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When the Griz went down big early, like they have frequently before, I was already beginning to conjure up titles for this post. Griz are not one of Big Sky's elite stood out more than other options. This team had already gotten trounced by Portland State and looked like it was going to roll over just the same against NAU, who took those Vikings quadruple to (!!) overtime on Sunday.

It's too often that they go down early. Just as frequently, they make a run to get in the game but can't quite get all the way back. Honestly, how rare is it that Griz radio guy Mick Holien doesn't say "no hill for a climber" during a broadcast? For the first time since I can remember, the Griz actually climbed that hill.

The reason? Anthony Johnson picked up this half-assed team and threw them over his shoulder, scoring 32 after dropping 31 on Montana State. Like Tebow in last night's National Championship game, he simply said "there's no effing way we're losing this game," hitting mid-range jumpers and putting himself on the line. In the process, he fired up others, forcing them to bring their game to where he was. McGillis' late no-hesitation 3-point dagger is a prime example.

But why this game? Why did wait until now to show the potential and resilience of a decent team? Glenn Junkert of grizzlyjournal has a quote from Coach Tinkle on the rally:

“But, our rally at halftime was... let’s throw caution to the wind, in not so many words. And our guys responded. It was nice to fight all that way, and get over the top and pull out the win. So many times we’ve fought, fought, fought, fell up short. It was great. And I think that’s what you saw as the horn went off, was the excitement of coming from that much of a deficit and closing it out.”

This team played loose, they played with confidence. They looked like they were having fun. Who knew that was possible? It'll be interesting to see if they take this approach with the offense, possibly moving Johnson back to the off-guard and cutting him loose while CET or Stockton man the point.

I thought these Grizzlies had turned the corner once this season with a win over Texas-Arlington, but that wasn't the case. Maybe this win is finally it, maybe this is a major turning point for this team and Coach Tinkle. Maybe not. But we have Sac State on Saturday. I don't know what the single game scoring record is, but someone may want to check.

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The Montana Grizzlies moved up two spots to sixth in the latest FCS Top 25 rankings after their mauling of the Northern Colorado Bears (ooo, see what I did there?). Weber State is up three spots to #13 after beating Northern Arizona. NAU is down four places to #19.

Here are the complete rankings, courtest of The Sports Network.

Team (First-place votes)	Record	Points	Previous Rank
1. James Madison Dukes (98)	7-1	2,594	1
2. Appalachian State Mountaineers (3)	6-2	2,457	2
3. Wofford Terriers (2)	6-1	2,324	4
4. Cal Poly Mustangs (1)	5-1	2,210	6
5. Northern Iowa Panthers	6-2	2,033	5
6. Montana Grizzlies	7-1	1,959	8
7. Villanova Wildcats	5-2	1,823	7
8. Richmond Spiders	6-3	1,778	9
9. New Hampshire Wildcats	6-1	1,687	10
10. Elon Phoenix	7-2	1,581	3
11. Central Arkansas Bears	7-1	1,514	13
12. Western Illinois Leathernecks	5-2	1,473	12
13. Weber State Wildcats	7-2	1,461	16
14. Southern Illinois Salukis	5-2	1,391	14
15. Massachusetts Minutemen	5-3	976	17
16. William & Mary Tribe	5-2	792	23
17. Liberty Flames	7-1	763	20
18. Furman Paladins	6-3	722	18
19. Northern Arizona Lumberjacks	6-2	715	15
20. McNeese State Cowboys	4-3	665	11
21. Lafayette Leopards	6-1	585	24
22. South Carolina State Bulldogs	6-2	489	NR
23. Harvard Crimson	5-1	395	25
24. Tennessee-Martin Skyhawks	7-2	270	NR
25. Tennessee State Tigers	6-2	156	19

Others receiving votes: Texas State 127, South Dakota State 95, Maine 70, Jacksonville State 67, North Dakota State 66, Prairie View 63, Georgia Southern 60, Hampton 54, Florida A&M 47, Colgate 44, Northwestern State 33, Eastern Washington 32, Grambling 27, Penn 26, Albany 25, UC Davis 25, Eastern Kentucky 24, San Diego 14, Holy Cross 11, Sacred Heart 10, Monmouth 4, North Dakota 4, Morgan State 3, Dayton 2.

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The Montana Grizzlies jumped up four spots to #8 after their win over Eastern Washington. The Eagles fell out of the rankings as Northern Arizona and Weber State moved up to #17 and #18 respectively.

Here are the complete rankings, courtesy of The Sports Network.

Team (First-place votes)	Record	Points	Previous Rank
1. James Madison Dukes (105)	6-1	2,649	1
2. Appalachian State Mountaineers (1)	4-2	2,507	2
3. Elon Phoenix	6-1	2,151	6
4. Wofford Terriers	4-1	2,082	8
5. Cal Poly Mustangs	3-1	2,037	7
6. Northern Iowa Panthers	4-2	1,884	10
7. Villanova Wildcats	4-1	1,876	9
8. Montana Grizzlies	5-1	1,804	12
9. Richmond Spiders	4-3	1,608	5
10. Massachusetts Minutemen	4-2	1,497	13
11. New Hampshire Wildcats	4-1	1,458	4
12. McNeese State Cowboys	3-2	1,440	3
13. Central Arkansas Bears	5-1	1,291	14
14. Liberty Flames	6-0	1,152	15
15. Western Illinois Leathernecks	4-2	1,054	17
16. Southern Illinois Salukis	3-2	1,034	16
17. Northern Arizona Lumberjacks	5-1	932	18
18. Weber State Wildcats	5-2	771	22
19. Furman Paladins	5-2	744	20
20. North Dakota State Bison	3-3	645	11
21. South Dakota State Jackrabbits	3-3	348	25
22. Tennessee State Tigers	5-1	333	NR
23. Jacksonville State Gamecocks	4-2	265	19
24. The Citadel Bulldogs	3-3	184	21
25. Hampton Pirates	4-1	173	NR

