Griz host Coyotes in FCS Quarterfinal

The Montana Grizzlies return to action this week as one of just eight teams left in the nation still suiting up on Saturdays as UM marches into the quarterfinal round of the FCS playoffs for the 16^th time in program history.

The No. 3 Griz return to Washington-Grizzly Stadium to face No. 11 South Dakota for a shot at the unofficial South Dakota state championship this week after defeating No. 14 South Dakota State handily last Saturday.

A win this week would send UM to the semifinal for the 12^th time in program history, but there's no looking ahead now. Montana must first get past a white-hot Coyote team that comes to Missoula at 10-4 on the season having won five games on the trot, including a rare road playoff victory last week with a 47-0 dismantling of Mercer in the second round.

But Montana takes the field this week firing on all cylinders as well, knocking-off a highly regarded SDSU team with a 50-point scoring barrage that saw UM put together a complete game on all sides of the ball.

It's a Big Sky vs Missouri Valley showdown of titanic proportions that could set the winner on-course for a national title with a wide-open bracket ahead.

It will also play out on national network TV with ABC set to broadcast the action from Missoula to millions of viewers across the country, setting up a must-attend matchup for the Grizzly faithful at the Mecca of FCS football. Kickoff on Saturday against the Coyotes is set for 1:30 p.m.

GET 'YER TICKETS: Tickets for Saturday's game go on sale to the general public on Wed., Dec. 10 at 10 a.m. Any season tickets not claimed by 2 p.m. on Tuesday will be available for purchase by the public, giving buyers the opportunity to secure great seats inside the stadium for this week's game.

For more information visit GoGriz.com/FCSPlayoffs

WATCH: The eyes of the nation descend on Missoula this weekend as the Montana/South Dakota FCS Quarterfinal game will be broadcast nationwide on network television with the matchup set to air on ABC to millions of TV sets around the country.

The broadcast marks the first time a game at Washington-Grizzly Stadium has ever been shown on ABC, the parent network of ESPN which both sit under the Disney umbrella. The only other time Montana appeared on ABC network TV was at the 2023 FCS National Championship in Frisco, Texas, a game that drew over a million viewers to make it the most-watched Grizzly broadcast in program history. The game will also be available for streaming via the ESPN App, with subscription required.

Veteran ESPN play-by-play man and SiriusXM radio personality Roy Philpott will lead the broadcast on ABC. Former Texas linebacker and nine-year NFL vet Sam Acho will serve as analyst in the booth with Philpott. Acho was recruited to Texas by current Montana receivers coach Bobby Kennedy and played under Kennedy during his time with the Longhorns. ESPN reporter Taylor Davis will patrol the sidelines.

The ABC broadcast will go head-to-head with the annual Army/Navy game on CBS, but will also serve as the lead-in for the Heisman Trophy ceremony immediately following the game, ensuring plenty of eyeballs on Missoula.

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. 14 South Dakota State in the second round, the Griz advance to the quarterfinal round for the 16th time in program history.

Montana will face No. 11 South Dakota for the first time ever in the postseason and sets up the 21^st all-time meeting the two programs dating back to 1915. South Dakota advanced to the quarterfinal with a dominant 47-0 win over No. 7 Mercer of the SoCon in Macon, Ga., last week and a home win over Drake (38-17) in the first round of the playoffs.

The winner of Saturday's quarterfinal advances to play the winner of the No. 2 Montana State vs. No. 7 Stephen F. Austin game in the semifinal after MSU squeaked by Yale 21-13 last week and SFA beat Abilene Christian 41-34.

POSTSEASON PARTICULARS: As the FCS all-time leader in playoff appearances, the postseason is nothing new for the Grizzlies. The Griz have advanced to the 1-AA/FCS postseason a record 29 times, now with 16 quarterfinal, 11 semifinal, and eight title game appearances over the years including wins in the 1995 and 2001 national championships. UM has advanced to the quarterfinal in four of the last six full seasons dating back to 2019.

• UM enters this week's game with a (fittingly) 37-7 record inside Washington-Grizzly stadium in the playoffs and a 40-26 overall postseason record dating back to their first appearance in 1982. The Griz have not lost a playoff game at home since 2013 when Coastal Carolina (now in the Sun Belt) came to Missoula and pulled out an improbable 42-35 victory before moving up to the FBS.

• Head coach Bobby Hauck has been particularly successful in the postseason, now with 19 playoff wins in his 14 seasons with the Grizzlies, holding an 19-12 overall record. Hauck's 19 tournament wins are the most of any active coach in the FCS and the third-most of any coach in tournament history behind legendary figures like Jim Tressel (Youngstown ST., 23 wins), and Jerry Moore (Appalachian St., 22 wins).

