2023 Montana Grizzlies football team

2023 Montana Grizzlies football
2023 Montana Grizzlies football
Big Sky champion
NCAA Division I Football Championship Game, L 3–23 vs. South Dakota State
Conference	Big Sky Conference
Ranking
STATS	No. 2
FCS Coaches	No. 2
Record	13–2 (7–1 Big Sky)
Head coach	Bobby Hauck (13th season);
Offensive coordinator	Brent Pease (1st season)
Defensive coordinator	Ronnie Bradford (1st season)
Home stadium	Washington–Grizzly Stadium

2023 Big Sky Conference football standings

Team	W		L	W		L
No. 2 $^	7	–	1	13	–	2
No. 8 Idaho ^	6	–	2	9	–	4
No. 9 Montana State ^	6	–	2	8	–	4
Northern Arizona	5	–	3	5	–	6
No. 24 UC Davis	5	–	3	7	–	4
No. 13 Sacramento State ^	4	–	4	8	–	5
Portland State	4	–	4	5	–	6
Weber State	4	–	4	6	–	5
Eastern Washington	3	–	5	4	–	7
Idaho State	3	–	5	3	–	8
Cal Poly	1	–	7	3	–	8
Northern Colorado	0	–	8	0	–	11

$ – Conference champion ^ – FCS playoff participant Rankings from STATS Poll

The 2023 Montana Grizzlies football team represented the University of Montana as a member of the Big Sky Conference during the 2023 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The Grizzlies were led by 13th-year head coach Bobby Hauck and played their home games at Washington–Grizzly Stadium in Missoula, Montana. The Montana Grizzlies football team drew an average home attendance of 26,269 in 2023.

Preseason

Polls

On July 23, 2023, during the virtual Big Sky Kickoff, the Grizzlies were predicted to finish sixth in the Big Sky by the coaches and third by the media.^[1]

Coaches poll
Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Montana State	120 (10)
2	UC Davis	96 (1)
3	Sacramento State	94 (1)
4	Weber State	91
5	Idaho	89
6	Montana	84
7	Eastern Washington	52
8	Portland State	45
9	Northern Arizona	44
10	Northern Colorado	37
11	Cal Poly	25
12	Idaho State	15

Media poll
Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Montana State	447 (26)
2	Idaho	410 (8)
3	Montana	359 (2)
4	Sacramento State	334 (3)
5	UC Davis	330
6	Weber State	320
7	Eastern Washington	216
8	Northern Arizona	178
9	Portland State	167
10	Northern Colorado	109
11	Cal Poly	103
12	Idaho State	69

Preseason All–Big Sky team

The Grizzlies had five players selected to the preseason all-Big Sky team.^[2]^[3]

Offense Hunter Mayginnes – OL

Defense Alex Gubner – DT

Levi Janacaro – LB

Special Teams Junior Bergen – PR

Trevin Gradney – ST

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 2	12:00 p.m.	Butler*	No. 14	Washington-Grizzly Stadium Missoula, MT	KTMF/ESPN+	W 35–20	25,430
September 9	7:00 p.m.	at Utah Tech*	No. 13	Greater Zion Stadium St. George, UT	ESPN+	W 43–13	5,766
September 16	6:00 p.m.	No. 1 (D-II) Ferris State*	No. 12	Washington-Grizzly Stadium Missoula, MT	KTMF/ESPN+	W 17–10	26,978
September 23	2:00 p.m.	at Northern Arizona	No. 13	Walkup Skydome Flagstaff, AZ	KPAX/ESPN+	L 14–28	6,428
September 30	2:00 p.m.	Idaho State	No. 18	Washington-Grizzly Stadium Missoula, MT	KPAX/ESPN+	W 28–20	26,678
October 7	5:00 p.m.	at No. 20 UC Davis	No. 17	UC Davis Health Stadium Davis, CA	KPAX/ESPN+	W 31–23	9,576
October 14	8:30 p.m.	at No. 3 Idaho	No. 16	Kibbie Dome Moscow, ID (Little Brown Stein)	ESPN2	W 23–21	14,218
October 28	1:00 p.m.	Northern Colorado	No. 7	Washington-Grizzly Stadium Missoula, MT	KPAX/ESPN+	W 40–0	25,463
November 4	6:00 p.m.	No. 7 Sacramento State	No. 4	Washington-Grizzly Stadium Missoula, MT	KPAX/ESPN+	W 34–7	25,888
November 11	8:00 p.m.	at Portland State	No. 3	Hillsboro Stadium Hillsboro, OR	KPAX/ESPN+	W 34–10	4,578
November 18	12:00 p.m.	No. 4 Montana State	No. 3	Washington-Grizzly Stadium Missoula, MT (rivalry)	KPAX/ESPN+	W 37–7	27,178
December 2	7:00 p.m.	No. 11 Delaware*	No. 2	Washington-Grizzly Stadium Missoula, MT (NCAA Division I Second Round)	ESPN+	W 49–19	20,580
December 8	7:00 p.m.	No. 7 Furman*	No. 2	Washington-Grizzly Stadium Missoula, MT (NCAA Division I Quarterfinal)	ESPN2	W 35–28 ^OT	20,884
December 16	2:30 p.m.	No. 8 North Dakota State*	No. 2	Washington-Grizzly Stadium Missoula, MT (NCAA Division I Semifinal)	ESPN2/ESPN+	W 31–29 ^2OT	26,544
January 7, 2024	12:00 p.m.	vs. No. 1 South Dakota State*	No. 2	Toyota Stadium Frisco, TX (NCAA Division I Championship Game)	ABC	L 3–23	19,512
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game All times are in Mountain time

