Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - The 50th season of Big Sky Conference football begins on Saturday with six conference matchups.

This is the first season in which the Big Sky features 13 teams, four of whom, Southern Utah, Cal Poly, UC Davis and North Dakota, are newcomers.

The conference has been home to some of the best teams, players, traditions and programs in the FCS. Its teams have won six national titles and seven Walter Payton awards. In 26 of the past 28 years, the conference has had at least two teams make the FCS playoffs.

Last year, Montana shared its 16th Big Sky Conference championship in the past 19 years and the 13th in the last 14 seasons. However, rival Montana State was selected to finish first in the Big Sky preseason poll, followed by Eastern Washington and Montana.

The schedule for the Big Sky openers (kickoffs ET):

Northern Arizona (2-1) at No. 14 Montana (2-1), 3:30 p.m.

Northern Colorado (1-2) at No. 2 Montana State (3-0), 4:05 p.m.

No. 9 Eastern Washington (1-1) at Weber State (0-3), 8 p.m.

Southern Utah (1-2) at Portland State (1-2), 8:05 p.m.

UC Davis (1-2) at Cal Poly (2-0), 9:05 p.m.

North Dakota (2-1) at Sacramento State (2-1), 9:05 p.m.

The Sports Network