Others receiving votes: William & Mary 129, Harvard 100, South Carolina State 97, Texas State 81, Eastern Washington 78, Georgia Southen 61, Sam Houston State 60, San Diego 38, Lafayette 29, Tennessee-Martin 25, Delaware 24, Eastern Kentucky 22, Prairie View 21, Northwestern State 17, Grambling 13, UC Davis 12, Colgate 11, Princeton 11, Sacred Heart 11, Eastern Illinois 10, Maine 10, Cornell 9, North Dakota 9, Southern 7, Yale 6, Northeastern 6, Montana State 5, Florida A&M 4, Delaware State 1, Penn 1.

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Contrary to what I was hoping for, Portland State did not choke. They beat Northern Arizona 67-51 for their first tourney appearance.

I tried to watch what I could of the Big Sky Tournament but it was tough. I always need a break from sports after my team loses. To be honest, during the semis, I was catching up on LOST. The title of episode that came up: Not in Portland. Swear to God. I couldn't even make that up. Too fitting.

This is the second year in a row I've had to write one of these posts, it better not happen next year. Apologies for the lack of updates lately. Been a busy week with midterms and papers. In the next week or so leading up to another hiatus (Cabo), I'll be writing a series of posts titled What I want to see next year. So, yeah, look out. Also, LG coverage. I'll try to make this nonstop joyous celebration a little more bearable for those of us who aren't doing it.

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Alright, going to try to do at least one of these a game. Most of the time it's going to be just one, whether it's a mix of a few, the one with the best quotes or the clip with the best audio quality.

Tonight, there wasn't much to said for the Griz. Not a great showing but you couldn't really point at one particular thing and say "this is why we lost."

So, tonight, we go with the winning coach, NAU's Mike Adras. I stumbled through a couple questions. Also, not a "huge" difference in FT shooting, 63 percent to about 70 percent. I guess it just seemed like they were making everything when we couldn't hit one.

Here's coach Adras on getting a win after a rough stretch, free-throw shotting and the game inside.

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Don't get me wrong, I love fan support on the road. Hell, there aren't many things in sports more enjoyable than going into an opposing venue, having your team win then taunting opposing fans on the way out the door. Really, it's a hoot. However, dancing like this should be avoided. I know the Griz tend to have more fans on the road than any other BSC team so I hope that they don't look like this when they celebrate.

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This game never felt right. From about Friday afternoon on, it never felt like we were definitely going to win. The buzz wasn't there. I walked in about a half hour before the game and was close to the first student there. Then the game started and the almost-numb feeling stayed. In the early stages the Jacks lead varied but stayed within five points. There was no fire, no attitude.

The Griz made a few runs and even led by as much as 7 (48-41 15:41 left in the second) but they could not get legitimate separation. After the game, coach Tinkle spoke about the Griz's inability to get any momentum.

"It seemed like anytime we got momentum going, it was somehow taken away from us," Wayne Tinkle said.

I hate to do this and I don't want this to be one of those instances where I blame the officiating —the referees did not shoot 71 percent in the second half—but it was definitely a factor. The goal of any officiating crew should be to go unnoticed. If the game is well officiated, no one says anything about it. No one remembers it. Tonight, it lingers.

There were several instances when I thought they controlled the game when they didn't need to, almost as if they felt they needed to be a part of it. After a past game, I asked one player about the officiating and he echoed the same thing, saying "I know he was just trying to control the game."

Even without the poor officiating, the Griz would not have won this game. They were 19-28 from the line (3-11 in the first half) and were out-rebounded 35-24.

Tinkle said the loss of center Brian Qvale hurt on both ends of the floor. "When guys get to the rim, he's there to block shots and we really miss that presence underneath."

Besides Qvale's presence underneath, there was another key barometer for a win missing from tonight's game: Ryan Staudacher's outside touch.

For those who made it to the game, his 2-7 from beyond the arc isn't very telling. He wasn't forcing up shots and he wasn't missing badly. Every time he shot it seemed like there was a piece of plexi-glass about four inches beneath the rim. I counted three or four shots that seemed like they were almost all the way down before popping out. Ryan spoke about it after the game.

"Sometimes you just have those nights, but it was frustrating. They all felt good, I thought they were all in but they just rattled in and out. There's nothing you can do about it."

Just not a very enjoyable game all-around. Weber State on Thursday. One game at a time.

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You know the deal. Live comments and photos straight from the University of Montana student section.

Photos can be found at flickr.com/grizzoulian. Most recent ones will be ahead of anything showing last game's final score. Should be recognizable.

Live updates can be found at twitter.com/colinokeefe. Also available in the flashy thing below. Use arrows to scroll through.

