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Here is one for the bulletin board

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  • Here is one for the bulletin board

    Wow, you would think they might remember a team from North Dakota State .  .  . :

    http://www.greatfallstribune.com/app...412240321/1006

    Griz fans should have plenty of chances to cheer next fall



    University of Montana fans love nothing better than watching their Grizzlies play football games on crisp autumn afternoons. That's why more than 23,000 of them cram into Washington-Grizzly Stadium in Missoula each Saturday.

    Most fans probably don't care whether UM is playing against Penn State or Podunk State. As long as the Griz put on a good show, as long as the tailgate parties are lively, as long as Monte the mascot is entertaining, as long as the marching band is in tune — that's what keeps the fans happy.

    Winning 90 percent of home football games helps a lot, too.  .  .  .

    When UM unveiled its 2005 football schedule earlier this week, the announcement required considerable spin control. It's the least attractive group of opponents Montana has played in at least 10 years, and that's in stark contrast to the strenuous schedule that UM played this season, when the Griz went 12-3 and finished runner-up nationally.

    To be sure, athletic director Don Read didn't apologize for playing seven of the 11 games at home, or for scheduling two opponents from NCAA Division II. Read wants fans to understand that the athletic department's ongoing budget problems forced him to line up this kind of schedule.  .  .  .

    Next year's schedule includes nonleague outings against Division II foes Fort Lewis (Colo.) College and Central Washington to open the season, and also includes South Dakota State (Sept. 17) and Cal Poly (Oct. 22). All those contests are at home.

    "It's a great thing for our football program to once again have seven homes games," said Read.

    It's great for coach Bobby Hauck and his staff to have four nonleague victories in the bank, and it's great that Eastern Washington and Portland State — the Big Sky teams that gave UM the most trouble this season — will be playing in Missoula next year.

    Cal Poly is the star of this group of opponents, even though the Mustangs have never beaten Montana in nine tries. Cal Poly went 9-2 this past season and is expected to be a playoff contender in 2005.

    Both SDS and Cal Poly play in the Great West Conference, a collection of schools that are relative newcomers to I-AA football, and who are seeking better conference alliances.

    Central Washington and Fort Lewis will take nice paychecks back home, and you can bet Hauck won't run up the score on them. It's theoretically possible that a Division II team — with perhaps 30 athletes on full scholarships — might beat a I-AA national power with twice as many full rides. But not next year, not in Missoula, Mont.  .  .  .

    Read says it's foolish for a debt-ridden program to pass up a $350,000 home payday to shell out $125,000 for a trip to the East Coast, where the Griz might get beat. That's why he canceled a game with Hofstra, and he will pay the Pride $50,000 to escape the contract.

    Read suggested that once UM escapes its budget problems — the department was more than $1 million in debt last spring — the Griz will resume a more ambitious scheduling strategy. Papa Bear hinted that a road game against Oregon — or another well-heeled Pac 10 opponent — might be a component of future schedules.

    But not next year, not until the athletic program erases the deficit.  .  .  .


    Awfully early to be talking about wins "in the bank".  NDSU 25 - Montana 24 ring any bells?  :

    Go State!  ;D








  • #2
    Re: Here is one for the bulletin board

    Wow.

    What's with SDS? ???

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    • #3
      Re: Here is one for the bulletin board

      Dang.

      I'll be cheering for the Jacks when they visit Washington-Grizzly next year (but not the Jacks visit the Fargodome, although I might have a brat and a beer for 89 ).

      Well, as we have been saying on Bisonville about NDSU's Big Sky opponents next year, "If you can't join 'em, beat 'em!" ;D

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      • #4
        Re: Here is one for the bulletin board

        Originally posted by bisonguy
        Well, as we have been saying on Bisonville about NDSU's Big Sky opponents next year, "If you can't join 'em, beat 'em!"  ;D
        Let me add,

        "If you can beat'em, beat'em bad, really bad."
        We are here to add what we can to life, not get what we can from life. -Sir William Osler

        We do not see things as they are, we see things as we are.

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