So, there, my one nice thing I say about that "other" team in the state.
Week Nine: The Last Dynasty
by Matt Dougherty, Executive Director of I-AA Football
Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - Where have all the great teams gone?
As I watched Georgia Southern fall to 3-4 this season and effectively drop out of the playoff picture last week, I realized that the Eagles have a lot of room to grow before the program with six championships can get back to the top. Youngstown State, another team with dynasty credentials and four titles to its name, has not even made the playoffs for the last five seasons.
Two-time champion Eastern Kentucky last enjoyed a taste of the postseason almost a decade ago, and big-name programs like Delaware, McNeese State, UNI, Furman and Appalachian State can’t really be considered all-time great teams without multiple titles. The age of parity has changed the I-AA picture. After only eight programs won titles from 1985-2001, a first-time champion has been crowned in each of the last four seasons and the I-AA level has seen almost every one of its dominant teams endure a down time.
Every one, that is, except Montana.
The Grizzlies just continue to roll along in the Big Sky and national landscape. They have a string of 13 consecutive playoff berths (Southern Illinois is next with three) spanning from 1993-2005, and it looks like that run will extend to 14 this year. They have national championships in 1995 and 2001, title game appearances in 1996, 2000 and 2004, and have been ranked no lower than No. 14 in the final Sports Network poll since 1993. The Grizzlies have appeared in the preseason top five for the last 11 seasons, and have an active streak of 115 consecutive weeks in the top 25, which dwarfs the next total of 50 (Southern Illinois). The Grizzlies sit at No. 2 in the country with a 6-1 record this week, so none of the success is going to change this season.
You would have to be a long-time I-AA fan to remember, but it hasn’t always been this way. Montana made the playoffs in 1982, but endured records of 2-8-1 and 3-8 in Larry Donovan’s final two seasons in 1984 and 1985. Although the team struggled in 1985, the wheels of the success had already been put into motion. The Grizzlies had been playing at off-campus Dornblaser Field since 1968, but the prospects of a better facility became reality when Missoula industrialist Dennis Washington donated $1 million for a stadium in August of 1985. The Grizzlies only averaged about 5,500 fans in 1985, but ground broke on the new stadium that winter, and the first game was played in the 1986 season.
The home advantage served as the first key to Montana’s success. The Grizzlies were only 27-24 at home from 1976-85, including losses in 10 of the last 13 games. But they have enjoyed a 128-18 record since Washington-Grizzly Stadium opened during the 1986 season. The Grizzlies have posted seven undefeated records at home, including campaigns of at least nine wins and no defeats in four of the five years that they advanced to the title game. Expansions throughout the years have increased the stadium capacity to 23,183, and the noise and proximity to the field from the Grizzly faithful constantly provides opponents with a unique experience in a I-AA game. And the facility also doesn’t hurt in helping Montana get home playoff games. The Grizzlies have a 20-4 home record in the playoffs while taking on only six road games outside of the national championship since the stadium was built. After three years as a I-AA writer and trips to most of the top facilities in the sub-classification, I can certainly attest to the fan noise and involvement as a greater factor at Washington-Grizzly than any other place in the country.
While Washington-Grizzly Stadium helped make fans excited and interested in Montana football, a facility can only mean so much if the team doesn’t win. And the winning started, at least in its early stages, when both the stadium opened and Don Read became head coach in 1986. Read brought his wide-open passing game to Missoula, and led the Grizzlies to six wins in 1986 and 1987 before leading the teams to playoff berths in 1988 and 1989. There were seven-win campaigns for the next two years, until Read and the Grizzlies set the next stage in their development by bringing in a star quarterback in 1992.
