GoGriz

Poor locale for a dominating football program? We're currently the best 1AA team in football. We've been to the playoffs every year since 1993 and we've played in 5 national championship games in the last 10 years, not too many 1A teams can even say that. Most of our players are either Montana kids, or from surrounding states, so to say we're a poor locale is wrong. 2nd - the gameday experience, ours is unique, I cannot compare it to NU since I've never been but here's some of the things we enjoy every home game; 1. Our stadium is tucked against two smaller mountains, the sound bounces off of them, and there is a canyon between them that has famously blown a westward wind across the field causing many teams to miss fieldgoals and extra points. 2. Our stadium is 100 yards from a river, you could flyfish in the early morning, tailgate for the rest, and walk right into the game. 3. We have the two time Capitol One National Mascot, Monte (2002 and 2004). He is the most entertaining college mascot in the US, hands down. 4. Our pre game starts with skydivers landing on the field. Then Monte, our mascot, usually rides out onto the field in a Victory Motorcycle, reving the engine over the crowd. Other times he's come out in a limo, or a bentley. 5. Since our new stadium was built in 1986 (remodeled in 1995, and 2003 to add more seats, we also had many upgrades throughout that time as well) our home record is 120 - 16 So we're damn proud of what we've got up here, as you can see by the amount of people that have jumped up and defended UM on this board.

OK, gotta step up for my team. I'm a long time Griz fan, I live in Missoula and have attened every Montana Grizzly home game since 1993. (And many on the road as well). Last year we played Maine in the 2nd round playoffs, but there was a scheduling mixup for ESPN, our side of the bracket was supposed to be a night game so we could be broadcasted nationally on ESPN 2 but our stadium doesn't have lights. I know, it's weird, we are the best stadium in 1AA football, and have the best attendance, but we don't have lights for night games. Well the problem was solved, ESPN brought out some moble units that lit the fields up, for pictucres check out the UM's main discussion board, www.egriz.com That was the very first night game in our stadium, and the crowd was electric, it had never been like that before, we were as loud and rowdy as we've ever been. Maine came into the game saying, "No big deal, the noise cannot be worse than when we played Rutgers, they had over 35,000 fans at that game. Well the UM fans stunned the players and coaches with how much noise we made, and afterwards it was the same comments we had heard many times before, "We did not expect that much noise." 2 years ago Western Illinois came to Missoula, and said the noise wouldn't be a big deal because they had played against LSU that same year. After the game, where WIU had 6 false starts and 4 delay of game penalties, they were saying, "yeah, it can get loud here." -- Keep in mind, not saying as loud or louder than LSU. Montana fans are proud of their team, and the noise that we can make. I'm sure when this Maine LB shows up to hear 77,000+ screaming, it will be louder than the UM, no doubt at all. But what he was saying is that he has played in some real "loud" football games, and the loudest he recalls was in our home stadium. Also if you don't think we have any track record for having a great game day experience, look at Sports Illustrated's top 25 stadiums for college football, printed about a year ago. We were listed as 25th in college football, not in 1AA, but all of college football, we were the only 1AA team mentioned.