By CHRIS WALTERSKIRCHEN
For the 19th time in the last 26 seasons (and the 18th time in the last 22 seasons) the Montana Grizzlies are hosting a FCS play-off game. The Griz are 12-6 in their play-off openers at home.
For the first time the Griz will face a team from the Pioneer League in the play-offs. In other sports, San Diego plays in the West Coast Conference, which features Gonzaga, Portland and St. Mary’s.
San Diego was the launching pad for Jim Harbaugh’s coaching career as he went from USD to Stanford in 2006.
Terores head coach Dale Lindsay played his college football at Western Kentucky in the 1960’s with Jerry Glanville and Jimmy Johnson getting their coaching start with the Toppers. Lindsay was part of the San Diego Chargers Staff when the Chargers made it to the Super Bowl in January of 1995.
The only other time the Griz faced a California school in the play-offs was 2005 when the Mustangs of Cal Poly upset the Griz in the first round of the play-offs.
One thing the Griz haven’t achieved under Mick Delaney is a FCS play-off win, something each of his five immediate predecessors has gotten.
Last week’s rout of the MSU Bobcats means the Grizzlies have won a total of 100 games since the start of the 2005 season, by comparison over the same span the MSU Bobcats have won a very respectable total of 80 games.
This is the 22nd Time in the last 27 seasons that the Griz have won at least 8 games in a season.
The Montana State Bobcats are trying to win a post-season game following a regular season loss to the Grizzlies. In 2006 Mike Kramer got his last win at Bozeman in the opening round of the playoffs. In 2011 the Cats lost by 26 to the Griz in Bozeman but responded by beating New Hampshire to start of the post-season.
The Bobcats are 0—2 in the FCS playoffs against schools from the Missouri Valley Conference, to Northern Iowa in 2003 and North Dakota State in 2010.
For the third time in 7 seasons the Montana Lady Griz are playing in a Thanksgiving tournament in Cancun Mexico. In 2008 Montana coach Robin Selvig picked up his 700th career win defeating Illinois in Cancun.
The only school Montana will meet in Cancun that they have faced before is Ivy League member Princeton, who lost to Montana in Missoula in 1997 and 2003. That 1997 Princeton team was led by former Missoula Hellgate star Maggie Langlas.
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Chris Walterskirchen has been an observer of Montana sports for nearly half a century. A Kalispell native, Chris has worked in various capacities for professional and college sports organization of at various times: ranging from announcing and statistical work to the concessions and even a stint as a costumed mascot.
Chris has academic degrees in communications and elementary education. His style of sports trivia involves more than just who won and who lost, but also focuses on the obscure or human side of sports. In this blog you will learn things like the Grizzly football team has won 210 games over the 19 seasons since they have had Monte as their mascot or that UNLV is the only school that both the Griz and Lady Griz have both faced in the NCAA basketball tournament
When not following sports Chris enjoys taking care of animals of all kinds (a peacock rescue?) and reading to pre-schoolers.