2018 Montana Grizzlies football team

2018 Montana Grizzlies football
Conference	Big Sky Conference
Record	6–5 (4–4 Big Sky)
Head coach	Bobby Hauck (8th season)
Offensive coordinator	Timm Rosenbach (2nd season)
Defensive coordinator	Kent Baer (1st season)
Home stadium	Washington–Grizzly Stadium

2018 Big Sky Conference football standings

	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 6 Weber State +^		7	–	1					10	–	3
No. 2 Eastern Washington +^		7	–	1					12	–	3
No. 7 UC Davis +^		7	–	1					10	–	3
No. 17 Montana State ^		5	–	3					8	–	5
Idaho State		5	–	3					6	–	5
Montana		4	–	4					6	–	5
Cal Poly		4	–	4					5	–	6
Northern Arizona		3	–	4					4	–	6
Portland State		3	–	5					4	–	7
Idaho		3	–	5					4	–	7
Northern Colorado		2	–	6					2	–	9
Southern Utah		1	–	7					1	–	10
Sacramento State		0	–	7					2	–	8
$ – Conference champion ^ – FCS playoff participant Although North Dakota was classified as an independent, games against them still counted as Big Sky Conference games. Rankings from STATS Poll

The 2018 Montana Grizzlies football team represented the University of Montana in the 2018 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The Grizzlies were led by first-year coach Bobby Hauck, 8th overall as he previously was head coach from 2003–2009, and played their home games on campus at Washington–Grizzly Stadium in Missoula, Montana as a charter member of the Big Sky Conference. They finished the season 6–5, 4–4 in Big Sky play to finish in a tie for sixth place.

Preseason

Polls

On July 16, 2018 during the Big Sky Kickoff in Spokane, Washington, the Grizzlies were predicted to finish in seventh place in the coaches poll and fourth place in the media poll.

Coaches poll

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Eastern Washington	134 (6)
2	Weber State	124 (3)
3	Northern Arizona	121 (3)
4	Idaho	101 (1)
5	Sacramento State	94
6	Southern Utah	91
7	Montana	82
8	Montana State	76
9	UC Davis	64
10	Cal Poly	40
11	Northern Colorado	30
12	Idaho State	29
13	Portland State	21

Media poll

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Eastern Washington	651 (27)
2	Weber State	636 (19)
3	Northern Arizona	535 (1)
4	Montana	496 (2)
5	Idaho	483 (3)
6	Southern Utah	449 (1)
7	Sacramento State	415
8	Montana State	391 (1)
9	UC Davis	331 (1)
10	Idaho State	170
11	Cal Poly	169
12	Northern Colorado	166
13	Portland State	103

Preseason All-Conference Team

The Grizzlies had one player selected to the Preseason All-Conference Team.

Josh Buss – Sr. LB. Also selected as the preseason defensive player of the year.

Award watch lists

Listed in the order that they were released

Award	Player	Position	Year
Butkus Award	Josh Buss	LB	SR
Buck Buchanan Award	Josh Buss	LB	SR

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 1	7:00 p.m.	No. 13 Northern Iowa*	No. 24	Washington–Grizzly Stadium Missoula, MT	SWX	W 26–23	25,018
September 8	1:00 p.m.	Drake*	No. 14	Washington–Grizzly Stadium Missoula, MT	SWX	W 48–16	23,132
September 15	2:00 p.m.	at Western Illinois*	No. 15	Hanson Field Macomb, IL	ESPN+	L 27–31	4,011
September 22	1:00 p.m.	Sacramento State	No. 19	Washington–Grizzly Stadium Missoula, MT	RTNW	W 41–34	24,060
September 29	5:00 p.m.	at Cal Poly	No. 17	Alex G. Spanos Stadium San Luis Obispo, CA	ELVN	W 48–28	7,157
October 6	2:00 p.m.	Portland State	No. 14	Washington–Grizzly Stadium Missoula, MT	SWX	L 20–22	25,205
October 13	12:00 p.m.	at North Dakota	No. 22	Alerus Center Grand Forks, ND	SWX	L 14–41	10,497
October 27	2:00 p.m.	No. 6 UC Davis		Washington–Grizzly Stadium Missoula, MT	SWX	L 21–49	24,141
November 3	1:00 p.m.	at Southern Utah		Eccles Coliseum Cedar City, UT	RTNW	W 57–14	7,162
November 10	4:30 p.m.	at Idaho		Kibbie Dome Moscow, ID (Little Brown Stein)	RTNW	W 46–27	14,571
November 17	12:00 p.m.	No. 25 Montana State		Washington–Grizzly Stadium Missoula, MT (rivalry)	RTNW	L 25–29	26,508
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game All times are in Mountain time

