A new season starts as Griz host SEMO in playoffs

Season two for the Montana Grizzlies starts Saturday as UM hits the reset button in the postseason, set to host the Southeast Missouri Redhawks in the first round of the FCS playoffs.

Montana (7-4) will extend its record playoff appearances to 26 under the lights Saturday, taking on the Redhawks (9-2), champions of the Ohio Valley Conference, on ESPN2 with kickoff set for 8 p.m.

The Thanksgiving weekend tussle marks the first meeting between the two programs, with SEMO hailing from Cape Girardeau, about a mile west of the Mississippi River and 100 miles south of Saint Louis.

The postseason matchup marks a chance for the Griz to flush the bad taste out of their mouths following a bitter loss to their cross-state rivals last week.

It's also a chance to go on a run and finish the season on a high note after a dropping four of the last six games, looking to get back to the form that saw UM wax its previous two opponents by a combined 120-7 with 1,299 yards of total offense.

THE MATCHUP: Montana has been one of the top teams in the nation against the run all season, having allowed a Big Sky-best average of just 97 yards per game on the ground going into last week's game at MSU. All that changed, however, with the Bobcats gashing the Griz for 439 on the ground last week, bumping UM down to third in the rush D category in the conference.

The Grizzlies will need to be on high alert against the rush again this week, with SEMO bringing its FCS top-10 rushing attack to Missoula for another battle of strength-on-strength, with Redhawk running back Geno Hess averaging 142 on the ground this season.

SEMO head coach Tom Matukewicz, a finalist for Eddie Robinson Award and OVC coach of the year, has the Redhawks rolling, averaging nearly 500 yards of offense per game behind Hess.

How good is Hess? He's a Walter Payton Award finalist and the defending FCS offensive player of the week for starters, and rushed for 317 yards and four TDs on 26 carries against Murray State in the OVC title game last week. That's the most by any single back in a game in the FCS this season.

Defensively, the Redhawks are led by linebacker and Buchanan Award finalist Bryce Nelson who has racked up 108 tackles this season with seven QB hurries.

All that said: the Griz still enter the game with the Big Sky's second-best scoring defense. It's a strong league this year as well, with five conference teams in the playoffs and a sixth probably unlucky to not get in.

Patrick O'Connell is working his way back to health to lead the Grizzly defense as well, still leading the league in sacks after missing the bulk of three games.

If the Griz can get the offense rolling and slow down the SEMO run game, it could be another chance to play in December.

IMPLICATIONS: It's win or go home time for the Grizzlies as Montana looks to make a third-consecutive run at the FCS quarterfinals and beyond.

With the No. 24 seed in this year's playoffs, Montana will play in its first opening-round postseason game since 2015 when South Dakota State came to Missoula in a 24-17 UM win.

And like in 2015, should UM beat SEMO the Griz will once again travel to Fargo to face North Dakota State in the second round. After beating NDSU in Missoula to open the 2015 season, the Griz would fall on the road in the postseason that year, with the Bison taking a 37-6 win en route to another national title.

Should the Grizzlies win in the first and second round this season, they will advance to face familiar foes in the winner of the Idaho/Southeastern Louisiana first round game, who's winner will face No. 6 Samford in the second round. The winner of that could potentially be on a collision course with No. 2 Sacramento State in the semifinal, if chalk holds.

The ultimate goal, of course, is the FCS National Championship in Frisco, Texas. This year's title game will be played Sunday, Jan. 8, at noon Mountain Time on ABC.

WATCH: Montana returns to the national television spotlight this week for the first round of the FCS playoffs.

Saturday night's game will be broadcast nationwide on ESPN2, available on most basic cable and satellite packages. It marks the fifth time in the last three seasons Montana has appeared on the network.

A stream of the game is also available on the ESPN app, with a cable subscription required for login. The "War on I-4" game between Central Florida and South Florida will lead in to the Montana/SEMO game on ESPN2.

Connor Onion will provide the play-by-play, while veteran FCS analyst and former NFL player Jay Walker will serve as color commentator.

LISTEN: "Voice of the Griz" Riley Corcoran is in his seventh season behind the mic at Montana and is once again set to bring you all the Grizzly action over the airwaves on the Grizzly Sports Radio Network and its fifteen affiliate stations around the state.

Your "Grizzly Gameday" starts two hours before kickoff each Saturday with the official pregame radio show featuring Denny Bedard and Scott Gurnsey, who then throw to Corcoran and color commentator Greg Sundberg 30 minutes to kickoff. Bedard and Gurnsey will also wrap up the day's action with the official post-game show.

Griz fans outside the radio footprint can stream all of Montana's broadcasts on their mobile device LIVE and FREE of charge with the Varsity Network App, powered by Learfield and Sidearm Sports. Fans can download the app for iPhone or Android use for instant access to free gameday audio streams and the Coach Hauck Radio Show and receive push notifications to remind them of games starting or upcoming audio broadcasts as well.

