Montana Grizzlies Sports, Football and Basketball : Grizzoulian

The Montana Grizzlies enter this season as the eighth best team in the Football Championship Subdivision according to the Sports Network's most recent top 25 rankings.

This is one spot behind conference rival Eastern Washington and six spots ahead of #14 Cal Poly, UM's first opponent of 2008. Those two are the only Grizzly opponents in this preseason poll. Here are the complete rankings:
 

Team (First-place votes)	Record	Points	Previous Rank
1. Appalachian State Mountaineers (97)	13-2	2,546	1
2. North Dakota State Bison (1)	10-1	2,275	9
3. Northern Iowa Panthers	12-1	2,204	4
4. Richmond Spiders	11-3	2,162	5
5. Massachusetts Minutemen	10-3	2,148	7
6. James Madison Dukes (3)	8-4	2,078	12
7. Eastern Washington Eagles	9-4	1,951	8
8. Montana Grizzlies	11-1	1,848	10
9. Delaware Blue Hens	11-4	1,747	2
10. McNeese State Cowboys	11-1	1,687	11
11. Southern Illinois Salukis	12-2	1,286	3
12. Youngstown State Penguins	7-4	1,228	16
13. Wofford Terriers	9-4	1,158	6
14. Cal Poly Mustangs	7-4	1,081	24
15. Elon Phoenix	7-4	1,028	23
16. New Hampshire Wildcats	7-5	760	14
17. Georgia Southern Eagles	7-4	656	17
18. Eastern Illinois Panthers	8-4	622	18
19. South Dakota State Jackrabbits	7-4	547	19
20. Eastern Kentucky Colonels	9-3	487	13
21. Villanova Wildcats	7-4	396	NR
22. Central Arkansas Bears	6-5	374	NR
23. The Citadel Bulldogs	7-4	317	NR
24. Harvard Crimson	8-2	316	21
25. Western Illinois Leathernecks	6-5	299	NR

Others receiving votes: Northern Arizona 249, Fordham 212, Delaware State 198, Jacksonville State 195, Yale 170, Sam Houston State 166, Montana State 146, Furman 120, Liberty 115, Jackson State 79, South Carolina State 76, Holy Cross 74, Hofstra 61, Colgate 56, Grambling 55, Norfolk State 48, Coastal Carolina 44, Hampton 41, Southern 32, Northwestern State 30, Tennessee-Martin 30, UC Davis 22, Weber State 17, Lafayette 16, Alabama A&M 10, Texas Southern 9, Brown 9, Nicholls State 9, Dayton 6, Tennessee State 5, San Diego 4, Albany 4, Maine 1, Prairie View 1.

 

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Alright, more running commentary for the second half. Plenty of room for improvement.

• "We'll be right back. Key game between two teams battling it out for sixth place." Ugh.
• Griz start second same way they started the first, by shooting the long ball. Hasquet and Staudacher make a pair of threes.
  
• Then Drew gets an offensive rebound and puts it back. 8-0 run to start the half. Well done. Good pep talk.
• Griz need to reign it in as Sharp and Hasquet huck up a couple long ones that don't fall.
• 32-30 at first media timeout.
• Pace picks up as EWU hits a pair of threes while the Griz get a couple plays off penetration. 36-36.
• The Griz just shot their first FT. There's 12:36 left in the second half.
• Staudacher hits another trey. 13 points. 5-5. How good can he get in two more years?
• 42-41. As Mick would say, we're not at crunch time right now, but you can almost see it from here. OK, normally he says it with like 6 minutes left, little early. I just don't want this to be another close game.
• Broadcasters calls this a "beautiful game." I disagree.
• Martin penetrates and kicks to CET, who makes a three. Nope, that isn't backwards.
• Staudacher drains one with a hand in his face. 6-6.
• 46-45 Griz. 9:00. Please, get a bigger lead.
• EWU gets two offensive rebounds. Bald guy gets basket and goes to the line for 3-point play. Come on fellas.
• Great give-and-go on what looked like an impromptu pick-and-roll between Qvale and Staudacher. Brian gets a dunk. My favorite play of the game.
• 50-48 Griz. 7:10.
• "Couple of baskets while we were away." Um, what? 52-50 Griz.
• Staudacher misses his first but hustles for the rebound, forces a foul. Griz ball. Great play. These are the type of hustle plays that win close games... unless you fail to score on the ensuing possession. Which is what happened.
• 52-51 Griz. 3:28. Martin just chucked a long 3 early in the shot clock. Need smarter play down the stretch.
• And there it is. Great penetration by Martin. Lays it off to Drew for a lay-in and 3-point opportunity. Makes it.
  
• 55-51 Griz. 2:30. Push it guys. Make it 6.
• Ahhh. Matt dribbles around with an open CET on the wing. Keeps it. Griz don't even get a shot off as EWU comes down and cuts it to two. 1:17 left. 55-53.
  
• Griz really need to prove they can win a close game.
• Jordan makes a very tough shot just inside the FT line. Ball bounces around as I nearly pass out then finally falls through.
  
