American college football season
The 2023 Montana Grizzlies football team represented the University of Montana as a member of the Big Sky Conference during the 2023 NCAA Division I FCS football season . The Grizzlies were led by 13th-year head coach Bobby Hauck and played their home games at Washington–Grizzly Stadium in Missoula, Montana .
Preseason [ edit ] On July 23, 2023, during the virtual Big Sky Kickoff, the Grizzlies were predicted to finish sixth in the Big Sky by the coaches and third by the media.[1]
Coaches poll Predicted finish Team Votes (1st place) 1 Montana State 120 (10) 2 UC Davis 96 (1) 3 Sacramento State 94 (1) 4 Weber State 91 5 Idaho 89 6 Montana 84 7 Eastern Washington 52 8 Portland State 45 9 Northern Arizona 44 10 Northern Colorado 37 11 Cal Poly 25 12 Idaho State 15
Media poll Predicted finish Team Votes (1st place) 1 Montana State 447 (26) 2 Idaho 410 (8) 3 Montana 359 (2) 4 Sacramento State 334 (3) 5 UC Davis 330 6 Weber State 320 7 Eastern Washington 216 8 Northern Arizona 178 9 Portland State 167 10 Northern Colorado 109 11 Cal Poly 103 12 Idaho State 69
Preseason All–Big Sky team [ edit ] The Grizzlies had five players selected to the preseason all-Big Sky team.[2] [3]
Offense Hunter Mayginnes – OL
Defense Alex Gubner – DT
Levi Janacaro – LB
Special Teams Junior Bergen – PR
Trevin Gradney – ST
Schedule [ edit ] Date Time Opponent Rank Site TV Result Attendance September 2 12:00 p.m. Butler * No. 14 KTMF /ESPN+ W 35–2025,430 September 9 7:00 p.m. at Utah Tech * No. 13 ESPN+ W 43–13 5,766 September 16 6:00 p.m. No. 1 (D-II ) Ferris State * No. 12 Washington-Grizzly Stadium Missoula, MT KTMF/ESPN+ W 17–1026,978 September 23 2:00 p.m. at Northern Arizona No. 13 KPAX /ESPN+L 14–28 6,428 September 30 2:00 p.m. Idaho State No. 18 Washington-Grizzly Stadium Missoula, MT KPAX/ESPN+ W 28–2026,678 October 7 5:00 p.m. at No. 20 UC Davis No. 17 KPAX/ESPN+ W 31–23 9,576 October 14 8:30 p.m. at No. 3 Idaho No. 16 ESPN2 W 23–2114,218 October 28 1:00 p.m. Northern Colorado No. 7 Washington-Grizzly Stadium Missoula, MT KPAX/ESPN+ W 40–025,463 November 4 6:00 p.m. No. 7 Sacramento State No. 4 Washington-Grizzly Stadium Missoula, MT KPAX/ESPN+ W 34–725,888 November 11 8:00 p.m. at Portland State No. 3 KPAX/ESPN+ W 34–10 4,578 November 18 12:00 p.m. No. 4 Montana State No. 3 Washington-Grizzly Stadium Missoula, MT (rivalry ) KPAX/ESPN+ W 37–727,178 December 2 7:00 p.m. No. 11 Delaware * No. 2 ESPN+ W 49–1920,580 7:00 p.m. No. 7 Furman * No. 2 Washington-Grizzly Stadium Missoula, MT (NCAA Division I Quarterfinal) ESPN2 W 35–28 OT 20,884 December 16 2:30 p.m. No. 8 North Dakota State * No. 2 Washington-Grizzly Stadium Missoula, MT (NCAA Division I Semifinal) ESPN2/ESPN+ W 31–29 2OT 26,544 , 202412:00 p.m. vs. No. 1 South Dakota State * No. 2 ABC L 3–2319,512
[4]
Game summaries [ edit ] 1 2 3 4 Total Bulldogs 3 3 14 0 20 No. 14 Grizzles 10 11 7 7 35
at Utah Tech [ edit ] 1 2 3 4 Total No. 13 Grizzles 14 22 7 0 43 Trailblazers 0 0 0 13 13
