Best Griz - Vandal football game?

[cmtgrizzly]

Just to give credit where credit is due. The above post about Nygrens ride was taken from a post by Zirg on a previous thread. I am new and have not worked with the copy and paste/quotation function.

 

[NorthEndZoneDan]

Nygren's Ride 1988. The Griz scratch-out a hard-earned long TD or FG-drive late in the game to take a surprising 19-17 lead versus highly-ranked Idaho, who the Griz had lost 6 straight games to at that point. With under 2 minutes left, Idaho gets the ball back with most of the field to drive. Can we hold them? Hell no. John Friesz swiftly and efficiently completes about 6 straight passes, picking the Griz defense apart at will. They are already in FG range. Friesz, who looked unstoppable, goes for the kill with a pass to the end-zone, and Greg Nygren jumps the route and goes 99 yards to steal the win. It was unbelievable, completely unexpected. It was a seemingly certain lose suddenly turned around into a huge upset win. Idaho would return the favor by soundly beating the Griz in Moscow in the playoffs that year (the last time 2 Big Sky teams would meet in the first round) proving would a shocking upset this game was.

Nygren's Ride. A buddy and I were elk hunting above Seeley Lake and seeing nothing, not even cutting a fresh track, it was fairly cold and there was a fresh layer of deep snow but it wasn't helping us find the beasties. We decided to hike back down to the truck to catch the score and plan another area to work until dark. We turned on the radio just after half and were hooked, cracked beers and listened in. When the Griz scored and went up by two my buddy said there was too much time left on the clock for Friesz. I dont even remember what the announcers were saying while Nygren was going the distance, only that it seemed to take forever. After the score I reached into the truck and laid on the horn hard. We could hear at least a dozen rigs up and down the valley answering, there were a bunch of Griz that were listening to Nygren's Ride above Seeley. :thumb:

 

[statler & waldorf]

The memorable 2003 game at WGS, with Kyle Sampson at QB. At 5'8" and 165#, this freshman looked like a Little Grizzly player under center, but the Vandals had no answer to him. 41-28 Griz.

 

[NativeGriz]

I think I'm too young to recall Nygren's Ride although I've consistently heard about it and from what I've read that one has got to be up there.

Two others that were real fun as well, in back to back years.

2000: Griz hit the road in their 2nd game under Joe Glenn, coming off an embarassing 10-9 home loss to Hofstra. I went to this game, played in Wazzu's stadium, Drew Miller throws for 505 yards, Jimmy Farris has the game winning TD with a 1-handed catch, all while an Idaho CB is falling on him, I think there were about 30 seconds left in the game. Then the Griz stop Idaho on a 4th down conversion, Griz win. Afterwards we had beers with Idaho fans who were pissed the team moved up to 1A and really pissed that they didn't even recruit Farris who was an Idaho kid.

2001: The game was re-scheduled due to 9/11. It wound up being the last regular season game before the playoffs and the Griz were on a roll and I think ranked 1st in the country. There were worries of what would happen if we lost to a 1A team in the last week of the season. The game went to 2OT, Idaho couldn't kick a fieldgoal or PAT to save their lives, I think it was Yo Humphrey who ran in the game winner. I believe that game/season got Tom Cable (now Seahawks O-line coach) fired from Idaho.

These are my favorites, especially the game in Martin stadium that left their coach speechless and as noted the ridiculous game against Hofstra that got I think OC Richardson fired from play calling. Yo did score the game winner in 2001 game.

 

[AllWeatherFan]

Nygren's Ride 1988. The Griz scratch-out a hard-earned long TD or FG-drive late in the game to take a surprising 19-17 lead versus highly-ranked Idaho, who the Griz had lost 6 straight games to at that point. With under 2 minutes left, Idaho gets the ball back with most of the field to drive. Can we hold them? Hell no. John Friesz swiftly and efficiently completes about 6 straight passes, picking the Griz defense apart at will. They are already in FG range. Friesz, who looked unstoppable, goes for the kill with a pass to the end-zone, and Greg Nygren jumps the route and goes 99 yards to steal the win. It was unbelievable, completely unexpected. It was a seemingly certain lose suddenly turned around into a huge upset win. Idaho would return the favor by soundly beating the Griz in Moscow* in the playoffs that year (the last time 2 Big Sky teams would meet in the first round) proving would a shocking upset this game was.

After the above asterisk, I would add: "Why they were playing in Moscow after Nygren's Ride is anybody's guess..."

 

[WyomingGrizFan]

2001: The game was re-scheduled due to 9/11. It wound up being the last regular season game before the playoffs...I believe that game/season got Tom Cable (now Seahawks O-line coach) fired from Idaho.

I thought Tom Cable was fired from Idaho after the 2003 season.

 

[Grizzlies1982]

2001: The game was re-scheduled due to 9/11. It wound up being the last regular season game before the playoffs...I believe that game/season got Tom Cable (now Seahawks O-line coach) fired from Idaho.

I thought Tom Cable was fired from Idaho after the 2003 season.

It takes awhile to file the appropriate paper work. Human Resources you know... :ugeek:

 

[Proud Griz Man]

I heard that Naseby disliked Idaho, and was awarded the gameball after UM wins at Moscow.

About Naseby "Doc" Rhinehart

Naseby "Doc" Rhinehart came to Missoula in 1931 from Milwaukee, Wis., to play football and basketball. He also competed in track and field where he had bests of 23 feet in the long jump and 140 feet in the discus. After graduating in 1935 from The University of Montana, Rhinehart was asked if he was interested in becoming the UM head certified athletic trainer. He did and stayed at the University for 47 years, retiring in 1982. He was one of the first people in the nation to develop an athletic training curriculum (1971) at a university. Naseby Rhinehart was inducted into the NATA Hall of Fame in 1967. Naseby was UM's beloved trainer for more than 47 years. He passed away June 11, 1991 at the age of 80.

Montana's athletic training room was named in Naseby's honor in 1993.

 

[srgrizizen]

It's too bad Nygren's ride was too long ago to be appreciated by many on this board. John Friesz was one of the best pure passers that ever played in WA/Griz, and he was red hot on that final drive toward the south end zone. He tried an out pattern toward the left hand flag, and though he had a strong arm, the ball had to cover a lot of distance in the air, and Nygren had just enough time to step in front of it. If Friesz had thrown to the middle and/or taken two shots to cover the remaining distance, the Griz were toast. Friesz was totally bummed, and the game came toward the beginning of the Griz's rise, so I agree it was the best win over Idaho -- by far.