Montana improves to No. 4 in media poll, named FCS Team of the Week after historic win

After one of the biggest upsets in college football history, Montana has been named the Stats Perform FCS National Team of the Week and the Athlon FCS Power Poll co-Team of the Week, as the Grizzlies improved to No. 4 in the Stats Perform FCS Top-25.

Montana earned just the sixth FCS/1-AA win over a ranked FBS/1-A opponent since 1983 on Saturday, opening its season with a 13-7 win over the No. 20 Washington Huskies in Seattle.

The win caught the attention of the college football world and earned the Griz five first-place votes to go along with 1,087 total points in top-25 voting.

The win, No. 99 at Montana for head coach Bobby Hauck, also marks several firsts for the Griz. It's UM's first win over a Pac-12 opponent since the Griz picked up a 35-14 win at Oregon State in 1996 and the first win over an FBS opponent since beating Idaho 41-28 in 2003. Montana now counts two wins in program history over the Huskies, with the first coming over a century ago in 1920.

On the national scale, it also marks the first time a non-FBS team has held a Pac-12 opponent below 10 points since Grambling State beat Oregon State 23-6 in 1985.

Montana is the highest-ranked of five teams from the Big Sky Conference this week, with Eastern Washington (No. 7), Weber State (No. 10), Montana State (No. 11), and UC Davis (No. 14) making the list, and Sacramento State sitting outside the top-25 with 40 points in the voting.

The Grizzlies started the year at No. 9 in the Stats Perform preseason media poll.

A national media panel selects the Stats Perform FCS Top 25. A first-place vote is worth 25 points, a second-place vote 24 points, all the way down to one point for a 25th-place vote.

Montana returns to Missoula this week for its home opener against Western Illinois under the lights at Washington-Grizzly Stadium, with kickoff against the Leathernecks set for 6 p.m. Season ticket packages and single-game tickets are available now at GrizTix.com.

STATS PERFORM FCS TOP 25 (SEPT. 6)

1. Sam Houston (1-0, 0-0 AQ7), 1,212 points (32 first-place votes)
Previous Ranking: 1; Week 1 Result: 42-16 win at Northern Arizona

2. South Dakota State (1-0, 0-0 Missouri Valley), 1,185 (11)
Previous Ranking: 3; Week 1 Result: 42-23 win at Colorado State

3. James Madison (1-0, 0-0 CAA), 1,150 (2)
Previous Ranking: 2; Week 1 Result: 68-10 win over Morehead State

4. Montana (1-0, 0-0 Big Sky), 1,087 (5)
Previous Ranking: 9; Week 1 Result: 13-7 win at Washington

5. North Dakota State (1-0, 0-0 Missouri Valley), 1,050
Previous Ranking: 4; Week 1 Result: 28-6 win over Albany

6. Delaware (1-0, 1-0 CAA), 965
Previous Ranking: 5; Week 1 Result: 34-24 win at Maine

7. Eastern Washington (1-0, 0-0 Big Sky), 880
Previous Ranking: 11; Week 1 Result: 35-33 2-OT win at UNLV

8. Southern Illinois (1-0, 0-0 Missouri Valley), 873
Previous Ranking: 7; Week 1 Result: 47-21 win at Southeast Missouri

9. North Dakota (1-0, 0-0 Missouri Valley), 858
Previous Ranking: 8; Week 1 Result: 35-14 win at Idaho State

10. Weber State (0-1, 0-0 Big Sky), 764
Previous Ranking: 6; Week 1 Result: 40-17 loss at Utah

11. Montana State (0-1, 0-0 Big Sky), 598
Previous Ranking: 12; Week 1 Result: 19-16 loss at Wyoming

12. Villanova (1-0, 0-0 CAA), 585
Previous Ranking: 16; Week 1 Result: 47-3 win at Lehigh

13. Southeastern Louisiana (1-0, 0-0 Southland), 584
Previous Ranking: 15; Week 1 Result: 49-28 win at North Alabama

14. UC Davis (1-0, 0-0 Big Sky), 576
Previous Ranking: 23; Week 1 Result: 19-17 win at Tulsa

15. ETSU (1-0, 0-0 Southern), 442
Previous Ranking: Not Ranked; Week 1 Result: 23-3 win at Vanderbilt

16. Jacksonville State (0-1, 0-0 AQ7), 427
Previous Ranking: 10; Week 1 Result: 31-0 loss to UAB

17. Austin Peay (1-0, 0-0 Ohio Valley), 417
Previous Ranking: 20; Week 1 Result: 30-20 win at Chattanooga

18. VMI (1-0, 0-0 Southern), 415
Previous Ranking: 17; Week 1 Result: 45-24 win over Davidson

19. Central Arkansas (0-1, 0-0 AQ7), 407
Previous Ranking: 14; Week 1 Result: 40-21 loss at Arkansas State

20. Monmouth (0-1, 0-0 Big South), 290
Previous Ranking: 13; Week 1 Result: 50-15 loss at Middle Tennessee

21. Northern Iowa (0-1, 0-0 Missouri Valley), 287
Previous Ranking: 21; Week 1 Result: 16-10 loss at Iowa State

22. Kennesaw State (1-0, 0-0 Big South), 208
Previous Ranking: 19; Week 1 Result: 35-25 win over Reinhardt

23. Missouri State (0-1, 0-0 Missouri Valley), 187
Previous Ranking: 24; Week 1 Result: 23-16 loss at Oklahoma State

24. Holy Cross (1-0, 0-0 Patriot), 160
Previous Ranking: Not Ranked; Week 1 Result: 38-28 win at UConn

25. Richmond (1-0, 0-0 CAA), 135
Previous Ranking: Not Ranked; Week 1 Result: 38-14 win over Howard

Dropped Out: Chattanooga (18), Nicholls (22) and North Carolina A&T (25)

Others Receiving Votes (schools listed on two or more ballots): Murray State 125, Chattanooga 72, Nicholls 61, Sacramento State 40, Samford 40, New Hampshire 36, Alabama A&M 34, Furman 20, Sacred Heart 17, Jackson State 14, Illinois State 10, Rhode Island 8, Stephen F. Austin 8, North Carolina Central 7

University of Montana Athletics

Montana improves to No. 4 in media poll, named FCS Team of the Week after historic win

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