Montana vs Central Washington???

[grizzaholic]

SO what does any Griz fan, or anybody for that matter, know about this team? I have been reading their football board for the past couple of years, d2messageboard.com, whenever the Griz or anybody else from the Big Sky plays a d2 team. For some odd reason this year they are about 1 drink of the koolaid away from guaranteeing a win at Montana.


Just wondering if anybody can help out.

[Ursus A. Horribilis]

Last time they were here in 2001 we beat them 30-0 but they were a pretty big, physical team. They just didn't have the speed. They are a pretty good D2 though. They get a lot of kids from the Seattle and Portland areas, or at least they used to.

[Beef]

Won't they be on their third head coach in three years? I think that's where Eastern's coach is coming from (after leaving EWU to go there a year earlier). That's never a good thing for a team...

[Mvemjsunpx]

Last time they were here in 2001 we beat them 30-0 but they were a pretty big, physical team. They just didn't have the speed. They are a pretty good D2 though. They get a lot of kids from the Seattle and Portland areas, or at least they used to.

That was Western Washington we played in '01, not CWU.

As for Central Washington, they went 8-2 in the regular season last year and then lost in the DII quarterfinals to Grand Valley. They didn't play an FCS team, but they split close games with the now-FCS U Dakotas. They were picked unanimously to win the revived Great Northwest Athletic Conference this season. The Wildcats return WR Johnny Spevak (92 rec., 1210 yds., 14 TDs) & Kalispell native QB Mike Reilly (3386 yds., 30 pass TDs, 10 INTs), the only Montanan on the roster. I believe they also return most of the defense.

[grizzaholic]

Thank you for the info Mv.....ummmm...other letters maybe a niner....I cannot ever get it right.

[DoubleNicks]

Played with Reilly before...great guy who's got a pretty solid arm, a pocket passer, and at least back then wasn't a threat in the mobility department. Also, in the past, Reilly likes going big and doesn't check down a whole lot so if the Griz DL can bring pressure shouldn't have to worry about this game too much...then again this was a few years back and I'm sure he's not only improved but has prob. changed up his game in some areas.

[pantherrob82]

don't lose. it sucks.

[BigApp]

I'm going to take a quick guess here:

This game is in Missoula, right??

[grizzaholic]

I'm going to take a quick guess here:

This game is in Missoula, right??

Actually they though it would be a little too convienent to play the game in Missoula because everybody would think that the Griz would be getting too much of a home field advantage. But the university didn't want it to seem like the game was bought out so a new option was used. The game will be held at the ROCK.

[MrTitleist]

Yeah, this game with CWU should be nothing less than a 30 point margin of victory. CWU is good, but they're not Montana good. This game was supposed to happen 2 or 3 years ago, but we bought it out to play Iowa or Oregon.. I think Iowa. But at least... it's not Fort Lewis!!

[Mvemjsunpx]

Yeah, this game with CWU should be nothing less than a 30 point margin of victory. CWU is good, but they're not Montana good. This game was supposed to happen 2 or 3 years ago, but we bought it out to play Iowa or Oregon.. I think Iowa. But at least... it's not Fort Lewis!!

I wouldn't be surprised if it's less than 30. CWU should be one of the best DII teams in the nation (currently ranked #11) and, fortunately, the game shouldn't look anything like the Ft. Lewis massacres. It could play out more like a couple of our other DII games this decade: beating Western Washington by 30 during the title run in '01, or beating then-DII Northern Colorado by just 17 in '02 (it was actually tied at the end of the third). Hopefully it won't turn out like the NDSU game in '03.