2020 Montana Grizzlies football team
The 2020 Montana Grizzlies football team will represent the University of Montana in the 2020–21 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The Grizzlies will be led by head coach Bobby Hauck, in the third season of his current stint and the tenth overall season leading the team, as he previously was head coach from 2003 to 2009. They will play their home games on campus at Washington–Grizzly Stadium in Missoula, Montana as a charter member of the Big Sky Conference.
| 2020 Montana Grizzlies football | |
|---|---|
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| Conference | Big Sky Conference |
| 2020 record | 0–0 (0–0 Big Sky) |
| Head coach |
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| Offensive coordinator | Timm Rosenbach (4th season) |
| Defensive coordinator | Kent Baer (3rd season) |
| Home stadium | Washington–Grizzly Stadium (Capacity: 25,217) |
| 2020 Big Sky Conference football standings | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Conf | Overall | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Team | W | L | W | L | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cal Poly | – | – | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Eastern Washington | – | – | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Idaho | – | – | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Idaho State | – | – | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Northern Arizona | – | – | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Southern Utah | – | – | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UC Davis | – | – | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weber State | – | – | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Previous season
The Grizzlies finished the 2019 season 10–4, 6–2 in Big Sky play to finish in a three-way tie for third place. They received an at-large bid to the FCS Playoffs where, after a first round bye, they defeated Southeastern Louisiana in the second round before losing to Weber State in the quarterfinals.
Preseason
Polls
On July 23, 2020, during the virtual Big Sky Kickoff, the Grizzlies were predicted to finish second in the Big Sky by both the coaches and media.[1]
| Predicted finish | Team | Votes (1st place) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Weber State | 135 (7) |
| 2 | Montana | 128 (3) |
| 3 | Montana State | 121 (1) |
| 4 | Eastern Washington | 118 (1) |
| 5 | Sacramento State | 99 (1) |
| 6 | UC Davis | 83 |
| 7 | Northern Arizona | 68 |
| 8 | Portland State | 67 |
| 9 | Idaho | 66 |
| 10 | Cal Poly | 46 |
| 11 | Idaho State | 37 |
| 12 | Southern Utah | 33 |
| 13 | Northern Colorado | 13 |
| Predicted finish | Team | Votes (1st place) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Weber State | 546 (28) |
| 2 | Montana | 496 (8) |
| 3 | Montana State | 493 (6) |
| 4 | Eastern Washington | 438 (1) |
| 5 | Sacramento State | 389 |
| 6 | UC Davis | 325 (1) |
| 7 | Portland State | 274 |
| 8 | Idaho | 273 |
| 9 | Northern Arizona | 238 |
| 10 | Cal Poly | 206 |
| 11 | Idaho State | 133 |
| 12 | Southern Utah | 105 |
| 13 | Northern Colorado | 88 |
Schedule
Montana originally had a game scheduled against Central Washington (September 5), but it was canceled on July 19 due to the GNAC's decision to cancel fall sports due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[2] The Grizzlies' game against Morehead State (September 19) was canceled on July 27 due to the Pioneer Football League's decision to play a conference-only schedule due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[3] [4]
References
- "Eagles Selected to Finish Fourth in the Big Sky in 2020". July 23, 2020. Retrieved July 23, 2020.
- Kelley, Kevin (19 July 2020). "Idaho, Montana each have non-conference game canceled due to COVID-19". FBSchedules.com. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
- Kelley, Kevin (27 July 2020). "Pioneer Football League to play conference-only football schedule in 2020". FBSchedules.com. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
- "2020 Montana Football Schedule". FBSchedules.com. Retrieved November 28, 2020.