It's playoff time for the football-playing Montana Grizzlies, who'll take any edge Ma Nature wants to fling their way Saturday when they host the Texas State Bobcats at 12:05 p.m.
“We're in a northwest pattern, which tends to be really good for precipitation in the Missoula valley,” said Bridget De Rosa of the National Weather Service. She estimated the chance that something wet will fall from the skies during the game at 40 percent.
“It could very well be snowing on Mount Sentinel with maybe a stray flake or two making its way down to the stadium,” De Rosa said.
There might be a little bit of wind during the game, she added, but nothing over 10 mph.
The rain and/or snow were to have started overnight, so what the Grizzlies, Bobcats and fans wake up to Saturday morning is likely what they'll get at kickoff and after.
The expected high temperature will be roughly 5 degrees less than at the last Grizzly-Bobcat game in Washington-Grizzly Stadium one week ago, when Montana beat Montana State 35-3. It'll be roughly 30 degrees less than the predicted high in San Marcos, between Austin and San Antonio, where TSU hails from.
Saturday's weather certainly won't be the worst Montana has had to offer a Texas team in the playoffs. Remember 1995, when Stephen F. Austin of Nacogdoches came to town for the Division I-AA semifinals? The Lumberjacks were greeted by a frozen “grass” field and temperatures that never topped 10 degrees. They left on the wrong end of a 70-14 spanking by the Grizzlies, who won their first national title the following week.
In the years since, the natural turf has been replaced by all-weather Sprinturf, which looks good on TV and upon which teams from near and far seem to feel comfortable.
It was 13 degrees at kickoff last year when the Grizzlies opened their playoffs against another warm-weather team, Wofford of South Carolina. The underdog Terriers scored in the last minute and made off with a 23-22 victory before a numb crowd of 19,761.
Reporter Kim Briggeman can be reached at 523-5266 or at kbriggeman@missoulian.com.
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