Griz to face South Dakota State in championship rematch

(Montana Sports Information) It’s December, and Montana is one of just 16 teams left competing for a national championship. The Grizzlies would have it no other way.

Montana (9-4, 5-3 BSC) returns to the second round of the playoffs for the seventh time in the last decade on Saturday, extending the program’s record of 28 postseason appearances by another week.

Their reward is to face perhaps the biggest challenge of the season as Montana heads to Brookings to take on two-time defending national champion South Dakota State (10-2, 7-1 MVFC) in a 2023 title game rematch.

The Jackrabbits are still led by All-America QB Mark Goronowski, but the co-champs of the Missouri Valley Football Conference are a changed unit from last year’s title team. Neither are the Griz. At their core, however, UM and SDSU are still as big, physical, and skilled as they come in FCS football.

South Dakota State enters the game in the unusual position of having two losses on its record, falling to Oklahoma State and North Dakota State in the top half of the season.

Montana, conversely, heads east as a team on the rise after earning a first-round win over a game Tennessee State that saw records fall and momentum built as the No. 14 seed Griz now prepare to take on the No. 3 seed Jacks. 

It sets up a clash of the FCS titans, two of the bluest-blue bloods in the subdivision, battling it out for the chance to survive and advance. After a season of ups and downs, all Montana ever asked for was a chance to compete. Now it’s time to earn it. 

Kickoff from Brookings is set for Noon (MT), 1 p.m. (CT).