• EWU misses a forced 3-pointer. Time to make FTs. Jordan makes a pair, 59-53, :26. Yes. Finally.
• CET misses the front-end. 59-57, :7.6. Come on. Ball has to go to Martin or Staudacher on this inbound. Be smart, don't try to make a risky pass.
• Martin does go to the line, misses the first. EWU runs down then DeLeon loses the handle doesn't get a shot off. Jesus. I was about 95% sure he was going to make a 3 for the win. Everyone shoots a 1,000 FTs tomorrow.
• Alright, Griz finally get a close win, even though they tried to give it away. I'll take it.

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Alright, some running analysis and observations on the game in Cheney:

• There's no one there. Shocking. Lots of echoes. Sounds like a high school scrimmage.
• Flurry of threes to start out, including CET stopping and popping. Will be interesting to see his continued development as an offensive threat. 
  • Plenty of guard offense early.
• Hasquet off to a strong start with a pair of threes and some play in the post. Looking for some redemption after tough game against Portland State.
• Early on, Eagles have four offensive boards. Last game, when we won by 19, the Griz out-rebounded the Eagles 36-15.
• Score is 20-14 Griz with 8:00 left. Sloppy game so far. I don't want to bash on the Griz too much because there's been some solid play but I can't help but glance at the score and think "we're still winning, really?" Eagles are getting lots of rebounds and layups.
• Once again, our commercials are phenomenal. Please, get those out there more. I don't know what we paid for those but we could've paid a lot more and it still would've been worth it.
• Stads is great coming off picks. Love that play where he flies out of the left corner, catches and pops it at about the free throw line. Usually pretty early in the shot clock.
• Lots of points in the paint early. To be fair, I'm writing this after they just scored on the small D. Even so, if I had to guess, they have roughly 14 of their 20 points in the paint.
• Series of turnovers and EWU ties it at 22 after a 8-2 run.
• Strait a non-factor so far. Echoing what broadcaster said: hopefully not a repeat of Jordan vs. PSU.
• Official points in the paint: 18 off EWU's 22. Think he said we have 4.
• Qvale having a rough afternoon. 1-6 from the field right now.
• Griz don't get a good look at all on last possession of the half. Griz really need to work on scoring in situations like that.
• Poor showing from the big lineup so far. Getting killed on the boards and allowing a lot of points in the paint.
• EWU's AD is on at half time. If O'Day and Chaves somehow got in a fight, O'Day would pwn. Just sayin'.
• 26-24 as we head to the second.

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Curious, how many people out there could possibly looking forward to watching two sub-par low-majors battle it out on Altitude more than the Super Bowl? It may be the fact that, as a Packers fan, trying to cheer on the Giants against a slimy Patriots team makes my stomach turn. That said, put me down as one.

Yeah, so if you're beyond sick of hearing Emmitt, Jaws & Co. yap about the Super Bowl, take a break and watch the Griz, which may or not be three times more painful.

The Missoulian article says the Griz are not taking the Eagles for granted even though they beat them by 19 just 10 days ago. Good. At this point, I wonder if there is a team out there these Griz could take for granted. It's not that they're bad, it's the complete lack of consistency.

Game is on Altitude, or channel 59 if you have basic Bresnan cable, at 2:00 MT.

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Stuck between an overtime win with fellow conference-frontrunner Portland State and next weekend’s looming rivalry game with Montana State, Saturday night’s matchup against Eastern Washington was the definition of a trap game. The Lady Griz won 77-59, but it wasn't without a little bit of trouble.

In the first seven minutes, I believe the Lady Griz were shooting somewhere around 25 percent from the field. At that 13:00 mark, the Lady Griz were down 18-6.

Then a 3-pointer by senior guard Laura Cote sparked a 11-2 run in which she hit another jumper while Johanna Closson knocked down a pair of shots from beyond the arc. After another Closson 3-pointer put the Lady Griz ahead 22-20 at the 5:46 mark, the Lady Griz didn't trail again.

I got a chance to speak with Coach Selvig and Britney Lohman after the game. They left a similar impression: the Lady Griz play with a perfect balance of confidence and respect for the opposition.

I first asked Lohman what coach Selvig says coming into games like the one against the Eagles (who have yet to win a conference game). Her response: "It's a big game no matter who we're playing." When asked about falling down early, said the shots just weren't falling but everyone was confident they'd make their run.

Selvig, almost the same thing: "We make every game the biggest we got." Also: "Our girls play with a lot of confidence."

Perfect mentality.

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Seven games into the conference season, Tinkle has his rotation set. To be fair, he had the new lineup pencilled in when the Griz were 1-4 and heading into a must-win matchup against the Eagles. It paid off. The Griz blew them out by 19 then rode the new lineup to a 14-1 run in the first few minutes against Northern Colordao. Griz ended up winning that one by 11.

The argument undermining the quality of these wins is that the Eagles and Bears are terrible and small. Well, remember, going into the EWU game, the Eagles had two more conference wins than the Grizzlies. And the Bears? They beat first-place Weber played close games against Montana State and Portland State. Very capable of beating an inconsistent Montana team.

