By DAVE GUFFEY for GoGriz.com
The University of Montana Grizzlies’ 11-game football schedule in 2015 will feature six home game, as well as match-ups against four of the teams that are currently participating in this year’s Division 1 NCAA Football Championship Subdivision playoffs.
The 8-4 Grizzlies, who host the University of San Diego Toreros (9-2) this Saturday, Nov. 29 in an FCS first-round game, open the 2015 season with a formidable opponent in front of a national TV audience.
Montana’s opener is against the three-time defending national champion North Dakota State Bison on August 29, in a game that will be televised nationally on ESPN. The second/third-ranked Bison are currently 11-1 overall and the number two seed in this year’s FCS playoffs.
The Griz-Bison contest is followed by a home game against the Cal Poly Mustangs on Sept. 6. This season the Mustangs were 7-5 overall and 5-3 in the Big Sky Conference. The Mustangs currently lead the nation in rushing, averaging 351.8 yards a game. The Montana-Cal Poly game will be a non-league affair in 2015.
After an open week, the Grizzlies play Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, on Sept. 19, in a return game from 2012, when UM defeated the Flames 34-14 in Missoula. The Flames are currently 8-4 and ranked 20th/23rd in the FCS, and play at James Madison (9-3) in first-round playoff game this Saturday. Last week Liberty handed Coastal Carolina (11-1) its first loss (15-14) of the season to win the Big South Conference title, and receiver that league’s automatic playoff berth.
Montana starts league action at home against Northern Arizona on Sept. 26 in their annual Homecoming game. The Lumberjacks, who the Griz did not play this season, went 7-5/5-3 this year, and gave Eastern Washington its only Big Sky loss (28-27).
The Grizzlies’ first conference road game is at UC Davis on Oct. 3. The Aggies (2-9/1-7), who lost three of their last four games by nine or less points, upset host Cal Poly 48-35 in their second-to-last game of the season.
Up next up for the Griz are two straight league home games, first against the Weber State Wildcats (2-10/2-6) on Oct. 10, which is followed by an open date (Oct. 17), and then UM will play North Dakota (5-7/3-7) at home for the first time in the past four seasons on Oct. 24.
The Griz then play their only back-to-back road games of the season, starting with the Portland State Vikings (3-9/2-6) on Oct. 31. Next they are in Pocatello to face the much-improved Idaho State Bengals (8-4/6-2) on Nov. 7.
The Wildcats, Vikings, and Bengals are three of the 13 Big Sky teams that the Griz did not play in 2014.
Montana’s final home game of the season is against the league champion EWU Eagles (10-2/7-1), who are currently ranked fourth in the nation and have a first-round bye this Saturday. The winner of this Saturday’s Grizzly-Torero game in Missoula will play the Eagles in Cheney, Wash., Saturday, Dec. 6, in 2:30 p.m. (Mtn.) kick-off in a second-round playoff game.
The Grizzlies conclude the 2015 regular-season with the 115th “Brawl of the Wild,” playing the Montana State Bobcats in Bozeman on Nov. 21. MSU (8-4/6-2), which is currently ranked 17th in the nation, hosts 13th/14th-ranked South Dakota State (8-4) this Saturday in a first round playoff game. The winner of the MSU-SDSU game will play the Bison Dec. 6 in Fargo.