2019 Montana Grizzlies football team

The 2019 Montana Grizzlies football team represented the University of Montana in the 2019 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The Grizzlies were led by second-year head coach Bobby Hauck, ninth overall as he previously was head coach from 2003–2009, and played their home games on campus at Washington–Grizzly Stadium in Missoula, Montana as a charter member of the Big Sky Conference. They finished the season 10–4, 6–2 in Big Sky play to finish in a three-way tie for third place. They received an at-large bid to the FCS Playoffs where, after a first round bye, they defeated Southeastern Louisiana in the second round before losing to Weber State in the quarterfinals.

2019 Montana Grizzlies football
NCAA Division I Quarterfinal, L 10–17 at Weber State
Conference	Big Sky Conference
Ranking
STATS	No. 6
FCS Coaches	No. 6
Record	10–4 (6–2 Big Sky)
Head coach	Bobby Hauck (9th season)
Offensive coordinator	Timm Rosenbach (3rd season)
Defensive coordinator	Kent Baer (2nd season)
Home stadium	Washington–Grizzly Stadium

2019 Big Sky Conference football standings

	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 3 Weber State +^		7	–	1					11	–	4
No. 9 Sacramento State +^		7	–	1					9	–	4
No. 4 Montana State ^		6	–	2					11	–	4
No. 6 Montana ^		6	–	2					10	–	4
Eastern Washington		6	–	2					7	–	5
Idaho		3	–	5					5	–	7
Portland State		3	–	5					5	–	7
UC Davis		3	–	5					5	–	7
Northern Arizona		2	–	6					4	–	8
Cal Poly		2	–	6					3	–	8
Idaho State		2	–	6					3	–	9
Southern Utah		2	–	6					3	–	9
Northern Colorado		2	–	6					2	–	10
+ – Conference co-champions ^ – FCS playoff participant Although North Dakota was classified as an independent, games against them still counted as Big Sky Conference games. Rankings from STATS Poll

Preseason

Big Sky preseason poll

The Big Sky released their preseason media and coaches' polls on July 15, 2019. The Grizzlies were picked to finish in fifth place by the media, and in fourth place by the coaches.

Media poll

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Eastern Washington	536 (25)
2	UC Davis	510 (13)
3	Weber State	472 (4)
4	Montana State	417
5	Montana	396 (1)
6	Northern Arizona	302
7	Idaho State	285
8	Idaho	248
9	Cal Poly	196
10	Portland State	178
11	Southern Utah	160
12	Sacramento State	125
13	Northern Colorado	90

Coaches poll

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Eastern Washington	140 (10)
2	UC Davis	127 (2)
3	Weber State	124
4	Montana	104 (1)
5	Montana State	100
6	Northern Arizona	88
7	Idaho State	72
8	Idaho	65
9	Cal Poly	56
10	Portland State	42
11	Sacramento State	40
12	Southern Utah	38
13	Northern Colorado	19

Preseason All–Big Sky team

The Grizzlies had three players selected to the preseason all-Big Sky team.