COACHES SHOW NOTE: Due to the Thanksgiving Holiday there will be NO Coach Hauck Radio Show this week. Should Montana advance, the show will return each week there is a game for the remainder of the season, and will continue to air LIVE each week from the banks of the Clark Fork River at FINN inside the DoubleTree Hotel.

//GRIZ TRACKS//

POSTSEASON QUICK HITS: Montana's first round game against SEMO extends the program's FCS record for most overall playoff appearances to 26. Here's some other Griz playoff quick facts:

• The Griz are 34-23 all-time in the postseason. Those 34 wins are the third-most FCS playoff victories ever and the second-most among teams still competing in the FCS. The most playoff wins belong to Georgia Southern at 45, followed by NDSU at 41, Montana at 34, and Youngstown State at 28.

• UM is 31-7 all time in playoff games at Washington-Grizzly Stadium dating back to the first playoff appearance in the stadium against Jackson State in 1989.

• Montana's record of 26 playoff appearances is followed by Eastern Kentucky and UNI with 22, Furman with 19, and Delaware with 18.

GRIZ IN THE POLLS: Montana slid to No. 19 in the Stats Perform FCS media poll and No. 17 in the AFCA coaches' poll this week after falling to rival MSU on week 11.

The Griz had been ranked as high as No. 2 in both polls this season and were picked to win the Big Sky title. However, a late-season slide that saw UM drop four of the last six games of the season dropped Montana in the polls.

Southeast Missouri, meanwhile, rose from 15 to No. 12 in the coaches' poll this week and sits at No. 14 in the media poll after winning the OVC title.

ROBBY'S RECORDS: Record-breaking Montana safety Robby Hauck became one of just three defenders from the Big Sky Conference to be named a finalist for the 2022 Buck Buchanan Award FCS media outlet Stats Perform announced Tuesday.

Montana's all-time leading tackler, Hauck currently sits at 459 career stops in 51 starts for the Griz. With 95 to his name this season he needs just 15 more tackles this season to break Ronnie Hamlin's Big Sky record of 473. He currently ranks third all-time on the league's tackle table behind Kane Ione of Montana State, who totaled 471 between 2000-2003.

His 95 tackles this season are currently the fifth-most in the Big Sky and second-most among the league's playoff participants.

Also on Tuesday, College Sports Communicators (formerly CoSIDA) announced its 2022 Academic All-District team, and for the third time in his career UM safety Robby Hauck was a member. He is one of just six players from the Big Sky Conference to earn academic all-region honors.

Hauck is already a two-time Academic All-American (first-team in 2020, second-team in 2021) and was named a semifinalist for the William V. Campbell Trophy – the "Academic Heisman" – earlier in the fall.

FORD'S NO FLY ZONE: Justin Ford was also one of Montana's three players on the Buchanan Award Watch List at the start of the season, but was not included as a finalist for the honor by Stats on Tuesday. Why not? Largely because no opposing quarterbacks have bothered to throw his way, limiting his opportunities to amass an NCAA-best 9 interceptions like he did a year ago.

Montana's opponents have completed 198 passes against the Grizzlies this season for 2,056 yards. Only 11 of those passes have been caught by Ford's man for a miniscule total of 158 yards. In fact, in three different games this season his opponent has been shut out with zero catches.

PAT'S PUNTS: As the current No. 2 punter in FCS football and a catalyst on the best punting unit in the subdivision, Montana freshman Patrick Rohrbach was named a finalist for the 2022 Stats Perform Jerry Rice Award Monday, given annually to the top freshman, at any position, in the country. The Kalispell native is the only specialist among the 25 finalists for the award and is one of just three players from the Big Sky Conference to be listed.

Rohrbach has been remarkable in his first season as a Grizzly, averaging a school-record 46.2 yards per punt on 40 attempts with 16 dropped inside the 20 and 14 traveling 50-plus yards. With his help, the Grizzlies lead the FCS in net punt average at 42.15 yards per attempt, meaning the average punt return for UM's opponents is a mere 4.05 yards.

His average of 46.2 yards is not only second-best in the FCS behind Southern Utah's Jake Gerardi (48.0), it's also a top-five average at the FBS level as well. Only five punters in all of D-I football have a better average per punt, and Rohrbach is the only freshman among them.

As a unit, Montana's FCS-best net put average is also a top-10 average at the FBS level, with Michigan State leading the nation at 45 yards per attempt.

OVATION FOR OSTMO: Nick Ostmo enters the playoffs as the team's leading rusher and No. 8 leading rusher in the Big Sky, despite only averaging eight carries per game over the first six games of the season.

