North Dakota State football is back in the semifinals for the 12th time in school history and they are facing another FCS blueblood for the right to go to Frisco. The Montana Grizzlies have once again become an FCS powerhouse under their longtime head coach Bobby Huack.
Huack was the head coach of the Grizz from 2003-09 before returning in 2018 and he has slowly rebuilt the program back to FCS relevance. The last time NDSU and Montana faced off was last season in the 2nd round when Montana visited #3 NDSU and was a well-fought game through one half then the Bison ran away in the second half to win it 49-26.
NDSU and Montana have faced off four previous times and the Bison are 3-1 in those four games but this year’s version of the Grizzlies is one of the best teams in the FCS and they have some impressive young stars on offense and a stingy defense backed by one of the best home field advantages in the country.
On offense Montana had found a young star quarterback in Clifton McDowell, this is a guy who can beat you with his feet and his arm. He has the reigning Jerry Rice Award winner behind him in Eli Gilman. He is a big, physical running back who is very hard to tackle, he is the catalyst of their offense. McDowell has two receivers that he really enjoys going to in #6 Keelan White and #5 Junior Bergen. Each receiver has over 700 yards and they both average over 14 yards per reception. This offense averages 32.31 points a game which is good for 17th in the FCS.
Junior Bergen is one of the most dynamic players in the FCS when it comes to his receiving ability but also his return ability as during this year’s playoff run he has returned a punt and a kickoff for a touchdown this postseason.
On defense, Montana is 4th in the FCS in scoring defense only giving up 14.83 points per contest. However, that great defense got challenged by a Furman team that ran the ball really well against Montana’s front and pushed the Grizz to the brink in an overtime thriller. They are led on defense by the Big Sky Defensive Player of the Year in Alex Gubner who is a disrupter and he also leads the team in tackles for loss.
NDSU is riding a wave of momentum that no one has been able to stop this postseason. For the Bison to advance to their 11th FCS championship game they must run the ball effectively as well as hit some big plays downfield to Eli Green and Zach Mathis but most importantly they must stop the lightning-quick offense of the Grizzlies.
Kickoff between the Bison and Grizzlies from Washington-Grizzly Stadium in Missoula, Montana is set for 3:30 PM and the game can be seen on ESPN2.