FCS Playoffs

Big Sky teams could encounter familiar opponents with FCS playoffs beginning

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Rematches are rare in college football.

Rematches are a little less rare when it comes Bobby Hauck-led football teams.

Hauck is in his 10th season and 11th year overall coaching at his alma mater. Between 2003 and 2009, Montana rarely ever lost. Among those 17 losses over seven Big Sky Conference-championship seasons, Hauck’s Griz football teams earned a shot at revenge a few times.

That scenario might play out again this year as Hauck has UM into the playoffs for the second time in a row since returning to lead the Griz before the 2018 season. And rematches might be the name of the game for the five teams in the FCS Playoff field from the Big Sky, including a Montana team making its record 25th appearance.

Montana secured the No. 6 seed in this year’s playoff field with a 29-10 victory over No. 3 Montana State in Missoula on November 20. That means 9-2 UM has a bye into the second round for the second year in a row. The Griz will await the winner of Northern Iowa (6-5) and No. 4 Eastern Washington (9-2). The Eagles outlasted the Griz, 34-28, in Cheney, Washington in a nationally televised night game on October 3.

“I think that the game came down to at certain crucial times, both sides had a chance to make plays and they made more,” Hauck said following his team’s first of two straight conference losses.

“Maybe we will see them again down the road.”

Hauck has been here before. In 2004, Hauck’s squad fell 41-29 at Sam Houston State in Huntsville, Texas in its third non-conference game of the season. Montana won nine of its next 10 games, setting up a rematch with the Bearkats in Missoula. The Griz emerged victorious with a 34-13 victory in the semifinals of the FCS playoffs to punch a ticket to the first of three national title game appearances under Hauck.

In 2005, the Griz had a reverse fortune when it came to a rematch Montana beat No. 3 Cal Poly 36-27 only to lose to the Mustangs 35-21 in the first round of the FCS playoffs at home.

Between 2006 and 2009, Montana won 31 of its 32 conference games overall. That loss came on a rainy day in Ogden, Utah as Montana fell 45-28 to upstart Weber State the first weekend of October in 2008. Behind the outstanding play of the offensive trio of quarterback Cam Higgins, running back Trevyn Smith and eventual NFL “Mr. Irrelevant” as the final player picked in the following spring’s draft, Tim Toone, the Wildcats shared the league title with the Griz that season.

Montana ripped off 10 straight wins thereafter, including a decisive 24-13 win over the Wildcats in the quarterfinal of the FCS playoffs. That season also ended with an appearance in the national championship game.

If Eastern Washington can take care of business in Cheney on Saturday — Northern Iowa’s lone game against Big Sky competition came in a 34-16 win over Sac State in September — then the Eagles will have to travel to Washington-Grizzly Stadium for a second-round playoff showdown next Friday night.

No team has won more times at Washington-Griz since the venue opened in 1985 than Eastern Washington. The Eagles have won six times in Missoula during that time.

“I feel like, personally, we got snubbed. I feel like Montana State deserved it,” Eastern Washington standout wide receiver Talolo Limu-Jones said, referring to a seed and a first-round bye, in a video interview during EWU’s watch party for the FCS playoff selection show.

“Montana, I feel like they didn’t deserve it. So, kind of glad that we’re in the same, like, bracket as them, so like, if we win this week, we get to see them.”

“We just have to win this week because that’s what I’m really waiting on,” the first-team All-Big Sky selection said. “They have to see us again, and I’m pretty sure they don’t want to.”

FCS PLAYOFF BRACKET

Montana also had a playoff rematch in 2019. The Griz blasted Weber Stare 35-16 in their final regular season home game. UM lost 17-10 at WSU in Ogden to help the Wildcats secure their first semifinal berth in the FCS playoffs in program history.

The Big Sky Conference landed five teams in the FCS playoff field for the first time in the league’s 58-year history. The last two seasons, four Big Sky teams have made it into the 24-team postseason field, including in 2019 when all four teams that qualified — Sacramento State, Montana State, Montana and Weber State — all received seeds and the first-round byes that go with them.

The bracket sets up for several potential rematches, an oddity for most of the 42-year history of the Division I-AA/FCS playoff era, particularly for Big Sky teams other than Montana.

Montana State junior quarterback Mattew McKay/ by Brooks Nuanez

Montana State is into the FCS playoff field for the 11th time, including the seventh time since 2010. Montana State won nine regular-season games for the seventh time in its history and was one win away from its first conference crown since 2012.

Despite the season-ending loss to the rival Griz, MSU still earned the No. 8 seed and a first-round bye for the second year in a row. The Bobcats will host the winner of Tennessee-Martin of the Ohio Valley and Missouri State of the Missouri Valley.

“We’re excited to get the eighth seed, to get the bye, and to flip the page to a new season,” said Montana State coach Brent Vigen. “We will regroup and get back to work and work on getting better every day.”

