2018 Montana Grizzlies football team

The 2018 Montana Grizzlies football team represented the University of Montana in the 2018 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The Grizzlies were led by first-year coach Bobby Hauck, 8th overall as he previously was head coach from 2003–2009, and played their home games on campus at Washington–Grizzly Stadium in Missoula, Montana as a charter member of the Big Sky Conference. They finished the season 6–5, 4–4 in Big Sky play to finish in a tie for sixth place.

2018 Montana Grizzlies football
ConferenceBig Sky Conference
2018 record6–5 (4–4 Big Sky)
Head coachBobby Hauck (1st, 8th overall season)
Offensive coordinatorTimm Rosenbach (1st, 2nd overall season)
Defensive coordinatorKent Baer (1st season)
Home stadiumWashington–Grizzly Stadium
(Capacity: 25,217)
2018 Big Sky Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
Team W L    W L 
No. 6 Weber State +^  7 –1     10 –3  
No. 2 Eastern Washington +^  7 –1     12 –3  
No. 7 UC Davis +^  7 –1     10 –3  
No. 17 Montana State ^  5 –3     8 –5  
Idaho State  5 –3     6 –5  
Montana  4 –4     6 –5  
Cal Poly  4 –4     5 –6  
Northern Arizona  3 –4     4 –6  
Portland State  3 –5     4 –7  
Idaho  3 –5     4 –7  
Northern Colorado  2 –6     2 –9  
Southern Utah  1 –7     1 –10  
Sacramento State  0 –7     2 –8  
  • $ – Conference champion
  • ^ – FCS playoff participant
  • Although North Dakota was classified as an independent, games against them still counted as Big Sky Conference games.
Rankings from STATS Poll

Previous season

The Griz finished the 2017 season 7–4, 5–3 in Big Sky play to finish in a tie for sixth place.

On November 20, it was announced that head coach Bob Stitt's contract would not be renewed.[1] He finished at Montana with a three-year record of 21–14.

Preseason

Polls

On July 16, 2018 during the Big Sky Kickoff in Spokane, Washington, the Grizzlies were predicted to finish in seventh place in the coaches poll and fourth place in the media poll.[2]

Coaches poll
Predicted finish Team Votes (1st place)
1 Eastern Washington 134 (6)
2 Weber State 124 (3)
3 Northern Arizona 121 (3)
4 Idaho 101 (1)
5 Sacramento State 94
6 Southern Utah 91
7 Montana 82
8 Montana State 76
9 UC Davis 64
10 Cal Poly 40
11 Northern Colorado 30
12 Idaho State 29
13 Portland State 21
Media poll
Predicted finish Team Votes (1st place)
1 Eastern Washington 651 (27)
2 Weber State 636 (19)
3 Northern Arizona 535 (1)
4 Montana 496 (2)
5 Idaho 483 (3)
6 Southern Utah 449 (1)
7 Sacramento State 415
8 Montana State 391 (1)
9 UC Davis 331 (1)
10 Idaho State 170
11 Cal Poly 169
12 Northern Colorado 166
13 Portland State 103

Preseason All-Conference Team

The Grizzlies had one player selected to the Preseason All-Conference Team.[3]

Josh Buss – Sr. LB. Also selected as the preseason defensive player of the year.

Award watch lists

Listed in the order that they were released

Award Player Position Year
Butkus Award[4] Josh Buss LB SR
Buck Buchanan Award[5] Josh Buss LB SR

Schedule
DateTimeOpponentRankSiteTVResultAttendance
September 17:00 p.m.No. 13 Northern Iowa*No. 24
SWXW 26–2325,018
September 81:00 p.m.Drake*No. 14
  • Washington–Grizzly Stadium
  • Missoula, MT
SWXW 48–1623,132
September 152:00 p.m.at Western Illinois*No. 15
ESPN+L 27–314,011
September 221:00 p.m.Sacramento StateNo. 19
  • Washington–Grizzly Stadium
  • Missoula, MT
RTNWW 41–3424,060
September 295:00 p.m.at Cal PolyNo. 17
ELVNW 48–287,157
October 62:00 p.m.Portland StateNo. 14
  • Washington–Grizzly Stadium
  • Missoula, MT
SWXL 20–2225,205
October 1312:00 p.m.at North DakotaNo. 22
SWXL 14–4110,497
October 272:00 p.m.No. 6 UC Davis
  • Washington–Grizzly Stadium
  • Missoula, MT
SWXL 21–4924,141
November 31:00 p.m.at Southern Utah
RTNWW 57–147,162
November 104:30 p.m.at Idaho
RTNWW 46–2714,571
November 1712:00 p.m.No. 25 Montana State
RTNWL 25–2926,508

