By CHRIS WALTERSKIRCHEN
The Montana Grizzlies open play in November coming off a loss. The Griz lost their final October game in 2013 and then proceeded to handled 4 straight opponents in November. Since 2000 The Griz have gone 46-8 in November, with five of those losses coming against their foe from Bozeman.
Last Saturday’s 41-21 loss at Cal Poly marked the first time in 18 years that an FCS opponent has beaten the Griz by 20 or more points. In the 1996 FCS title game Randy Moss and the Marshall Thundering Herd downed the Griz 49-29.
The Sacremento State quarterback knows what it’s like to beat the Griz. In the two teams’ meetings in September of 2011 Saffron came in late in the game to help preserve a Hornets win. Saffron is second in the league in rushing and in the top 5 passing efficiency.
One of the surprise stars on defense for Montana has been linebacker Jeremiah Kose, a sophomore out of Oceanside California. Koss saw considerable action in Montana’s first two games last season but was injured against North Dakota and was done for the season. Kose is the nephew of Griz defensive line coach Legi Salumoa.
In answer to a very good question, it was asked: why MSU is listed as undefeated in Big Sky play even though they lost at home to Eastern Washington. Turns out that was a non-conference game as the two schools were not scheduled to meet this season and they added their fellow Big Sky member to their non-conference. That Eagles likely will stand out when the FCS Committee is setting up seeding for the play-offs.
Should the Giants-Royals World series reach a game 7 it will mark only the second time in 23 seasons that a game 7 has been played in an American League stadium. In 2002 the Anaheim Angels hosted the Giants in a game 7.
However this year’s World Series ends, the American West will still remain the division that has waited the longest for another World Series winner. When the Angels won the 2002 Series it marked the AL West’s most recent series title.
Monday was the 50th birthday of Missoula Mayor John Engen. While his Honor was not a renowned athlete he does have some sports connections. John Engen Bubblehead Night at Osprey Field had people lined up for admission 90 minutes before game time. The week Engen was born, his future Alma Mater Hellgate closed out a successful first season with a 33-19 win over future Governor Marc Racicot and Libby. During his tenure as mayor the Griz have won 89 footballs second only to the 107 wins when Mike Kadas was in office.
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Chris Walterskirchen has been an observer of Montana sports for nearly half a century. A Kalispell native, Chris has worked in various capacities for professional and college sports organization of at various times: ranging from announcing and statistical work to the concessions and even a stint as a costumed mascot.
Chris has academic degrees in communications and elementary education. His style of sports trivia involves more than just who won and who lost, but also focuses on the obscure or human side of sports. In this blog you will learn things like the Grizzly football team has won 210 games over the 19 seasons since they have had Monte as their mascot or that UNLV is the only school that both the Griz and Lady Griz have both faced in the NCAA basketball tournament
When not following sports Chris enjoys taking care of animals of all kinds (a peacock rescue?) and reading to pre-schoolers.