By CHRIS WALTERSKIRCHEN
As they prepare for Saturday’s game at Cal Poly the Griz have much motivation to subdue the Mustangs. The teams last 3 meetings have been tight contests with Cal Poly prevailing the last two years. The Griz won in overtime in Missoula in 2013 when the Griz capitalized on a blocked punt to to set up the tying touchdown that forced the game into overtime.
The Griz may be currently ranked 6th in the FCS poll, but the two teams they play next are the first two teams outside the rankings.
One of the key figures on the Griz defense in 2016 is sophomore linebacker Josh Buss–“42″. Buss is a former star running back out of Boise. One thing that makes Buss extra special as a Grizzly is that he was born on December 4, 1995, which was the 199th anniversary of Griz legend Harry Adams who played and coached at Um for 53 years and who’s name adorns the Center that is home to Grizzly athletics.
Saturday’s white wash of Western Oregon was the MSU Bobcats first shutout in three seasons and their fourth since September of 2007, but all were against Division II or NAIA opponents, the cats last shutout over an FCS team came against Portland State in”monsoon-like” conditions in September of 2006.
Bobcat head coach Jeff Choate needed just 3 games to claim his second win as Bobcats head coach. Former succesful Bobcats coach have had trouble getting that 2nd win: Dave Arnold needed 12 to get his second win and Mike Kramer had to wait until game no. 15 for win no. 2.
After their win at Iowa the North Dakota State Bison aren’t just at the top of the FCS national poll they are receiving serious consideration in nthe FBS poll at “27th” in the voting. Some of the schools looking up at the Bison are: UCLA, Notre Dame, Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech. There was even some discussion Monday on TV of the Bison being offered a spot in a major bowl game.
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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.