The 2024 football season is in the books, and I would assume by most it fell short of expectations. The Grizzlies opened the year as the #3 team in the country and were favorites to win the Big Sky, instead they finished 5th in the conference and their final year-end ranking will probably be somewhere in the upper teens. While the 23 Griz were able to overcome early obstacles and ride a major wave of momentum all the way to the title game, the 24 Griz kept stumbling over themselves as the season went on.
There are many things I do appreciate about the 24 Griz and while I know there's lot of frustration on this board and on socials right now, I think we should also look back and recognize some of the great / fun stuff we saw this year. We got to see Junior Bergen tie the FCS punt return record at home in a single playoff game with two electric returns. The Griz were on multiple ESPN 2 broadcasts and once again got to show off how awesome our fans and our stadium is. Montana finally won a game on the red carpet at EWU. Eli Gillman finished with almost 1300 APY and 17 total TDs. Some of the future of this program also had time to shine on both special teams and offense/defense. We saw a back to back first team OL in Brandon Casey play, something the Griz have not had since I think 15 years ago. And there were plenty of other on field memories. There were more tense games than we expected, the time I spent tailgating, at QB Club, podding, and in the games of course was super fun as always. We're wishing well to A LOT of guys we've seen for a long time and one of the bigger senior classes that I can recall, many of whom were on last years championship game team. We're now essentially beyond the extra year oddities created from covid and it seems we're going to be most likely headed into this newer frontier of rosters with far more rapid turnover than we've seen. It's been a blast to cheer for, and support all of these kids. Thank you Griz players!
So what went wrong this year? I'll admit, I'm a booster and a fan, not some big secret insider, so some of these are guesses from the surface. But here's what I (and I think most of us) saw.
1. Whatever Montana was attempting to get out of the QB position didn't work, at all. Regardless if you're team Ah Yat, Fife, Huot, or even McDowell - I don't think anyone can come away from this season and think things went well at this position. Montana has a QB problem. They might have the right guy on the roster moving forward, they might not, but this season seemed to just get rougher as things went. The starting spot at QB has been a rotating door for a long time now and I worry that this staff / program is getting the label of being poor managers/developers of QBs and it's hurting us in recruiting/transfers/reputation.
2. Montana's OL / DL couldn't match up in big games. Both sides of the line for Montana had issues when it was needed the most. Look at some key stats. Montana rushing - first 7 games of the year, avg 250 ypg. Next 7 games 141 rushing per game. Or you can take the 3 ranked game losses down the stretch (Davis / MSU / SDSU) - 90 rush yards per game. Montana's OL coach is just rounding out his first year and so I have hope we'll see sharp improvements there because it's needed. On the other side of the ball - look at Montana's 5 losses and rush yards allowed - 243, 177, 130, 326, and 222. Just about 1100 yards in 5 games - 45% of Montana's total rushing yards allowed this season. I think especially Davis, MSU, and SDSU showed us again what a dominant team needs to have and that is far better play on the line, on both sides of the ball.
3. It was somewhat expected, but generally every major category defensively fell off from 2023. It's hard to just match results after a dominant defensive run, but it's the truth. Look at the changes from 2023 to 2024:
4. The offense couldn't produce in big games. As just mentioned before, and previously mentioned on point 1 at QB - when needed the most, the offense just couldn't find the endzone like they needed. 14 against Davis, 11 against MSU, and 18 against SDSU. Montana's offense scored 41.3 ppg in their first 7 games, they would go on to score 25.4 in their last 7. Did opponents "figure out" the offense? Did the constant QB rotation just wreck any hope for consistency? Does this fall more on execution or on planning/preparation? Lots of questions I don't have an answer for, but we all saw it as the season went on. I'm sure it happens far more than we actually know, but to see a Griz player on TV get in a heated shouting match with his head coach sure felt to me that there's a lot of bottled up frustration all over on this team.