This post can also work as a live thread for the game. If you have any comments or questions, leave them. While I may not respond in the comments section, I'll get them and may respond in the Twitter feed. Also, if you have anything you want me to ask coaches and or players after the game, leave those in the comments as well. Not guaranteed that I pose the suggested questions but I will take a look at them and strongly consider it.

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With the injury to Brian Qvale, the Griz are looking to sure up their bench by adding tight end Dan Beaudin. Only news I have on this comes from the Missoulian.

The Griz have also buttressed their thin bench by recruiting Dan Beaudin from the Griz football team. Beaudin, a 6-foot-5, 240-pound tight end, earned all-state honors in basketball for two years at Class C Noxon.

“He's up for the challenge,” Tinkle said of Beaudin, who practiced with the Griz on Friday and will suit up Saturday.

The Griz can use all the big men they can get to deal with NAU center Kyle Landry. Landry is second in the league in scoring at 17.7 ppg, and third in rebounding at 8.3 a game. Josh Wilson fuels the Jack attack at the point, averaging 11.3 points and a league-best 5.8 assists a game.

How does this type of thing come up? Does Dan go to Tinkle or did someone tell Tinkle about Dan? Anyone?

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Even though last night's men's effort was absolutely wretched, there were two positives to emerge. One of them was an absolute trouncing of NAU by the Lady Griz.

I'd say it's damn near impossible to start a game better than the Lady Griz started last night. Twelve minutes in, the Lady Griz were up 24-0. Not only is that on pace to pitch a shut-out, but also to score about 85-90 points. Both the offense and defense were there. The Lady Griz led 44-14 at half en route to a 77-55 win. Here's Britney Lohman on the win:

“We came out with a vengeance tonight,” said Lohman, who matched her season high with 18 points on 7-for-9 shooting. “It was tough to lose to them (last season) on our home floor in front of our fans, especially in the conference tournament.

“Tonight we were going to send a message of how we're going to play this year and not be scared of a team that handed it to us last year.”

I have no doubt that Lohman, who led the LG with 18 points, was not only vengeful over last season's loss, but her recent legal troubles as well. Lohman and Johanna Closson combined to score the Lady Griz's first 22 points, each netting 11.

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Griz play like the Griz in the second half and lose to NAU 72-64. Here are notes from the second half:

• I thought the second half against MSU was the worst I've ever seen. This one comes close.
• The Griz got away from what they did in the first half. The offense was horrendous. I can't think of a single good offensive possession that stands out in the entire second twenty minutes. Just horrendous. In the first half the Griz ran a patient yet purposeful offense.
  
• Shooting wasn't there. The Griz were not getting Staudacher the ball. He also wasn't getting the same open looks. As I'm typing this in what are essentially garbage minutes, Staudacher hits a fadeaway three. Inside offense should be run around Jordo and Drew while outside game points toward him. Great personnel for an inside-out offense and we're not taking advantage of it.
  
• Free throws weren't good. The turning point in the game was probably with about six minutes left when the broadcasters said it would come to free throws. I knew we'd have a tough time from there.
• Cam fouled out really early on some terrible calls. The charge that sent him out was awful as the defender really slid in front of him. While it was going downhill before that, once he went out, the offense didn't have much flow.
• I don't know what else to say. It was your typical Griz second half. It was awful. As it was happening I wanted to tell myself that this would be different, that NAU would make a run and we'd make one and pull away. Didn't happen. They made a run, tied it, then got a few good possessions and some breaks, then it was over.
• Ceylon Elgin-Taylor's foul trouble hurt bad.
• This team doesn't have it. Not right now, probably not this season. They cannot play forty minutes. There is zero composure. None. No one—coaches, upper-classmen, not anyone—is holding this team together. No composure. Cam picked up a ticky tack charge to foul out then Jordan Hasquet drills someone and gets an intentional foul. Game was pretty much over after that.

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I decided not to to the full live blog and just enjoy the fact that the Griz are on TV. That doesn't mean you're not getting content during the game. Here are my notes from the first half.

• And I thought we didn't get enough fans. There is no one at this game. Based on TV it looks like there's less than 500 people there. No, I'll be honest. Based on TV it looks like there are less than 100 people at the game.
  
• The University of Montana needs to find a way to get on TV more. This is too good. Get on FSN Rocky Mountain. "They have professional hockey, basketball and baseball though! And bigger colleges!" So does FSN AZ. This is great. Look at how many people are at this game.Griz games would get at least three times as many viewers.
  • NAU's commercials blow.
• The offense looks good. Not great, but good. Hell, when Ryan Staudacher is in and CET is running the point, I'll give it a "very good."
• CET: He is the starting point guard and should get most of the minutes at that spot. He can't shoot. Sooo, that's why he's not a shooting guard. He's great at distributing and driving to the basket. Not great at finishing but just driving opens up so much on offense.
• Ryan Staudacher should be getting star minutes. Jordan Hasquet-like minutes. He is great. The knock on Ryan is that he can't "create his own shot." I've said it myself and I don't think it's wrong either. The thing is, he is the very best person on the team at getting open shots. He comes off his screens harder than any other Griz. Once he gets the looks, he knocks them down. The hustle is the best part though. Watch him. No one gets as open as him.
• Martin is a shooting guard. That's just the way it is. The offense slows down a bit (not a ton) when he's at the 1. He's better filling in as a shooter.
• Griz are killing NAU on the boards. It's 19 to 10. Not even close. NAU is not boxing out at all and the Griz are taking advantage.
• Griz are making the extra pass. It's happened a couple times. Both times I recall had the pass going to Drew. One where the shot clock was winding down and Cam found him for a layup. Another time, Jordo was close to the basket, went up for a shot against a double team then laid it off to Drew as he was going up. Drew finished easily.
• NAU is not a very good team. At least not right now. They're not making their shots and are getting killed on the boards. A win here could do a lot of good to the Griz's confidence considering NAU's success in past years. This year, they're a bad good team. Yes, I meant to type both words.
• Griz need to play 40 minutes. If they do, they'll pull away and the 'Jacks won't even be there at the end. That's been the knock on the Griz to this point. This is there chance to rid themselves of it.
• They showed a graphic saying the Lady Griz were down 26-3 at half to NAU. They had it wrong, it's the other way around. Ahahahahaha.

