New-look Griz open season against CWU Saturday

What seems like the longest wait for Griz football ever finally comes to an end Saturday as the 2025 edition of the Montana Grizzlies takes the field for the first of 12-straight games.

Montana will knock the lid off a historic, eight-game season a week (or two) after essentially every other college football team in the nation on Sept. 6 when UM welcomes Central Washington. The Griz and the Wildcats will play under the lights at Washington-Grizzly Stadium, with kickoff set for 6 p.m.

Montana will be the first FCS team to play eight regular season home games in 2025, cementing the homefield advantage for the majority of the season. That will give Griz fans plenty of time to learn the new faces on the squad, with UM adding 29 transfers to the roster in the offseason.

Montana is 3-0 all-time against Central Washington (1-0), a team ranked No. 18 in D-II football this week after cruising to a home win on week one.

WATCH: The Grizzlies return to Montana Television Network stations around the state this season, with the Central Washington game available on basic cable, satellite options, free-to-air channels, and online streaming.

This week's game will be shown on KPAX in Missoula and Kalispell, and The Spot – MTN around the rest of the state. The Spot – MTN is a new independent television network that serves as the secondary home of Big Sky Conference games and will carry specific UM games in specific markets.

The Spot - MTN is available around the state free-to-air for viewers with antennas. It is also available on Spectrum Cable, TCT West, Montana Opticom, Access Montana, DIRECTV, the DIRECTV streaming platform, and FUBO TV. ESPN+ will again serve as the primary streaming home of Montana Athletics this season.

This year Scripps Sports announced a new on-air talent lineup for its TV coverage of Montana Grizzly football. In the booth this season will be veteran play-by-play announcer Trey Bender, joined by former Montana defensive All-American Jordan Tripp who will serve as analyst. Kyle Hansen will once again report from the sidelines.

For complete broadcast details visit GoGriz.com/WhereToWatch.

LISTEN: "Voice of the Griz" Riley Corcoran is in his tenth 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.

"Grizzly Gameday" starts two hours before kickoff each Saturday with the official pregame radio show with 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.

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MONTANA. FOOTBALL. TRADITION.: Montana opens its 126^th season of football on Saturday. Montana is the only team in the Big Sky Conference with more than 600 all-time wins (currently at 646) and is one of just six FCS programs west of the Mississippi River to cross the 600-win threshold.

Montana has won 19 Big Sky titles, the most of any program in the league. The Griz extended their FCS record last year with the program's 28^th all-time appearance in the playoffs.

UM is also the second-winningest team of the 20^th century, winning 235 games since the 2000 season.

HOME SWEET HOME: 2025 is the 40^th season of play inside Washington-Grizzly Stadium, with fewer venues in the nation providing such a big homefield advantage. Montana enters the year at 236-37 since the venue opened in 1986, a win percentage of 86.5 percent. The Griz have gone undefeated at home in 14 of those seasons, most recently in 2023.

STARTING STRONG: Montana opens the schedule with the longest season opener win streak in FCS football. The Griz have won 9 games on the trot heading into the CWU game, a streak dating back to 2015 when UM knocked-off the Carson Wentz-led NDSU Bison in Missoula.

The Griz are also 13-1 in season openers under Hauck, dating back to a 2003 win at Maine. His only loss in a season opener was in 2006 at Iowa.

As you'd expect, Washington-Grizzly Stadium has been particularly friendly to UM in its home opener every season. The Griz take on CWU with a 34-4 record in the first game played at the venue each year since opening the first full season there in 1987. The first game ever played in the stadium was partway through the 1986 season, a 35-29 win over Idaho State with Brent Pease under center for the Griz.

THE NIGHT-TIME IS THE RIGHT-TIME: Montana will play two home night games this season, starting with the 6 p.m. kickoff against CWU. The Griz are 17-3 in night games played at Washington-Grizzly Stadium dating back to 2011. UM will also host Idaho under the lights this year, with kickoff against the Vandals set for 8:15 p.m. and broadcast on ESPN 2.

