Kennedy era opens as Griz host T-Birds

Saturday, August 29

Missoula, Mont.

7 PM

Montana

Southern Utah

Buy Tickets

8/25/2026 4:49:00 PM | Football

UM Notes

By: Montana Sports Information

The dawn of a new era rises over Washington-Grizzly Stadium on Saturday as Bobby Kennedy leads Montana onto the field for the first time as UM's 38th head football coach.

Coming off a 13-2 season and a trip to the semifinals in 2025, expectations are (as usual) high in Missoula for the No. 2 Grizzlies under Kennedy, and rightly so. With three candidates for national player of the year at marquee positions, Montana has NFL-caliber talent on both sides of the ball.

But the Griz also have new faces all over the field and a new defensive scheme to operate under after an offseason of change. It tees up an intriguing mix of new and old, with a robust eight returning all-conference players but at the same time the need to replace 33 lettermen and 21 starters.

Here to challenge Kennedy's Grizzlies in his first game is a new and old opponent in Southern Utah, who won two Big Sky titles during their time in the league from 2012-2022. They return to the conference after time in the WAC and UAC and set up Montanan's first season-opening conference game in 40 years.

UM is 8-2 against SUU all time and beat the T-Birds in a 20-19 thriller in 2021. Montana's last loss to SUU came during their first year in the Big Sky the first time around, with the T-Birds winning 30-20 in Missoula back in 2012.

Kickoff from Washington-Grizzly Stadium is set for 7 p.m.

WATCH: The Grizzlies return to Montana Television Network/Scripps Sports stations around the state this week, with the Southern Utah matchup available on basic cable, satellite options, free-to-air channels, and online streaming.

This week's game will be shown on local CBS stations in Missoula, Billings, Great Falls and Helena, and available on "The Spot - MTN" around the rest of the state. "The Spot" 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. This week's game can also been seen on "The Spot" in Salt Lake City, Boise, Twin Falls, Phoenix, and on Local 3 in Denver.

The Spot is available around the state free-to-air for viewers with antennas in Billings (2.2), Butte/Bozeman (4.2/7.2), Great Falls (3.2), Helena (12.2) and Missoula (8.2). It is also available on Spectrum Cable, Tongue River Cable, TCT West Cable, 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.

Veteran play-by-play announcer Trey Bender and former Grizzly All-American Jordan Tripp return to the broadcast booth this season. Kyle Hansen will report from the sidelines. For complete broadcast details visit GoGriz.com/WhereToWatch.

LISTEN: "Voice of the Griz" Riley Corcoran is in his 11th 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 sixteen affiliate stations around the state.

Joining Corcoran in the booth this season is Chase Reynolds – a Montana native, Grizzly Sports Hall of Famer, five-year NFL veteran and one of the most decorated players in UM history – who brings his knowledge of the game to the airwaves as the Grizzlies' new radio analyst.

"Grizzly Gameday" starts two hours before kickoff each Saturday with the official pregame radio show featuring Ace Sauerwein and Denny Bedard before Corcoran and Reynolds 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.

BOBBY KENNEDY RADIO SHOW: The Grizzly Coaches show returns to The Den on Upper Miller Creek Road each Wednesday at 7 p.m. this season as Coach Kennedy and "Voice of the Griz" Riley Corcoran provide an exclusive breakdown of this week's opponent and relive all the highlights of last week's win.

The Coaches Show can be heard on select Grizzly Sports Radio Network stations around the state, originating from 98.3 FM and 1290 AM KGVO Missoula.

GRIZZLY INSIDER: The Grizzly Insider takes fans inside the huddle every Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. on The Spot – MTN. Corcoran and Scripps TV sideline reporter Kyle Hansen break down that week's game with Kennedy and a featured player each week with up-to-date features on other Grizzly sports as well.

HAPPENINGS: Missoula temps may be hovering in the high 80's in late August, but it will be a white out in Washington-Grizzly Stadium on Saturday as Griz fans join the team in wearing all white under the lights against Southern Utah. Half of you can keep the whites out of your closets as well, with the annual "Stripe the Stadium" game coming up next week against Drake.