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According to DirecTV's guide (pictured above), tonight's game against Northern Arizona should be on Fox Sports Net Arizona. Of course, you have to get that channel to get the game. It's not included in basic packages and requires that you have some sort of sports pack. It does not require you to have any college hoops package, I believe. I'm really not sure. I'm assuming it's possible they black out the game like they do baseball ones but this game isn't listed on the ESPN FullCourt schedule so why would it be blacked out?

I'm really not trying to get my hopes up too far after what happened last week. Imagine if that game hadn't been blacked out and this game actually goes on air. Back-to-back televised Griz games in the span of one week. Is this what it's like rooting for a big-time team? Must be nice.

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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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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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While the Montana Grizzlies have defeated the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks nine times in a row, history is, in a way, on the 'Jacks side. This clip comes from an article on NAU's website.

NAU has lost nine consecutive games to UM, the last win coming during the 1997 season and corresponding to the last non-title season by the Grizzlies.

NAU won 27-24 in front of a sellout crowd at the Walkup Skydome on Oct. 25, 1997...Will 2007 provide the same magical game as the game 10 years ago?

History might be a leading indicator. NAU also posted victories over Montana in 1977 and 1987. Maybe there is magic in the air. The game in '77 was the Walkup Skydome opener and Tom Jurich hit a 54-yard field goal to win the game. In 1987, NAU won 24-17 in the second game of the season.

On a sidenote: this is NAU's homecoming. What does it mean when two teams play their homecoming against you even though you're best team in the conference?

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Above is a good highlight video of last year's Lumberjacks. It includes some cool clips from last year's game in Missoula.

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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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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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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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This is a weekly segment quickly recapping the past week's games in the Big Sky.

Montana beats Fort Lewis 49-0. If there was college fantasy football and you had a few Montana Grizzlies on your team, you would've looked pretty good this weekend. Too bad there's no such thing as college fantasy football and we just wasted our time watching our school trounce a Division II squad. At least the offense was rolling.

Portland State loses again, this time to UC Davis 26-17. This past offseason I said Jerry Glanville has done everything he possibly could to promote and manage the PSU football program. Well, there's more to promoting. The Vikings have flopped coming out of the gate. It will be interesting to season if the preseason hype can survive this awful start. The Viks were up 17-3 at one point before giving up 23 unanswered. Not good.

Northern Arizona fell to the University of Arizona, 45-24. These are the type of games FCS powers need to schedule. Games against beatable FCS teams. NAU isn't a FCS power and was just looking for a local and almost but not quite rivalry-esque game. Those are fine too. The UA offense rolled over the Lumberjacks as their quarterback passed for five touchdowns.

Northern Colorado gets reamed by D-II Chadron State, 31-0. This is the second year in a row a Big Sky team has lost to Chadron St. Why are the Griz playing all these easy games now? What are we preparing for? Conference games? Come on. Sure, Chadron State is one of the best teams in D-II, but so was Northern Colorado before they moved. You can't get shut out, at home, by a team in a lower division.

Idaho State beats NAIA Southern Oregon "respectably," 37-11. That's kind of close for an NAIA school. Probably too close. The Bengals' freshman quarterback Russell Hill completed 20 of his 31 passes. They played well, but it was NAIA so it doesn't really matter.

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It is now official: Northern Arizona will play defending FCS National Champion Appalachian State on September 15. It was rumored that the Griz were interested in such a match-up but it never really panned out as the logistics didn't work for either school.

For those of you wondering why the Griz has such an awful schedule this year and why UM is not playing the Mountaineers, I point to a previous entry containing an email with UM AD Jim O'Day.

Here's a brief excerpt with O'Day's words on Appalachian State. For other information, read the complete email.

Would love to play App State, but the cost may be too high for both schools. Trouble flying in and out of Boone and Missoula. We both estimate about $125,000… which most likely won’t be doable for either this year as we try to pay our bills. The cost of travel to some of these “remote” places is making scheduling more and more challenging and difficult. Everyone has to pay their bills, and wants some money in return for making the trip. Boise is paying in the neighborhood of $185,000 for a guarantee game, and we’re already at $125,000 being offered… with few takers. They say it would cost almost that much just to fly into Missoula and pay accompanying bills.