BIDING OUR TIME: Outside of the Ivy League, Montana is one of just two programs in all of D-I football to have not played yet. Of the hundreds (265 to be exact) of FCS and FBS teams kicking off the 2025 season, the Griz, Villanova, and the Ivy League had neither a week zero or week one game. Villanova opens its season on Saturday at home against Colgate.

The eight programs that make up the Ivy League traditionally start in the third week of the year to allow students to focus on academics. They have also traditionally forgone the FCS playoffs but will compete in the tournament for the first time ever this season.

Thanks to UM's 6 p.m. kickoff time on Saturday, at least four D-I teams will have played three games before Montana starts its season: Fresno St., Idaho St., Iowa St., and Kansas.

2008 ALL OVER AGAIN: Montana plays 12-consecutive games this season without a bye (week one was the team's bye). 2008 was the last time the Griz rattled off 12 straight, with both seasons kicking off on Sept. 6.

Montana also faced Central Washington that year on week four, beating a game Wildcats squad loaded with future pros 38-35.

The Griz will be hoping another part of the 2008 season repeats itself: Montana went on to play for a national championship against Richmond that season after winning at James Madison in the FCS semifinal.

OH CAPTAINS MY CAPTAINS: Montana swapped out the method it chooses its team captains this season. Instead of electing captains for the entire season, the team's seniors instead chose to go with different captains week-to-week, giving each of the 30 seniors the opportunity to lead the team onto the field and take part in the coin toss.

HAUCK HISTORY: Hauck enters the season with 138 career wins at Montana. He's now the No. 5 winningest active D-I (FCS or FBS) head coach at his current school and is among the top 15 winningest active D-I coaches with 153 total victories in his career.

• He is the winningest coach in Big Sky history with 138 wins at UM and holds 79 career wins in Big Sky Conference play – the second most in league history. He enters 2025 needing 7 more league wins to pass Jerome Souers' total of 85 at NAU to become both the winningest overall coach and winningest coach in league play in Big Sky history.

• With 18 career playoff wins he's the winningest active coach in FCS postseason history, passing UNI's Mark Farley's total of 17. Legendary Youngstown State coach Jim Tressel holds the record for most 1-AA/FCS postseason wins with 23, making Hauck 7 playoff wins away from becoming the winningest overall coach in the history of the tournament. Jerry Moore of Appalachian State had 22 wins.

MADE IN MONTANA: Montana born and bred players have always been at the heart of Grizzly football. This year, UM boasts 32 total Montana players on the 2025 roster, the most of any state represented on the team, naturally.

If you want to get hyper-local, 10 of those players hail from Missoula, while 20 more come from Western Montana (the greater Flathead and Bitterroot valleys).

THE MECCA OF FCS FOOTBALL: Montana made two announcements in leadup to the season that illustrate the increased demand for Grizzly football and the impact the program has on the Missoula and Western Montana communities at large.

For the first time in program history, Montana has sold-out of season tickets ahead of the 2025 slate with 19,737 packages sold and distributed more than a week before kickoff.

The new total marks the third-consecutive year Montana has set a new season ticket record. This year's total is nearly 1,000 more than 2024's record, is roughly 80 percent the listed capacity of Washington-Grizzly Stadium and is one of the highest at any level of college football in the Rocky Mountain West.

Montana has seen year-over year increases in season ticket sales since the Covid pandemic, averaging a nearly 15 percent increase every year since 2021. In 2023, UM broke the old stadium record (set in 2009) with 18,761 season tickets sold, built on that record with 18,881 in 2024, and set another new record in 2025 with 19,737 packages sold and distributed.

A new report by the Montana Bureau of Business and Economic Research also outlined that Grizzly Athletics contributes more than $94 million in total spending for Missoula-area businesses annually.

The report found that Griz Athletics adds over $58 million in total gross domestic product for Missoula County each year and supports more than $41 million in local labor income through salaries, wages and proprietor earnings. In total, 728 Missoula County jobs are directly supported as a result of Grizzly Athletics and game-day events. Each Griz home football game draws $5.2 million in non-resident visitor spending to Missoula County, including $1.6 million in accommodations and $1.3 million in local restaurants and bars.

