Second-seeded McNeese State got handed a 44-15 drubbing in the first round. Top-seeded and unbeaten Northern Iowa was upended by Delaware 39-27 a week later.
Whether that makes the 23-22 first-round loss the third-seeded Griz took at the hands of Wofford any easier is debatable. It at least serves to show that, with the possible exception of Appalachian State, there was no dominant FCS team.
“It's weird to see the top three get eliminated,” said Muckie Foreman, a senior linebacker for the 11-1 Griz. “That's part of football, part of the playoff system.
“But Wofford's loss shocked a lot of us to be honest with you. They looked good all year on film. It would have been good to see them go farther. You think, 'They beat us, at least they can go win the championship.' ”
The Terriers' departure, along with Eastern Washington's 38-35 loss at App State, leaves the Griz without a vested interest in the FCS final four. Asked about who the pick is for the Dec. 14 title game in Chattanooga, Tenn., one Griz gave a don't know, don't care answer.
“I have no idea,” said Kroy Biermann, the Grizzlies' peerless defensive end, who was then asked if he was concerned about it.
“Not really,” he answered.
The Griz just know it's not them. Unbeaten at the end of the regular season, they came up a couple yards short against the Terriers.
There was a danger the ending - and whatever distractions happened along the way - would take away from what was a dream season. What the seniors want to take away from 2007 is good memories: friendships and touchdowns, festoons and lampoons.
“The bus trips,” said linebacker Loren Utterback. “All the ridiculous things people have put up on the locker room bulletin boards. And all the goofy kids on the team that made the thing a lot more fun.”
And all the plays. Biermann stripping the ball from Northern Arizona's Alex Henderson and falling on it for a critical turnover in a 21-16 win. Lex Hilliard's breakaway 31-yard touchdown run to ice the Grizzlies' 41-20 win at Montana State. Mike Ferriter's catch and run of a 69-yard touchdown pass in UM's 34-31 victory over Portland State
Ryan Bagley's fourth-down, 27-yard game-saving reception in the Grizzlies' 24-23 win over Eastern Washington.
But ask any of the Griz, and they talk about the big picture.
“My personal highlight was just to be able to stay healthy and participate with the rest of this senior class,” said Foreman. “And be around them from the beginning to the end.”
Foreman committed to the Griz out of Spanaway, Wash., before deciding to play baseball. After a semester at a junior college, he joined the Griz for the spring of 2004. He considers himself part of the '03 recruiting class - he, linebacker Kyle Ryan and Hilliard all visited UM the same weekend.
“My experience makes me cherish and realize how important sports have been in my life,” said Foreman, who hopes to jump into coaching, possibly as a college graduate assistant, this spring. “I remember how hard it was to give up baseball and go pursue football.
“Now I have to take a step back and realize that I have to go in another direction, a new step of my life.”
Bagley, pressed into spot duty as a true freshman in 2004, can wish he had another year left to play. The reality is that his last collegiate catch was remarkable: A 64-yard gain against Idaho State that had all the makings of a touchdown, up to the point Bengal defensive back D.J. Clark tripped him up at the 8.
Bagley fought to keep his feet and broke both bones in his left forearm.
“He just stuck out his foot. That happens in football,” Bagley said.
“I was like, 'Oh, why did my arm give out? I was going to go in for the touchdown.' I heard a snap and I looked at it, and it looked straight. Then my arm and my finger started tingling. Then I put all three together and I was like, 'Oh, no.' ”
Bagley ended up having two plates and 12 screws inserted into his arm. His season and career, which began with a two-catch campaign in 2004, was over. He went to every receivers meeting, every practice, but could only watch the Cat game from the stands, arm swaddled in a huge cast.
It was eerily like the broken arm that Ferriter suffered last season in UM's first-round playoff win over McNeese State, right down to the delayed reaction. The injuries came 50 weeks apart. Ferriter had two plates and 14 screws implanted into his arm.
“I would tell all my friends how it felt, and Mike said, 'That's crazy. That's exactly the same as it was for me,' ” Bagley said. “It didn't really hurt that bad at first. I was madder about getting hurt, you know what I'm saying?”
Injuries are part of the game. Faced with the loss of their top receiver, the Grizzlies stumbled initially, losing the ball on a disputable fumble by quarterback Cole Bergquist. A few minutes later Bergquist hit Rob Schulte, in the game for Bagley, with a 21-yard touchdown pass.