LAST MEETING WITH THE 'YOTES: The Montana defense put in a commanding performance to keep South Dakota scoreless for three and a half quarters of football in a 24-7 rout of the Coyotes at Washington-Grizzly Stadium in a nonconference meeting on Sept. 10, 2022.

The No. 2/3 Griz held USD – a playoff team from 2021 who were then receiving votes in the top-25 – to just 90 yards rushing and forced a turnover or a punt from the visitors on 12 of their 14 drives.

Montana, meanwhile, scored on the first drive of the game and didn't look back with a balanced offensive attack that saw 171 yards on the ground and 180 through the air for 351 yards of total offense. Quarterback Lucas Johnson found Cole Grossman across the middle for a 57-yard strike on the first play of the day from scrimmage to get the Grizzly offense rolling. Johnson was crisp for the Griz in his second game under center at UM, completing 79 percent of his passes for 180 yards and adding 75 more with his feet for a personal haul of 255 yards and three scores.

But the defense was the story of the day. Led by Patrick O'Connell's 11 tackles and 1.5 sacks, Montana's D allowed the Coyotes into their own territory just four times and forced six USD three-and-outs. Braxton Hill put the exclamation point on the defensive performance by forcing a safety late in the fourth quarter.

Current USD quarterback Aidan Bouman was a squad member that season but did not see action in Missoula that day. Later in the year he took over the starting duties in Vermillion with six games left to play and went on to be named to the MVFC all-newcomer team. He's been a starter and team captain each year since that visit.

VERSUS THE VALLEY: When the Griz face the 'Yotes on Saturday it will mark Montana's fourth game against a team from the venerable Missouri Valley Football Conference, with UM at 3-0 in the series this season. For the second-straight year Montana is the only team from the Big Sky Conference to earn a regular season win over a team from The Valley in the annual BSC/MVFC Challenge Series following UM's wins over North Dakota and Indiana State, with a win over SDSU coming in the playoff.

South Dakota beat all three of UM's common MVFC opponents during the regular season, traveling to Terre Haute to beat ISU 19-14, and beating UND 26-21 and SDSU 24-17 in the DakotaDome.

At 8-2 since the Valley/Big Sky series started in 2018, the Griz and Coach Hauck have won more games against the MVFC than every other Big Sky team combined. Including FCS playoff games, the Griz still lead The Valley 10-5 heading into this week's game. The Valley leads the series with the Big Sky overall, 29-16.

The three Big Sky teams to make this year's playoff (UM, MSU, UC Davis) all enter the quarterfinal round this week and are 3-0 in the bracket. The Valley advanced six teams to the postseason, but only two survived the first two rounds. The MVFC has an all-time record of 33-24 in the playoffs against schools from the Big Sky.

///GRIZ TRACKS///

HAUCK HISTORY: Nice, round numbers. Montana head coach Bobby Hauck secured his 150^th win as a Grizzly last week against SDSU, putting him at 150-42 all-time in Missoula and 165-91 overall as a head coach. Last week's win was also No. 70 in his second stint at UM, putting him at 70-25 since returning in 2018. In his first stint in Missoula, he went 80-17 from 2003-09. He is the winningest coach of all time in the Big Sky Conference and in 2025 became the winningest coach in Big Sky league games as well.

OUTSTANDING OFFENSE: While it's not quite the "Bear Raid" Grizzly offense of the Don Read era, UM offensive coordinator Brent Pease's 2025 Grizzly unit has been balanced between the run and pass, but still historically productive.

With UM's scoring barrage of 50 points last week, this year's offense has now scored more points than any other team in program history at 540, passing the 2009 mark of 537. The team's 74 touchdowns scored this season are also a program record, passing the previous mark of 69 in 2004 & 2019.

The Griz will need to be uber productive in their remaining postseason games in order to break Big Sky records in both categories, with MSU's 2024 team scoring 652 points and 87 touchdowns in their historic season.

The 2025 team is also nearing school record for total yards in a season with 6,059. One good game against USD could help UM pass the 2004 record of 6,416 yards with a difference of 357. School records for total first downs, pass completion percentage, total plays and more are also in the crosshairs of this year's team.

PASSING ATTACK: Keali'i Ah Yat is having a breakout sophomore year, set to enter the Grizzly record books with one of the top passing seasons ever – impressive considering: 1) Montana's long history of outstanding quarterback play (Dave Dickenson anyone?), and 2) the Griz also have one of the best overall rushing attacks in the FCS.

• Ah Yat has now passed for 3,514 yards after his career day against SDSU of 360 yards, becoming just the fifth Grizzly to ever throw for more than 3,500 yards in a season. Those other four? Dave Dickenson (4,176, 1995), Craig Ochs (3,807, 2004), Dickenson again (3,640, 1993)… and Keali'i's dad Brian Ah Yat, who passed for 3,615 yards in 1996. Meaning, Keali'i needs 102 more yards to pass his dad's total.

