30 first downs. Defensively, the Orediggers held Carroll to 17 first downs and a mere 94 yards rushing.

So Frontier teams not named Montana Tech, you have your work cut out for you this season.

And that list includes the MSU-Northern Lights, Tech's next opponent.

Lights come to their home opener Saturday fresh off a gut-wrenching defeat at the hands of Rocky Mountain College – and in particular, Sam Sparks, who returned a kickoff 86 yards in the final minute of the game to lift the Bears to a 32-25 win over the Lights. Sparks also returned a kickoff for a TD against Northern last season.

But, the loss didn't come without plenty of bright spots for the Lights. Northern quarterback Tommy Wilson was very good in his MSU-N debut. The Lights showed tremendous depth at the WR position with veterans like Beau Wilhelm, Donovan Garner and Sam Mix making plays, while new faces like Marvin Williams and Bryce Bumgardner shined too.

Saturday was also MSU-N's first game in four years without Zach McKinley and starting running back Trey Blanchard showed plenty of good things in his first career start.

Defensively, the Lights got a herculean effort from Garet Fowler. That was to be expected. But fresh faces like linebacker Steven Fernandez and freshman safety Dylan Kelley were also on display.

So, there were plenty of positives the Lights took away from a heartbreaking, season-opening defeat.

But, with all due respect to Rocky, Northern's second game is going to be a different animal all together.

"They're ranked where they are for a reason," MSU-N head coach Aaron Christensen said of the Orediggers. "The look like they're a very complete football team. Offense, defense, special teams, and coaching, they have everything you need to be a very good football team."

No doubt Tech has already announced its intentions this season. The win over Carroll did that. Of course, Tech won't take anyone lightly, and, Southern Oregon, Carroll, Eastern Oregon, Western, Rocky, and the Lights all showed plenty of promise last weekend, and will give the 'Diggers all they can handle. But, there's also no denying, for Northern, or anyone else in the Frontier, the Orediggers are going to be a handful and then some this fall.

Playing Up

You may have seen Montana State playing at Pac 12 power Washington State last Saturday night. In some ways, that game wasn't pretty. The Montana Grizzlies may suffer an even worse night this Saturday when they play at the University of Washington.

It was no different for a handful of Frontier schools that moved up to play Big Sky Conference opponents recently.

Last Saturday night, UM-Western traveled to Ogden, Utah to face Weber State, and the Bulldogs were simply no match in a 76-0 loss. Weber was picked to finish fourth in the Big Sky this season, so, it was going to be a tough night for the Bulldogs for sure. But, ouch. The Wildcats certainly showed no mercy.

College of Idaho was also no match for Northern Colorado in a 41-14 loss. The Yotes did move the ball at times, but, the Bears were just simply too deep and too tough for the Yotes to handle.

It's interesting when Frontier teams move up to play Big Sky opponents too. I'm not sure of the paydays, but I know it's not like UM getting $650,000 from the Huskies, or the Bobcats taking home $450,000 from the Cougs last Saturday night. But in the end, on the field it's the same. It's exciting for Frontier players to go to bigger stadiums and test themselves against a much higher level of college football.

New looks

Many Frontier teams unveiled a different look to their uniforms last weekend. Against Northern, Rocky wore an all-black ensemble, with black helmets and black uniforms with gold trim. With Saturday being sweltering, the all-black uniform combo must have been hot for sure. But, it looked pretty cool.

Montana Tech wore copper uniforms against Carroll last Thursday night. I believe Tech wears those uniforms once a year, so it won't be a permanent removal from their usual green and white look. They even put a copper logo on their helmets for the game, which was pretty cool.

And Western, while not changing colors at all, has completely re branded its logos, and their helmets reflect the new branding. A bulldog mascot logo is all that adorns Western's traditional black helmets now, and I think the look as pretty good as well.

It just goes to show you, the uniform craze, started by Oregon, and has now swept through all of NCAA college football is starting to make its way all the way down to the Frontier Conference.

Players of the Week

Southern Oregon quarterback Tanner Trosin was named Frontier Conference Offensive Player of the Week. In No. 25 Southern Oregon's 31-21 season opening conference win over No. 7 Eastern Oregon, Trosin, making his first start since game two of last season, went 21 of 33 passing for 311 yards and one touchdown. He rushed for 85 yards and one touchdown on 14 carries. Also nominated were Mason Melby of Rocky Mountain College and Kai Quinn of Eastern Oregon.

College of Idaho's Nate Moore is the Defensive Player of the Week. In College of Idaho's 41-14 non-conference road loss at Northern Colorado, Moore recorded six solo tackles, seven assisted tackles, two tackles for loss (-14), one sack and one pass break up. Also nominated were Justin Hughes of Eastern Oregon, and Armando Gauger of Southern Oregon.

RMC's Sam Sparks was named Special Teams Player of the Week. In Rocky Mountain's 32-25 home conference win over MSU-Northern, Sparks returned a kick off 86 yards for a touchdown with 1:02 remaining in the game. As a running back he rushed for 114 yards. Also nominated was Nathan Harden of Eastern Oregon and George Sherwood of Montana-Western.