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So, we're lucky we won on Friday. Not because JMU was the better team, because that obviously wasn't the case. No, Cole Bergquist got a message from Tony Romo on Friday. Now, that'd be pretty cool, right? But let's think, big game, you want advice from a big game quarterback, right? Yea, that's not Romo. Anyway, we won. And that's still a classy thing for Romo to do. Fixing a random couple's tire, taking a homeless guy to a movie and now this. You hope all of these positive actions pay off eventually, right? Ehhh, I still enjoy seeing the Cowboys lose.

Anyway, here's an excerpt from the original story, reported by the Great Falls Tribune:

After the game in an interview with the Tribune, Bergquist divulged that Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo called him Thursday in Virginia at the team hotel and left a message on his cellphone.

"I've got a little story to tell," said Bergquist from the victorious lockerroom at Bridgeforth Stadium. "I got a call last night from Tony Romo. My sister knows one of his friends, and he left me a message. You know, he played I-AA (Eastern Illinois) football.

"He said a lot of nice stuff, including 'good things happen when you throw to the running back.'"

I don't think bombing it to Reynolds on a wheel route is what Romo had in mind, but then again, Cole's the big game quarterback.

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I'll be honest, before last Saturday I did not know where James Madison University was located. I knew they were a great team, one that planted itself atop the rankings weeks ago, but I didn't know for sure where they played. After learning last Saturday we'd be facing them in the semis I said something along the lines of "Where the hell is James Madison even? I bet it's someplace with a lot of fast people... like Virginia." A Google search confirmed the location and Rodney Landers confirms the fast part. While Landers' unshed tears may cure cancer, this has never been a one-man game. The Griz have the makeup of a team capable of pulling this off.

ESPN hoops analyst Digger Phelps always talks about undefeated teams needing to lose a game, just to know what it's like. This team, and this program, needed to lose that game to Weber State. They have the invaluable experience of paying for their idiotic mistakes. Not everything can be overcome with talent. Talent was something past teams relied too much upon, they didn't seem to have the look of a championship team. Here's what I wrote about this year's Griz team back in September:

Of the four Griz teams I've seen since coming on campus with the 2005 squad, I'd pick this team to make it to Chattanooga over any of those. It's not about talent, it's about having the attitude and confidence. This team has it.

I stand by that statement. There's something with this team, something different. They have the necessary swagger but also stay honest. They're focused. This team is not going to be intimidated by anyone.

The Griz play smart disciplined football. Stopping Rodney Landers won't be the responsibility of one stud linebacker. It'll be about knowing assignments, reading the play and not overpursuing. It'll be a team defensive effort. Same with the offensive side of the ball. We're not going to pound it over and over again with Chase Reynolds. Cole won't key in on Mariani. Why not? Because we'll lose if they do that. That and because we're balanced.

This is a good team with the potential to be a great one. We find out tonight if this team is as special as I think. Let's do it Griz.

Photo credit: Adrienne Barnett for Montanagrizzlies.com

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ESPN columnist Bill Simmons is a tool. That fact is not up for debate. However, this doesn't mean he didn't have any decent ideas. One of those: The Ewing Theory.

The Ewing Theory is the often-seen premise where a team loses their best player(s) and then inexplicably gets better. The examples are endless. There are two I can think of off the top of my head. The Seattle Mariners lost Randy Johnson, Ken Griffey Jr. and Alex Rodriguez all in a relatively short span. In their first season without any of those three they won 116 games. The New York Giants lost Tiki Barber to retirement before last season. That turned out well.

The Patrick Ewing Theory can also apply to scenarios outside the sports world:

Can the Ewing Theory apply to romance?
You betcha. Everyone has one friend who got dumped by their girlfriend/boyfriend, sending them into a tailspin. You worried about them and their well-being, you logged major phone time with them, you wondered if they would ever bounce back... and then, boom! Your friend started working out, dropping 15 pounds and suddenly looking better than ever. They also started going out three times a week, rekindling all their old friendships; within time, they had completely regained their mojo. And inevitably, when they finally started dating again, their new flame put the old one to shame. That's the Ewing Theory in a nutshell.

Right now the Griz, and especially the offense, are livin' the single life.

As most fans probably notice, the Grizzly offense looks a lot different this season. The ultra-conservative offense we'd come to know and hate is gone for the most part. We lost Lex Hilliard and Dan Carpenter (along with Eric Allen and Ryan Bagley) and we're better.

Hilliard and Carpenter are the primary catalysts for the change. We're not pounding the ball into the line on 3rd and 4. We're not settling for three points on 4th and goal from the 2. Hell, we're not kicking field goals on 4th and 5 from the 25 either.

Isn't this fun? The offense is creative. Marc Mariani and Cole Bergquist have combined to form an offensive threat that's every bit as intimidating as the 225-pound Hilliard. They've been given the room and freedom to morph into an almost true spread offense. The options are endless. Pfahler and Ferriter are getting more looks. Mariani is certainly the go-to receiver but not nearly in the way that Lex Hilliard was the go-to player. The options are endless and this team is taking advantage.

Of the four Griz teams I've seen since coming on campus with the 2005 squad, I'd pick this team to make it to Chattanooga over any of those. It's not about talent, it's about having the attitude and confidence. This team has it.