^[4]

Game summaries

Butler

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bulldogs	3	3	14	0	20
No. 14 Grizzles	10	11	7	7	35

at Utah Tech

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 13 Grizzles	14	22	7	0	43
Trailblazers	0	0	0	13	13

Ferris State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bulldogs	0	10	0	0	10
No. 12 Grizzlies	3	0	14	0	17

at Northern Arizona

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 13 Grizzles	0	14	0	0	14
Lumberjacks	7	14	7	0	28

Idaho State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bengals	7	0	7	6	20
No. 18 Grizzles	7	0	14	7	28

at No. 20 UC Davis

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 17 Grizzles	7	14	7	3	31
No. 20 Aggies	7	13	0	3	23

at No. 3 Idaho

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 16 Grizzles	10	10	0	3	23
No. 3 Vandals	0	7	0	14	21

Northern Colorado

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bears	0	0	0	0	0
No. 7 Grizzles	0	14	12	14	40

No. 7 Sacramento State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 7 Hornets	7	0	0	0	7
No. 4 Grizzles	7	14	0	13	34

at Portland State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 3 Grizzles	7	17	10	0	34
Vikings	3	0	7	0	10

Montana State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 4 Bobcats	0	0	7	0	7
No. 3 Grizzles	14	6	10	7	37

FCS Playoffs

No. 12 Delaware – Second Round

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 12 Blue Hens	0	12	7	0	19
No. 2 Grizzles	10	25	14	0	49

No. 7 Furman – Quarterfinals

	1	2	3	4	OT	Total
No. 7 Paladins	14	0	7	7	0	28
No. 2 Grizzles	14	6	8	0	7	35

No. 8 North Dakota State – Semifinals

	1	2	3	4	OT	2OT	Total
No. 8 Bison	3	3	3	7	7	6	29
No. 2 Grizzles	0	10	0	6	7	8	31

vs. No. 1 South Dakota State – Championship Game

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 2 Grizzles	0	3	0	0	3
No. 1 Jackrabbits	7	0	16	0	23

Ranking movements

Ranking movements
**Legend:** ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
т = Tied with team above or below
	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Final
STATS FCS	14	13	12	13	18	17	16	9	7	4	3	3	2
Coaches	14	13	11т	11	16	13	10	6	5	3	3	3	2

References

^ "Montana State Tabbed Preseason Football Favorites". July 25, 2021. Retrieved July 26, 2023.
^ "Five Griz named to preseason All-Big Sky team". University of Montana. July 23, 2023. Retrieved June 26, 2023.
^ "2023 #BigSkyFB Preseason All-Conference Team Announced". July 23, 2023. Retrieved July 26, 2023.
^ "2023 Montana Football Schedule". FBSchedules. Retrieved March 6, 2023.

[1] "Montana State Tabbed Preseason Football Favorites". July 25, 2021. Retrieved July 26, 2023.

[2] "Five Griz named to preseason All-Big Sky team". University of Montana. July 23, 2023. Retrieved June 26, 2023.

[3] "2023 #BigSkyFB Preseason All-Conference Team Announced". July 23, 2023. Retrieved July 26, 2023.

[4] "2023 Montana Football Schedule". FBSchedules. Retrieved March 6, 2023.

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Montana Grizzlies football
Venues	Dornblaser Field (I) (1912–1967) Naranche Stadium (alternate (Butte), 1938–1950) Dornblaser Field (II) (1968–1986) Washington–Grizzly Stadium (1986–present)
Bowls & rivalries	Eastern Washington: EWU–UM Governors Cup Idaho: Little Brown Stein Montana State
Culture and lore	Monte "Up With Montana" University of Montana Grizzly Marching Band
People	Head coaches NFL draftees
Seasons	1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943–1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2024 2025
National championship seasons in bold

Big Sky Conference football champions
College Division / Division II	Idaho State (1963) Montana State (1964) Weber State & Idaho (1965) Montana State (1966) Montana State (1967) Idaho, Montana State, & Weber State (1968) Montana (1969) Montana (1970) Idaho (1971) Montana State (1972) Boise State (1973) Boise State (1974) Boise State (1975) Montana State (1976) Boise State (1977)
I-AA/FCS	Northern Arizona (1978) Montana State (1979) Boise State (1980) Idaho State (1981) Montana, Idaho, & Montana State (1982) Nevada (1983) Montana State (1984) Idaho (1985) Nevada (1986) Idaho (1987) Idaho (1988) Idaho (1989) Nevada (1990) Nevada (1991) Idaho & Eastern Washington (1992) Montana (1993) Boise State (1994) Montana (1995) Montana (1996) Eastern Washington (1997) Montana (1998) Montana (1999) Montana (2000) Montana (2001) Montana, Montana State, & Idaho State (2002) Montana State, Montana, & Northern Arizona (2003) Montana & Eastern Washington (2004) Eastern Washington, Montana State, & Montana (2005) Montana (2006) Montana (2007) Weber State & Montana (2008) Montana (2009) Montana State & Eastern Washington (2010) Montana State & Montana (2011) Eastern Washington, Montana State, & Cal Poly (2012) Eastern Washington (2013) Eastern Washington (2014) Southern Utah (2015) Eastern Washington & North Dakota (2016) Southern Utah & Weber State (2017) Eastern Washington, UC Davis, & Weber State (2018) Sacramento State & Weber State (2019) Weber State (2020) Sacramento State (2021) Montana State & Sacramento State (2022) (2023) Montana State (2024)
National championships in bold