After winning the starting job against Cal Poly, the sophomore has averaged 134 yards per game on the ground. He posted his second-straight 200-yard day against Eastern Washington, rushing for 146 yards and three touchdowns while catching two passes for 63 yards and another score to total 209 all-purpose yards and four TDs against the Eagles. He finished the game early, one touchdown shy of Montana's school record for most TDs in a game (5, Greg Iseman, at Weber State, 1982).

He also provided the spark for Montana's 604-yard day, scoring two touchdowns and piling up 145 total yards on just four touches of the ball in the first five minutes of the game.

PACK 'EM IN: At the end of the regular season, Montana finished second in the FCS in attendance averaging 25,298 fans per game, over 100-percent capacity of Washington-Grizzly Stadium for the year.

That average attendance (25,298) would make WGS Montana's seventh-largest city on a Saturday afternoon in the fall according to the 2020 census, with the six-game combined attendance total of 151,788 fans more than the entire population of Billings, the state's largest city. Montana and Montana State have combined to welcome nearly 300,000 fans this season – around one-third of the state's population.

Montana posted its fourth-straight sold out home game of the year two weeks ago against EWU, with 25,403 fans packing the place. It's the first string of four-straight sellouts for UM since 2015 when the Griz started the season with a bang, beating a Carson Wentz-lead NDSU squad in front of 26,472 fans.

Jackson State, coached by Deion Sanders, leads the FCS in attendance, with its stadium holding 40,000 and a visit from College GameDay to boost interest.

MORE QUICK HITS:

• At 7-4, Montana is guaranteed its 35^th winning season in the past 36 years.

• At an average of 15.6, Lucas Johnson is second in the Big Sky this week in points responsible for with 19 passing and seven rushing TDs this season.

• Daniel Britt has provided a spark for the Montana offense off the bench in recent weeks. In the month of November, the freshman from Vegas has completed 74 percent of his passes for 170 yards and two touchdowns while rushing 23 times for 177 yards and another score. That's 347 yards and three scores in mostly cleanup time.

• 400-plus rushing yards against the Griz is rare. Last time Montana had two, 100-yard rushers? Another lopsided loss to MSU in 2019. The 34-point differential in last week's loss was also the most lopsided for the Griz since that 2019 game, also 34 points.

TEAM HONORS: Montana head coach Bobby Hauck and his staff honored some of the Grizzlies' top performers of the year on Sunday at the annual awards banquet at the DoubleTree Hotel in Missoula on Sunday, Nov. 20.

12 players were honored for their 2022 performances in maroon and silver. Voting for all awards was conducted by the players, with the coaching staff selecting the scout team player of the year awards.

The team will vote for the Steve Carlson Award MVP at the conclusion of the season, while the coaches will vote for the offensive and defensive MVPs.

2022 TEAM AWARD WINNERS
Defensive Scout Team Player of the Year
• Asher Croy

Offensive Scout Team Player of the Year
• Camden Ver Strate
• Declan McCabe

Hauck Family Special Teams Player of the Year Award
• Tyler Flink

Terry Dillon Award
Honoring the outstanding back or receiver – was established in 1964 following the accidental death of former Grizzly Terry Dillon.
• Mitch Roberts

Tony Barbour Award
Given in memory of a loyal Grizzly Fan. It is presented annually to a UM player "who best exemplifies outstanding practice habits and makes an unselfish contribution to the betterment of the Grizzly Football Team."
• Marcus Welnel
• Patrick O'Connell

Paul Weskamp Award
Established in memory of Paul Weskamp, a tackle on Ed Chinske's 1954 Grizzly Team. The award honors UM's outstanding offensive lineman and was established by citizens of Ronan.
• Hunter Mayginnes

Sims-Miller Award
The Sims-Miller Award is given in memory of two great Grizzly defensive linemen the world lost too soon in vehicle accidents. Jesse Sims, from Stevensville, lettered for UM from 2016-19 and carried on Montana's legacy #37 jersey tradition. Larry Miller was a two-time All-American on UM's 1969 and 1970 Big Sky Champion teams, and was also a conference champion wrestler. The award honors the team's outstanding defensive lineman.
• Eli Alford
• Alex Gubner

Doug Betters Golden Helmet Award
Honors the best tackler and hardest hitter on the team. It was set up on a nation-wide basis by Coca-Cola in 1967.
• Robby Hauck

Pat Norwood Award
Pat Norwood was a four-year starter at offensive tackle for the Grizzlies (1979-82) from Billings who died of cancer in 1983. This award is given to the most inspirational player, who oftentimes had to overcome an injury.
• Matt Rensvold

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Eli Alford

Daniel Britt

Asher Croy

Tyler Flink

Justin Ford

Alex Gubner

Robby Hauck

Lucas Johnson

Hunter Mayginnes

Declan McCabe

Patrick O'Connell

Nick Ostmo

Matt Rensvold

Mitch Roberts

Patrick Rohrbach

Camden Ver Strate

Marcus Welnel

University of Montana Athletics