Dave Dickenson, who still goes down as one of the top quarterbacks in I-AA annals, began his career in 1992 and stepped in as the full-time starter the next season. He didn’t take any time to get acclimated, as he earned honorable mention All-America honors by throwing for 3,640 yards and leading the Grizzlies to the playoffs in 1993, where they lost in a 49-48 shootout in the first round to Delaware. Dickenson led the Grizzlies all the way to the semifinals the next season, and the first great notch on the Montana dynasty was recorded in his senior season. Dickenson threw for an amazing 4,176 yards and 38 touchdowns to earn the Walter Payton Award and a sweep of the All- America awards in 1995. More importantly, he directed a 12-play, 72-yard scoring drive to set up a gamewinning field goal in the final minute as the Grizzlies won their first national championship with a 22-20 victory at Marshall.
Dickenson and Read both exited Missoula after the 1995 season, the former with 11,080 passing yards and 96 touchdowns and the latter with a 85-36 record and the school’s first national title. With the coach and quarterback gone, Montana’s program could have headed in the wrong direction right there. But the Grizzlies were able to bring in another great quarterback and successful coach, and those two constants have been staples in the dynasty ever since.
Brian Ah Yat threw for 3,615 yards and earned All-America honors while leading the Grizzlies to a 14-0 mark before losing in the national championship game to Marshall in 1996. Ah Yat would play two more seasons and throw for 9,315 career yards, and the line of successful quarterbacks would continue to Drew Miller (5,900 passing yards in 1999-00), John Edwards (6,704 yards in 1999-02) and Craig Ochs (5,914 yards in 2003-04). Every signal-caller led the Grizzlies into one national championship game, with Edwards providing the second title (with plenty of help from running back Yo Humphrey) in 2001. Montana’s offense endured a rare stumble without a great signal-caller last season, but the Grizzlies appear to be in good shape this year if Washington State transfer Josh Swogger (1,300 yards, 8 TD) can live up to his potential.
Like the quarterbacks, Montana coaches have all provided at least a national title game appearance. Mick Dennehy took over for Read in 1996 and promptly led the Grizzlies to the national title game, and then stayed on for a 39-12 record from 1996-99. While Dennehy’s mark was nothing to be ashamed of, Joe Glenn’s arrival in 2000 really put Montana back as a national power. Glenn brought the Grizzlies to national championship games in his first two seasons, with a 27-25 loss to Georgia Southern in 2000 and a 13-6 victory for the second national title against Furman in 2001. Bobby Hauck is in his fourth season as the current Grizzly head coach, and already has a championship game appearance with a 31-21 loss to James Madison in 2004.
While good coaching and quarterback play are constants, there are other factors that keep Montana successful. A look at the Grizzly roster shows 52 players from within the state, including standouts like Mike Murphy, Kroy Biermann, Tuff Harris and Lex Hilliard. The Grizzlies have been able to get many of the best of Montana’s high school players, which can be a tough chore in most areas. They’ve also combined impact homegrown players with some key I-A transfers, especially on offense, to give the team a boost.
During its consecutive playoff run, Montana has earned at least a share of the Big Sky Conference title 11 times overall and in every year since 1998. The conference will always be among the best leagues in the nation overall, but the Grizzlies have not had to deal with consistent playoff contenders from within the conference like other big-time programs around the nation. Boise State, Idaho and Nevada have playoff credentials from the league, but those teams have all been in I-A since 1995. Since that time, the Big Sky has sent three teams to a postseason only once, in 2003. The other seven teams, with the exception of first-year conference member Northern Colorado, have combined for nine playoff berths and only one trip to the semifinals in the last 11 years. There is usually a good No. 2 team, but there isn’t that consistent program to push the Grizzlies.
Even with all of the success, the Grizzlies have shown a few warts over the years. The aura of Washington-Grizzly Stadium diminished somewhat with first- round home playoff losses in 2003 and 2005. The Grizzlies are only 2-10 in playoff games away from the friendly confines, and have been knocked out in the first round six times during their streak of 13 consecutive playoff berths. With two championships in those 13 playoff years, the Grizzlies have an Atlanta Braves type of history in the postseason.
Those negative numbers are still just a blip in the radar. The Grizzlies can be counted on to make the playoffs, win the conference, and be a fixture in the national title hunt and top 10 of national polls every season. And in an age of parity and first-time champions, that leaves Montana carrying the flag as the last real dynasty.
