The NCAA passed a rule, authored in part by Big Sky Commissioner Doug Fullerton, that prevents Division I-A players to transfer to a I-AA program unless they have at least two years of eligibility remaining.
Swogger, who languished on the WSU sidelines last fall, transferred to UM well before the new rule took effect on Oct. 15. He obviously loves where he's at now: Playing for the second-ranked team in I-AA and preparing for a first-round playoff game against McNeese State on Saturday (12:05 p.m.).
“Ten wins in a row, outright Big Sky champs - it's been a remarkable season.”
The feeling is mutual for fourth-year Griz coach Bobby Hauck, who was named the Big Sky's Coach of the Year Tuesday. He'd rather not imagine life without Swogger, who was named second-team all-Big Sky on Monday.
Hauck would also like to see the Swoggers of I-A continue to have an option out of a sad senior season.
“I don't think it's a good rule because of a couple things,” Hauck said Tuesday. “One, it takes an opportunity away from a fifth-year senior. They want to go and get on the field for their senior year and compete.
“And as far as a team and a coach, it's no fun for anybody - including that fifth-year senior - to be around his senior year and (have him) not be in the mix. They're just unhappy.”
Swogger started six games as a sophomore at WSU before being sidelined by a broken foot. Alex Brink took over and when Swogger was healthy the following fall, Brink was still the starter.
Asked if he felt compelled to transfer after his injury-plagued sophomore year, Swogger wasn't at all sure.
“I might've done it, but we were still kind of battling it out after the injury, and heading into spring ball,” he said. “In hindsight, yes. But I didn't know for sure I wasn't going to be playing.”
The rule has its supporters, including Fullerton, who is mindful of what late transfers could do to a program's academic progress rate (APR), and cautious of a player bolting the instant his season ends. In conversations in April, he foresaw a deepening Big Sky trend toward I-A transfers.
Swogger, who is closing in on his history degree, has been the exception rather than the rule at UM.
“It's unfortunate for kids who are in a situation where they've just got a year to play, and they can't go to a conference like the Big Sky,” he said. “It worked out good for me.”
Swogger was asked to compare his first Cat-Griz game to the Apple Cup, Washington's yearly battle between WSU and the University of Washington.
“Different,” he said, and when he paused, Hauck cut in with, “Yeah, we won.”
“Thanks, Husky,” Swogger said to the former UW assistant, before continuing.
“My freshman year I had to go to Husky Stadium,” he added. “It was a rough game for me - I kind of got thrown to the fire (he was 10-for-23 for 107 yards in the Cougars' 27-19 loss). You learn from all kinds of experiences like that.
“Being able to play this game at home, this is the first time I was able to see the pregame activities. We were sitting in the team meting room and you could hear the jets flying by. Š This university and town respond so much to the Montana-Montana State rivalry. It kind of reminds me of where I'm from, Northeast Ohio.”
Ohio State and Michigan is the big game - or “Big Game” - there. Swogger saw similarities in the intensity of the fans, and the hits on the field Saturday, when the Griz downed MSU 13-7.
“It was great,” he said. “I had a great time. And I'm 1-0 against the Bobcats.”
The only way Swogger could face the Cats again would be in the national championship game.
McNeese State, UM's playoff foe on Saturday, had eight first-team all-Southland Conference selections Tuesday: Three on offense, three on defense and two on special teams.
Steven Whitehead was first-team at receiver and kick returns. The Southland also picked an offensive player of the year, a defensive player of the year and, simply, a “Player of the Year.”
That was Whitehead, a 171-pound junior out of Slidell, La. He averages 12.9 yards per reception, 25.1 yards per kick return and 17.6 yards per punt return.
“He has more moves than a runaway forklift,” Hauck said Tuesday.
QUICK KICKS: Receiver Franklin and lineman Brent Pousson also were first-team all-league for McNeese, as were defensive ends Bryan Smith and Kirby Joseph, safety Jamelle Juneau and place-kicker Blake Bercegeay. Š Hauck's old team, the Huskies, beat Swogger's old one 35-32 in this year's Apple Cup. Š Montana led Division I-AA in attendance this season, averaging 23,498 fans a game. Defending champ Appalachian State was second at 22,589. Montana State was 16th at 13,314, while MSU's first-round foe, Furman, was 20th at 12,442. McNeese State is 29th at 10,882. Š The forecast for Saturday's game is for 30 degrees and snow off-and-on.
Reporter Fritz Neighbor can be reached at 523-5247 or at fneighbor@missoulian.com.
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