Rematch time in Bozeman for a shot at the title

Saturday, December 20

Bozeman, Mont.

2 PM

Montana

Montana State

Photo by: Tommy Martino/ University of Montana

12/16/2025 1:38:00 PM | Football

UM Notes

By: Montana Sports Information

There are no superlatives, no metaphors, heck, hardly any adjectives that can describe the magnitude of Montana's football game this week.

Simply stated, the No. 3 Griz get a rematch against the No. 2 Cats in the FCS semifinal for a chance to play for a national championship in the 125^th meeting between two of the most bitter rivals in college football. Let that sink in.

As an added bonus it will all play out on national network television, with ABC set to carry the game to millions of viewers. Good thing as well, because the sold-out rivalry game rematch is currently the most expensive ticket in all of college football.

It's hard to beat a team twice in a season (more on that later), and Montana heads to Bozeman looking to avenge a regular season loss to MSU that was decided by the slimmest of margins. A tipped pass that resulted in a pick six and a missed field goal were the difference as the Cats escaped Missoula with a 31-28 win.

Since that day the Griz took their only loss of the season, Montana (13-1) has been on a tear, cooking through the playoffs with 102 points in the last two games with decisive wins over a pair of Dakota schools traditionally as tough as they come in the FCS.

The Griz head over the divide with nothing to lose and everything to gain in a rematch of titanic proportions between the No 2 vs. No. 3 teams in the land that will see one team advance to Nashville, and one team hang up the cleats for the year.

Kickoff from Bozeman is set for 2 p.m.

WATCH: The eyes of the nation again descend on Montana this weekend with the UM/MSU Semifinal game set to be broadcast nationwide on ABC network television to millions of TV sets around the country. It's the second-straight week UM has been featured on ABC. The game will also be available for streaming via the ESPN App, with subscription required.

Veteran ESPN play-by-play man and "voice" of the San Francisco Giants Dave Flemming will lead the broadcast on ABC. Legendary Montana high school quarterback and six-year NFL veteran Brock Osweiler returns to the Treasure State to serve as analyst on the broadcast. ESPN reporter and Nashville sports radio personality Dawn Davenport will patrol the sidelines.

The NCAA owns and manages all broadcast rights for the FCS Playoff tournament, and partners with Disney to broadcast those games on the ABC/ESPN family of networks.

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

"Grizzly Gameday" starts two hours before kickoff each Saturday with the official pregame radio show featuring Ace Sauerwein and Denny Bedard before Corcoran and longtime color commentator Greg Sundberg take over 30 minutes to kickoff.

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.

PLAYOFF PICTURE: Montana extended its FCS record of overall playoff appearances to 29 this year as the No. 3 overall seed in this year's tournament. With the win over No. 11 South Dakota in the quarterfinal, the Griz have advanced to the semifinal round of the FCS Playoffs for a record 13^th time – the most in FCS history as well – and the second time in three years.

In 125 years of bitter competition, Montana will face MSU for the first time ever in the postseason. It's also the first time the two have played twice in the same season in over a century, with UM earning a pair of shutout wins in consecutive weeks (7-0 in Bozeman then 20-0 in Missoula) back in 1913. They were the only two wins of the year for UM that season.

The winner of Saturday's semifinal in Bozeman advances on the FCS National Championship and plays the winner of the Illinois State / No. 12 Villanova semifinal in Philadelphia. This year's national championship is set for Jan. 5 at 5:30 p.m. MT and will be held in Nashville, Tenn., at Vanderbilt's newly renovated FirstBank Stadium.

///GRIZ TRACKS///

LAST STOP ON THE REVENGE TOUR: The 2025 Grizzlies have made a habit of exacting revenge on teams that have had their number in recent years, avenging recent losses to North Dakota, Sacramento State (on the road), Weber State, and consecutive losses to South Dakota State.

Montana gets its first shot at postseason revenge since 2021 this week as the Griz seek redemption from this year's 31-28 regular season loss to the Cats less than a month ago on Nov. 22 in Missoula, and a 2024 loss to MSU as well.

TWICE IS NICE: History has proven that beating the Grizzlies twice in the same season is an uphill battle.

