Saturday was a great day to watch football. To heck with the chores and the errands, it was football all day! Many Montana football fans were torn between watching the Griz and the Saints play. Both played at the same time on Saturday and both teams came out with victories. My remote was working overtime.

The Saints

The Saints’ game was a nail biter. The Lindenwood Lions came from 21 points down and the game was not decided until there was about 38 seconds left when, after driving 99 yards for a touchdown, they went for two (and the win). Gutsy call. The ball hit a Carroll player in the back and bounced to the ground. It was probably a long flight back to Eastern Missouri for the Lions, but they played a heck of a game. The Saints (13-0) now play for the NAIA National Championship against the University of Sioux Falls (South Dakota) (13-0) Cougars on December 20 in Rome, Georgia. This is a rematch of last year’s title game, won by the Saints. The kickoff is scheduled for 10:00 a.m. Montana time. We have an extra week to prepare for the Championship game!

The Griz

The Montana Grizzlies beat the Weber State Wildcats 24-13 in a quarterfinal game of the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) on Saturday afternoon. The Griz started well and overall the team played one of their better games.

This Friday night the Griz play the James Madison Dukes in Harrisonburg, Virginia, at 6:00 pm Montana time (ESPN2). This is a semifinal game. In the other semifinal game, Richmond travels to Northern Iowa for a 2:00 pm (Montana time) Saturday game (ESPN).

It seems the Grizzlies received a bad deal here because they have to travel farther and play Friday night instead of Saturday. The schedulers for the NCAA FCS should have given the Griz the extra day and had Northern Iowa and Richmond play Friday night. But, if the Griz win they get an extra day off before the championship game on December 19.