///GRIZ TRACKS///

WELCOME TO THE KENNEDY ERA: Bobby Kennedy, a national champion receivers coach with the Texas Longhorns who was once voted the FBS receivers coach of the year in 2008.

Kennedey, a 30-plus year coaching veteran at the game's highest levels with a national championship pedigree, was officially named Montana's 38th head football coach on Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026. He took over Montana's head coach duties after serving for one season as the Grizzlies' wide receivers coach in 2025.

Kennedy has coached in 17 bowl games, two BCS championship games, two Rose Bowls, one Fiesta Bowl, and helped Montana reach the FCS Semifinal in 2025. He coached among the nation's elite for seven seasons in the Big XII, 11 combined seasons in the Pac-12, three seasons in the Big Ten, and six in the ACC at Wake Forest after beginning his career in the Mountain West at Wyoming.

In his first season in Missoula, he helped produce one of best passing attacks in program history and the best scoring offense in the Big Sky. He helped guide UM to a 13-2 record while the offense averaged 457 yards and 41 points per game.

He helped mentor Michael Wortham, a consensus All-American and UM's first wide receiver to be named a finalist for the Walter Payton Award. In his lone season with the Griz, Wortham led the Big Sky with 1,224 receiving yards, one of the top six individual seasons in program history.

FIRST TIME OUT: Montana head coaches have historically found success in their first game, with UM freshman mentors sitting at 6-2 over the last 40 years dating back to Don Read's first game in 1986 and including two Bobby Hauck wins. Ironically, those two losses were from UM's two national championship winning coaches: Read lost at Nevada in '86 and Glenn lost at Hofstra in '00.

40 YEARS OF FUN: Montana celebrates the 40^th anniversary of Washington-Grizzly Stadium in 2026. UM played its first game in the new stadium on October 18, 1986, with now-Offensive Coordinator Brent Pease leading the Griz to a 38-31 win over Idaho State under center.

Since that day, Montana's trajectory as a football program was exponential, eventually leading to the first of two national championships in 1995.

Some stadium quick hits:

• The Griz have been dominant at home, entering the 2026 season with a 245-38 record in the venue – a nearly 90-percent win rate. The postseason offers the same amount of success at home as the cold winds from Hellgate Canyon greet FCS visitors, often from the south. In the playoffs, UM is 38-7 at home.

• As Southern Utah visits for the home opener, Montana has proved hard to beat in the first game of the season in Missoula. UM enters the game at 35-4 in the first game of the year in Missoula and is riding a 22-game win streak, dating back to a 2003 loss to NDSU.

Th Griz are also riding the FCS's longest season-opening win streak at 11-straight years with opening the season with a W. It's a streak that dates back to 2015 and a win, this time, over NDSU, and includes a historic win at No. 20 Washington in 2021.

• Montana led the FCS in total attendance with 252,636 fans in 2025 and was second in average attendance at 25,264 per game. That average was, by far, the best average in the Big Sky (9,401 fans per game), and the FCS in general (6,949 per game).

Montana's average was even above the Group of 6 FBS average of 20,255 as well as the Mountain West Conference's 2025 average of 24,979. UM's average was ranked higher than 52 FBS programs, including notables like Duke, James Madison, and Wyoming, among others.

• UM's average attendance number of 25,264 makes Washington-Grizzly Stadium the eighth-largest city in Montana on a Saturday afternoon, close behind Kalispell's population of 28,450.

• Washington-Grizzly Stadium also continues to be a house of horrors for visiting teams as one of the loudest venues in college football. Over the last three seasons, Griz fans have helped cause a total of 75 false start penalties on UM's opponents, making a tangible impact on the game leading to more wins for Montana. The last time the Griz played at home, Montana fans piled on South Dakota in the FCS Quarterfinal, forcing the 'Yotes to jump offsides an amazing eight times in one game.

THE NIGHTTIME IS THE RIGHT TIME: The Griz love a good night game at WGS. Montana hits the field under the lights Saturday night at 7pm for the first of two night games in Missoula this season. UM has been historically tough at night inside "The Mecca," entering the year at 19-3 in home night games, and winners of 14 of their last 15 evening contests.

A NATIONAL WINS LEADER: Montana is one of just 19 teams in the FCS (including the Ivy League) and the only team in the Big Sky Conference to have amassed 650-plus wins in program history, kicking off the season with 659, dating back to 1897.

