MISSOULA — The Montana State Bobcats were third in the FCS coming into to the game against Montana and had not allowed more than 20 points to an opponent all season long until Saturday in Washington-Grizzly Stadium. So, while every win counts the same in the standings, this one weighed a little different for the Griz.
“This was an important one. As they say at the University of Montana, we are expected to beat everybody we play. But this one out of all those 11 games, this one is the most important one," said Montana's head coach Bobby Hauck.
Montana's defense continued to defend their title of being unstoppable this year, only giving up 204 yards and 10 points to MSU. So as far as where this defense will go down in the rankings in school history, Hauck said it ranks among the best.
“You know, it is so hard to quantify what is the best ever. It gets thrown around a lot in the sports world but I would be hard-pressed to name a Montana defense that has ever been as good as this one,” said Hauck.
And as the regular season comes to an end, Montana has learned how to play the game around their strengths, and Saturday demonstrated exactly that.
“Our defense is really good, and that lends itself to managing the game a bit, picking your times when you want to do certain things, picking your time when you want to play field position a little more because they are not going to give up much," Hauck said.
Now, Montana will be tasked with carrying this momentum into the postseason.
“Moving forward without a game, you got to plan for that," Hauck said. "It will be some film study, some weightlifting, a lot of turkey on Thursday and we will be back at it next week."