Game summaries

Northern Iowa
1 2 3 4 Total
No. 13 Panthers 0 0 7 16 23
No. 24 Grizzlies 16 10 0 0 26
See also: 2018 Northern Iowa Panthers football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
5–0 2016 MONT, 20–14

Drake
1 2 3 4 Total
Bulldogs 0 3 7 6 16
No. 14 Grizzlies 3 7 21 17 48
See also: 2018 Drake Bulldogs football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
First meeting

at Western Illinois
1 2 3 4 Total
No. 15 Grizzlies 18 0 3 6 27
Leathernecks 14 3 0 14 31
See also: 2018 Western Illinois Leathernecks football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
1–2 2003 I-AA Playoffs WIU, 43–40 2OT

Sacramento State
1 2 3 4 Total
Hornets 14 14 3 3 34
No. 19 Grizzlies 14 10 7 10 41
See also: 2018 Sacramento State Hornets football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
19–1 2016 MONT, 68–7

at Cal Poly
1 2 3 4 Total
No. 17 Grizzlies 17 14 10 7 48
Mustangs 0 7 14 7 28
See also: 2018 Cal Poly Mustangs football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
15–5 2016 POLY, 42–41

Portland State
1 2 3 4 Total
Vikings 10 3 0 9 22
No. 14 Grizzlies 0 0 14 6 20
See also: 2018 Portland State Vikings football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
30–11 2017 MONT, 45–33

at North Dakota
1 2 3 4 Total
No. 22 Grizzlies 0 0 0 14 14
Fighting Hawks 21 13 0 7 41
See also: 2018 North Dakota Fighting Hawks football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
15–8–1 2017 MONT, 41–17

UC Davis
1 2 3 4 Total
No. 6 Aggies 3 0 10 36 49
Grizzlies 7 14 0 0 21
See also: 2018 UC Davis Aggies football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
7–0 2015 MONT, 27–13

at Southern Utah
1 2 3 4 Total
Grizzlies 20 10 21 6 57
Thunderbirds 7 7 0 0 14
See also: 2018 Southern Utah Thunderbirds football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
6–2 2016 MONT, 43–20

at Idaho
1 2 3 4 Total
Grizzlies 14 22 7 3 46
Vandals 3 3 7 14 27
See also: 2018 Idaho Vandals football team and Little Brown Stein
Overall record Last meeting Result
55–27–2 2003 MONT, 41–28

Montana State
1 2 3 4 Total
No. 25 Bobcats 0 7 0 22 29
Grizzlies 7 15 0 3 25
See also: 2018 Montana State Bobcats football team and Brawl of the Wild
Overall record Last meeting Result
72–39–5 2017 MSU, 31–23

Ranking movements
Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
NR = Not ranked. RV = Received votes. т = Tied with team above or below. ( ) = First place votes.
Week
Poll Pre 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Final 
STATS FCS 24 14 15 19 17 14 22 RV RV NR RV RV RV  
Coaches 25 16 16 20 18 15 23 RV NR NR NR RV RV

References
  1. Just, Amie (November 20, 2017). "Stitt out as Montana Grizzlies football coach". www.406mtsports.com. 406 MT Sports. Retrieved April 26, 2018.
  2. https://www.bigskyconf.com/news/2018/7/16/football-eastern-washington-picked-to-win-the-big-sky.aspx
  3. http://bigskyconf.com/news/2018/7/16/doss-buss-headline-big-sky-football-preseason-all-conference-team.aspx
  4. "Butkus Award - 2018 Collegiate Watchlist". The Butkus Award. July 23, 2018. Retrieved July 23, 2018.
  5. "FCS football: 2018 Buck Buchanan Award watch list announced". August 2, 2018. Retrieved August 2, 2018.
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