It's really disappointing that even though we have some of the best attendance in all of the FCS, money was a deciding factor in whether or not this match-up occurred. It's kind of frustrating when you remember that—I believe this is true, comment if I'm wrong— the trip to Flagstaff is about as difficult as it gets.

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The Lady Griz tennis team traveled to Colorado this past weekend to play Denver, Colorado State and Northern Colorado. The weekend could've gone better as the team went 1-2 with losses to Denver and Colorado State. The win came over the Bears. The women's tennis team is now 4-15 this year; they finish up their regular season next weekend against Montana State and Idaho State.

The weekend went a little better for the men's tennis team as staed at home this weekend and went 2-1. They lost to Portland on Friday before picking up wins over Northern Arizona and Weber State on Saturday and Sunday. The men's tennis teams sits at 9-8 on the season and 4-1 in Big Sky Conference play.  They sit by themselves at second place in the conference.

The men's tennis team plays Montana State in Bozeman and Idaho State at home next weekend. They need to win just one of those matches to secure a 2 seed and a bye in the Big Sky Tournament.

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The men's and women's tennis teams continued their solid play as the teams went a combined 2-1 over the weekend.

The men defeated the Idaho Vandals on Saturday after poor weather forced the matches inside. The win pulled their record back up to .500. The Griz started out the season 5-1 before losing six of eight.

The ladies played their second weekend in a row of .500 tennis as they beat Weber State on Friday for their first Big Sky win but lost to Northern Arizona on Sunday after a comeback bid came up short.

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The Northern Arizona Lumberjacks — Lady Lumberjacks? Lumberjills? (that would be a tight name for a women's team)  — stomped Montana State last night and now are looking to beat the other Montana team in tonight's semifinal game.

NAU beat the Cats by a total of 21 points and come into tonight's game with a bit of swagger. Well, at least the NAU coach doesn't sound too afraid in this article in the Montana Kaimin.

“Come to conference tournament time it doesn’t matter if you’ve won 27 games or if you’ve won 15,” said NAU coach Laurie Kelly, whose team entered the tournament with a regular season record of 18-11. “That’s what the tournament’s all about, the feeling that every game could be any team’s last game.

They do have reason to show a bit of confidence; the Lumberjills (come on, it's perfect) have played the Lady Griz close in both meetings this year and beat UM in a semifinal game last year.

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From what I saw of this game, which wasn't much because it filled me with a jealous rage, it was eerily similar to the Griz game last night. NAU was down by 21 (19 in the second half!) and came back to get it within 4. Sure, they never went up like the Griz did but it was pretty close before they let it slip at the end.

I really don't want to describe it much more because it's really kind of frustrating. Watching Weber State get their dance tickets was probably only comparable to how one feels they walk in on their significant other in bed with someone else. "These guys are going instead of us?!"

And where were our beloved Grizzlies when all this was getting underway? OK, I don't know where all of them were but I saw a couple guys at the Food Zoo. THE FOOD ZOO! DURING THE CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP GAME. I pray to God this never happens again because it was honestly one of the saddest sights I have ever seen.

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It's really hard to adequately describe just how this game felt. I don't know if I've every really experienced anything like it. The ride this game took Griz fans is really only comparable to how this whole season felt.

The Griz were down by 22 early in the game and I really can't describe how much I hated the team at this point in the game. Most fans know what I'm talking about. You know; those moments when you can't help but wonder why they can go out and not give a damn while you have so much emotionally invested in them. You can't help but wonder why the players can't get up for a game that decides their season. You have to ask how a coach can't get his team pumped the most important 40 minutes of the season.

Then they go and remind you why you've never been more obsessed with any sports team by playing like their hair is on fire and making up a deficit you thought was far too large. At one point the Griz couldn't be beat on the defense end and could not be stopped when they had the ball. Things were looking up and it appeared as though I would be hopping on a bus tomorrow morning to go watch our Griz get their passes punched for the Big Dance.

Then things started to slip a bit. The lead decreased and Drew headed to the line before a media timeout. Coming out of the timeout, the world was thrown off its tilt for all Griz fans as it seemed like the nothing was right on Earth.

The time out ended and the game was over. The music cued on the radio broadcast for the game to come back but it just wasn't right as the cheesy techno-ish music cut out for a few seconds only to be replaced by cheesy country music and someone announced that they were having technical difficulties.

As the technical difficulty break went on I tried to convince myself that when the game came back we would be up but I couldn't help but be afraid that when it did come back we would be down by some insurmountable margin. Mick came back on what sounded like an old Nokia cell phone and we were down by 9. I had a feeling this was going to happen but had no idea how it did.

The roller coaster went up again as the Griz cut the lead to 5 on a big trey with less than thirty seconds to play. Then it shot downwards for good as the Griz turned it over and the Lumberjacks made two free throws.

It was the story of the season with a poor showing in preseason play then showing strong signs in early conference play.Things dipped after a couples losses but we picked it up again and at one point it looked like we were going to host the tournament. Then we lost a couple big ones and didn't even get a bye. Now it ends in a disappointing loss that we should've won.

That rant is all I have on the game for not but more analysis on the game is sure to come.

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After beating Idaho State, the Griz advance to play the Lumberjacks of Northern Arizona. Whenever one talks about the 'Jacks, they have to mention the great shooting of guard Stephen  Sir, who has been in Flagstaff since around the time when Limp Bizkit was popular. It's interesting to note that Sir, who led the nation in 3-point field goal percentage last year, did not grab the regular season Big Sky crown.