GRIZ IN THE RANKINGS: Montana opened the season ranked No. 7 in the Stats Perform media poll and No. 9 in AFCA coaches' poll in the preseason. After not playing on week one the Griz rose a spot to No. 6 in the media poll but dropped to No. 10 in the coaches' poll heading into the game at CWU.

Montana is the second of six teams from the Big Sky Conference in this week's polls. Next week's opponent North Dakota is also ranked this week at Nos. 20/22.

GRIZ IN THE RATINGS: This week's updated Massey ratings slot the Griz at No. 7 in the FCS before playing a game, down a spot from starting the year at No. 6 – the third-highest rated Big Sky team. The Sagarin ratings place UM second in the Big Sky, No. 4 in the FCS, at No. 94 in all D-I football.

The Massey and Sagarin ratings are computer calculations that rank teams based on several factors including strength of schedule and can be used as tools in various tiebreaking scenarios at the end of the year.

Preseason Prognostications: Below is a list of the major preseason awards Montana earned in the leadup to the 2025 season.

Walter Payton Award Watch List
RB        Eli Gillman

Buck Buchanan Award Watch List
LB        Peyton Wing

Preseason All-Big Sky
Offense
RB        Eli Gillman
Defense
LB        Peyton Wing
Special Teams
AP        Michael Wortham
KR        Michael Wortham
LS        Grayson Pibal

East-West Shrine Bowl 1,000
WR      Michael Wortham
OL        Liam Brown
RB        Eli Gillman

Stats Perform FCS Preseason All-America
1st Team
AP        Michael Wortham
3rd Team
RB        Eli Gillman
LB        Peyton Wing

Phil Steele Preseason All-America
1st Team
AP        Michael Wortham
2nd Team
RB        Eli Gillman
KR        Michael Wortham
3rd Team
LB        Peyton Wing
4th Team
LB        Elijawah Tolbert

THE SERIES VS CWU: Montana is 3-0 all-time against Central Washington, with previous meetings occurring in 2008, 2014, and in the spring of 2021. While the combined score of those games has been lopsided in Montana's favor at 145-52, the Wildcats showed bite in the 2008 meeting when they were within a field goal of an upset in a 38-35 loss. CWU went up 21-7 in the 2^nd quarter and had the game tied at 35 in the fourth before Brody McKnight kicked the game-winning 42-yard field goal as time expired to win.

That Wildcat team was led by Kalispell native Mike Reilly at quarterback. He was the runner-up for the Harlon Hill Trophy (D-II Heisman) that year and went on to set records in the CFL and win two Grey Cups after two seasons on NFL practice squads.

SCOUTING THE WILDCATS: Central Washington, ranked No. 18 in this week's AFCA D-II poll, comes to Missoula at 1-0 after dispatching Colorado Mesa 41-14 in Ellensburg on Week one. The Wildcats put up 516 yards of total offense with 292 coming on the ground thanks to the footwork of quarterback Kennedy McGill who totaled 135 by himself. McGill also passes for 190 yards to win Lone Star Conference Offensive Player of the Week honors.

McGill led D-II in rushing yards per carry last season at 7.7 per tote, was 12^th in D-II in total rushing yards at 1,206 and was 15^th in yards per game at 100.5. He helped the Wildcats control the ball with CWU leading D-II in time of possession with an average of 36:21 per game

CWU was picked second in the Lone Star preseason poll behind last year's champion Angelo State. The Wildcats finished the 2024 season at 8-4 overall and 7-2 in league play in the first round of the D-II playoffs, falling to #10 Western Colorado in Gunnison.

WELCOME BACK FERRITER: Returning to Missoula this week with the Wildcats is Mike Ferriter, a Helena native, standout wide receiver for the Grizzlies, and former receivers/tight ends coach/pass game coordinator at UM from 2015-17. After his time coaching at UM, he served as the Idaho State offensive coordinator & QB coach under Rob Phenicie (now on the UM staff). He is in his 4^th season as OC and QB Coach at Central Washington.

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Players Mentioned

Liam Brown

Eli Gillman

Grayson Pibal

Elijawah Tolbert

Peyton Wing

Michael Wortham

University of Montana Athletics