------------
I think these points above are some of the major ones and require some big self reflection and planning to hopefully avoid in the years ahead. This staff is very experienced but at times it feels like they've been passed by with other programs seeing far more on field success. MSU's season and now their recruiting class? Davis and NAU with new coaches and with a lot of roster turnover getting to the playoffs. An NAIA school flipping a QB commit because seemingly Montana wouldn't give him a shot at QB until the last moment (his words in an article). If you pull up the pre-season polling / conference voting I think since Hauck's return Montana has only met/exceeded their expectations twice (21 and 23) and has fallen short 4 times now. Hauck 2.0 is also 2-4 against the cats and in the last decade over two coaching staffs Montana is 3-9 against MSU. Just being "Montana" isn't getting it done like it used to 15-30 years ago and the faster that the UofM can realize that top to bottom, the better. Montana needs to throw out this top dog superiority attitude of old if they want to keep pace with other programs that are now pushing ahead of them. This stadium, the practice facility, the training center, this campus, the NIL, the overwhelming booster support, the massive community support shouldn't result in teams continually falling short of their mark.
-----------
I'm a Griz until the day I die and I'll support this program until my last breath, and I hope all of you can do the same. I'm hopeful for the future of these Griz because if they can keep the corps of young guys together they could have a very exciting group to build on. Ah Yat played a very good game against a very tough SDSU team, can he build on that? The trio of Gillman / Fonoti / Rocker is an exciting bunch. The OL will have another year with their new coach who has been working to transform this group and will now have a full off-season with returning guys. We've got some young, bright standouts we see on defense and on special teams. And now the next generation of Griz WRs could lead to some fun and exciting stuff there. Hope springs eternal for this Griz fan. In the off-season I'm really wanting to see and hear what next big steps are underway for Montana to find it's footing again.
What I'd encourage all fans to do is to keep your support and passion for the Griz strong. Being critical is perfectly fine and in many cases well justified - just don't go directly after the kids. Focus on building this program up more, supporting those who need it, and remembering that this is the best damn fanbase in the FCS. We love what Montana means to us, and we damned passionate to see the Grizzlies succeed.
Go Griz!
There are many things I do appreciate about the 24 Griz and while I know there's lot of frustration on this board and on socials right now, I think we should also look back and recognize some of the great / fun stuff we saw this year. We got to see Junior Bergen tie the FCS punt return record at home in a single playoff game with two electric returns. The Griz were on multiple ESPN 2 broadcasts and once again got to show off how awesome our fans and our stadium is. Montana finally won a game on the red carpet at EWU. Eli Gillman finished with almost 1300 APY and 17 total TDs. Some of the future of this program also had time to shine on both special teams and offense/defense. We saw a back to back first team OL in Brandon Casey play, something the Griz have not had since I think 15 years ago. And there were plenty of other on field memories. There were more tense games than we expected, the time I spent tailgating, at QB Club, podding, and in the games of course was super fun as always. We're wishing well to A LOT of guys we've seen for a long time and one of the bigger senior classes that I can recall, many of whom were on last years championship game team. We're now essentially beyond the extra year oddities created from covid and it seems we're going to be most likely headed into this newer frontier of rosters with far more rapid turnover than we've seen. It's been a blast to cheer for, and support all of these kids. Thank you Griz players!
So what went wrong this year? I'll admit, I'm a booster and a fan, not some big secret insider, so some of these are guesses from the surface. But here's what I (and I think most of us) saw.
1. Whatever Montana was attempting to get out of the QB position didn't work, at all. Regardless if you're team Ah Yat, Fife, Huot, or even McDowell - I don't think anyone can come away from this season and think things went well at this position. Montana has a QB problem. They might have the right guy on the roster moving forward, they might not, but this season seemed to just get rougher as things went. The starting spot at QB has been a rotating door for a long time now and I worry that this staff / program is getting the label of being poor managers/developers of QBs and it's hurting us in recruiting/transfers/reputation.
