By ERIC TABER
The University of Montana Grizzlies have been picked to finish second in the 2016 Big Sky Conference preseason polls by both the media and the league coaches the conference announced Tuesday at its annual football kickoff event in Park City, Utah.
In his first season as the head coach at Montana, Bob Stitt led the 2015 Griz to an 8-5 (6-2 BSC) record, and extended Montana’s all-time playoff appearances to an FCS-best 23 total years of post-season play.
“It’s fun for the fans to be able to look at those polls and see where we stand, but it doesn’t really matter until the end of the season,” said Stitt.
“We have a lot of confidence coming out of spring football, but until you go out and actually play some people, you’re not really sure how you’re going to stack up in the league.”
That 2015 performance paired with 28 lettermen and five returning all-conference selections was good enough to earn seven first-place votes and 283 points in the 2016 media poll, finishing just one first-place vote and four points shy of Northern Arizona.
The Big Sky coaches also picked Northern Arizona to win the league in 2016. Montana and Portland State finished tied in second place in the coaches’ poll. The Vikings hold a slight edge over the Griz however, earning two first place votes coming off the best season in PSU history. The media, however, slotted Portland State to finish fifth in the league.
With Northern Arizona returning the FCS freshman of the year in quarterback Case Cookus and expected to finish first in the league, Montana’s Oct. 22 matchup with the Lumberjacks in Flagstaff could shape up to be one of the premiere games on the Grizzly calendar.
“It’s definitely in important game, but it’s similar to how we approached last season,” said Stitt.
“We’re going to worry about Saint Francis, then go into Northern Iowa and see how well we’re going to be able to complete with a top five football team early in the season.”
Eastern Washington received five first-place votes and 269 points in the media poll to finish third in the voting. The coaches picked the Eagles to finish fourth, earning a pair of first-place votes and 112 points in the polling.
Montana has been the preseason number one pick 11 times in the past 18 years.
The Griz open their 2016 campaign on Sept. 3 against Saint Francis under the lights at Washington-Grizzly Stadium in a 7:00 PM kickoff.
2016 Preseason Football Polls
Media Poll
1. Northern Arizona (8)……………………. 287
2. Montana (7)……………………….283
3. Eastern Washington (5)……………….. 269
4. North Dakota (2)……………………….. 262
5. Portland State (3)………………………. 252
6. Weber State……………………………… 174
7. Southern Utah………………………….. 162
8. Montana State………………………….. 157
9. Cal Poly……………………………………. 153
10. Northern Colorado…………………… 111
11. Idaho State…………………………….. 58
12. UC Davis…………………………………. 56
13. Sacramento State…………………….. 50
Coaches’ Poll
1. Northern Arizona (8)……………………. 132
T2. Portland State (2)……………………… 121
T2. Montana………………………….121
4. Eastern Washington (2)……………….. 112
5. North Dakota (1)……………………….. 105
6. Weber State……………………………… 83
T7. Southern Utah…………………………. 73
T7. Montana State………………………… 73
9. Cal Poly……………………………………. 66
10. Northern Colorado…………………… 43
11. Sacramento State…………………….. 30
12. Idaho State…………………………….. 24
13. UC Davis…………………………………. 23