This is from a preview of the Griz/ISU game:

With his five 3-pointers Monday at ISU, Rundles qualified for the league leaders in 3-point percentage and finished first in the league at .481, just ahead of NAU’s Stephen Sir.

Sir has jumped back ahead of Cam, .479 to .471, with Cam's 2-6 performance in the quarterfinal game. This matchup will be an interesting one as outside shooting could play a big role in deciding who goes on to play Weber or Portland State.

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It seems like the Griz have been playing big game after big game -- with the exception of Northern Colorado -- and this is what happens when you're playing from behind in the standings. Tonight's game is big because a win means they get a home game in the conference tournament. Just one of many games with implications, the Griz haven't done so well in these games.

Here, in my opinion, are the three biggest games of the year for the Griz:

• vs Idaho State. The Griz came into this game at 2-2 in conference play and had a shot re-establish themselves as a contender by beating hot-starting ISU. The Bengals entered the game 4-0 and went on to throttle UM by ten in the Den.
• vs Weber State. Weber came into the Zoo in first place and the Griz needed wins to scramble back into the conference picture. The Griz were trailing by double-digits in the second half before apparently turning the season around with a 90-86 victory.
• @ Weber State. This was arguably the biggest game of the year. It was first place versus second place and the winner would control where the conference tourney would be played. The Griz fell in a close one: 73-67.
• vs NAU. The Griz needed this one to help secure their shot at the 2-seed after it no longer it looked like they would be able to host the tournament. Griz came out slow and were fighting from behind the entire game. They never made it all the way back and lost 88-81.

Lets hope the Griz can improve on the 1-4 record in big games; the biggest ones have yet to be played.

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It seems that "power rankings" have reached almost Livestrong bracelet caliber trendiness amongst sports sites with just about everyone with an opinion ranking select group of teams by, um, power.

The Big Sky Conference will now have two sets of power rankings, with Ian Ruder over at Vikings Blog throwing his first set of rankings up today. Kellis Robinett also does BSC power rankings over at his blog in connection with the Pocatello Journal.

In Ian's rankings, the Griz sit at second, behind Weber State and in front of Northern Arizona and Idaho State. This definitely is a bit iffy (the very goal of "power rankings" is to stir up discussion) seeing as the Griz beat WSU last week and are tied in the loss column after road wins over NAU and Northern Colorado.

Here's the caption next to UM's ranking: "If Krystkowiak was still coaching, this deep, talented group would run away with the league. As is, the team seems to be jelling under coach Wayne Tinkle."

I would've agreed with this statement earlier in the season, but I'm not so sure now. This is a very talented team, but they also are team filled with diverse personalities and no real leader. It has taken a lot for this team to come together and I'm not so sure it would've happened any faster under LK.

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Andrew Strait's performance against NAU makes two strong showings in a row for the big fella. No, it wasn't a Hibachi game filled with spectacular plays and a game winner. It was just Drew quietly doing what he does, which is getting the ball and consistently making baskets. Strait was 11-11 from the field, leading all scorers with 23.

The Griz came out and forced their game plan on the Lumberjacks like a teacher forcing students to do a lesson plan they don't want to do. Andrew Strait score 7 of UM's first 10 points and 11 of their first 23. The Griz fed him down low continuously and he kept putting up points.

Not only did Strait have UM back on their style of play, he was also playing his by getting to the basket and not settling for jumpers or hooks. Nine of Strait's 11 field goals came on either layups or dunks.

Force feeding drew down low is essential for the Griz to play at the level their capable of. In many of their losses they, Strait wasn't getting enough attempts and guards were jacking up threes. It's good to see them playing the way the team is suited to play and once again taking advantage of their most talented player.

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Last night's Griz-NAU game was UM's most complete game of the year, but that doesn't mean there weren't a couple iffy stretches. The Griz almost lost the game before they ever even had a chance to win it but Jordan Hasquet made sure they were in it when it mattered.

Throughout the season, the Griz have had trouble finishing the first half. They seem to always come out playing well for the first 5-10 minutes; they came out playing very strong and were up 5 with 15:00 left in the half before things evened up for the next ten or so minutes.

Between the 5:14 and 3:28 mark the Lumberjacks went on a 7-2 run to take a 6 point lead. I was afraid the Griz would fall into old tendencies and the lead would be pushed to double digits before half.

Jordan Hasquet was crucial in the time period when the Griz had previously suffered the most. With the Griz down 6, Hasquet came out after the media timeout and knocked down threes on consecutive possessions. Hasquet also had the two points during the 'Jacks run.

I know games are decided in the second half, and this one on the final shot, but Hasquet made sure the Griz would be in it the whole way. The Griz had been playing from behind in far too many games and Hasquet's big plays during this stretch allowed them to go into the half with a lead and play from the front in the second period. The Lumberjacks led only once in the second half, and this was by one with more than 17 minutes remaining. This gave the Griz the confidence needed to pull off the huge road win.

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Not only did the Griz avoid a major setback loss, they came out and played their most complete game of the year in a  74-71 victory over the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks.

Andrew Strait was very huge for the Griz hitting all eleven of his shots from the field and scoring a game-high 23. Jordan Hasquet hit some big shots and BE led the offense. I've said it before but everyone is beginning to find their role on this team. Hell, even Big Dave Vanderjagt got a minute or two and was able to get his first points.