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More than 30 percent of this year's preseason All-Big Sky Conference football team will come from the University of Montana. Here's the complete team, with the Montana kids in bold:

Offense

• QB-Cole Bergquist, Montana
• RB-Lex Hillard, Montana
• FB-Bobby McClintock, Portland State
• TE-Shaun Fitzpatrick, Northern Arizona
• OL-Cody Balogh, Montana
• OL-David Hale, Weber State
• OL-George Yarno, Idaho State
• OL-Matt Alfred, Eastern Washington
• OL-Brennan Carvalho, Portland State
• WR-Alex Watson, Northern Arizona
• WR-Eric Allen, Montana
• WR-Eddie Thompson, Idaho State
• K-Dan Carpenter, Montana
• KR-Bryant Eteuati, Weber State

Defense

• DE-Kroy Biermann, Montana
• DE-Cole Smith, Portland State
• DT-Aaron Papich, Montana State
• DT-Dallas Mauga, Sacramento State
• LB-Cyrus Mulitalo, Sacramento State
• LB-Epikopo King, Montana State
• LB-Tyler Joyce, Montana
• LB-Bobby Daly, Montana State
• LB-Jordan Senn, Portland State
• CB-KJ Gerard, Northern Arizona
• CB-Ricky Wilson, Northern Arizona
• S-Torrey Thomas, Montana
• S-Colt Anderson, Montana
• P-Dan Zeidman, Idaho State
• ST-Kenneth Mackins, Portland State

The most debatable UM selection has to be Cole Bergquist at quarterback. Odd that a guy who's never really been #1 on the depth chart and still hasn't been tabbed as the Griz starter would be voted the best signal-caller in the conference.

With almost half their starters on the all-conference team, it's not much surprise they were unanimously voted as the favorite to win the conference.

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It's really hard for me to give you any good impressions from Friday's Griz football scrimmage because I really didn't walk away feeling very impressed. It wasn't that we played bad, it's just that nothing really stood out.

I went into the scrimmage not expecting much with the two guys I would most like to see, Craig Chambers and JD Quinn, were out with shoulder and "undisclosed" injuries respectively. Even so, I was interested to see the quarterback race and how our running backs were doing.

Here are some pretty basic observations:

• The quarterback race seems pretty hope but I believe the job will be Bergquists almost by default as none of them really stood out. I think I may have developed some bias against Bergquist after seeing him next to Swogger. He just seems so small and weak-armed after watching Swogger play. It's like watching Brett Favre and being afraid of when Aaron Rodgers time eventually comes. However, Bergquist has the mobility inside the pocket that Swogger just didn't have.
  
  • They really did not pass the ball much during the scrimmage, at least not with the first team. It was really kind of discouraging. With there being something of a quarterback controversy, I figured they would want to air it out more.
  • The only real good pass of the day was about a 35 yarder from Bergquist to Allen. Seemed like it may have been due to strong pass protection as Cole had a lot of time to go through his progressions before coming back to hit a wide open Eric Allen.
• The backs played well, just about all of them making strong moves in the open field. It was good to see Lex out there. Not sure if he played much or at all in the 11 on 11 scrimmage. This is one of our deepest positions with TBF, Lex, and Coleman all being great players.
  • We ran the swing play a ton. The type of thing Baylark of UMass killed us with. However, the play was rarely run smoothly. Quarterbacks were consistently tossing bad passes out in the flats that were either incomplete, too high or behind the receiver.
  • The offensive line was not opening up holes and often letting guys into the backfield. Our backs were forced to make a move or break a tackle before they even got to the line of scrimmage.
• I almost felt robbed. The whole thing lasted about 90 minutes, maybe a bit less. They spent probably 70 minutes running a normal practice and 20 minutes scrimmaging. I mean watching practice is worthwhile but I wasn't interested in watching the QBs hit wide open receivers and having no idea where they were actually trying to throw it.
  

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There's an interesting editorial/complaint in the Montana Kaimin today about how the football team and their media relation skills kind of, well, blow. The article compares Kaimin reporters' efforts to get in contact with Bobby Hauck (as well as Cole Bergquist) and Larry Krystkowiak.

This week, one Kaimin sports reporter encountered people eager to provide information and quick to return calls, while another experienced gag orders, stonewalls and canned answers.

The ironic part of this scenario is that the former situation was dealing with an NBA team under much greater public and media scrutiny than the team that caused the difficulties: the University of Montana’s own Grizzly football team.
Access this week to the Milwaukee Bucks’ new head coach, former Griz basketball coach Larry Krystkowiak, and NBA player Lynn Greer was easy and straightforward.

But, when asked who was leading the Grizzly quarterback race, head coach Bobby Hauck responded that it’s way too early to tell and that it’s a wide-open race between four players. Quarterback Cole Bergquist couldn’t talk about his chances since the Athletic Department has made him unavailable to the media.

This just seems to me like an example of the Griz football team knowing that they are the kings of the state, or at least Missoula, and thinking they don't have to give anything back. It's really kind of upsetting. One thing that kind of irked me, and no one else seemed to notice, was that after the loss to UMass, they did nothing to acknowledge the crowd's support throughout the year. After the last home game, I've seen many college teams make they way over to the student section and show some form of gratitude to the students that have invested so much in them.

Another reason for the snubbing of reporters is that I don't think that they realize that we, the media, are actually out to help them. I recently tried to get in contact with a couple basketball players and never heard back. You do realize that Dahlberg was pretty empty this year and that media coverage only means more attention. More often than not, the media helps, not hurts, teams.

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Krystkowiak adjusts to life as NBA head coach                     
Griz QB position still undecided

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