The Griz won 27-14. But losing Bagley? That hurt.
As did the season-ending injuries to Reggie Bradshaw (knee) and Craig Chambers (shoulder), as well as an ankle injury that kept senior linebacker Alex Hawthorne sidelined for a good part of the fall.
“That hurt me because Alex is a hell of a player,” said Foreman. “You hate those injuries that happen like that - like Bagley's. My heart went out to him.”
Add in the off-the-field problems, and the Grizzlies' 11-0 campaign seems like a minor miracle.
The arrest of three current players and a former Griz after the ISU game could've been a death knell. It was the week of the Griz-Cat game. The Grizzlies had lost running back Greg Coleman, who'd subbed capably for an injured Hilliard at Idaho State, as well as corner Jeramy Pate and defensive end Mike Shelton to jail.
Coleman and Shelton were arrested as they got off the bus.
“I tried to keep myself as detached as possible,” said Utterback. “The biggest thing for me was having to answer questions about it all the time. You want to just bring your hard hat and get to work. That was the most annoying thing - your classmates, your teachers keep asking about it.”
Foreman was less detached than most. Biermann was selected to be team spokesman following the arrests. When he couldn't be reached, it fell to Foreman.
“Nobody ever wants, in that situation, to be a team spokesman,” he said. “I don't think a lot of us knew what was going on. We saw the cop cars, but we had no clue. Next thing you know, it's Sunday and I'm in Bobby's office, giving a statement.”
The statement was standard issue: shock, disappointment, this isn't what we're all about. But with it an accelerated healing process began.
“I think that's how the team wanted it to be handled and dealt with,” Foreman said. “There were times where we felt, 'When is enough, enough?' It was overwhelming. You never expect your program to be involved in anything like that.”
“They were things the team didn't want to deal with, but we did,” added Biermann. “The seniors I think handled it very well, and in a manner that didn't hurt our team.
“It's a bad deal for those guys and I feel bad for them, and I wish the best for them. But I think overall we handled it well.”
A few days later the Grizzlies donned white-over-silver uniforms and ran all over the Bobcats to go to 11-0. Hilliard shook off his second injury of the season (thumb, following a banged-up shoulder) to rumble for 181 yards and three touchdowns.
In the end, the Grizzlies overcame just about everything ahead of what was yet another worst-case scenario: An option team in the playoffs. Wofford ran for 333 yards, including a 6-yard TD with 36 seconds left to win 23-22.
“Like Coach (Bobby) Hauck tells us, on any give Saturday you can get beat,” said Foreman. “Just like Northern Iowa. I watched that game, and it was weird to see a team that dominated all year long not be able to produce against a good opponent in the playoffs.”
What's next? Biermann may delay getting his degree while he whittles a pool of five agents down to one to pursue an NFL career. Bagley wants to try pro football, but figures to graduate and rehabilitate ahead of that. Foreman wants to coach.
Utterback is closing in on his pharmacy degree. He'll start his “rotations” next fall, with hopes he won't rotate so far away he can't watch the Griz play the occasional home game.
He also has a No. 37 jersey to hand down, to a Montana-born defensive player to be named.
“I've been thinking about that a lot,” said Utterback, a Fort Benton native. “As far as how and when it's going to happen, I'm not sure. Somebody's going to show up with a new number, I guess, in the spring.”
Whoever it is will be in a group of underclassmen that witnessed the extremes of college football. Wins and losses, joy and anguish.
“I don't regret anything that's happened to me my senior year, with the bond we had, and the captains that we chose,” said Foreman. “They did a good job, especially with the off-field stuff, keeping us focused and team-oriented. It was easy for the younger guys to look at us and see that this is serious. This isn't high school.”
Presumably the Grizzlies, owners of 10 straight Big Sky Conference titles and 15 straight FCS playoff berths, will keep winning. The seniors seem to think so.
“I think the underclassmen who have been there see what needs to be done,” said Biermann. “I wish I was still playing with them. But I know that they'll do great things in their future.
“I'm sure their season next year will show how much work they've done.”
|
 |
 |
Add your comment now! Write your comment in the form below.
(Email address is for verification only. If you'd like to email a story, look for the link above)