Ferris State [ edit ] 1 2 3 4 Total Bulldogs 0 10 0 0 10 No. 12 Grizzlies 3 0 14 0 17
at Northern Arizona [ edit ] 1 2 3 4 Total No. 13 Grizzles 0 14 0 0 14 Lumberjacks 7 14 7 0 28
Idaho State [ edit ] 1 2 3 4 Total Bengals 7 0 7 6 20 No. 18 Grizzles 7 0 14 7 28
at No. 20 UC Davis [ edit ] 1 2 3 4 Total No. 17 Grizzles 7 14 7 3 31 No. 20 Aggies 7 13 0 3 23
at No. 3 Idaho [ edit ] 1 2 3 4 Total No. 16 Grizzles 10 10 0 3 23 No. 3 Vandals 0 7 0 14 21
Northern Colorado [ edit ] 1 2 3 4 Total Bears 0 0 0 0 0 No. 7 Grizzles 0 14 12 14 40
No. 7 Sacramento State [ edit ] 1 2 3 4 Total No. 7 Hornets 7 0 0 0 7 No. 4 Grizzles 7 14 0 13 34
at Portland State [ edit ] 1 2 3 4 Total No. 3 Grizzles 7 17 10 0 34 Vikings 3 0 7 0 10
Montana State [ edit ] 1 2 3 4 Total No. 4 Bobcats 0 0 7 0 7 No. 3 Grizzles 14 6 10 7 37
FCS Playoffs [ edit ] No. 12 Delaware – Second Round [ edit ] 1 2 3 4 Total No. 12 Blue Hens 0 12 7 0 19 No. 2 Grizzles 10 25 14 0 49
No. 7 Furman – Quarterfinals [ edit ] 1 2 3 4 OT Total No. 7 Paladins 14 0 7 7 0 28 No. 2 Grizzles 14 6 8 0 7 35
No. 8 North Dakota State – Semifinals [ edit ] 1 2 3 4 OT 2OT Total No. 8 Bison 3 3 3 7 7 6 29 No. 2 Grizzles 0 10 0 6 7 8 31
vs. No. 1 South Dakota State – Championship Game [ edit ] 1 2 3 4 Total No. 2 Grizzles 0 3 0 0 3 No. 1 Jackrabbits 7 0 16 0 23
Ranking movements [ edit ] Ranking movementsLegend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking т = Tied with team above or below Week Poll Pre 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Final STATS FCS 14 13 12 13 18 17 16 9 7 4 3 3 2 Coaches 14 13 11т 11 16 13 10 6 5 3 3 3 2
References [ edit ]
Venues Bowls & rivalries Culture and lore People Seasons National championship seasons in bold
College Division / Division II I-AA/FCS Northern Arizona (1978) Montana State (1979) Boise State (1980) Idaho State (1981) Montana , Idaho , & Montana State (1982) Nevada (1983) Montana State (1984) Idaho (1985) Nevada (1986) Idaho (1987) Idaho (1988) Idaho (1989) Nevada (1990) Nevada (1991) Idaho & Eastern Washington (1992) Montana (1993) Boise State (1994) Montana (1995) Montana (1996) Eastern Washington (1997) Montana (1998) Montana (1999) Montana (2000) Montana (2001) Montana , Montana State , & Idaho State (2002) Montana State , Montana , & Northern Arizona (2003) Montana & Eastern Washington (2004) Eastern Washington , Montana State , & Montana (2005) Montana (2006) Montana (2007) Weber State & Montana (2008) Montana (2009) Montana State & Eastern Washington (2010) Montana State & Montana (2011) Eastern Washington , Montana State , & Cal Poly (2012) Eastern Washington (2013) Eastern Washington (2014) Southern Utah (2015) Eastern Washington & North Dakota (2016) Southern Utah & Weber State (2017) Eastern Washington , UC Davis , & Weber State (2018) Sacramento State & Weber State (2019) Weber State (2020) Sacramento State (2021) Montana State & Sacramento State (2022) Montana (2023) National championships in bold