• Since the formation of NCAA Division 1-AA in 1978, Montana is 3-1 in revenge games where the Griz lost the regular season but won in the playoffs.

The last time it happened was in 2021 when UM dropped a road game to Eastern Washington 28-34 but knocked off the Eagles in the second round of the playoffs 57-41. The 2008 Griz rebounded to beat Weber State in the playoffs, and the 2004 team also avenged a loss to Sam Houston State with a playoff win. All three of those wins have been coached by Bobby Hauck.

• Montana has played a team twice in the same season a total of nine times since 1978. In eight of those nine games, the team that lost the first matchup has won the second.

Year	Team	First Game Score	H/A	W/L	Second Game Score	H/A	W/L
2021	E. Washington	28-34	Away	L	57-41	Home	W
2019	Weber State	35-16	Home	W	10-17	Away	L
2015	NDSU	38-35	Home	W	6-37	Away	L
2014	E. Washington	26-36	Away	L	20-37	Away	L
2008	Weber State	28-45	Away	L	24-13	Home	W
2005	Cal Poly	36-27	Home	W	21-35	Home	L
2004	Sam Houston St.	29-41	Away	L	34-13	Home	W
1988	Idaho	26-17	Home	W	19-38	Away	L
1982	Idaho	40-16	Home	W	7-21	Away	L

SERIES HISTORY: Here's the basics: Saturday's matchup is the 125th edition of the Griz/Cat game, making it the 31st oldest rivalry in all D-I football, 11th-oldest west of the Mississippi River, and the fourth oldest in the FCS – impressive considering the deep history of Ivy League programs

Montana leads the series handily, 74-44-5 since the first meeting in 1897, leads 33-19-1 in Missoula and 24-22-3 in Bozeman. Montana holds the record for longest winning streak in the series with 16 straight between 1986-2001. UM also leads the series this century 13-12 since 2000.

ONE-SIDED RIVALRY: Of all the historic and longstanding rivalries in college football, only 25 D-I teams have beaten another opponent more times than Montana has beat Montana State. Of those 25, only 10 of the teams reside west of the Mississippi River.

With a .622 win percentage in the previous 124 meetings, Montana's 74 wins in the Griz/Cat game sit just behind historic rivalries like Michigan/Michigan State (75 wins), Washington/Washington State (77 wins), Texas/Texas A&M (78 wins), are tied with Clemson/South Carolina (74 wins), North Carolina/Wake Forest (74 wins), and are just ahead of Georgia/Georgia Tech (73 wins).

AGAINST RANKED OPPONENTS: No. 3 Montana takes on No. 2 Montana State for the second time as the highest ranked matchup in series history this week after both were flipped at No. 2 UM/No. 3 MSU in the regular season meeting. The Griz are 4-1 against then-top 25 teams this season with wins over No. 16 North Dakota, No. 8 Idaho, No. 14 SDSU, and No. 11 South Dakota.

POSTSEASON PARTICULARS: Montana is one of the winningest programs in the history of the FCS tournament, heading to Bozeman at 41-26 in 67 (🤷‍♂️) postseason games.

The Griz have advanced to the semifinal more than any team in FCS history, now at 13 appearances since 1982. A win Saturday in Bozeman will see UM through to the program's 9^th national championship appearance.

The Griz closed out a run of 10 home games this year with two playoff wins to cap the season with a 38-7 postseason record inside Washington-Grizzly Stadium and a 245-38 overall win inside "the Mecca of FCS Football" since it opened in 1986.

HAUCK HISTORY: With the end of the regular season the coaching carousel keeps on turning and with It, Coach Hauck has climbed up the list of the winningest active coaches in all of Division-I football. Monmouth's Kevin Callahan retired making Hauck the winningest active coach in the FCS at 151 wins.

He's also now the 3^rd-winnigest active coach at his current school in D-I football, only behind Iowa's Kirk Ferentz and Clemson's Dabo Swinney after Callahan and Utah's Kyle Wittingham hung up the whistle.

Among the overall career wins by active D-I coaches Hauck sits at No. 8 behind KC Keeler of Temple, Ferentz, Willie Fritz of Houston, Chris Chreighton of Eastern Michigan, Rich Rodriguez of West Virginia, Swinney, and Lance Liepold at Kansas.