Now the other argument, that they're small and our bigs should dominate easily. OK, if someone proposed this lineup to you before these couple games, what type of teams would you be most afraid of? Small quick teams like EWU and NoCo or big teams who run closer to our speed? It'd be EWU and NoCo. Going into the game, I was terrified of what Adris DeLeon—coming off a 42 point effort against NoCo—would do to this big and slightly slower lineup. After the game I thought DeLeon was a prick and our big lineup was more than capable of defending guards like him.

Looking forward to seeing how these guys do on the road against PSU. Also, anyone know where I can get a #44 Montana jersey?

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The 2008 football schedule is out. As reported on here first, the Griz will open their season down San Luis Obispo against the Cal Poly Mustangs.

Here's the complete schedule:

Date ..... Opponent ..... Time
9.6 ..... at Cal Poly ..... TBA
9.13 ..... Southern Utah ..... 1:05 p.m.
9.20 ..... UC-Davis (Homecoming) ..... 1:05 p.m.
9.27 ..... Central Washington ..... 1:05 p.m.
10.4 ..... at Weber State * ..... TBA
10.11 ..... at Eastern Washington * ..... TBA
10.18 ..... Sacramento State * ..... 1:05 p.m.
10.25 ..... at Northern Colorado * ..... TBA
11.1 ..... Northern Arizona * ..... 12:05 p.m.
11.8 ..... at Portland State * ..... TBA
11.15 ..... Idaho State * ..... 12:05 p.m.
11.22 ..... Montana State * (108th meeting) ..... 12:05 p.m.

* Conference game

The OOC is alright. We probably shouldn't be playing a DII school but whatever. Here's O'Day's rationale on playing schools from a lower division. It's his response to playing Ft. Lewis last year but fits around the fact that we're playing Central Washington:

Last year, we played Fort Lewis (Don Read loved the Division II schools to let young kids get experience) and UM Athletics netted about $300,000 - not counting what the Adams Center received for ticket fees ($1 per ticket), or what dining services produced in sales, or the bookstore... not counting what the Missoula economy saw by another home game (estimated at between $5-$7 million per home weekend).  We admit that was a "money game," as do most teams at our level.   Still, it is no different than Oregon hosting Montana for $450,000 or Iowa hosting Montana for $650,000.  Their fans expected big wins at our expense, and they, too, need to produce funds to pay their bills.

After the non-conference slate, what should be two of our toughest BSC games are on the road: we have to go to Portland to play the Vikings and to the Cheney to play the Eagles. Those should be two very challenging games. Then we cap off the season with the Brawl in Missoula and hopefully another Big Sky Championship.

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One more game-winner by Dan. One more big stop by our D. One more touchdown instead of a field goal. One of these things and the Montana football team would've been playing this weekend to set up one of the greatest games in the history of Montana football. It would've been a Richmond win away, but imagine one of these...

Appalachian State @ Montana, Dec. 7, 5:30 p.m.
The Montana Grizzlies, arguably the most successful FCS team of the past ten years, face off two-time reigning national champions Appalachian State on friday night in Missoula. In the first round, the Griz beat one of the two teams who beat Appalachian State this year. Did you know the Mountaineers beat Michigan this year? It will be one of the nation's best defenses against the explosive Mountaineer offense. This game almost came to fruition earlier in the season but things fell through. Well, it's happening now, friday night on ESPN2.



Eastern Washington @ Montana, Dec. 8, 12:05 p.m.
After the first match-up, most Eagles fans probably thought they'd have to wait until next year for a much-desired rematch with the vaunted Grizzlies. The Eagles were not intimidated by the Griz D or the noisy crowd as they racked up 565 yards of total offense, 451 coming through the air, and were a 4th and 10 stop away from upsetting the Griz. Now they have their shot. Media outlets across the nation picked on the Big Sky Conference for being weak, now it's two teams from the 'Sky who will face off for a trip to Chattanooga.

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This weekly feature is actually becoming weekly as it's back for consecutive weeks.

Griz get two game lead with victory over NAU. It's the Griz's most impressive win of the season and it almost guarantees them at least a share of the Big Sky championship. Lex carried for 130 yards in the second half and essentially carried the Griz to victory. Finally, we are starting to see the team everyone thought to compete for a National Championship.

Montana State embarrassed by Northern Colorado. Northern Colorado finally got its first win over a Big Sky team since joining the conference. It wasn't over a bottom-feeder like Sac State or Idaho State either. It was over 19th ranked Montana State. This will undoubtedly knock MSU out of the rankings, the BSC title chase and probably the playoffs.

Weber State 73, Portland State 68. Um, what the hell? It's the most points scored in an NCAA football game since these types of things were first recorded. Freshman quarterbacks—one a redshirt and one a true freshman—combined for 13 passing touchdowns. Portland State QB Drew Hubel, a true freshman making his first start, passed for nine touchdowns. I'm sure Mouse Davis likes to see that but I doubt this is what Glanville had in mind when he said PSU would have the hardest hitting defense on the West Coast.

Eastern Washington hands Sac State another close loss. Half the conference decided they weren't going to play defense this weekend. The Hornets and Eagles amassed more than 900 total yards in EWU's 31-24 win.