Game summaries

Northern Iowa

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 13 Panthers	0	0	7	16	23
No. 24 Grizzlies	16	10	0	0	26

See also: 2018 Northern Iowa Panthers football team

Drake

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bulldogs	0	3	7	6	16
No. 14 Grizzlies	3	7	21	17	48

See also: 2018 Drake Bulldogs football team

At Western Illinois

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 15 Grizzlies	18	0	3	6	27
Leathernecks	14	3	0	14	31

See also: 2018 Western Illinois Leathernecks football team

Sacramento State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Hornets	14	14	3	3	34
No. 19 Grizzlies	14	10	7	10	41

See also: 2018 Sacramento State Hornets football team

At Cal Poly

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 17 Grizzlies	17	14	10	7	48
Mustangs	0	7	14	7	28

See also: 2018 Cal Poly Mustangs football team

Portland State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Vikings	10	3	0	9	22
No. 14 Grizzlies	0	0	14	6	20

See also: 2018 Portland State Vikings football team

At North Dakota

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 22 Grizzlies	0	0	0	14	14
Fighting Hawks	21	13	0	7	41

See also: 2018 North Dakota Fighting Hawks football team

UC Davis

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 6 Aggies	3	0	10	36	49
Grizzlies	7	14	0	0	21

See also: 2018 UC Davis Aggies football team

At Southern Utah

	1	2	3	4	Total
Grizzlies	20	10	21	6	57
Thunderbirds	7	7	0	0	14

See also: 2018 Southern Utah Thunderbirds football team

At Idaho

	1	2	3	4	Total
Grizzlies	14	22	7	3	46
Vandals	3	3	7	14	27

See also: 2018 Idaho Vandals football team and Little Brown Stein

Montana State

See also: 2018 Montana State Bobcats football team and Brawl of the Wild

#25 Montana State Bobcats (6–4) at Montana Grizzlies (6–4)

Quarter	1	2	3	4	Total
Montana St	0	7	0	22	29
Montana	7	15	0	3	25

at Washington–Grizzly Stadium, Missoula, Montana

• Date: November 17, 2018
• Game time: 12:00 p.m.
• Game weather: Sunny, 30 °F (−1 °C)
• Game attendance: 26,508
• Box Score

Game information

First quarter UM – Gabe Sulser 1-yard pass from Dalton Sneed (Tim Semenza kick), 12:31. Montana 7–0. Drive: 6 plays, 73 yards, 2:29. Second quarter UM – Adam Eastwood 1-yard run (Tim Semenza kick), 13:30. Montana 14–0. Drive: 10 plays, 58 yards, 3:41. UM – Samuel Akem 37-yard pass from Dalton Sneed (run good), 8:15. Montana 22–0. Drive: 2 plays, 39 yards, 0:40. MSU – Troy Andersen 3-yard run (Tristan Bailey kick), 0:23. Montana 22–7. Drive: 10 plays, 72 yards, 2:43. Third quarter No scoring Fourth quarter MSU – Troy Andersen 1-yard run (run good), 14:24. Montana 22–15. Drive: 9 plays, 87 yards, 3:15. UM – Tim Semenza 34-yard field goal, 7:46. Montana 25–15. Drive: 14 plays, 58 yards, 6:32. MSU – Troy Andersen 1-yard run (Tristan Bailey kick), 6:01. Montana 25–22. Drive: 7 plays, 75 yards, 1:45. MSU – Logan Jones 13-yard run (Tristan Bailey kick), 2:19. Montana St 29–25. Drive: 7 plays, 35 yards, 2:57. Top passers MSU – Troy Andersen – 15/24, 158 yards UM – Dalton Sneed – 22/34, 354 yards, 2 TD Top rushers MSU – Troy Andersen – 23 rushes, 107 yards, 3 TD UM – Jerry Louie-McGee – 4 rushes, 43 yards Top receivers MSU – Travis Jonsen – 11 receptions, 101 yards UM – Samuel Akem – 6 receptions, 147 yards, TD

Ranking movements

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
— = Not ranked RV = Received votes

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Final
STATS FCS	24	14	15	19	17	14	22	RV	RV	—	RV	RV	RV
Coaches	25	16	16	20	18	15	23	RV	—	—	—	RV	RV