Memo on the Project – Confidential
Memo on the Project
Grizzly News, Semifinal Game Day, December 8, 20061
Memo on the Project – Confidential
Friday, December 8, 2006
Semifinal Game Day
Grizmas lights: Second-ranked Griz primed to battle No. 3 Minutemen (Missoulian).
Seniors make last stand at Washington-Griz (Missoulian).
Big crowd to send off Griz seniors (Missoulian).
Griz host UMass tonight in semifinals (Billings Gazette).
Diehard UM fans make the trip (Billings Gazette, Montana Standard).
Another big-time runner tests determined Griz defense (Great Falls Tribune).
Are these teams twins, or what? (Great Falls Tribune).
ASUM favors smaller stadium (Billings Gazette).
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GAME DAY MISSOULIAN
They might be the best — Griz D ranks 6th in I-AA and possibly best in school history.
How We See The Playoffs.
The Edge.
Grizzly Game Day / Stat pack.
Grizzly Q & A: Dan Carpenter on the hero end of the spectrum.
In I-AA, the real national champion will stand up.
From the desk of the AD: Griz faithful rise to the occasion.
Where is Garrett Venters now? 'Doctor Doom' finds his true calling as fireman.
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Drum line keeps the beat in Washington-Grizzly Stadium (Missoulian).
Note to ‘Muzzoola': UMass is in ‘Ammerst' (Missoulian).
Skybox beneficiary / Jim Caras gives former caretaker live view of semifinal (Missoulian).
Grizzly-UMass game hottest ticket in town (Missoulian).
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UMass meets Montana (The Republican).
Going in blind: UMass, Montana know very little about each other (Daily Hampshire Gazette).
He's more than worth it (Daily Hampshire Gazette).
To UMass, gridiron success worth the price (Boston Globe).
UMass's Baylark is a brush with greatness (Boston Globe).
Air up there could be a problem for UMass (Boston Herald).
They’re catching on: Tight end duo emerges (Boston Herald).
Massachusetts draws on artful Baylark (USA Today).
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Brown denies interest in BC head coaching job (The Daily Hampshire Gazette).
Facing the elements: UMass plays in a tough Montana atmosphere for shot at NT (DH Gazette).
C'mon huh? (The Daily Hampshire Gazette).
The bottom line (The Boston Globe).
A leg to stand on: Hatchells put heart in UMass defense (The Boston Globe).
Grizmas lights: Second-ranked Griz primed to battle No. 3 Minutemen
By FRITZ NEIGHBOR of the Missoulian
It isn't No. 1 vs. No. 2, but in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision, No. 2 vs. No. 3 ain't bad.
The stage is set for the second-ranked Montana Grizzlies to battle the No. 3 Massachusetts Minutemen Friday at 5:35 p.m. at Washington-Grizzly Stadium. The temporary lights are up and aimed. The ESPN2 crew, presumably, has brushed up on the pronunciations of “Ihedigbo (ee-HEAD-dee-BOO)” and “Beaudin (BOW-den).”
The teams are primed. The stadium will be packed.
The winner of the first semifinal, in what can be called the Division I-AA playoffs for a few more days, earns a trip to the Division I Football Championship next Friday in Chattanooga, Tenn.
“I think it'll be a great game,” fourth-year Grizzlies' coach Bobby Hauck said. “Probably, like most of them, down to the wire.”
The teams match excellent defenses and balanced offenses. Both teams have had one less day to game-plan, Montana for Massachusetts' gambling, pressure D and the Minutemen for the Grizzlies' gap-sound, run-conscious 4-3.
“They'll be all over the place,” Hauck said of the Minutemen defenders, who line up 4-3, then 3-4, and keep changing things up from there. “They'll be even, they'll be odd (up front), lots of line games. There will be guys running all over the place, is what they'll be.”
