146 college football games played at Washington-Grizzly Stad
Posted: Wed Oct 18, 2006 8:29 am
Beating Boise in '95 was great
There have been 146 college football games played at Washington-Grizzly Stadium since the facility opened on Oct. 18, 1986, and many of them are worth remembering.
To be sure, 128 of them are worth remembering by Griz fans because their team won. But several of the 18 losses are worth recalling, too, because the opponents produced great efforts.
Fact is, I can recall almost all of Montana's home defeats the past 20 years — perhaps because they've been so rare.
I remember UM's incredible 49-48 loss to Delaware in the 1993 playoffs, when UM missed a crucial extra point after its seventh touchdown ... I remember a 10-9 loss to Hofstra in Joe Glenn's coaching debut in Missoula, a defeat that had irate fans calling for Joe's head on a platter ... I remember Montana's State shocking 10-7 victory in the snow in 2002 that stopped the Grizzlies' 16-year dominance over their rivals.
Of course, there have been many more cheer-able days than jeer-able days at Washington-Griz over the years.
Who can forget Dave Dickenson's first start at UM in 1993, when the talented quarterback from Great Falls rallied his troops from a 30-point deficit to a spine-tingling 52-48 victory over South Dakota State?
Nobody can.
Who can forget Mick Dennehy's 70-7 romp over Troy State in the 1996 playoffs?
Certainly not the Trojans, who felt so bad they jumped to Division I-A — where they won't have to worry about playoff losses.
Who can forget the 38-0 whitewash of Northern Iowa in the 2001 semifinals, perhaps the most perfect game any of Glenn's teams played at home?
Certainly not UNI coach Mark Farley, who may never visit Missoula again
But if there's one classic contest that ranks above all the rest in my book of memories, I would pick the afternoon of Sept. 23, 1995. That's the day coach Don Read and his terrific, little quarterback made Boise State squeal for mercy.
If you aren't at least 35 years old, you may not recall that Boise State was Public Enemy No. 2 for the Grizzlies, and especially for coach Read. The Broncos had drubbed the Grizzlies 38-14 in 1994, knocking Dickenson out of the game with a severe ankle injury. Dave was never quite the same that year, and he wasn't able to play when UM lost 28-9 at Youngstown State in the I-AA semifinals.
The 1995 game would be the last one between Boise State and Montana, since the Broncos had already announced they were leaving the Big Sky (along with Idaho) to join Division I-A.
Read was ready with his game plan, Dickenson was healthy, and 18,505 fans were as loud as they could be. The rest is history.
Few fans will ever forget that Dickenson threw five touchdown passes the first half as UM broke away to a 44-6 lead. He added another TD toss in the third quarter (when he played only two drives), then sat down for the day with 26 completions in 38 attempts for 383 yards and a school-record six TDs. One of those TD passes went for 90 yards to Matt Wells, also a school record. Joe Douglass caught 12 balls, two of them for scores.
The final score read Montana 54, Boise State 28, but it felt like 88-8.
Not that I enjoy covering 88-8 games, but that victory 11 years ago had a quality — call it healing, call it redemptive — that hasn't been matched since.
That's my Washington-Griz story, but there are a hundred others worth telling.
There have been 146 college football games played at Washington-Grizzly Stadium since the facility opened on Oct. 18, 1986, and many of them are worth remembering.
To be sure, 128 of them are worth remembering by Griz fans because their team won. But several of the 18 losses are worth recalling, too, because the opponents produced great efforts.
Fact is, I can recall almost all of Montana's home defeats the past 20 years — perhaps because they've been so rare.
I remember UM's incredible 49-48 loss to Delaware in the 1993 playoffs, when UM missed a crucial extra point after its seventh touchdown ... I remember a 10-9 loss to Hofstra in Joe Glenn's coaching debut in Missoula, a defeat that had irate fans calling for Joe's head on a platter ... I remember Montana's State shocking 10-7 victory in the snow in 2002 that stopped the Grizzlies' 16-year dominance over their rivals.
Of course, there have been many more cheer-able days than jeer-able days at Washington-Griz over the years.
Who can forget Dave Dickenson's first start at UM in 1993, when the talented quarterback from Great Falls rallied his troops from a 30-point deficit to a spine-tingling 52-48 victory over South Dakota State?
Nobody can.
Who can forget Mick Dennehy's 70-7 romp over Troy State in the 1996 playoffs?
Certainly not the Trojans, who felt so bad they jumped to Division I-A — where they won't have to worry about playoff losses.
Who can forget the 38-0 whitewash of Northern Iowa in the 2001 semifinals, perhaps the most perfect game any of Glenn's teams played at home?
Certainly not UNI coach Mark Farley, who may never visit Missoula again
But if there's one classic contest that ranks above all the rest in my book of memories, I would pick the afternoon of Sept. 23, 1995. That's the day coach Don Read and his terrific, little quarterback made Boise State squeal for mercy.
If you aren't at least 35 years old, you may not recall that Boise State was Public Enemy No. 2 for the Grizzlies, and especially for coach Read. The Broncos had drubbed the Grizzlies 38-14 in 1994, knocking Dickenson out of the game with a severe ankle injury. Dave was never quite the same that year, and he wasn't able to play when UM lost 28-9 at Youngstown State in the I-AA semifinals.
The 1995 game would be the last one between Boise State and Montana, since the Broncos had already announced they were leaving the Big Sky (along with Idaho) to join Division I-A.
Read was ready with his game plan, Dickenson was healthy, and 18,505 fans were as loud as they could be. The rest is history.
Few fans will ever forget that Dickenson threw five touchdown passes the first half as UM broke away to a 44-6 lead. He added another TD toss in the third quarter (when he played only two drives), then sat down for the day with 26 completions in 38 attempts for 383 yards and a school-record six TDs. One of those TD passes went for 90 yards to Matt Wells, also a school record. Joe Douglass caught 12 balls, two of them for scores.
The final score read Montana 54, Boise State 28, but it felt like 88-8.
Not that I enjoy covering 88-8 games, but that victory 11 years ago had a quality — call it healing, call it redemptive — that hasn't been matched since.
That's my Washington-Griz story, but there are a hundred others worth telling.