However, these records were all set before the NCAA counted playoff statistics toward official tallies in 2002. In '96, Ah Yat led UM to the national title game and passed for a total of 5,012 yards in 15 games.

• Ah Yat has thrown for 29 TDs this season, currently the 8^th-most in program history and just one shy of tying his coach, Brent Pease's 1986 total of 30.

• Ah Yat has been hyper-efficient this year, completing 69.7-percent (277-398-8) of his passes (minimum 200 attempts). If the season were to end today, that would be a new school record. Ochs currently holds the best passing percentage at .686 in 2004 (308-450-8). Ah Yat needs to complete just 33 more passes this season to set the new school completion record, set by both Ochs and Dickenson at 309.

• Ah Yat threw for 4 touchdowns against SDSU, a specific number that hasn't been hit since 2022 when Lucas Johnson threw for 4 against Northwestern State. (Ah Yat threw for five against Sacred Heart this season).

RUSHING ATTACK: Eli Gillman is in the midst of his second-straight 1,000+ yard season and is knocking on the door to making history as well. With his 15^th 100+ yard day of his career against SDSU, the junior is up to 1,396 yards on the season.

• He's currently racked-up the third most single-season yards in program history, needing just 107 yards to pass Hall of Famer Chase Reynolds' 2009 total of 1,502 in second and 190 more to pass Reynold's 2008 total of 1,583.

• Entering the South Dakota game, the Big Sky Offensive Player of the Year leads the conference in rushing yards and yards per game and is eighth in the FCS in both categories. LJ Phillips of South Dakota leads the nation in rushing this week with 1,847 yards.

• With 19 rushing and 21 total TDs this year he leads the league and is fourth in the FCS in scoring and fifth in rushing TDs.

• Gillman's career numbers are on the cusp of history as well. He has now rushed for 3,533 yards and 47 touchdowns in his three full seasons. He's now among UM's top four rushers ever and top three leader in rushing and overall TDs. He needs 465 more yards to move to second all-time, but just 4 more rushing TDs and 2 overall scores to move into second in those categories as well.

MR. ALL-PURPOSE: Payton Award finalist Michael Wortham has also been on a historic tear for the Griz this season with a team-high 938 receiving yards – just 62 shy of becoming one of only 15 players in program history to catch 1,000 yards worth of passes in a season. His 66 catches is also a top 13 mark in UM history as well. He's the first Grizzly since Samori Toure to pass the 900 yard mark as well in 2019.

• Mr. Do-it-all has indeed done everything for UM, rushing for 295 yards, receiving for 938 yards, returning 713 yards worth of kicks and 80 yards worth of punts to total 2,026 all-purpose yards – one of just four Grizzlies to ever log more than 2k AP yards in a season. He needs just 239 more all-purpose yards to break Marc Mariani's 2008 school record of 2,265. With an average of 155.8 AP/YPG (currently the second most in a season ever at UM) he could get there with a deep playoff run.

• Wortham's 713 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 166 more to top Malik Flowers' 2019 total of 879.

FAST FRESHMAN: With four catches for 69 yards against SDSU, Brooks Davis has continued one of the best freshman seasons by a Grizzly receiver in modern program history. He enters this week's game against USD with 52 catches for 680 yards to official register one of the top 50 seasons by any UM receiver.

But among his peers, he's almost peerless. Davis now sits second among UM all-time freshman receivers behind Jon Talmage's 2002 total of 689 yards on 50 catches, meaning Davis will likely 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 interceptions against SDSU to add to its Big Sky-best pick total this season for a total of 20 on the year – the second-most in the FCS and tied for the third most in all of D-I football.

TJ Rausch pulled down his third INT of the year and Terahiti Wolfe the first of his career against the Jacks to put UM at +12 overall on the turnover differential, making UM's overall margin No. 8 in the FCS.

Montana is having a historic year in the interception department. The 2025 total of 20 picks is the most for the Griz since 2009 when UM had 26 INTs – the most in modern program history. Only four other Grizzly teams in the last 35 years have had 20 or more interceptions.

Surprisingly, no one player has racked up the picks for the Griz, with 12 total players logging a pick, six coming up with 2-plus INTs, and both Rausch and Peyton Wing logging three each.

The Griz have turned all those turnovers into points as well, scoring nearly 100 (94) of the team's record 540 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. 12 giveaways is currently the second-fewest of any UM team in the last 35 years, with only the 2014 team totaling less with 11.

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Players Mentioned

Keali'i Ah Yat

Brooks Davis

Eli Gillman

Cole Grossman

TJ Rausch

Peyton Wing

Terahiti Wolfe

Michael Wortham

University of Montana Athletics