• Last week's win over South Dakota was the 20^th playoff win for Hauck in his 14 years at Montana, placing him third in all-time tournament wins behind legendary mentors Jim Tressel of Youngstown State (23 wins) and App State's Jerry Moore (22 wins).

OFFENSIVE EXPLOSION: Coordinator Brent Pease's 2025 offense continued to break program records last week, including one that stood for over two decades. The Griz have now posted 6,508 yards of total offense this season, breaking the 2004 school record of 6,416. That's on top of the new school records the Griz set last week for total points and touchdowns in a season.

With UM's scoring barrage of 50 points last week, this year's offense added to its new school record of 592, passing the 2009 mark of 537 against SDSU. The team's 81 touchdowns scored this season are also a program record, passing the previous mark of 69 in 2004 & 2019. More touchdowns = more PATs as well, with UM slotting a new school record 76 conversions, shattering the old school record of 65 in 2004.

The Griz will need to remain productive in their remaining postseason games to break Big Sky records in points and TDs, with MSU's 2024 team scoring 652 points and 87 touchdowns. If UM keeps up its season average of over 42 PPG and 6 TDs/game, the Griz could get there in Nashville.

School records for total first downs (346), pass completion percentage (67.8%), passing attempts (544) and completions (351), total plays (1,077) and more are also in the crosshairs of this year's offense.

PASSING ATTACK: Maybe you missed it. In the celebration after Keali'i Ah Yat threw his first of three touchdown passes against South Dakota, the sophomore signal caller pointed skyward up to the press box at Washington-Grizzly Stadium in the direction of Pease, his OC and QB Coach. It was a not-so-subtle nod to Pease (himself a former UM QB), recognizing the fact Ah Yat had just tied him on UM' single season touchdown pass list.

In just his first season as a full-time starter for the Griz, Ah Yat is now tied with three other Grizzly legends for the fourth-most TD passes ever in a single season at UM with 32. He's tied with Jordan Johnson (2013), Drew Miller (1999), and Dave Dickenson (1993), and is now chasing his dad's 1996 record of 42 touchdown passes.

• Ah Yat posted his 6^th 300+ yard passing day of the season and his second-straight last week against USD to total 3,819 yards in the air to date. That's officially the second-most in program history, only behind Dave Dickenson's 1995 total of 4,176, a number that does not include playoffs. With playoffs included (which the NCAA did not allow until 2002), Dickenson threw for 5,676 yards in that national title season.

• Ah Yat is nearing more records, currently completing 69.6-percent (298-428-8) of his passes. If the season were to end today, that would be a new school record. Craig Ochs currently holds the best passing percentage at .686 in 2004 (308-450-8 - minimum 200 attempts). Ah Yat also needs to complete just 12 more passes this season to set the new school completion record, set by both Ochs and Dickenson at 309.

RUSHING ATTACK: Eli Gillman is having his second-straight 1,000+ yard season and is knocking on the door to making history as well with 1,434 yards on the season. The Big Sky Offensive Player of the Year has racked-up the third most single-season yards in program history, needing just 69 more yards to pass Hall of Famer Chase Reynolds' 2009 total of 1,502 in second and 150 more to pass Reynold's 2008 total of 1,583.

• Gillman's career numbers are on the cusp of history as well. He has now rushed for 3,571 yards and 48 touchdowns with 52 overall TDs in his three full seasons. He now needs exactly 500 more yards to become Montana's all-time leading rusher.

MR. ALL-PURPOSE: Payton Award finalist Michael Wortham etched his name atop Montana's record books with a huge day for the Grizzlies against USD. The electric senior receiver totaled 201 yards through the air, 43 on the ground, and 25 in the kick return game for a monster 269 all-purpose yards and three touchdowns to post 2,295 all-purpose yards this season. That total breaks Hall of Famer Marc Mariani's 2008 record of 2,265 single-season all-purpose yards.

• Wortham has caught 77 passes for 1,139 yards this year. 77 catches is the fifth-most in a season for UM, and 1,139 yards is the eighth-most in program history. He needs just 10 more catches to set a school record set by Samori Toure in 2019.