Idaho State thumped by Cal Poly, 48-28. Here's another team who felt defense really wasn't essential. Cal Poly quarterback Jonathan Dally threw for 453 yards and ran for 119 more. Idaho State is now 3-5 overall and 2-3 in conference.

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The Griz volleyball team had two match points but they were not able to put the Eagles away last night in Cheney. The Griz won games one and three before losing to the Eagles in the fifth game. This marks the Eagles' 17th straight victory over the Griz.

The Griz sit at seventh place in the Big Sky and could've moved to within a half game of sixth place Northern Arizona had they won. The team now sits at 8-13 overall and 4-7 in league play.

Article on the game found at MontanaGrizzlies.com.

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Photo by Todd Goodrich for Montanagrizzlies.com

This weekly roundup on action in the Big Sky has been less than weekly but here it is for this weekend's games.

The Bears are who we thought they were, but are the Griz? The Griz racked up an impressive 627 yards and 52 points in their dominant win over Northern Colorado but who really knows what that means? Will the win set the Griz offense on a track that leads toward Chattanooga or is this simply a good win over a bad team? Griz fans can hope for the former but the next two games should be a better indicator than this win over a team that hasn't beat a Division I team since moving up.

Bobcats survive Sac State. As many Griz fans expected/hoped for, the MSU offense had a bit of trouble against the Hornet defense. The Cats were down 6-0 at the half but outscored the Hornets 20-3 in the final two quarters. They've now won eight straight in what has effectively been dubbed "The Ashtray."

Weber ends NAU's two game BSC win streak. Not a whole lot going on in this one. The Lumberjacks had a chance to tie it with about 9 minutes left in the game but a two point conversion was batted down. A few plays later, Weber scored and the game was out of reach.

Portland State falls to Idaho State, 38-20. Going into this season, Portland State had hopes for a Big Sky championship. It doesn't look like that's going to happen. Sorry Jer. The Viks were up 13-3 at halftime but the Bengals scored four third quarter touchdowns with two of them being on defense. The Vikings are 2-5 overall and 2-2 in the Big Sky. The only thing that may salvage their season: an upset over UM. I'm not too frightened but it is on my mind.

Eastern gets crushed by BYU. Fans of FCS, or at least Big Sky teams, hoped EWU's impressive offense would at least put a little fear into BYU, maybe make a game out of it. That did not happen. While the Eagles suffered a 42-7 defeat, they did get $325,000 for making the trip.

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For those of you who haven't already checked out Brandon Hansen's humorous Easterner column on the Montana Grizzlies and their fans, I strongly suggest doing so.

Hansen likes to poke at UM's obsessive fans and seems to believe the Eastern side of Washington is so much better than Montana. Does he realize Eastern Washington is Montana without any of the scenery? I've made the drive from Seattle to Missoula countless times and the 500 miles between those two great cities is comparable to Mars. Well, everything outside of Couer d'Alene.

Here's some of Hansen's commentary:

Griz fans will roll out of their Victorian-style single-wide trailers on Saturday and rumble over to their stadium in their four-miles-to-the-gallon Ford F-350 Jumbo Cab (their pride has to sit somewhere) and walk up to the ticket office at the stadium just before the game.

"Milford Tilly, age 40, residing with mom, currently the assistant manager of Taco Bell, here is your season ticket."

Unfortunately for Tilly, his beloved Griz are playing the Eags: The same Eags who handed Montana a 34-20 home loss in 2005 when they ranked as the second-best team in the country. Every time EWU slogs into the state (the beer-guzzling, mud-flap toting, red-headed and freckle-faced cousin of Wyoming), they seem to play with a chip on their shoulder. In fact, EWU has been the victorious team over Montana in four of its nine league losses all-time at Washington-Grizzly Stadium.

Win or lose, when EWU fans wake up on Sunday morning they'll be able to root for a pro football team from their own state. And then when they wake up on Monday, they'll be able to go to work instead of spending the entire day on the Grizzly football forums talking about UM head coach Bobby Hauck's latest hairstyle.

Well written and well-played. I'm from Seattle so I could wake up and root for my homestate team, but I won't. No, the Packers are much better. Yeah, with satellite TV and NFL Sunday Ticket I can pretty much root for anyone. But NFL Sunday Ticket won't ever bring you the atmosphere of a great gameday. That's what we have in Missoula. It's something you'll never have in Cheney.

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Paul Wulff, head coach of the Eastern Washington Eagles, is optimistic and confident heading into this weekend's game against the Griz at Washington-Grizzly Stadium. Why shouldn't he be? The Eagles have won more games (4) at the daunting Wash-Griz than any other road team.

Here are a few quotes from Wulff in The Easterner, EWU's weekly student newspaper.

"We didn't execute well against Portland State and as a coach that drives you nuts," said Wulff. "But we'll improve and get it done. I know our players like to play in Missoula and it will be a huge challenge for us like it always is. But it's a game that is winnable and our players know that. If we can improve our execution in all facets of the game, we expect that we will have a great chance to win the game when the fourth quarter rolls around."

"We're going get a game plan, get our kids ready to play hard, go in and execute and go in and win the ballgame," Wulff said.