MSU has experienced a playoff rematch just one time. In 1976, MSU defeated North Dakota State 18-14 to open a campaign that culminated in the Division II national title for the Bobcats. Nearly four months after that tone setting win in Fargo, MSU defeated the Bison in the Grantland Rice Bowl that doubled as the semifinals of the FCS Playoffs 10-3 to punch a ticket to a Pioneer Bowl matchup against Akron for the national title.

Sacramento State won the league with a perfect 8-0 record against conference competition and a 9-2 mark overall. It’s the second straight league title, including the first time the program has claimed an outright championship, for the Hornets. Last season marked the first league title and first playoff appearance ever for the Hornets.

After receiving a first-round bye, Sac lost to No. 18 Austin Peay, 42-28, in Sacramento. The Governors fell 24-10 to Montana State the following week, helping the Bobcats book their first trip to the semifinals of the FCS playoffs since 1984.

Austin Peay is not in the playoff field this yea, although the loss to AP last year would have set up a rematch between the Bobcats and the Hornets. Sac State handed MSU a 34-21 loss, one of two straight league losses for a team that then went on to win six in a row in 2019.

Sacramento State head coach Troy Taylor/ by Big Sky Conference

The Hornets could however get a rematch from this year’s regular-season finale. Sac sewed up its second straight conference crown by defeating UC Davis 27-7 in the 68th annual Causeway Classic. The fourth-seeded Hornets await the winner of a Davis team that lost two straight down the stretch to stumble into its second FCS Playoff appearance since moving to Division I in 2007 against a South Dakota State team that has made the playoffs 11 times since 2009.

Back in 2018, the first under proud alum Dan Hawkins, UC Davis defeated a Northern Iowa team that is perennially in the playoffs and often playing Big Sky competition, 23-16. The following week, the Aggies fell 34-29 to an Eastern Washington team that had drilled UCD 59-20 earlier that season.

Davis will have to get past an SDSU squad that was a semifinalist in 2017 and 2018 and lost to Sam Houston State 23-21 in the FCS national championship game this past spring.

Eastern Washington is into the playoffs for the 15th time, the second-most among Big Sky teams after only Montana and seventh all time among its FCS peers.

Northern Iowa (22), Eastern Kentucky (21), James Madison (18), Furman (18) New Hampshire (16) and McNeese State (16) have more post-season appearances than EWU.

EWU has had a few rematches from the regular season to the post season in recent years. In 2014, Eastern beat Montana 36-26 in Cheney in early November. And about a month later, the Eagles ended UM’s season with a 37-20 win in the second round of the playoffs. That EWU team advanced to the semifinals.

EWU also had the rematch against Davis in which it won for the second time in one season. And last spring, EWU played Idaho twice, although neither was in the FCS playoffs.

Talolo Limu-Jones catches a pass against coverage from Trajon Cotton and Robby Hauck of Montana on October 3/ Blake Hempstead, Skyline Sports

Eastern Washington is into the playoffs for the 15th time, the second-most among Big Sky teams after only Montana and seventh all time among its FCS peers. Northern Iowa (22), Eastern Kentucky (21), James Madison (18), Furman (18) New Hampshire (16) and McNeese State (16) have more post-season appearances than EWU.

EWU has had a few rematches from the regular season to the post season in recent years. In 2014, Eastern beat Montana 36-26 in Cheney in early November. And about a month later, the Eagles ended UM’s season with a 37-20 win in the second round of the playoffs. That EWU team advanced to the semifinals.

EWU also had the rematch against Davis in which it won for the second time in one season. And last spring, EWU played Idaho twice, although neither was in the FCS playoffs.

“The expectation is to crawl into the top-eight and I felt our resume was strong, but we can’t determine what the committee decides,” said Eastern head coach Aaron Best. “We are 9-2 with an FBS victory and a head-to-head win against Montana, but you have to win them all in the postseason no matter where you start. It’s unfortunate, but it is what it is and we’ll play a home game against Northern Iowa this Saturday and we’re excited.”

Montana and Northern Iowa have played in the FCS playoffs three times, losing to the Griz in 1994, 2001 and 2011. The Griz won the national title in 2001 and went to the semifinals of the playoffs each of the other two seasons.

About Colter Nuanez

Colter Nuanez is the co-founder and senior writer for Skyline Sports. After spending six years in the newspaper industry with stops at the Missoulian, the Ellensburg Daily Record and the Bozeman Daily Chronicle, the former Washington Newspaper Association Sportswriter of the Year and University of Montana Journalism School graduate ('09) has cultivated a deep passion for sports journalism during his 13-year career covering the Big Sky Conference. In August of 2014, Colter and brother Brooks merged their passions of writing and art to found Skyline Sports.

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