• Wortham's 738 yards of kickoff returns are also near a school record as one of just five players with more than 700 in a year. He needs 141 more to top Malik Flowers' 2019 record of 879.

FAST FRESHMAN: Despite being held without a catch last week, Brooks Davis has continued one of the best freshman seasons by a Grizzly receiver in modern program history. He enters this week's game with 52 catches for 680 yards to officially register one of the top 50 seasons by any UM receiver.

But among his peers, he's almost peerless. Davis sits second among UM all-time freshman receivers behind Jon Talmage's 2002 total of 689 yards on 50 catches, meaning Davis can become the most productive freshman in modern history on Saturday with just 10 more yards.

CAN'T WIN WITHOUT THE BALL: Montana logged a pair of turnovers against South Dakota without giving the ball away to put the Griz at +14 in the differential with 21 total interceptions – the second-most in the FCS.

Montana is having a historic year in the interception department. The 2025 total of 21 picks is the most for the Griz since 2009 when UM had 26 INTs – the most in modern program history. Only the 1995 (21), 1996 (23), 2004 (24), and 2009 (26) Grizzly defenses have had had equal or more interceptions. The one thing those teams all have in common? They each played for a national championship.

Surprisingly, no one player has racked up all the picks for the Griz, with 12 total players logging a pick, six coming up with 2-plus INTs, Rausch with three, and Peyton Wing nabbing his fourth last week.

The Griz have turned all those turnovers into points as well, scoring a whopping 104 of the team's record 592 points directly off takeaways.

BALL SECURITY: As good as the Griz have been at taking the ball away, they're even more historically good at not giving it away, averaging less than one turnover per game and not coughing one up in the last two games.

Only one other team in modern program history has given up less turnovers than the 2025 Griz who head to Bozeman with just 12 on the season. The 2014 team suffered just 11 turnovers in 14 games. In both seasons fumbles were the key, only giving up four (a program record low) each year.

ALL-AMERICANS: The annual parade of postseason All-American lists began to roll out on Monday with Sports Illustrated/FCS Football Central naming six Grizzlies to one of three All-America teams on either offense, defense, or special teams. They are:

First Team: Eli Gillman (RB), Michael Wortham (AP)
Second Team: Keali'i Ah Yat (QB), Peyton Wing (LB)
Third Team: Cannon Panfiloff (OL), and Drew Deck (PR)

The Associated Press also come out with its annual FCS All-America team on Tuesday, honoring seven Grizzlies:

First Team: Michael Wortham (AP)
Second Team: Eli Gillman (RB)
Honorable Mentions: Keali'i Ah Yat (QB), Cannon Panfiloff (OL), Dillon Botner (OL), Evan Shafer (TE), and Peyton Wing (LB).

FALSE START FRENZY: The Montana faithful piled on the pressure to the South Dakota offense last week as the Coyotes jumped for an amazing eight false start penalties in one game. Those eight brought Montana's opponent tally to 24 false starts this season at Washington-Grizzly Stadium. 2024 saw opponents jump 25 times, and 2023 had 26 false starts for a total of 76 in three years. Well done Griz Nation.

VERSUS THE VALLEY: Head coach Bobby Hauck has half-jokingly referred to Montana's path to the FCS Championship as the "black and blue" corner of the bracket. To make the semifinal the Griz have had to outlast a pair of physical and well-coached programs out of the traditionally strong Missouri Valley Football Conference and have done so emphatically with 102 points on the scoreboard in two games.

The Griz have now played three of the four schools from the Dakotas in the FCS this season and another from the venerable MVFC, coming away with a win in each at 4-0 against the Valley on the season. For the second-straight year Montana is the only team from the Big Sky Conference to earn at least one (let alone four) win over a team from The Valley in the annual BSC/MVFC Challenge Series with UM beating North Dakota, Indiana State, South Dakota State, and South Dakota all in one calendar year.

Montana is now 11-5 against teams from the Valley under Hauck since his return in 2018, with UM winning more games against them than any other team in the Big Sky. The Valley leads the series overall, 29-16 and has a record of 34-25 in the playoffs against schools from the Big Sky. With Illinois State also advancing to the semifinal, the Griz could possibly see another game in the series with The Valley this season.