“Their two defensive ends, I really love their foot speed,” UMass coach Don Brown said of the Grizzlies, who haven't allowed a playoff touchdown. “They are very solid inside. Their three linebackers all can run and cover. I really like both the safeties. I think they have good coverage skills and are great tacklers.
“And their corners, again, complement their safeties extremely well.”
But Brown's biggest concern seems to be the play of Montana quarterback Josh Swogger, who has gotten healthy and been on target down the stretch.
“They're playing very, very good defense right now,” Brown said. “But we're easily as concerned about the matchup of their offense against our defense. It looks like they're kind of functioning on all cylinders.
“I don't know if there's a throw that Josh can't make.”
Swogger, the WashingtonState transfer, has six touchdown passes in two playoff games after throwing for eight TDs in the Grizzlies' previous eight outings. The Griz lost junior receiver Mike Ferriter to a broken arm early in the McNeeseState game; Craig Chambers, Ryan Bagley and Eric Allen have kept it dangerous for opponents to blitz.
Balancing them is a run game that is currently led by redshirt freshman Thomas Brooks-Fletcher, averaging 5.6 yards a carry. One telling statistic may be who has the most yards by the final gun Friday - Brooks-Fletcher or UMass tailback Steve Baylark, a 220-pound senior.
“It's December, you've got to stop the run,” Hauck said. “And you've got to run it. That's the way of the world.”
Baylark has 5,030 career rushing yards, 1,658 of those coming this season. He's a load, though he is impressed by the Griz, who held down Payton Award finalist Arkee Whitlock of Southern Illinois last week.
“There's some big boys out there,” Baylark said. “I didn't know they had such big boys out there in Montana.”
Baylark figures to be the key, since UMass likes the play-action pass. Yet when he's been slowed, the Minutemen have won. Mostly, he hasn't been; he ran for 198 yards against New Hampshire last week.
Maine did the best job, holding him to 50 yards on 17 carries.
“Maine knows what they're doing,” Hauck said Thursday. “They're solid. But they didn't beat 'em (UMass won 10-9). It's one of those deals where they couldn't get it done.”
Add in super sophomore Liam Coen at quarterback, a trio of receivers that UM defensive coordinator Kraig Paulson really likes and another all-world tight end (Brad Listorti), and the Minutemen are a handful. Much more so than SIU, which found little room to operate in a 20-3 loss to Griz last week.
The Minutemen won't have a fullback out there all the time.
“They do a little more,” said Paulson. “They're not so dead-set on staying two-back until they have to go one-back. They can switch gears.
“They're the best team we've seen. They just are.”
Baylark is confident.
“If the run game doesn't work out, I know the receivers will step up,” he said. “Once they start making plays, I just know I have to be patient, and the run game will open up.”
A sellout crowd figures to have more of an impact than the usual December weather in western Montana.
“I've been hearing a lot about Montana's crowd out there, and the stadium and how loud it gets,” Baylark said. “You've got to try to drown out all that stuff and stay focused. It's win or go home. Right now we just want to get that win.”
Of course, so do the Grizzlies.
“Regardless of what happens this will be our last game here,” said defensive end Dustin Dlouhy, one of eight seniors winding up their Griz careers. “This is something you think about, and you do want to take everything in this week and next week, and make the most of it. And pray that everything is positive.”
Seniors make last stand at Washington-Griz
By FRITZ NEIGHBOR of the Missoulian
Twelve straight wins have led the Montana Grizzlies' seniors to the brink of another championship game appearance.
Not to mention the twilight of their collegiate careers.
“It's crazy to think time has gone so fast,” said senior defensive end Mike Murphy, who'll lead the second-ranked Griz up against visiting Massachusetts on Friday, in the I-AA semifinals at 5:35 p.m.. “I remember being a freshman playing out here and thinking, ‘Oh, I've got a couple more years.' It just goes so fast.
“Hopefully we can end it right. We've got it rolling right now and it's just really fun to get these wins and extend our season. Hopefully, we can do that Friday night.”
