Almost being the key word. We media types felt fairly safe knowing Kroy wasn't going to hurdle a table and do to us what he did to Northern Colorado quarterback Dominic Breazeale.
Wouldn't you hate to be that guy this morning? The only thing worse would be drawing the assignment to block Montana's 6-foot-3 mountain lion in cleats.
“I was watching extra film this week on both (UNC) tackles and kind of knew their pass steps,” Biermann said. “I just told myself I was going to come out fast, come out strong because I didn't know how much playing time I was going to get. I knew our coach would put some of the other guys in.”
Ahh ... talent, foresight and a willingness to learn in the film room. No wonder he made the Bears' offense look like a shaky golfer with the yips.
“When you have a guy out there that's a big-time guy, you're going to get a false start, you're going to get a motion penalty because we're trying to maybe jump the gun a little to set back a little farther,” Northern Colorado coach Scott Downing said. “Just the presence of (Biermann) being there makes you have to be alert where he is and know where he's at at all times.”
Biermann was at his best in the second quarter Saturday when Northern Colorado threatened in the red zone. He set the Bears back with a sack, then bulled his way up the middle to block a field goal attempt.
“We really thought at that point in time if we got some points on the board we could gain some momentum and climb back into the game,” Downing said. “When we come out with nothing, it wasn't very good.”
Biermann sensed his opportunity even before the ball was snapped.
“They run a different field goal scheme where they stack one side and shorten up the other,” the Hardin native said. “I was going against a guy that looked the size of a tight end - he wasn't like a tackle or guard. I just got off the ball and pushed through him and got through the gap.”
Each year, the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) doles out the Buck Buchanan Award to the defensive player it deems the best in the nation. For all of the Grizzlies' accomplishments, including two national titles and 17 playoff berths, they've never had a Buchanan Award winner.
Biermann, who attracts double-teams with regularity, may change that this season. Certainly he has my vote with four regular-season games left.
But beware: awards and polls are little more than Fool's Gold at this point.
All that matters to coach Bobby Hauck is Montana's 7-0 record. His subtle change in approach Friday night, combined with Saturday's blowout win, might prove to be the perfect springboard for Montana's veteran-laden, pressure-burdened team.
“I told them that, ‘You know what? The guys in this room are the greatest guys you're ever going to be around, you're undefeated, you've been ranked No. 1 in the nation, it just doesn't get any better,' ” Hauck said.
“ ... The players have the chance to play the greatest game in the world, go enjoy it.
“I think that gets lost sometimes. Heck, on Tuesday after I finished up with all the speaking and all that, I felt like we were the 0-7 team, not UNC. I said if I'm feeling that way, I've got to make sure the team doesn't feel that way. We talked (Friday) night and this morning about enjoying ourselves and enjoying college football.”
Makes sense to me.
It's easy to get spoiled when it's the Griz. But Montana's critics won't have much to say this week, and hopefully the Griz can draw confidence from Saturday with a tough test at Northern Arizona up next.
Columnist Bill Speltz can be reached at 523-5255 or at bill.speltz@lee.net.
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