The win puts the Griz a game back of first place Idaho State (5-2) and Weber State (6-3). Those two faced each other tonight in Pocatello and the Wildcats came away with a win. There are currently four teams tied for that second place spot.

I don't have time to go into too much detail seeing as I have to read almost an entire book by tomorrow (don't you miss college?) but I'm going to try to put up a series of posts on all the factors that contributed to this great win after I go to a couple classes.

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A Missoulian article by Bob Meseroll says the Griz season "hung in the balance" in Saturday's WSU game and the Griz were able to avoid a "devastating loss." The problem is that the potential for another one looms tonight in Flagstaff.

Yes, the Griz won probably their biggest game of the season on Saturday night but tonight's game at NAU good be just as bad as Saturday's game was good.

This morning's Kaimin says both NAU and UM are looking to turn their season's around, and even though the game is big, this headling doesn't really seem right. NAU is 5-3 in BSC play and that's not bad considering how rough conference play for just about everyone this year. After the WSU game it looks like the Griz have turned their season around, they just need to keep it going the right direction.

This feeling was of having everything on track is not new to this season as most fans felt the same after the win over PSU on the road to open BSC play. Following that, they lost to EWU in a big test before falling to Sac State to make it two in a row.

If the Griz win tonight, they will get closer to WSU or ISU as those two face each other tonight in Pocatello. If the Griz win and ISU loses, the Griz would be only a game back of both the Bengals and Wildcats, who would be tied for first.

These two games are huge. The Griz need this one for the standings and themselves. They need to prove they can win big games on the road. Last year's team won in Flagstaff to get the Griz dancing, so lets hope this year's team can win another big one.

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A series of "upsets" over the weekend have made the race for the BSC regular season title much closer and put the Griz right back into its peloton.

The Griz lost to ISU last Wednesday night, another big road win for the Bengals, and gave up and assumed the Big Sky tournament would be played in Pocatello. Then the Cats decided to mess things up a bit.

Montana State beat ISU Saturday when Akbar Abdul-Ahad missed a three at the buzzer. Normally I wouldn't care at all who did this but I made fun of this guy for talking to the cheerleaders in Missoula before inbounding a pass and he responded by saying he'd knock down a three for me, which he did a couple seconds later. A little after that he turned it over and the Griz knocked down a three and now this. Karma.

More importantly, this game puts the Griz only two games back of the Bengals so if they manage to win in Pocatello, they only need to make up one more game elsewhere.

The Griz also sit only a game and a half of Weber State and Northern Arizona as WSU lost to Matt Martin the Griz and NAU lost the Portland State.

This comes with a couple huge games coming up this week: Griz vs NAU and WSU @ ISU.

Related: Around the Big Sky [Vikings Blog]

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According to this week's BSC Power Rankings, which are done by Kellis Robinett of the Idaho State Journal, the Griz are the sixth best team in the Big Sky Conference.

Normally I would think this is a total farce but the Big Sky Conference is all over the place this year. Just look at NAU's ranking and caption. While you're at it, check out Northern Colorado's as well.

3. Northern Arizona (8-7, 3-1) With a trip to Northern Colorado coming up, move NAU to 4-1.

9. Northern Colorado (2-14, 0-4) One RPI service ranks the Bears last among all Division I teams.

Well, in this year's BSC conference, guaranteed wins are a sure thing like Ohio State rolling over Florida was a sure thing. Tonight, NAU fell to UNC on a layup with ten seconds to play.

Most of the other rankings held true as Idaho State beat EWU, moving to 3-0 in conference, and Weber State beat Sac State. Weber State is now sitting pretty after wins on consecutive nights and a 5-1 record in conference play. It is kind of odd that WSU has played six games while some teams have only played three.

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The Montana Grizzlies came in at #19 in this year's first Mid-Major Top 25 poll.

They come in one spot behind conference foe Northern Arizona, who they beat in the BSC tournament last season. The Griz also come in behind Oral Roberts and Loyola Marymount, who they also beat last year. It looks like  voters are really punishing them for losing their backcourt and coach.

Also of interest: Western Kentucky, who the Griz play on Dec. 6 in the Zoo, are ranked 10th.

For a summary of all the preseason previews, check out this entry on the Portland State Blog.

Another interesting tidbit: Griz forward Andrew Strait was named to the Mid-Major All American team.

Complete Mid-Major top 25 after the jump.

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After their very dicey 24-21 victory over NAU, the Griz moved up one spot to #2 in the I-AA Sports Network Division I-AA football poll. This comes after previously 13th ranked James Madison upset former #1 New Hampshire 42-23.

The Griz received two first place votes, fewer than #11 Hampton who received three. In all, eight different schools got at least one first place vote with #3 receiving the most (11) without actually being ranked #1. That title goes to Appalachian State.

Big Sky notables: Portland State moved up two spots to #23 and Montana State is still unranked but they received the second most votes of those not in the rankings. It's looking more and more like this year's Cat/Griz game could have major BSC implications(more on this in Cat-Griz's week 6 rundown). Complete rankings after the jump.

