They're also getting ready for some noise, when their Football Championship Subdivision quarterfinal game kicks off at 12:05 p.m. Saturday inside Washington-Grizzly Stadium.
“Their crowd is ridiculous,” Wildcat fullback Marcus Mailei told the Weber State student newspaper, The Signpost. “But it's easy to play against crowds like that because we've been playing against the odds all year, and hostile crowds get us pumped up.”
Their last three visits to Washington-Grizzly have been nail-biters. Montana won all three, by scores of 12-7, 24-19 and 18-10, but the visitors didn't seem particularly rattled.
“I love playing in front of big crowds,” said running back Trevyn Smith. “That's what we played for. We play for the chills and the thrills, right?”
There were chills at Weber's Stewart Stadium in October - the game was played in heavy rains - but few fans. In an interview with the Deseret News, Montana coach Bobby Hauck said the Wildcats should prefer playing the rematch in Missoula since roughly 1,500 fans showed up for the first game.
Smith, a junior and three-time Big Sky Conference rushing leader, did rate UM's game day experience high.
“I've played in Boise, Hawaii, Colorado, Utah,” he said. “And I think Montana has the loudest stadium I've ever played at. It makes (traveling) all worth it. I wouldn't mind driving up there, to be honest. It's worth that much to me.”
“I'm not too worried about it,” added Weber State coach Ron McBride. “I'm just glad we have an opportunity to play in the second round. Who we have to play or where we have to go isn't going to keep me awake at night.”
It's clear to both teams that Montana's defense has knocked off the dust and acquitted itself well since the Grizzlies' lone loss in Ogden, Utah. The Griz have allowed an average of less than 10 points to their last eight opponents.
“They've been playing great ball,” said McBride.
“The film we've watched, they're a different team that the one we played,” said Smith.
But outwardly, not much has changed.
“We didn't change anything schematically,” said junior linebacker Shawn Lebsock, fourth on the team with 74 tackles. “We just picked up our level of energy, I'd say. It seems like we've got a lot of guys getting to the ball, every play on defense, since then.”
More of the same will be needed Saturday against Smith and Co. At the Grizzlies' weekly press conference, Hauck reiterated that Mailei is a sure-bet NFL draftee at fullback. Nothing that happened in Ogden in October changed his mind, or Lebsock's.
“They've got a great power run game, obviously,” said Lebsock. “They've got a great running back. The fullback's good, their O-line - I don't know how many first-team guys they have, but they have a lot of a good players.
“And with (quarterback Cameron) Higgins back thereŠ they've got all the bases covered.”
For the record, three Weber O-linemen - seniors Paul Carpenter and Lawaia Naihe at tackle and guard and junior Kyle Mutcher at center - were first-team all-Big Sky.
As of late Thursday afternoon some 20,500 tickets had been sold for the game, in the estimation of Montana athletic director Jim O'Day.
Washington-Grizzly Stadium was expanded before this season and holds 25,200. Saturday promises to be loud, but does not promise to be a sellout.
O'Day wondered if television coverage - local broadcaster CW-TV is joining Altitude Sports and Entertainment in picking up ESPN's GamePlan telecast of the game - might have something to do with that, but the economy and weather may also be factors.
“You always wonder,” O'Day said. “But we're not alone. Appalachian State is running into the same problems. The things you worry about are getting fans in the seats and revenues for the NCAA.”
QUICK KICKS: The forecast for Saturday now calls for a high of 37 degrees with a 50 percent chance of rain or snow. Š Higgins finished sixth in the balloting for the 2008 Walter Payton Award, given annually to the top offensive player in the FCS. Š Higgins now ranks second in the FCS in passing efficiency rating (172.75) while Montana's Cole Bergquist is seventh (159.45). Š A win Saturday would move UM ahead of Youngstown State and into second in all-time FCS playoff victories with 26. Georgia Southern is first with 38. Š The regular season ends but the Sagarin Ratings keep going. Montana is sixth among FCS teams, No. 76 overall. Weber State is ninth in the FCS, No. 87 overall.
Griz game to be televised on CW-TV
Then there were three.
The University of Montana Grizzlies' quarterfinal Football Championship Subdivision playoff game against the Weber State Wildcats has another broadcast source: CW-TV, sister station to local outlet KPAX-TV.
Kickoff is at 12:05 p.m. Mountain.
CW-TV is seen in Missoula on channel 8.2 if you have a digital converter box, channel 7 on Dish Network and channel 18 if you're a Bresnan Communications cable subscriber.
A complete list of digital feeds, satellite stations and cable channels for Montana can be found at www.kpax.com. The Griz game won't be seen on every cable system due to limited local signal availability.
The game will also be televised live on ESPN GamePlan, which is a pay-per-view service, and on Altitude Sports and Entertainment.
Altitude can be found on Dish Network at channel 410, and DirecTV at channel 681. If Altitude is not one of the regional sports networks where you live, you may need to order the Sports Pack from DirecTV or Dish Network to get network.
A complete list of Altitude channel numbers can be found at www.altitude.tv.
The can also be seen via the internet at www.espn360.com.
It is an ESPN telecast, and Trey Bender and Doug Chapman will call the game.
Missoulian
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Stocks wrote on Dec 5, 2008 5:55 AM:
Nothing but praise for Montana "