Coincidentally, Montana's week two opponent Drake is right on the heels of Montana in all-time wins at 658.

A LOOK AT THE TWO DEEP: Montana's first two deep of the season is headlined by household names but reveals a slew of new faces ready to make their first appearances in maroon and silver as the Griz replace 21 players with at least one start last year and 33 total lettermen.

Eli Gillman is Montana's most veteran player, slated to make his 39^th career start on Saturday behind Keali'i Ah Yat, who is set to make his 22^nd start. They are two of the most notable of UM's seven returning All-Big Sky players from a season ago, joining expected starters Peyton Wing (LB), Tanner Huff (S), Solomon Tuliaupupu (LB), Brooks Davis (WR) and Jake Mason (DL).

On offense, it all starts up front is the cliché, and the Griz will start five new players on the front line, led by a pair of Montana products at tackle in Bozeman's Torin Jeske and Helena's Austin Buehler, who have made a combined 18 appearances in the previous two seasons. They are joined by two transfers to the program as projected starters in Jack D'Ambra, a grad transfer out of San Diego at center and Dyllan Drummond, a junior from UNLV at right guard. Lucas Freitas, who has been a staple of the two deep for three seasons, is also set to start at left guard.

With Davis catching the headlines this year, UM's receiver room looks especially deep on the depth chart. Landon Ransom-Goelz, a transfer from Rice, has been a breakout star during fall camp and gets the nod at X receiver. Speedy junior Lekeldrick Bridges also gets the start at F receiver, working his way back on the field after giving fans a sneak peek of his abilities as a freshman.

Defensively, Cooper Buffington is a sophomore from Iowa that earned a starting job at nose tackle after an impressive camp. He's joined up front by Jake Mason, one of two all-conference men up front with veteran Solomon Tuliaupupu moving into a stand-up D-end/linebacker hybrid position known as "Buck."

Billings natives Clay Oven and Kade Boyd are set to join Phillipsburg's Kade Cutler and "Butte Tough" Tanner Huff as four Montana native starters on the defense.

AH YAT 4K: Quarterback Keali'i Ah Yat worked his way into elite (and familiar) company in 2025 as one of just three Grizzlies to pass for more than 4,000 yards in a season (including playoffs), capping his sophomore year with 4,070 yards over the air in an offense that boasted a 1,000-yard rusher as well.

Those other two Grizzlies to hit the 4k mark? None other than Dave Dickenson and Keali'i's dan, Brian Ah Yat. Aside from the ability to sling it all over the yard, another thing those three have in common? They have all be coached by UM OC and QB coach Brent Pease.

Ah Yat is now 17-4 as a starter, needing 11 more wins to crack UM's top five all-time in quarterback victories. He also needs 12 more wins to match Brian's career total of 29, with Dickenson holding the program record at 33.

CHASING GREATNESS: Eli Gillman was named the Big Sky Offensive Player of the Year at the end of the 2025 season and was selected to pick up where he left off this year as the league's preseason MVP as well. For good reason.

Gillman enters his fifth season as one of the top returning players in the FCS, having landed on the Walter Payton Award watch list, the Shrine Bowl 1,000 watch list and multiple preseason All-America teams.

The fifth-year standout is on the cusp of becoming Montana's all-time leading rusher for a program that has historically produced some of the top rushing offenses in FCS football. He starts the year with 3,677 rushing yards, fourth on UM's all-time list, needing just 394 more to pass Hall of Famers Yohance Humphrey, Chase Reynolds and Lex Hilliard and claim the top spot in the Grizzly record books.

Gillman also enters the year with 49 rushing touchdowns, third in program history behind Reynolds (52) and Hilliard (50), and 53 total touchdowns, second all-time behind Reynolds' career mark of 59. His 318 career points rank fifth on UM's all-time scoring list, and he needs 95 more to surpass Dan Carpenter's conference-record 413 and claim the program scoring title.

GRIZ IN THE POLLS: Montana opens the year the consensus No. 2 team in the FCS this week after posting a 13-2 season and advancing to the national semifinal for the 13^th time in program history last year.