Here are the recaps from Saturday's games:

• Cat-Griz Insider:
  
  • A great escape
  • Week 6 rundown
• ESPN (AP)
• CSTV.com : #3 Montana holds on for win.
• The Missoulian: That's a sack, Jack: Montana defense holds NAU at bay
• Montana Kaimin: Griz defense tackles Lumberjacks with help of home fans.

Here's a great quote from that Kaimin article:

The 23,626 fans in attendance was the sixth-largest crowd in Washington-Grizzly Stadium’s history. NAU senior quarterback Jason Murrietta said playing in Missoula is never easy and it was particularly hard on that last drive.

“I think it was really difficult especially in that drive to get things going at a faster pace,” Murrietta said. “The crowd is a huge factor.”

When I was walking out of Wash-Griz after the game I heard not only that extremely loud bell, but a lot of people griping about Hauck going for it on the NAU 11 with 1:13 left to play instead of kicking a field goal that would've put the Griz up 6.

I totally agree with Hauck on this call, you go for the win right there and then. If you kick a field goal, there isn't that much of a difference between 3 and 6 points; a touchdown wins it and with that little time left a big TD play was all that was going to save them anyway. You take the three point lead and the crowd. After the turnover on downs the student section didn't let NAU get past the 30. Even if the Griz D had allowed a field goal, there is no way they would have beat us in OT, not at home.

Team (first-place votes)	Record	Points	LW
1. Appalachian State (88)	6-1	2,693	2
2. Montana (2)	5-1	2,498	3
3. Illinois State (11)	5-1	2,401	5
4. Cal Poly (1)	5-1	2,371	4
5. Youngstown State (1)	6-1	2,172	6
6. Massachusetts	5-1	2,034	8
7. New Hampshire (1)	5-1	2,023	1
8. James Madison	5-1	1,991	13
9. North Dakota State (2)	6-0	1,981	9
10. Richmond	5-1	1,720	10
11. Hampton (3)	7-0	1,645	12
12. Furman	5-2	1,558	11
13. Southern Illinois	5-1	1,466	7
14. Northern Iowa	4-2	1,349	14
15. Harvard	5-0	1,060	15
16. Tennessee-Martin	5-1	925	17
17. Eastern Illinois	4-3	889	16
18. UC Davis	3-3	719	18
19. Maine	4-2	626	23
20. Alabama A&M	5-1	612	20
21. San Diego	6-0	587	21
22. Princeton	5-0	507	24
23. Portland State	4-3	373	25
24. Coastal Carolina	5-2	228	NR
25. Sam Houston State	4-2	182	NR

Also receiving votes: Jackson State 179, Montana State 109, Towson 104, Central Connecticut State 74, Penn 52, Charleston Southern 51, Georgia Southern 50, Delaware 47, Jacksonville State 27, Delaware State 25, Holy Cross 17, Yale 15, McNeese State 13, Wofford 13, South Dakota State 9, Western Kentucky 8, Nicholls State 7.

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41-7 or $650,000, which matters more? I'm not going to make the call but the fact that the Griz made about $200,000 an hour to get trounced as if they were the Sisters of the Poor football team is almost impressive. Spread that out  over60 guys and it's $3,300.33 an hour. That's A-Rod bank. Nooo, college football isn't about the money at all.

Josh Swogger was not only running around the backfield as if he were carrying his life instead of a pigskin in his hands, he was also working on getting rid of a seven figure deficit in the athletic department and pumping some money into the football program.

While the Griz football team was serving as a prostitute to Drew Tate's stats, other teams in the Big Sky Conference were making decent showings against I-A foes.

Going into the weekend, I thought Thursday night would be the best showing by a BSC team when Northern Arizona hung with Arizona State for three quarters. No, it gets better (worse).

Ms. University earned 275 g's for their win over one time Big 12 power Colorado. Apparently Dan Hawkins can't ball on a field that ducks don't accidentally crash into.

On top of that, Portland State pulled off the "upset" of "I-A" New Mexico.

I'm just happy the weekend of torment is over. Even my I-A love ND had a sub-holy showing against Georgia Tech. The important thing is that there is a ticket in my (Coach) wallet (thank you girlfriend) for a 1:05 game against South Dakota State.

Everyone needs a game against Cupcake University.

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The Missoulian reports that the preseason tournament the Griz men's basketball team is playing in over Thanksgiving weekend will now be called the first annual Old Spice Classic. Does anyone else find it a little ridiculous when the words "first annual" and "classic" are the bookends of some corporate sponsored event? It'll be the same teams, same place, same tournament, just a little less pungent.

The first-ever Old Spice Classic, formerly called the ESPNU Classic, will tip off Nov. 23 at 10 a.m. MST on ESPN2. The inaugural tournament field will feature Montana along with Arkansas, Marist, Minnesota, Southern Illinois, Virginia Tech, West Virginia and Western Michigan. There will be four games each day with each team playing daily. The two undefeated teams will face off in a championship match on the final day.

Montana will play West Virginia at 7:30 p.m. MST Nov. 23. Other opening games feature Arkansas against Southern Illinois, Marist vs. Minnesota and Virginia Tech against Western Michigan.

It's great to see that the Montana basketball team will finally be getting some television exposure. I was very disappointed when NAU's Bracket Buster game ended up being televised while the Griz were snubbed.

I will be watching this game from a Los Angeles hotel room on the eve of attending the Notre Dame/USC football game; which actually is a classic.

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