Of the eight Montana seniors playing - running back Lex Hilliard, quarterback Jason Washington and punter Tyson Johnson were lost to injury and are taking medical redshirts - seven have been in the program five years. The eighth is transfer quarterback Josh Swogger.
For the record, Swogger doesn't want to see it end either.
“There are a lot of positive things,” said the former WashingtonState starter. “Being a 12-1 team and playing the way we have the last couple weeks in the playoffs - you know, it'd be exciting no matter what. Then just adding the playoff atmosphere to that and it's been unbelievable and amazing.”
More of that atmosphere is on its way. A sellout crowd will fill Washington-Grizzly Stadium to watch UM play another 12-1 team, UMass, under the lights. One more win and the Griz are off to their sixth title game in 12 seasons, next Friday in Chattanooga, Tenn.
Most of these seniors remember the last trip, in 2004. It ended with a 31-21 loss to James Madison. Murphy and fellow defensive end Dustin Dlouhy haven't forgotten.
“We both started in that national championship game,” Dlouhy said. “Both of us made a point afterwards, when James Madison was out there yelling and screaming, to not just turn around and walk into the locker room with our heads down.
“I turned around and watched it, and I looked at Mike, and we were, ‘Let's get back here. Let's get back here, be leaders, and have a different outcome next time.'
“We have a shot at that becoming reality.”
Massachusetts came out of its 24-17 quarterfinal win over Atlantic-10 foe New Hampshire at less than 100 percent.
“We looked like a MASH unit on Sunday,” UMass coach Don Brown said. “But I told the kids, ‘By Tuesday, make sure you're unMASHed.' I'm sure we'll be ready to compete and play on Friday night.”
The Minutemen lost top defensive tackle Jason Leonard, a senior that Brown tried to recruit to Northeastern when he was the Huskies' coach, in the UNH game. Montana, meanwhile, sat defensive tackle Craig Mettler for the second straight playoff game last week.
Both players' status is up in the air.
Montana coach Bobby Hauck described Southern Illinois tight end Braden Jones as the best one the Griz had seen since the Iowa game.
Now there is UMass tight end Brad Listorti, a Rutgers transfer who is third on the Minutemen with 31 catches, for 514 yards.
“I was shocked when our defensive coaches were yelling down the hallway Sunday, about this guy being better than the last guy (Jones). He's good. He's as fast as most of their receivers, I think.
“They don't take their tight end off the field much.”
Listorti, 6-foot-4 and 245 pounds, averages 16.6 yards per reception and has a pair of touchdowns. Montana's trio of tight ends - Dan Beaudin, Kevin Klaboe and Steven Pfahler - has combined for 29 catches for 283 yards and two scores.
Jones, meanwhile, didn't have a catch last week in Montana's 20-3 quarterfinal win over SIU.
Hauck is OK with the confidence of the Minutemen.
“I think if you win 12 and you're rolling like they are, you ought to be confident,” he said. “You should be very confident. Their only loss was to a bowl team (Navy). By one.”
That said, Hauck has found it hard to gauge the speed of UMass. He watched James Madison lose to YoungstownState in the playoffs, and thought the Dukes were, “really fast.”
“But these guys didn't play (JMU),” he added.
He does know that the Minutemen haven't had an overly long time to prepare.
“It's more fun for us to have a team that hasn't had a week off,” said Hauck, who saw three Big Sky opponents come into their Griz game with a bye. “It's fun to a play a team that hasn't spent their whole spring (preparing) for you. They've had the same time to prepare for us that we've had for them, which is good.”
