Griz meet Jacks in the playoffs

The University of Montana Grizzlies got to Saturday’s Football Championship Subdivision first-round game against the South Dakota State Jackrabbits the hard, hard way. But, because Montana had to win three straight games to get in into the FCS’ big dance, it means the Griz are coming in hot.

Winners of three straight, including blowouts over rivals Eastern Washington and Montana State, the No. 16 Griz (7-4) will host the No. 10 Jackrabbits (8-3) Saturday at 1 p.m. inside Washington-Grizzly Stadium.

And there’s some major history behind Saturday’s tilt. The last time the Jacks were in Missoula, Havre’s Marc Mariani returned a kickoff 98 yards in the third quarter to spark a miraculous comeback in which the Griz came from 48-21 down in the second half to win 61-48.

However, this time around, the streaking Griz are hoping they need no such miracles to advance on in the playoffs – but once again, the Jacks, of the rugged Missouri Valley Conference, will be no slouch.

"It's gonna be a great matchup. They're a strong program. Me, growing up in the Midwest, I've known a lot about the Jackrabbits," said UM first-year head coach Bob Stitt, a Nebraska native.

"I've watched a few things on YouTube of the comebacks back in the day," he added. "We've had some decent luck at home against South Dakota State and you'd hope that that would continue."

In order for that to continue, and set up what would be an ironic and epic rematch with the North Dakota State Bison, the Griz will need to do two things – continue their recent trend of being a potent and powerful offense, and continue playing the kind of defense that can slow down the Jack’s potent and powerful offense.

Since the return of Brady Gustafson at quarterback, the Griz are averaging 55 points and nearly 500 yards of offense per game. Gustafson has been spreading the wealth in the passing game too, as Jamaal Jones and Ellis Henderson continue to be game breakers, while Ben Roberts and Josh Horner have become steady and reliable short-yardage targets.

Stitt has also been enthused about the emergence of Montana’s offensive line, and subsequently, the Griz’ run game. John Nyguen finished the regular season with nearly 800 yards rushing, while true freshman Jeremy Calhoun has scored eight touchdowns in his last three games.

“Our run game has gotten better and better,” Stitt said after the Griz beat MSU in last Saturday’s Brawl of the Wild. “At the beginning of the season, our offensive line wasn’t ready yet. Now, they’re playing at a high level, and with how much better our run game has gotten, and then you add our starting quarterback back into it, and now, our offensive is very dynamic, and we’re playing championship football.”

But in order for the Griz to make a run at a championship, they’ll have to be outstanding against SDSU Saturday. The Jacks bring a stingy defense, allowing just 367 yards and 24 points per game to Missoula., with linebackers Jesse Bobbitt and T.J. Lally fueling an aggressive defense that stops the run and the pass equally well.

But, where Montana really has to be outstanding is on defense, like the Griz have been all year. Seniors Tyrone Holmes, Jamal Wilson, Derek Crittendon, Kendrick Van Ackeren, Herbert Gamboa, Jeremiah Kose, Nate Harris and Justin Whitted are all starters on a Griz’ defense likely playing its final home game. And they’ll be charged with stopping a much different SDSU offense than the one that torched Montana State in the first round of the 2014 playoffs last year in Bozeman.

With star running back Zack Zenner gone to the NFL, the Jacks have turned to a much more spread attack, led by rotating quarterbacks, as well as an All-American wide receiver in Jake Weineke and a beast of a tight end in Dallas Goedert. The Jacks still like to run the football, too, but they are much more of a pass-first team than they’ve ever been.

"Defensively we need to be able to slow them down with the run,” Stitt said. “You'd like to be able to make them one dimensional in a game like that. I don't know if they'd feel real comfortable having to drop back, and with our defensive line, with Ty Holmes, you want to be able to say, 'Hey, it's a passing down. Go get 'em',"

The Griz have feasted on one-dimensional passing teams all season long, and they’ll hope to do the same against Saturday. But, it won’t be easy, even playing in their third straight playoff game at home, as SDSU comes in having just been knocked off by Western Illinois in double-overtime last week. And if the Jacks had won that game, they’d probably be the No. 5 seed and sitting on a bye this week, instead of having to come back to Missoula for yet another playoff showdown with the Griz.

"I just know a couple years ago, maybe 8 or 9, they were up on us by 25, 30 points and we had a big comeback on 'em," Harris said. "I know there's a bit of a small rivalry between us. I know that it's gonna be exciting."

Exciting indeed. Montana, at home in the playoffs is always exciting. And it’s also an exciting prospect to think about what could be waiting for the Griz should they prevail on Saturday – a rematch with the Bison, who the Griz shocked 38-35 back in August in a nationally-televised showdown. However, as exciting as that thought it, these Griz are looking at nothing more than taking care of business against an extremely good Jack’s team on Saturday.

"It's great to be back in Washington-Griz and to extend the season," Stitt exclaimed. "That's what we wanted to do, and we really wanted to play another game, considering how well we've been playing the last couple weeks.

"You don't think too much about it; you just focus on the first one and you get through that one, then you can worry about the next round," Stitt added of a possible rematch with third-seeded NDSU, the co-champion of the Missouri Valley. "You definitely look at that next slot, and North Dakota State is still a great team.

"Very confident. It's all about momentum in the FCS, and we've got it," Harris added. "We've got our quarterback (Brady Gustafson) back, defense is playing good and everything is just looking forward right now."

The FCS playoff game between Montana and South Dakota State will kick off at 1 p.m. Saturday at Washington-Grizzly Stadium. The game is being broadcast on the internet on ESPN3, or DirecTV subscribers can see it as part of ESPN’s College Extra package.