The Division I Football Championship Subdivision semifinal game between the Griz and 12th-ranked JMU will kick off at 6 p.m. Mountain time inside Bridgeforth Stadium, and will be televised live nationally on ESPN2.
“That's about all we know right now,” said Montana athletic director Jim O'Day, who got the news by conference call Sunday morning. “We're looking at leaving Thursday morning, but we won't know that until tomorrow (Monday) afternoon.”
The 13-1 Grizzlies have faced JMU once, in the 2004 FCS title game in Chattanooga, Tenn. The Dukes won, 31-21.
James Madison is 12-1 after its latest come-from-behind win, a 31-27 victory over Villanova on Saturday. Landers, a 210-pound quarterback and finalist for the Walter Payton Award, scored the game-winning touchdown with 1:38 to play.
It was the fifth nail-biter in the Dukes' 12-game winning streak. They lost their opener at Duke, 31-7.
Montana beat No. 12 Weber State in another quarterfinal Saturday in Missoula 24-13 for its ninth straight win.
Bridgeforth Stadium seats 15,000 and has synthetic turf. The Dukes drew 13,780 fans to their win over Villanova.
The turf signals a vast improvement in playing surface from the last time the Dukes and Griz squared off at Chattanooga's Finley Stadium. Freshly-laid sod tore lose from the opening moments of the championship game on. Besides his team's victory, that was what JMU coach Mickey Matthews recalled most about the 2004 meeting.
“I guess everybody remembers the field,” said Matthews, now in his 10th season with the Dukes, after the Villanova game. “It was like playing in a corn patch. It was very difficult to play offense, on either side. Every call you made you were concerned whether your kids could stand up and make the play.”
Grizzly quarterback Cole Bergquist might play in a corn patch, if asked. After squaring his FCS playoff record at 2-2 (he's now 30-5 as the Griz starter), the senior talked about how he and his teammates perhaps exceeded people's expectations.
“First of all I don't think it was just people,” he said. “Even our own team was saying that. But it wasn't a big surprise because we had a bunch of young guys that really needed to step up.
“I think we knew if those guys would step up and start playing well, we'd have a good team. That's what's been happening.”
This is the Grizzlies' third semifinal in five seasons. They lost to UMass 19-17 at home in 2006 and beat Sam Houston State 34-13 at home in 2004.
“I kind of took that (2006) game for granted,” said safety Colt Anderson, who played valiantly in UM's 23-22 first-round loss to Wofford a year ago. “Then last year we lost in the first round.
“This year it's almost like we're having a little revenge on ourselves with the playoffs, trying to get back to the semis and hopefully into the championship. Hopefully everything will work out.”
James Madison-Villanova and Montana-Weber State were both rematches of regular-season games. While Montana lost the first matchup 45-28 in poor weather, JMU topped Villanova 23-19 in poor weather the first time around on Landers' Hail Mary pass.
It's not too early to start talking about Landers, who has rushed for 1,686 yards and 16 touchdowns this season and thrown for 1,519 yards and another 21 TDs.
Landers rushed for 89 second-half yards, including the game's final TD in the rematch with Villanova. That came on second-and-goal; on first-and-goal he intentionally went down for no gain to work more time off the clock.
“If I really had a lot of ... whatever, I might've told him not to score on second down,” joked Matthews, who noted that 'Nova had three timeouts left. Later he talked about what a special player he has at QB.
“Rodney takes over games in the fourth quarter,” Matthews said. “And we're in the final four because of one guy. Every time we get in trouble, Rodney delivers.”
Landers and the Colonial Athletic Association wars have Matthews feeling good about his squad.
Richmond is a CAA foe (JMU beat the Spiders 38-31 on Oct. 11 on a punt return with no time left). So is New Hampshire, which lost narrowly at Northern Iowa, 36-34 in Saturday's late quarterfinal.
“We think our league's the best,” said Matthews. “We take a lot of pride in our conference, and think that we have the best conference. Unlike some teams, we have to play four quarters against a lot of tough teams to make the playoffs. You saw it tonight. I think our league prepares you for the playoffs.”
QUICK KICKS: James Madison is 8-7 all-time in FCS playoff games, including a 4-0 mark in 2004. ... Big Sky Conference teams are 5-4 in playoff games against teams now in the CAA. Montana is 2-3, with wins over New Hampshire ('04) and Richmond ('00) and losses to JMU, UMass and Delaware (1993). ... The Griz held Weber State to its lowest point total since its 18-10 loss to UM in 2007, a span of 22 games. ... Wildcat QB Cameron Higgins, the Big Sky's offensive MVP, had a streak of 17 games with at least one TD pass snapped. ... Montana is 5-3 in semifinal games: 5-1 at home, 0-2 on the road.
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Grizzzfan wrote on Dec 8, 2008 9:52 AM:
" The Griz were hosed, they have to fly cross country and lost a day of prep by having to play on Friday night. The NCAA should have had them play on Saturday and made Richmond make the shorter flight to Iowa for the Friday game "
Andy wrote on Dec 8, 2008 9:57 AM:
" You can order tix in the Griz section through the fieldhouse. If you leave them at will call Jon could probably pick them up and overnight them to you. ;) "
Mike wrote on Dec 8, 2008 10:42 AM:
" The NCAA is about money, and the game should be played where money could be made, Missoula anyone? "
Tom wrote on Dec 8, 2008 11:22 AM:
" I agree with Grizfan that you guys got the short end of the stick by having to play on Friday night. JMU also got hosed by the NCAA for having to play Wofford and Villanova, both top ten teams, in order to get to the semis. Should be a great game and I hope you Montana fans that make the trip enjoy your time in the Old Dominion. Good luck to you. "
rogermp wrote on Dec 8, 2008 12:30 PM:
" Should be a good game. The Griz have their work cut out for them. But if they keep up the strong Defense and the Offense keeps churning out the yards it should be a battle. At least with the synthetic turf at Bridgeforth Stadium the 2008 Griz won't be fighting the muddy conditions the Griz team of 2004 faced. GO GRIZ!!! "
Brian wrote on Dec 8, 2008 1:20 PM:
" I see your paper says JMU is ranked 12th not sure what poles your paper is quoting but JMU has been ranked #1 for about 9 weeks nationally now, good Luck Montana, I remember the game is 04 and most of the Montana fans were great ( except the guy that sucker punched our quarterback) welcome to Harrisonburg Va "
Steve Tucker wrote on Dec 8, 2008 7:40 AM: