Is there anything more to say? Going to be a cold, hard, grind of a game...and eveybody will be hating UC Davis' guts...looking to pound on the wine drinking, pinky raising, braniacs with no stomach for Montana-style football in November.
Well, that 27 degrees will be in the early morning hours, so it's going to be 40 degree to 30 degree type of night.
Montana right now, is not looking that impressive in San Luis Obispo, but give their defense credit, they've been holding teams to zero points for 6 straight quarters...and Bo Kelly fumbles in the red zone, giving the ball back to the Griz in the 3rd quarter...no wait, targeting, CP keeps the ball.
Currently, Griz have 196 yards of offense through the air, and 35, that's right, 35 yards rushing @ Cal Poly right now.
They've played two quarterbacks with near identical stat lines so far:
#12 Logan Fife
#8 Keali'i Ah Yat
vs. #17 Missouri State W 29-24 Missouri State is currently 7-2 and 2nd in the MVFC behind NDSU
@ #15 North Dakota L 27-24 North Dakota is currently 5-4 (UND will drop this week)
vs. Morehead State W 59-2 Morehead State is currently 6-3 and 2nd in the Pioneer
vs. Western Carolina W 46-35 WCU is currently 5-4 and 2nd in the Southern
@ EWU W 52-49 Eastern is currently 2-7
vs. Weber State L 48-55 Weber is currently 3-6 and have lost 4 of their last 5, including vs. UNC
vs. NAU W 31-20 NAU is currently 5-4
@ UNC W 24-0 UNC is currently 1-8
@ Poly W 42-7 Cal Poly is currently 2-6
vs. Davis 11/9, Washington-Grizzly Stadium 7:15 pm PT -- ESPN2
Weather looks to be as good as can be expected for this time of year - hope it stays as predicted cause I will be there. @Idaho Aggie will be there too.
I think this game will come down to how well can the Aggie defense contain Montana's 2 headed monster at running back. Both Eli Gillman and Nick Ostmo are putting up very good numbers. Gillman has 105 rushes for 792 yards (7.3 avg) and 12 TDs while Ostmo has 105 rushes for 684 yards (6.4 avg) and 3 TDs. They have efficient QB play, but that is complementary to what they want to do on the ground.
If we are able to contain the run game then we have a pretty solid chance. If we don't, we all know what that Montana crowd is capable of once they smell blood in the water.
Updated Massey numbers give the Aggies a 33% chance of winning which I find pretty interesting. I personally think it's closer to a toss up, but what do I know.
The Montana fans are loud and rowdy so we need to be ready for the deafening noise. Visiting teams often have several false starts because they can't hear the QB's voice or even hand claps for the snap. I'm sure Plough will have the offense thoroughly practicing silent counts. A critical false start could mean the difference in a game like this in their house.
The Ags will also need to keep their poise when some breaks or calls don't go their way with the officiating crew. The officials are not immune to the loud boos and the name calling they'll get from a packed house of 27,000 Griz faithful when they don't like a call so it's easy to get homered in Missoula. Griz fans are as passionate as any fan base in all of the FCS.
If I remember right from that 2018 comeback game in Missoula, the Ags switched to silent counts in the second half with the center doing hand signals to ready everyone — and if they needed to audible Jake and Keelan would go right up to the line and shout in peoples ears.
I’m not saying they cheat BUT..at the 2018, I was on the field and noticed mikes placed every 5-10 yards along the wall separating fans from field. Pretty sure amplified fan noise is not supposedly to be allowed. Of course, there might be some other reason for the mikes.
Oh I totally agree that Montana is probably one of if not the most difficult FCS environment to play a game of football. I just find it interesting that Massey is giving us just a 33% chance of winning given the fairly equal levels of play from the teams.
Montana has allowed 7 points in the last 8 quarters of football. Granted, it's UNC and Poly, but what has the Griz defense been doing to be so dominant?
Bobby Hauck, aka Mr. Snarky. His treatment of his own press people is pretty pathetic. His press conferences are a pro forma 1. Sit and stare. 2. Awkward silence as press attendees don’t know what to ask without setting him off. 3. Ask typical non-insightful question benign question. 4. Get snarky answer and very succinct from Hauck. 5. Rinse and repeat.
I was up to Montana 15+ years ago. A lot of people don’t realize how close the stands are to the field. Fans can basically touch players on the visitor bench and the stadium is steep and retains noise. Being in the band, I remember Montana fans trying to break into and board our buses and in the stands kept trying to reach over railings and pickpocket people or steal instrument parts like mouthpieces or drumsticks. And it wasn’t drunk 20-somethings like Sac State where they hurl some insults and then burp Natty Ice on themselves. This was 40-something year old dads behaving badly in front of their young sons. Perhaps there is low brow trash anywhere, but it struck me as odd that their trash element was wearing New Balances with their t-shirts tucked into their jeans.