This is going to be a good game. As many have already said, if the Griz give the Eagles they same amount of effort they gave Weber, EWU is going to add a fifth victory at Washington-Grizzly Stadium.

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Why? Because it has bears, eagles and it's funny.

Let's hope something metaphorically or literally similar to this doesn't happen on Saturday.

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It wasn't here last week, but this weekly recap of Big Sky games is back for week 5.

Montana very unimpressive against WSU. It was a lot like the USC-Washington game. Both the Trojans and Griz were ranked number one but put up less than inspiring performances against decent yet unranked teams who wore purple and had school names starting with a W. I don't think the Trojans committed nearly as many penalties though.

Portland State beats Eastern Washington, 28-21. The Viking offense looked very strong in the win as they racked up 520 yards of total offense. Even so, it was a close game. The game ended when Portland State picked off a desperation pass in the end zone.

Sac State rolls over Northern Arizona, 38-9. NAU head coach Jerome Souers didn't give the Hornets much credit, saying "it was one of those games that whatever could go wrong, did go wrong." You know what, you got stomped. It wasn't just things going wrong. Sac State obviously played well.

Montana State rallies from 10-0 deficit to beat Idaho State. The Bobcats had a strong third quarter and Demetrius Crawford ran for 173 yards on 23 carries as the Bobcats' 40-20 win put the Bengals 0-2 in the conference.

Northern Colorado loses to Cal Poly, 56-21. What can I say? They got this losing thing down.

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The Griz sit in their usual spot while Montana State moved from 20th to 18th. Eastern Washington debuts in the poll at #25 and Portland State is working on climbing its way back in.

Team (First-place votes)	Record	Points	Previous Rank
1. Appalachian State Mountaineers (90)	3-0	2,250	1
2. Montana Grizzlies	2-0	2,055	2
3. Massachusetts Minutemen	3-0	1,985	3
4. Northern Iowa Panthers	3-0	1,943	4
5. North Dakota State Bison	2-0	1,843	5
6. McNeese State Cowboys	2-0	1,763	8
7. Southern Illinois Salukis	3-0	1,662	7
8. James Madison Dukes	2-1	1,641	9
9. Youngstown State Penguins	2-1	1,626	6
10. New Hampshire Wildcats	1-1	1,426	12
11. Delaware Blue Hens	3-0	1,344	10
12. Hampton Pirates	2-0	1,122	13
13. Wofford Terriers	2-1	1,053	11
14. Illinois State Redbirds	2-1	971	17
15. Hofstra Pride	2-0	794	19
16. Furman Paladins	1-2	728	15
17. Sam Houston State Bearkats	2-1	693	16
18. Montana State Bobcats	1-1	564	20
19. Western Illinois Leathernecks	2-1	505	22
20. Eastern Illinois Panthers	1-2	468	14
21. Yale Bulldogs	1-0	417	21
22. Lafayette Leopards	3-0	324	25
23. Alabama A&M Bulldogs	3-0	184	NR
24. Cal Poly Mustangs	1-2	160	NR
25. Eastern Washington Eagles	2-0	155	NR

Others receiving votes: Delaware State 154, Nicholls State 150, Drake 99, Georgia Southern 98, The Citadel 87, Towson 85, Richmond 59, San Diego 58, Northern Arizona 57, Alabama State 40, Villanova 34, Portland State 33, South Carolina State 30, Jackson State 26, Missouri State 22, Tennessee State 21, North Carolina Central 18, Holy Cross 17, Dayton 13, South Dakota State 13, Southern 13, Lehigh 12, Grambling 11, Texas State 11, Albany 8, Prairie View 8, Gardner-Webb 6, Princeton 6, Stony Brook 4, Harvard 2, Liberty 2, Northeastern 2, William & Mary 2, Coastal Carolina 1, Cornell 1, Iona 1, UC Davis 1.

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Portland State saves their season with a 35-24 win over Sac State. The Vikings probably went into this game the same way Michigan will go into their conference schedule. PSU will not get great playoff seeding but they can still win the conference and make the playoffs. Unlike the Wolverines, the Viks can still win a National Championship. It's not likely, but as a Cubs fan, I like to think anyone can win once they get in the playoffs.

Montana State kills Dixie State, 61-7. Nice job guys, nice job. Some people mark this as some sort of sign that MSU is fine and will be something of a contender. The win is what it is. If you're proud of a D-II shilacking, that's not good. I'm not saying the Cats will or will not be a factor in the 'Sky but the only message this sends is that they can blow out a team from a lower division. Good to know.

NAU falls to Appalachian State, 34-21. It would've been nice to see a Big Sky team get mentioned on SC for beating the giant-killers from Boone, but it didn't happen as the Mountaineers won their 17th straight game. It could've been worse. If NAU can keep it within two possessions, maybe the Griz can pull off a win.

Weber State blown out by Cal Poly, 47-19. The Weber State secondary allowed Mustangs quarterback Jonathan Dally to rack up Colt Brennan-esque numbers in the loss. The kid tossed 6 TDs on 328 yards.

Northern Colorado loses to San Diego, 49-13. This type of score was expected with the Bears coming off a huge loss to D-II Chadron State. On a positive note, they did find a running back. David Woods finished with 180 all-purpose yards.

