Maybe the Griz sealed their fate by coming out flat. Maybe, as one East Coast reporter suggested, Richmond benefited from a laid-back approach leading up to and during its big evening.
“We play music at our practices,” first-year coach Mike London said after his team secured its first FCS title with a 24-7 win over Montana. “The worse thing you can do is try to over-emphasize how important a game is. I wanted to keep them free from that thought process this week.”
Or maybe it was a simple case of Richmond having a few more gifted athletes. Nobody brought that up at the press conference. Nobody ever does. But it was as obvious as the helmets on the players' heads.
Whatever the reason, the Griz lost. But please don't feel sorry for them.
They wish to be remembered for the good times. That's how I'll remember them - all the way up to and through Friday night at Finley Stadium.
Character is one of those punch words used often in college football. Most often it's associated with winners or doers.
“This team has been through a lot this year,” London said of his Spiders. “There's been some players who have lost some loved ones. This is tough times. But I think today you saw the character of this team.”
Maybe so.
But there's no tougher test of character than losing. We've all been there, whether on a football field, golf course, tennis court, basketball floor or baseball diamond.
You can learn a lot about a co-worker when he triple-bogeys a hole. Read volumes into the reaction of a baseball slugger mired in a slump. Likewise, the manner in which Montana coach Bobby Hauck approached London after Friday's game was telling.
No limp handshake a la Bill Belichick. No quick greeting and look the other way. Hauck offered London a firm handshake and a smile.
At that point he was the face of Montana - the state and the university. And he did us all proud with his gracious approach.
“Congratulations to Richmond and Coach (Mike) London. It was a great win,” Hauck said in his postgame press conference. “They really kind of did to us what we've been doing to people we've been playing lately.”
If you really want to feel sorry for someone, feel sorry for me when I field a phone call from my brother, a Northern Iowa graduate. He'll remind me how the Panthers had Richmond over a barrel last week, maybe even suggesting the “real” national championship was decided eight days ago in Iowa.
But I'll be ready. I'll remind him Montana beat the No. 1 team in the nation, James Madison, which beat Richmond two months ago in Richmond. In fact the Griz not only beat James Madison, they won on the Dukes' home field in front of a national television audience in an FCS semifinal.
Talk about your recruiting tools. Folks from Oregon to Massachusetts saw that one. My father in Dubuque, Iowa, became an instant Griz fan.
“Those guys are tough,” I recall him saying of the Griz. “What time do they play next week in the championship?”
At least now all those buddies back in Iowa are beginning to understand part of what drew me to Missoula. Or, as they like to call it, “Nome, Alaska.”
Montana's players seem to have a quality that endears them to first-time observers. It's a mixture of heart and sportsmanship. I dare you to find two cowboys who drained more out of their 10-gallon hats this season than Griz safety Colt Anderson and quarterback Cole Bergquist.
They played hard, they played hurt, they played with class. Bergquist was in so much discomfort after suffering a deep thigh bruise on the opening drive Friday that he spent the rest of the night trying to ease his suffering during breaks on the sideline.
He propped his left leg on a box to ease the throbbing. He tried riding the stationary bike for a while.
Bergquist was not the only one hurting. Montana was banged up in most every area, but coaches and players offered no excuses.
Richmond no doubt had its share of injuries as well. And in the end, momentum probably had more to do with Friday's outcome. In four playoff games, Montana played with its hair on fire for six halves and played sub-par for two.
The Griz could afford to play sub-par in the first half of their playoff opener at home against Texas State. But Friday night was about two teams that surprised everyone, even themselves, by reaching the finals.
Neither team could afford a hard jolt to its confidence. When Richmond started strong, a seed of doubt was planted in Montana's mind.
In that way football is not any different than basketball or chess. Had Montana matched the Spiders with a touchdown on its opening drive, perhaps the Spiders would have shriveled. It didn't happen, and Richmond became a runaway train.
But Montana belonged in this game. Let's get that straight.
Vince Lombardi once said, “there's no room for second place.” Lombardi was a great leader, but the guy needed to go fishing every once in a while.
The greatest tragedy for Griz players and fans would be for them to turn sour on 2008 because of what happened Friday. Taking second place in the FCS is something to tell your grandchildren.
Fortunately Hauck has things in perspective. He's made his appreciation known to his players. Underclassmen like Chase Reynolds, Marc Mariani, Shann Schillinger and Shawn Lebsock will use this season as motivation for 2009.
And for the seniors, the memories will never fade.
“This is a team that has done a lot, and everybody knows it,” offensive lineman Colin Dow said. “ŠWhat's most important isn't necessarily the scoreboard 20 or 30 years down the road. It's going to be the guys who you remember, as cliché as it sounds.
“That's something that we have that I know many teams in the country don't.”
Sports columnist Bill Speltz can be reached at 523-5255 or bill.speltz@lee.net.
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Pretty Rickey wrote on Dec 21, 2008 9:55 AM:
" Couldn't agree with you more, second rate reporting for a second rate team. I love the high school type bylines, "In this sports reporters opinion", COME ON MAN! "
gregg franks wrote on Dec 21, 2008 11:38 PM:
" two words....chase reynolds. He was the ONLY reason the grizz made it to the final game.........bg mistake he didn't get 40 carries. "
Mount Vernon Joe wrote on Dec 22, 2008 12:47 PM:
" The play calling really surprised me. Why not hit the 5-10 yard quick passes, just like Richmond did, and then go for the long bomb once in awhile? Cole kept getting sacked and pressured because he was looking too far down field. Another thing, Richmond's defensive ends were fast and good - so if their defensive ends were so good at the pass rush, why didn't the Griz run more screen passes to get them to think twice about rushing so hard?
I think someone needs to be held accountable for the play calling. It was so obvious that plan A wasn't working and that plan B had to be brought in. I think that's where the Griz failed. The players played their hearts out, but the bad play calling kept them out of the game. "
I think someone needs to be held accountable for the play calling. It was so obvious that plan A wasn't working and that plan B had to be brought in. I think that's where the Griz failed. The players played their hearts out, but the bad play calling kept them out of the game. "
Sean hogue wrote on Dec 21, 2008 8:56 AM: