MISSOULA — The Montana football team will play 12 regular season games this year, which will become the norm in the FCS starting in 2026.
Teams in the subdivision have normally played 11 games in the regular season except when the calendar fell a certain way to allow enough Saturdays for 12 games, most recently in 2024 and 2019.
This will be the last season with eight Big Sky Conference games as the league is moving to nine in 2026 because of the change to 12 regular season games.
As the Grizzlies prepare to kick off the 2025 season on Sept. 6 in Missoula, here are 12 observations on their 12-game schedule:
1. Montana will play 12 consecutive weeks throughout the regular season with no week off, although they could potentially earn a first-round bye in the FCS playoffs. The last time the Griz went an entire regular season without a bye week in between games came in 2008. They played 12 straight games from Sept. 6 through Nov. 22, which is coincidentally the exact same start and end dates this year. In that 2008 campaign, also under head coach Bobby Hauck, the Griz won the Big Sky regular season championship with a 7-1 conference record and finished as the FCS national runner-up with a 14-2 overall record.
People are also reading…
Montana vs. NDSU FCS semifinal game 43.JPG (copy)
The Montana cheer squad flies the Griz flags during the FCS semifinal playoff game between Montana and NDSU at Washington-Grizzly Stadium in Missoula on Dec. 16, 2023. The Grizzlies will play eight regular season home games for the first time. BEN ALLAN SMITH, Missoulian
2. The Griz bye week technically comes Week 1, which allowed them to start fall camp later. In looking for a 12th regular season game to fill their final slot on Aug. 30, they considered going on the road for an FBS game, although the options didn't make financial sense, or signing a home-and-home contract with an FCS team, although those series would've had to start on the road, according to UM athletic director Kent Haslam. The third option was to find a home game Oct. 18 on the week off in the middle of Big Sky games. Luckily, Sacred Heart was looking for a game too and was open to going on the road.
3. With the Griz bringing in Sacred Heart, that will give them eight home games for the first time in program history. Sacred Heart is in its second season as an FCS independent after playing in the Northeast Conference. The Pioneers will be joining the Coastal Athletic Association next year. This will be the first time that an FCS team has played eight regular season home games. Joining the Griz in accomplishing that feat this year is Tennessee State. However, the Tigers don't play their home games on campus, instead taking the gridiron at Nissan Stadium, home of the NFL's Tennessee Titans.
4. The Griz open by hosting NCAA Division II Central Washington at 6 p.m. on Sept. 6. They're the last D-I team to play their first game, except for the Ivy League teams, who start their 10-game schedule with no bye weeks in mid-September. The only other non-Ivy team off Week 0 and 1 is Villanova, which starts 6 p.m. ET Sept. 6. Aside from UM, Nova and the Ivies, every FCS team plays Week 1, nine of which played Week 0. Stanford is the only FBS team off Week 1, but it played Week 0. Four D-I teams — Iowa State, Idaho State, Fresno State and Kansas — will finish three games before UM starts its first.
5. The Griz will play Missouri Valley teams in two nonconference games, which are the second part of home-and-home series. They host North Dakota on Sept. 13 after losing 27-24 last year on the road as they collapsed in the second half. The Fighting Hawks have a new head coach in Eric Schmidt after posting an 5-7 record last year. Montana also hosts Indiana State on Sept. 20 after beating the Sycamores 49-14 on the road in 2022. North Dakota is one of three opponents the Griz will have a chance to get revenge against after losing last year. The other teams are Weber State and Montana State.
6. The Little Brown Stein returns this season as Montana and Idaho renew their rivalry. They didn't play each other last year, which was because of the Big Sky's unbalanced league schedule. Montana won the most recent contest, 23-21, in Moscow, Idaho, in 2023. The Vandals won the last meeting in Missoula, 30-23 in 2022. They're led by first-year head coach Thomas Ford, who took over after Jason Eck left for New Mexico. The game against Idaho is one of two games on ESPN 2, along with Sacramento State, and one of four night games, along with Sac State, Idaho State and Central Washington.
7. The Griz play only four road games and make their first trip in their fifth game. That's a bus ride to play Idaho State on Oct. 4. At least one D-I team plays its first road game at a later date: Missouri is home until Oct. 18. UM returns from ISU to host Cal Poly for homecoming and doesn't get on a plane until Oct. 25 for a trip to Sacramento State. The Griz play at Weber State the next week, the only time this year they'll play back-to-back road games. They played the Hornets and Wildcats in consecutive road games in 2022 and lost both outings. They do get an extra day to prep in between those this time.
Montana vs. UC Davis football 11.JPG (copy)
Fireworks go off before kickoff of the Big Sky Conference football game between Montana and UC Davis at Washington-Grizzly Stadium in Missoula on Nov. 9, 2024. The Grizzlies will play four night games, including two on national television, this season. BEN ALLAN SMITH, Missoulian
8. The game against Sac State is taking place on a Friday. It'll be the Grizzlies' first Friday game since Dec. 8, 2023, in the FCS quarterfinals against Furman in Missoula. It'll be their first Friday game on the road since Dec. 10, 2021, in the quarterfinals against James Madison in Harrisonburg, Virginia. It'll be their first non-Saturday regular season game since Thursday, Aug. 29, 2002, when they scored a 21-0 win over Hofstra in Hempstead, New York, as they began defense of their 2001 FCS championship. And it'll be their first non-Saturday conference game since Thursday, Sept. 28, 1989, at Idaho, a 30-24 loss.
9. The Griz will look to end two long road losing streaks. The last time they beat Weber State in Ogden, Utah, was 2012. The last time they defeated Sac State in Sacramento, California, was 2013. They lost their previous trip to Weber and Sac, both in 2022, as quarterback Lucas Johnson was knocked out on a targeting hit against the Hornets and missed the game against the Wildcats. Those are currently the two longest droughts for the Griz against Big Sky foes. They hadn't beaten Eastern Washington in Cheney, Washington, since 2008 before they snapped that skid in 2024. They host EWU on Nov. 8.
10. Montana will be playing Portland State at Providence Park in Portland, Oregon, on Nov. 15. It'll be the Vikings' first game at the downtown stadium since Oct. 13, 2018, and their only game there this season. Portland State used to play its home games at Providence Park from 1967-2018 before moving to Hillsboro, a suburb of Portland. The Vikings also played at Hillsboro Stadium in 2000 and 2010 because of ongoing renovations at Providence Park. The downtown stadium is home to a pair of professional soccer teams: the Portland Timbers of the MLS and the Portland Thorns of the NWSL.
11. The 124th Brawl of the Wild is Nov. 22 in Missoula. The home team has emerged victorious by a lopsided margin in each of the past five matchups dating back to Montana State's 2019 win in Bozeman. The last time a road team won came in 2018, when the Cats erased a 22-0 deficit and forced a goal line fumble in the final minute to escape with a 29-25 victory in a winner-makes-the-playoff battle in Hauck's first year back leading his alma mater. When the Brawl was last at UM in 2023, it was the first time ever the winner of the rivalry game would win the outright Big Sky title based on the outcome.
Griz Frootball Practice 1
The Grizzlies run drills during football practice at the University of Montana on Aug. 25 in Missoula. They open their season Sept. 6 at home against Central Washington. SHANNA MADISON, Missoulian
12. Montana heads into the season with three nationally ranked opponents on its schedule. The Griz were ranked No. 7 themselves in the Stats Perform FCS Preseason Top 25 Poll. They'll host No. 2 Montana State and No. 12 Idaho, and will travel to No. 15 Sacramento State. They'll also welcome in North Dakota, which was in the "others receiving votes" category and would've been No. 30 if the poll extended that deep. Indiana State and Eastern Washington, which both play at UM, weren't in the media poll but appeared in the AFCA FCS Preseason Coaches Poll toward the end of the "others receiving votes" section.
Bonus: As much as the schedule is about who a team plays, it is also about who a team misses as the unbalanced Big Sky slate rotates each year. The Griz don't play contenders UC Davis, which beat UM at Wa-Griz last year, and Northern Arizona, which put a scare into the Griz in Missoula last year despite missing its starting quarterback. The Aggies were ranked No. 8 in the Stats Top 25 and the Lumberjacks were No. 19 as the Big Sky had a conference-high six teams ranked. The Griz will also miss Northern Colorado, a team they've shut out in each of their past three meetings going back to 2021.
Frank Gogola is the Senior Sports Reporter at the Missoulian and 406 MT Sports. Follow him on X @FrankGogola or email him at frank.gogola@406mtsports.com.
0 Comments
Be the first to know
Get local news delivered to your inbox!