Eastern beats UC Davis, 41-31. It wasn't Bengals-Browns but the Eagles and Aggies combined for almost 1,000 total yards. The Aggies had more yards and the Eagles had more points.

Idaho State trounced by Oregon State, 61-10. You know the deal. Big Sky team plays FBS opponent, Big Sky team loses by 30+ while the FBS team puts up huge numbers. Whatever pays the bills.

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As reported by a couple other sources, Rodney Stuckey has hired an agent and will not be returning to Eastern Washington as he takes his shot at the NBA.

Dave Trimmer, who writes for the Spokane Review and their EWU Sports blog points out how disappointing it is to look back on Stuckey's tenure as an Eagle.

First, no hard feelings for Stuckey leaving. It's The League and it's big bucks.

Second, it's a travisty that the Eagles managed just one postseason berth and a 30-29 record in the "Stuckey Era." There is plenty of blame to go around from the coaches, other Eagles and Stuckey, heck, even the recently departed A.D. if you will but only Stuckey is going to the big time. The others will rue the day they let this oportunity get away. A knock on Stuckey is putting up his numbers in a weak league. Shouldn't a team with a player of his calibre accomplished more in a weak league?

He does think Stuckey will make it though.

Fifth, I think he'll make it. His strength, finishing ability and point guard experience will make him a valuable asset in any back court. And, with him projected in the second half of the first round, he could end up with a better team, which lessons the pressures and demands on a rookie.

I'm not sure Stuckey will make it or not, but I find it odd how much value is being placed on this guy. Sports Illustrated has him going at 18 to the Warriors. The main point I have is one that everyone has heard before on Stuckey, how does a player of this calibre fail to make it the NCAA tournament, win the BSC regular season title, or even make it to the Big Sky Tournament championship game?

One completely random thought I've always had is just how much of an effect an NBA star would have on a mediocre college basketball team. For example: If you plucked LeBron James out of the NBA (now, during this coma of a conference final) and put him on the Griz, could he carry them to an National Championship? I don't have an answer, but it's fun to imagine. Rodney Stuckey isn't Lebron James -- and the Eagles aren't the Griz -- but if Stuckey's so good, he should've shown it a bit more.

Back from the tangent, is Rodney Stuckey this valuable? Seriously. According to SI, he is the 18th best player coming out of school this year. 18th best! Go ahead and sip that, swirl it around, and try to give me a reason why he can't carry his team to conference title. His record: 30-29.  A single game above .500.

The more I look at it, the more I think whoever did this mock draft is a nut. If Golden State is sitting there at 18 with Arron Afflalo (UCLA!) and Alando Tucker (Wisc., was in POY running) still available, they can't honestly take Stuckey, can they? If you put either of these guys on EWU, I don't think the team goes 30-29 over two seasons.

In a calmer conclusion, Rodney Stuckey is a very good player, but not as good as some (SI) may think. I've looked at a few more mock drafts and other experts have him going after the two players I mentioned, which would be best. His best shot at NBA success is the end of the first round. If he goes there, to a team like the Suns, he's a role player who could contribute in the future. If he goes at the beginning of the first round to the Grizzlies (that'd be kind of ironic) he's screwed because he's shown he can't lead a mediocre team to success. The player I think he's most like is Flip Murray. It all just depends on whether or not he's Flip on the Sonics -- is impressive on offense but can't play defense or carry a team to wins -- or Flip on the Pistons -- a legitimate bench player who contributes when he's put in for offensive purposes.

Either way, he can't get too upset about anything. He's going to the NBA no matter what. The freakin NBA. He's my age and if he doesn't screw up too bad he'll never have to work another day in his life. Seriously, fun everyday. To ensure this goes down, he should find and punch Robert Horry. You know, as a pre-draft gesture of loyalty to the Suns.

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Last night's game had its ups and downs but the Griz came out with a win over EWU and stayed in second place, two games back of Weber State.

The game's two best player's had to be Jordan Hasquet and Stu Mayes. Jordan was great on the offensive end, scoring 26, and getting to the basket for some big shots when the Griz needed them most.

Stuart Mayes was great on the defensive side of the ball, spending most of the second half inside Rodney Stuckey's shirt. Mayes, with help from Matt Dlouhy, held Stuckey to only 19 points.

The Griz needed this win, coming off a home loss to PSU. Things could be worse, but they're still in the thick of the BSC race with home game left against the first place Wildcats.

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Tonight the Montana Grizzlies take on Sacramento State in the Tree City as they look to win two of three on the road to start conference play.

The Griz are coming off a 74-71 loss to Eastern Washington. Winning two out of three on the road to start conference play would be great but imagine if we would've had a shot at 3-0. It'd be like starting off 20 meters down the track in a 100 yard dash seeing as the Griz only lost one game in Dahlberg last year. A road win over probably their biggest contender could have been very influential in deciding where the BSC tournament is hosted.

That game's over though and going into this game, the Griz come in looking once again like BSC contenders. They are ranked second on Idaho State Journal writer Kelis Robinett's BSC power rankings.

This doesn't say too much seeing as it's the second week of conference play and only one team has come out of it unscathed. This team is Weber State, who beat the Northerns and if NCAA Tournament selects were made today, ESPN says they'd be a 15 seed. Needless to say, the BSC is about as wide open as Joakim Noah's teeth.
Even though the Griz once again appear to be contenders, they are still looking for more consistent play. If there was a stat that measured the scoring differential about 5 minutes into the game, I'm guessing they dominate this useless stat like Mike Vanderjagt dominated FG accuracy. Yeah, it only counts if you make them/have the lead at the end of the game.

It seems as though the Griz have come out great and then seem to fade towards the end of the first half with the opposing team making a run and usually leading going into the break. Then, when the Griz should be coming out strong after the break, they fade a little bit more. The game is usually decided with somewhere between 5 and 10 minutes left in the game They either drop out of contention or make a run to turn it into a game. This sounds like an awful way to play the game.

Info on Sac State: they're 6-8 overall and 1-1 in conference play. They beat Northern Colorado but lost to Northern Arizona. Note of interest: They got trounced by Mamba Karl and Boise State by 33 while our Griz beat them by 4.

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With last night's road victory over the Portland State Vikings, Wayne Tinkle moved within 872 wins of Bobby Knight.

In more important news, this Griz team is starting to play like they're supposed to and Cameron Rundles is the future.

The Griz came to the Stotts Center, where PSU was 6-0, and won a game that was far more important to their confidence than their overall record. They go into conference play and another big game against the Eagles knowing that they are not a flop but potentially the most talented team, top to bottom, in the Big Sky Conference.

True freshman PG Cameron Rundles showed that this will not only be his team in the future, but right now has as much of an impact as the players with more seniority. Cam finished with a career high 20 as he led all scorers. He also made this team run and flow. Once last night he got a defensive rebound and just took off for the opposing team's basket, not stopping until he was fouled in the lane.

Stu Mayes, who earlier this season was kind of in the dog house with Tinks, played great off the bench as he scored 10 big points including a tip-in with 13 seconds left that sealed the win.

This team is completely coming together as everyone is finding out what their role is and going out and doing it. Like I sort mentioned before, this team is finding it's identity as a team that can go out and run.

Next up is EWU on Saturday. They were shocked by MSU at the buzzer so Rodney Stuckey -- this kid needs a nickname, like Mamba and Agent Zero -- is going to be pissed.

A win in this could be just as big as the PSU win, except this time for the standings. Two road wins in the conference would be a great jump start. And because I thought this was hilarious when i saw it on TV last night, another great jump start after the break.

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The Montana Grizzlies football team has it pretty good. They've been in the playoffs pretty much every year since the beginning of time and average more than 20,000 fans a game. What's not to hate for anyone who's a fan from another conference team? It's really not even fair.

This from a EWU fan's blog:

Most people who move here want to be native Montanans right away. The most prevalent way of accomplishing this, or so they think, is to go buy University of Montana license plates. If every car with a UM license plate had a kid attending UM, the school would be as big as The Ohio State University. I think it is ridiculous. The funny thing, after you have lived here for over 10 years you can tell the difference between a Montanan and a transplant with ease. But the license plate thing with the Montana Grizzlies is just way overdone. My wife bought me a “Montana Grizzlies pull over. And I don't wear it. And so I have developed resentment for all the Grizzly� bullshit. What about MSU? You never see any MSU Bobcat stuff. So screw the Grizzlies.

Here's part of an article he mentions. It's by Easterner  senior writer Brandon Hansen:

Forget the Yankees as the evil empire, a bastion that stands for everything that is wrong in sports. All you have to do is get on I-90 and head down to the biggest snobville in the western United States: Missoula, Montana. The Smugness levels from that place rival that of San Francisco.

Not sure what else to say other than wondering what it would be like to be in the Big Sky Conference and not go to UM. I mean I was pretty disappointed when I didn't get into a I-A school like Notre Dame and Wisconsin, but coming here has been a pleasant surprise as the football team romps through the conference and the hoops team made it to the second round of the dance. Really, could any Griz so much as tolerate being stuck in Cheney, Washington? Being from Seattle, I saw everything east of the Cascades (besides the Gorge) a big, dry, boring nothing. I didn't even know Eastern Washington University existed, let alone consider applying. Tack on the fact that their teams aren't that great and they don't have too much to cheer for besides Rodney Stuckey and it's easy to see why these two individuals aren't happy.

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For quite some time, I have neglected to write about anything other than Montana football and I think it's about time for a change.

Prior to just a few weeks ago, I didn't think that many people really cared about sports like volleyball. But after attending a match against Weber State I saw this wasn't the case, and for very good reason.

Volleyball is very fast paced and far more entertaining than I could've imagined. Just about every point in a volleyball match ends in one girl setting the ball up into the air and another smashing it down in the face of one, two, and sometimes even three opponents who are trying to send it back Dikembe Mutombo style. Each game, besides the fifth which is first to 15, is first to 30 in the best of 5 match; this means there is probably over 100 alley-oop dunks worth of action.

The Griz volleyball team is coming off its second straight loss, this one being a sweep (is that term used in volleyball?) at the hands of EWU. I guess they had to make up for the football beating somewhere. With the losses, the Griz fall to 4-3 in Big Sky Conference play and 8-9 overall.

Thursday night the Griz face firts-place Sacramento State so everyone should try and make it. I hate to sound like a high school  announcement but every sports fan really try and attend, even if they're pretty sure they won't like volleyball. Not like they need it, the volleyball team already gets a great turnout with the likes of Craig Chambers (coming off a 5 catch 82 yard performance against Sac State), ineligible OU transfer JD Quinn and Andrew Strait all at the last game I attended.

In other action: The Griz soccer team beat Northern Arizona 4-0 on Friday and lost to Northern Colorado 2-1 on Sunday. In Friday's match Lindsay Winans scored three goals in 18 minutes. I think just about everyone knows how great it feels to be in such a groove, whether it's a varsity high school basketball game or just being "on fire" while playing NBA Jam on Sega Genesis. I'm guessing doing so while playing D-1 soccer is a little different... but still kind of close to the same.

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The Griz travel to to Cheney this weekend and I have to say I am more afraid of the television coverage than anything. I'm not going to lie, last week was the first time I had watched a Griz game on TV and I think a high school AV club could have done a better job with the camera work. If the main cameraman was a safety he would get lit up more than the "Fresh Donuts" sign at Krispy Kreme because he bit on the play fake every single time. I can live without the yellow first-down line but the camera work has got to improve.

Anyway, here are the previews for this week's game.

• The Missoulian:
  •  Griz ground Game gets going. Bradshaw, the junior transfer from Louisville, has 209 yards. His per-game average of 52.2 yards ranks sixth in the league, but he does have a Big Sky-best five rushing touchdowns. Meanwhile, senior Brady Green continues to bounce out of tackles and produce big plays. His 34-yard run against Portland State last week, in and out of the tackle of safety Charles Manigo, was nearly the stuff of legend.
  • Swogger brings a cannon, and can dish a little pain.
  • Eagles still waiting to fly.
• Big Sky Football Blog: "After last week's victory over Portland State, Montana has proven they are currently cream of the crop in the Big Sky."
• CSTV.com: Eastern Washington is 0-2 at home this season, while Montana is 1-1 on the road. EWU has not lost three straight home games since the 1995 season. The Grizzlies are 8-4 in road conference games under Hauck. Montana leads in the Big Sky in rushing offense (141.5 ypg.) and scoring offense (32.0 ppg). Eastern Washington is allowing 32.0 points per game and is allowing a league-worst 202 rushing yards per game. Montana ranks second in the Big Sky in rushing defense (199.5 ypg) and total defense (277 ypg). Eastern Washington ranks fifth in the league in passing offense (193.4 ypg) and fifth in total offense (279 ypg). Montana ranks first in the nation in net punting. UM QB Josh Swogger is completing 61.3 percent of his passes with five touchdowns and four interceptions. EWU QB Matt Nichols is completing 52.2 percent of his passes for 925 yards with two touchdowns and eight interceptions. Montana committed four turnovers against Portland State. EWU had three turnovers last week against Sacramento State. UM and EWU ranked first and second, respectively, in the Big Sky in punt return average.
• The Kaimin:
  • Griz get a spike in play from strong defensive ends.
  • Griz Football travels to Cheney in hopes of revenge against Eagles.

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The Griz continue their swing on the road with a matchup in Cheney against the Eagles of Eastern Washington where UM looks to extend its win streak to 4 and remain undefeated in conference play.

EWU is coming off of a Big Sky Championship and  7-6 season. Even though the Eagles are reigning conference champions (as are the Griz) and did win by 14 the last time the two teams met, I don't think the Griz will be too intimidated.

The Eagles lost quarterback and Walter Payton Award (best player in I-AA) winner Erik Meyer and come boasting a not very impressive 1-4 record. Yes, their first two losses were against Oregon State and #6 West Virginia (cha-ching), but they also have two losses against Division II Central Washington and lowly Sac State, who Montana beat by 45.

EWU is 1-1 in the Big Sky Conference so a win over first place UM would put them right back into contention and, at  worst, a half game back of PSU (assuming they win over MSU).

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According to MontanaGrizzlies.com, there will be a rooter bus for anyone interested in attending the game against the Eastern Washington Eagles.

The Montana Grizzly Scholarship Association will be taking a booster bus to Cheney, WA for the Montana-EWU State game on Oct. 7th. There will be one bus, leaving from the Adams Center on Saturday morning Oct. 7th at 8:00 a.m. The buses will return to Missoula following the game.

Cost of the Eastern Washington trip is $100 per person, which covers transportation, snacks and beverages on bus, a barbeque ticket at the UM tailgate, and a premium seat in the Grizzly Section.

The Eagles are defending co-Big Sky champs, but I don't think I'm going to plunk down the $100 to take this bus. It is possible I'll try and get the the game via other means.

I am interested in going to some away games this year, whether football or otherwise. I'm saying right now that when the Grizzlies basketball team makes the NCAA tournament I am taking that bus.

Anyone have any experience with Griz rooter buses? Thoughts?

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