Offense

Samuel Akem – WR

Defense

Dante Olson – ILB

Special teams

Jace Lewis – ST

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
August 31	1:00 p.m.	at South Dakota*	No. 25	DakotaDome Vermillion, SD	KTMF	W 31–17	5,193
September 7	7:00 p.m.	North Alabama*	No. 22	Washington–Grizzly Stadium Missoula, MT	KTMF	W 61–17	24,033
September 14	8:45 p.m.	at No. 15 (FBS) Oregon*	No. 20	Autzen Stadium Eugene, OR	P12N	L 3–35	49,098
September 21	1:00 p.m.	Monmouth*	No. 19	Washington–Grizzly Stadium Missoula, MT	KTMF	W 47–27	23,119
September 28	2:00 p.m.	at No. 4 UC Davis	No. 18	UC Davis Health Stadium Davis, CA	RTNW	W 45–20	10,011
October 5	1:00 p.m.	Idaho State	No. 8	Washington–Grizzly Stadium Missoula, MT	RTNW	W 59–20	25,023
October 19	7:00 p.m.	at No. 15 Sacramento State	No. 5	Hornet Stadium Sacramento, CA	KTMF	L 22–49	15,140
October 26	12:00 p.m.	Eastern Washington	No. 10	Washington–Grizzly Stadium Missoula, MT (EWU–UM Governors Cup)	RTNW	W 34–17	24,072
November 2	3:00 p.m.	at Portland State	No. 8	Hillsboro Stadium Hillsboro, OR	KTMF	W 38–23	6,191
November 9	1:00 p.m.	Idaho	No. 6	Washington–Grizzly Stadium Missoula, MT (Little Brown Stein)	RTNW	W 42–17	22,333
November 16	1:00 p.m.	No. 3 Weber State	No. 5	Washington–Grizzly Stadium Missoula, MT	RTNW	W 35–16	22,682
November 23	12:00 p.m.	at No. 8 Montana State	No. 3	Bobcat Stadium Bozeman, MT (rivalry)	RTNW	L 14–48	19,827
December 7	1:00 p.m.	Southeastern Louisiana*	No. 7	Washington–Grizzly Stadium Missoula, MT (NCAA Division I Second Round)	ESPN3	W 73–28	16,550
December 13	8:00 p.m.	at No. 4 Weber State*	No. 7	Stewart Stadium Ogden, UT (NCAA Division I Quarterfinal)	ESPN2	L 10–17	6,422
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game All times are in Mountain time

Game summaries

At South Dakota

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 25 Grizzlies	0	17	14	0	31
Coyotes	0	10	7	0	17

See also: 2019 South Dakota Coyotes football team

North Alabama

	1	2	3	4	Total
Lions	7	10	0	0	17
No. 22 Grizzlies	10	6	24	21	61

See also: 2019 North Alabama Lions football team

At Oregon

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 20 Grizzlies	0	0	3	0	3
No. 15 (FBS) Ducks	14	7	7	7	35

See also: 2019 Oregon Ducks football team

Monmouth

	1	2	3	4	Total
Hawks	0	14	6	7	27
No. 19 Grizzlies	0	21	12	14	47

See also: 2019 Monmouth Hawks football team

At UC Davis

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 18 Grizzlies	7	10	21	7	45
No. 4 Aggies	0	7	7	6	20

See also: 2019 UC Davis Aggies football team

Idaho State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bengals	10	7	3	0	20
No. 8 Grizzlies	0	24	14	21	59

See also: 2019 Idaho State Bengals football team

At Sacramento State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 5 Grizzlies	7	8	7	0	22
No. 15 Hornets	18	17	14	0	49

See also: 2019 Sacramento State Hornets football team

Eastern Washington

	1	2	3	4	Total
Eagles	0	14	3	0	17
No. 10 Grizzlies	3	7	10	14	34

See also: 2019 Eastern Washington Eagles football team and EWU–UM Governors Cup

At Portland State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 8 Grizzlies	7	7	14	10	38
Vikings	0	17	6	0	23

See also: 2019 Portland State Vikings football team

Idaho

	1	2	3	4	Total
Vandals	3	7	0	7	17
No. 6 Grizzlies	0	14	14	14	42

See also: 2019 Idaho Vandals football team and Little Brown Stein

Weber State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 3 Wildcats	3	0	0	13	16
No. 5 Grizzlies	14	7	14	0	35

See also: 2019 Weber State Wildcats football team

At Montana State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 3 Grizzlies	0	14	0	0	14
No. 8 Bobcats	17	14	3	14	48

See also: 2019 Montana State Bobcats football team and Brawl of the Wild

FCS Playoffs

The Grizzlies entered the postseason tournament as the number six seed, with a first-round bye.

Southeastern Louisiana–Second Round

	1	2	3	4	Total
Lions	7	14	7	0	28
No. 7 Grizzlies	10	28	20	15	73

See also: 2019 Southeastern Louisiana Lions football team

At Weber State–Quarterfinals

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 7 Grizzlies	0	7	0	3	10
No. 4 Wildcats	0	3	7	7	17

See also: 2019 Weber State Wildcats football team

Ranking movements

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
RV = Received votes т = Tied with team above or below

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	Final
STATS FCS	25	22	20	19	18	8	8	5	10	8	6	5	3	7	6
Coaches	RV	23	18–T	19	17	9	8	6	11	8	5	4	3	8	6