QUICK KICKS: Once again, special teams are key to both programs. UMass punter Chris Koegel is averaging 40.9 yards for his career. Montana's Dan Carpenter is averaging 41.9 yards in his lone season as the punter. Š Cornerback Courtney Robinson, a Connecticut transfer, is the most dangerous return man for UMass. Š UM's Reggie Bradshaw (ribs) didn't play last week, but still leads the Griz in rushing. Š Each team's loss came to a I-A opponent, UMass to Navy (21-20) and UM to Iowa (41-7). Iowa, 6-6, is facing Texas in the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio on Dec. 30. Navy, 9-3, faces BostonCollege in the Meineke Bowl in Charlotte, N.C. on the same day. ... UMass RB Steve Baylark is just the third I-AA player to gain 1,000 yards in four straight seasons.
Big crowd to send off Griz seniors
By BILL SCHWANKE of Missoulian.com
Time is winding down rapidly for the seniors on this year’s Montana football team. In fact Friday night will be their last appearance as players in Washington-Grizzly Stadium.
The Grizzlies take on the Massachusetts Minutemen at 5:35 p.m. in one semifinal of the I-AA playoffs. The winner will face top-ranked Appalachian State or No. 4 Youngstown State a week later in the national championship game in Chattanooga, Tenn.
Three of the Griz seniors - Dustin Dlouhy, Josh Swogger and Mike Murphy - took part in Tuesday’s weekly football press conference and talked about their waning careers.
“That is something in the back of your mind you think about and it’s there,” Dlouhy said. “You do kind of want to take everything in stride this week and hopefully next week and get the most out of it and really build some memories.
“(You) just pray that everything’s positive because it is something in your life that’s about to come to a close,” he continued, “and you want to instill some memories that will last for a long time.”
For Swogger, his senior year has been his only year at Montana after he transferred from WashingtonState, but it’s certainly been what he called a “magical season.”
“I’m just thankful for everything that’s happened to us as a team this year,” Swogger said Tuesday. “It’s been a great group of guys to play with. It’s just been unbelievable and amazing and I just can’t say enough about … what we’ve been able to accomplish together.”
Murphy also expressed thankfulness for being part of the program.
“It’s crazy to think that time has gone so fast,” Murphy said. “I remember just being a freshman out here and thinking ‘I’ve got a couple more years,’ but it’s just gone so fast. Hopefully we can end it right.”
All that aside, coach Bobby Hauck said there are no gimmes in football, especially when you’re this deep into the playoffs. He called UMass’s balance on offense “troubling” due in no small part to Atlantic 10 player of the year Steve Baylark at running back and top-rated passer in the nation Liam Coen at quarterback.
Throw in the fact that the Minutemen also have statistically the top scoring defense in I-AA and there’s plenty to worry about Friday night.
Hauck, when asked what he thinks the atmosphere will be like for a rare night game in Missoula, said it probably won’t matter much in terms of player emotion.
“If we played them in the parking lot this afternoon both teams would be fired up,” he said. But he did go on to say, “It’ll be fun in our stadium on Friday night. I’m sure the atmosphere will be electric. I anticipate a real wild scene.”
Hauck said his team has improved as the season has gone on, something that was a mantra for the Grizzlies and has been in past seasons as well. But there no longer is room for error.
“When you get into a game like this you have to play well,” Hauck said. “And you can’t mess it up. The team that messes it up this time of year, … you go home and put the equipment away.”
Dlouhy pointed out one interesting twist for what it’s worth.
“Aside from Cal Poly it’ll be the smallest offensive tackles that Mike and Kroy (Biermann) and I will face all season,” he said. “So that’ll be interesting to see how that plays out.”
Another interesting sidelight to the Grizzly season has been the connection between members of the UM coaching staff and counterparts with virtually every team Montana has played this season.
In the case of UMass Grizzly strength coach Mike Gerber used to work with Minutemen head coach Don Brown when both were at Yale in the early 90s. But sometimes those connections don’t lead to good news.
“I’m not sure how much applies other than that we can get an idea of what the mind set is,” Hauck said. “I should quit calling the guys back there because all my buddies back in Boston talk about how good they are and how fast they are.