2018 Montana Grizzlies football team

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.

2018 Montana Grizzlies football
Conference	Big Sky Conference
2018 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 (Capacity: 25,217)

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

Previous season

The Griz finished the 2017 season 7–4, 5–3 in Big Sky play to finish in a tie for sixth place.

On November 20, it was announced that head coach Bob Stitt's contract would not be renewed.[1] He finished at Montana with a three-year record of 21–14.

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.[2]

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.[3]

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[4]	Josh Buss	LB	SR
Buck Buchanan Award[5]	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 (Brawl of the Wild)	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

• Source: Official Schedule

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

Drake

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

at Western Illinois

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

Sacramento State

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

at Cal Poly

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

Portland State

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

at North Dakota

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

UC Davis

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

at Southern Utah

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

at Idaho

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

Montana State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 25 Bobcats	0	7	0	22	29
Grizzlies	7	15	0	3	25

Ranking movements

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
NR = Not ranked. RV = Received votes. т = Tied with team above or below. ( ) = First place 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	NR	RV	RV	RV
Coaches	25	16	16	20	18	15	23	RV	NR	NR	NR	RV	RV

References

1. Just, Amie (November 20, 2017). "Stitt out as Montana Grizzlies football coach". www.406mtsports.com. 406 MT Sports. Retrieved April 26, 2018.
2. https://www.bigskyconf.com/news/2018/7/16/football-eastern-washington-picked-to-win-the-big-sky.aspx
3. http://bigskyconf.com/news/2018/7/16/doss-buss-headline-big-sky-football-preseason-all-conference-team.aspx
4. "Butkus Award - 2018 Collegiate Watchlist". The Butkus Award. July 23, 2018. Retrieved July 23, 2018.
5. "FCS football: 2018 Buck Buchanan Award watch list announced". August 2, 2018. Retrieved August 2, 2018.