The Griz picked up 1,328 voting points in the preseason media poll and 605 points in the coaches' poll to finish ahead of South Dakota St. at No. 3 in both and behind defending national champion MSU at No. 1.

UM is one of four ranked Big Sky Conference teams in the preseason polls, with each of the remaining three on the Grizzlies' schedule this season, and all three on the road no less. UM travels to No. 25/24 Northern Arizona on Oct. 10, to No. 6 UC Davis on Sept. 26, and No. 1 MSU on Nov. 21. Idaho State, who received votes in both polls, comes to Missoula on Nov. 14.

Montana was also the consensus No. 2 pick in the Big Sky Conference preseason coaches' and media polls.

GRIZ IN THE RATINGS: Montana opens the season as the No. 89 team in all of college football and third in the FCS according to the Sagarin ratings, ahead of Air Force, Marshall, and Liberty, but behind MSU (70) and SDSU (68). UM Is also third in the Massey FCS ratings.

The Sagarin and Massey ratings are computer calculations that take into account strength of schedule, among other variables, to rank teams, and can be used in tiebreaking scenarios for championships and the postseason.

THE SCHEDULE: With an extra week added to the football calendar by the NCAA and the addition of two new league members, Montana opens the season with a Big Sky Conference game for the first time since 1986 when UM lost on the road to Nevada in Reno.

What used to be "week zero" will now be week one as the Griz start the 2026 season against new (old) league member Southern Utah. The Thunderbirds return to the conference in 2026 after winning two titles as members between 2012 and 2021.

The Griz play their first nonconference game of the season on week two when Drake comes to Missoula for the second all-time meeting between the two programs on Sept. 5. Montana defeated Drake 48-16 in their first meeting with the Bulldogs back in 2018 and lead the series 1-0.

On week three the Griz face the other new Big Sky member in Utah Tech on Sept. 12, but the game will be a nonconference contest as part of Montana's previously existing home-and-home slate with the Trailblazers. Montana is 2-0 all-time against Utah Tech.

The Grizzlies then take to the road to cap the nonconference slate and will face an FBS opponent for the first time since 2021 when UM beat #20 Washington in Seattle as the Griz travel to Corvallis to face Oregon State on Sept. 19. The Beavers lead the all-time series with UM 12-2-2, but Montana won the last two meetings, 35-14 back in 1996 and 22-15 in 1990.

NOT VERSUS THE VALLEY: 2026 is just the second regular season since 2018 Montana has not played a team from the Missouri Valley Football Conference in the nonconference portion of the schedule.

At 10-2 since the Valley/Big Sky series started in 2018, the Griz have won more games against the MVFC than every other Big Sky team combined. Including FCS playoff games, the Griz lead The Valley 11-5. The Valley leads the series with the Big Sky overall, 29-17. As two of the premiere conferences in the FCS, the odds remain good that the Griz will come across a MVFC opponent should they advance to the playoffs.

SCOUTING THE T-BIRDS: Southern Utah returns to the Big Sky this season after narrowly missing out on the playoffs last year as a member of the UAC, winning its last six games (including two over ranked teams) to finish the year at 7-5. SUU also finished 7-5 in 2024 and earned a historic win 27-24 at UTEP – the T-birds first over an FBS opponent.

Head coach DeLane Fitzgerald is entering his fifth season at SUU and has produced teams that have dominated the ground game in recent years, producing the nation's leading FCS rusher for the second consecutive season in 2025.

Electric running back Joshua Dye, who was tops in the FCS in rushing yards and TDs, departed Cedar City for Ole Miss in the offseason, leaving SUU to reload at the position once again in 2026. Floyd Chalk is expected to take the reins at RB to open the season for the T-birds. He transferred to SUU after two seasons at San Jose State and two seasons at Grambling prior to that. As SJSU he earned All-Mountain West honors in 2024 before suffering injury in 2025.

Quarterback Will Burns is slated to start under center on Saturday. The dual threat junior is expected to make his first start after appearing in 11 games in 2025, rushing for the second most yards on the team with 272.

Fitzgerald is 25-21 at SUU in five seasons and is 111-70 overall after several championship seasons at DII/III Frostburg State and Southern Virginia before that. He's heading into his 18^th year of coaching in 2026.