2. Montana's OL / DL couldn't match up in big games. Both sides of the line for Montana had issues when it was needed the most. Look at some key stats. Montana rushing - first 7 games of the year, avg 250 ypg. Next 7 games 141 rushing per game. Or you can take the 3 ranked game losses down the stretch (Davis / MSU / SDSU) - 90 rush yards per game. Montana's OL coach is just rounding out his first year and so I have hope we'll see sharp improvements there because it's needed. On the other side of the ball - look at Montana's 5 losses and rush yards allowed - 243, 177, 130, 326, and 222. Just about 1100 yards in 5 games - 45% of Montana's total rushing yards allowed this season. I think especially Davis, MSU, and SDSU showed us again what a dominant team needs to have and that is far better play on the line, on both sides of the ball.
3. It was somewhat expected, but generally every major category defensively fell off from 2023. It's hard to just match results after a dominant defensive run, but it's the truth. Look at the changes from 2023 to 2024:
- 17.2 ppg to 25.86 ppg
- 24 forced turnovers to 19 forced turnovers
- 108.6 rush ypg to 146.1 rush ypg
- 206.2 pass ypg to 212 pass ypg
- 29% opp 3rd down efficiency to 38.25% opp 3rd down efficiency
- 35 sacks / 88 TFLs to 28 sacks / 77 TFLs
4. The offense couldn't produce in big games. As just mentioned before, and previously mentioned on point 1 at QB - when needed the most, the offense just couldn't find the endzone like they needed. 14 against Davis, 11 against MSU, and 18 against SDSU. Montana's offense scored 41.3 ppg in their first 7 games, they would go on to score 25.4 in their last 7. Did opponents "figure out" the offense? Did the constant QB rotation just wreck any hope for consistency? Does this fall more on execution or on planning/preparation? Lots of questions I don't have an answer for, but we all saw it as the season went on. I'm sure it happens far more than we actually know, but to see a Griz player on TV get in a heated shouting match with his head coach sure felt to me that there's a lot of bottled up frustration all over on this team.
------------
I think these points above are some of the major ones and require some big self reflection and planning to hopefully avoid in the years ahead. This staff is very experienced but at times it feels like they've been passed by with other programs seeing far more on field success. MSU's season and now their recruiting class? Davis and NAU with new coaches and with a lot of roster turnover getting to the playoffs. An NAIA school flipping a QB commit because seemingly Montana wouldn't give him a shot at QB until the last moment (his words in an article). If you pull up the pre-season polling / conference voting I think since Hauck's return Montana has only met/exceeded their expectations twice (21 and 23) and has fallen short 4 times now. Hauck 2.0 is also 2-4 against the cats and in the last decade over two coaching staffs Montana is 3-9 against MSU. Just being "Montana" isn't getting it done like it used to 15-30 years ago and the faster that the UofM can realize that top to bottom, the better. Montana needs to throw out this top dog superiority attitude of old if they want to keep pace with other programs that are now pushing ahead of them. This stadium, the practice facility, the training center, this campus, the NIL, the overwhelming booster support, the massive community support shouldn't result in teams continually falling short of their mark.
-----------
I'm a Griz until the day I die and I'll support this program until my last breath, and I hope all of you can do the same. I'm hopeful for the future of these Griz because if they can keep the corps of young guys together they could have a very exciting group to build on. Ah Yat played a very good game against a very tough SDSU team, can he build on that? The trio of Gillman / Fonoti / Rocker is an exciting bunch. The OL will have another year with their new coach who has been working to transform this group and will now have a full off-season with returning guys. We've got some young, bright standouts we see on defense and on special teams. And now the next generation of Griz WRs could lead to some fun and exciting stuff there. Hope springs eternal for this Griz fan. In the off-season I'm really wanting to see and hear what next big steps are underway for Montana to find it's footing again.
What I'd encourage all fans to do is to keep your support and passion for the Griz strong. Being critical is perfectly fine and in many cases well justified - just don't go directly after the kids. Focus on building this program up more, supporting those who need it, and remembering that this is the best damn fanbase in the FCS. We love what Montana means to us, and we damned passionate to see the Grizzlies succeed.
Go Griz!
