Griz to face UTRGV in home-and-home series

The University of Montana Grizzlies have inked their first two nonconference football games of the 2030s, Director of Athletics Kent Haslam announced Wednesday.

Montana will play a home-and-home FCS series with the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) of the Southland Conference to kick off the 2030 and 2031 seasons. The games will mark the first two meetings ever between the programs.

Montana opens the series at home in 2030, facing the Vaqueros on Saturday, Aug. 31, at Washington-Grizzly Stadium in Missoula. The Griz then make the return the trip to Edinburg, Texas, the following year on Saturday, Aug. 30, 2031. Kickoff times will be determined at a later date.

"We are always looking to schedule great nonconference opponents, and UTRGV is definitely that. They have done a great job building strong community support and have excellent facilities. We look forward to making the trip, and also welcoming the Vaqueros to Missoula," Haslam said.

The Vaqueros were a debutant college football program in 2025, fielding their first team at any level since 1950 and compiling a 9-3 overall record and a 5-3 Southland Conference record to finish third in their first full year of competition.

UTRGV is coached by Travis Bush, who grew the program from the ground up starting in 2022 and is now preparing to enter his 26^th season coaching overall. Bush has a long history as a coach in the Lone Star State, including a six-year stint at Texas State from 2004-2009, when he served as the Bobcats' associate head coach, co-offensive coordinator, and quarterbacks coach during their 2008 playoff loss at Montana - a 31-13 Grizzly victory.

The Vaqueros have another Montana connection on staff. Longtime Grizzly assistant coach Mike Hudson, who most recently served as UM's defensive analyst in 2024, now serves as UTRGV's special teams coordinator under Bush.

In 2031 the Vaqueros will host Montana at Robert and Janet Vackar Stadium, a modern, 12,000 seat facility that opened in 2017 and was originally built as a soccer stadium before being expanded and refurbished to host college football.

UTRGV and Edinburg are located in the far southern tip of Texas on the banks of the Rio Grande. The school anchors the greater McAllen metro area, which straddles the U.S.-Mexico border, including the city of Reynosa, Mexico, and holds a combined population of roughly 1.5 million.

The home-and-home series with UTRGV is now Montana's second scheduled two-game series with a program in the state of Texas. The Grizzlies will also face Incarnate Word in San Antonio at the start of the 2028 season, with the Cardinals making the return trip to Missoula in 2029.

Dating back to a game at Texas Tech in 1937, Montana has played only seven teams from the state of Texas in program history. The Griz hold a commanding 11-5 all-time record against Texas opponents.

Other future nonconference opponents on Montana's schedule include Lehigh in 2027, Monmouth in 2028 and South Dakota State in Las Vegas in 2029.

The Grizzlies open the 2026 season at home on Aug. 29 in a Big Sky Conference showdown against Southern Utah. New season ticket packages and three game mini-plans are on sale now at GrizTix.com.

Montana Future Nonconference Schedules

Year	Opponent	Date	Location
2027:	Lehigh	9.4	Missoula, Mont.
2028:	Monmouth	9.1	Missoula, Mont.
	Incarnate Word	9.9	San Antonio, Texas
2029:	South Dakota St.	9.1	Las Vegas, Nev.
	Incarnate Word	9.8	Missoula, Mont.
2030:	UTRGV	8.31	Missoula, Mont.
2031:	UTRGV	8.30	Edinburg, Texas

University of Montana Athletics

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