# 2023 Montana Grizzlies football team

The 2023 Montana Grizzlies football team represented the University of Montana as a member of the Big Sky Conference during the 2023 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The Grizzlies were led by 13th-year head coach Bobby Hauck and played their home games at Washington–Grizzly Stadium in Missoula, Montana. The Montana Grizzlies football team drew an average home attendance of 26,269 in 2023.

## Preseason
### Polls

On July 23, 2023, during the virtual Big Sky Kickoff, the Grizzlies were predicted to finish sixth in the Big Sky by the coaches and third by the media.
Coaches poll :
| Predicted finish | Team | Votes (1st place) |
| 1 | Montana State | 120 (10) |
| 2 | UC Davis | 96 (1) |
| 3 | Sacramento State | 94 (1) |
| 4 | Weber State | 91 |
| 5 | Idaho | 89 |
| 6 | Montana | 84 |
| 7 | Eastern Washington | 52 |
| 8 | Portland State | 45 |
| 9 | Northern Arizona | 44 |
| 10 | Northern Colorado | 37 |
| 11 | Cal Poly | 25 |
| 12 | Idaho State | 15 |
Media poll :
| Predicted finish | Team | Votes (1st place) |
| 1 | Montana State | 447 (26) |
| 2 | Idaho | 410 (8) |
| 3 | Montana | 359 (2) |
| 4 | Sacramento State | 334 (3) |
| 5 | UC Davis | 330 |
| 6 | Weber State | 320 |
| 7 | Eastern Washington | 216 |
| 8 | Northern Arizona | 178 |
| 9 | Portland State | 167 |
| 10 | Northern Colorado | 109 |
| 11 | Cal Poly | 103 |
| 12 | Idaho State | 69 |

### Preseason All–Big Sky team

The Grizzlies had five players selected to the preseason all-Big Sky team.

## Schedule

| Date | Time | Opponent | Rank | Site | TV | Result | Attendance |
| September 2 | 12:00 p.m. | Butler* | No. 14 | Washington-Grizzly StadiumMissoula, MT | KTMF/ESPN+ Ron Davis, Grady Bennett, Shaun Rainey | W 35–20 | 25,430 |
| September 9 | 7:00 p.m. | at Utah Tech* | No. 13 | Greater Zion StadiumSt. George, UT | ESPN+ Rod Zundel, Deven Osborne | W 43–13 | 5,766 |
| September 16 | 6:00 p.m. | No. 1 (D-II) Ferris State* | No. 12 | Washington-Grizzly StadiumMissoula, MT | KTMF/ESPN+ Ron Davis, Grady Bennett, Shaun Rainey | W 17–10 | 26,978 |
| September 23 | 2:00 p.m. | at Northern Arizona | No. 13 | Walkup SkydomeFlagstaff, AZ | KPAX/ESPN+ Jay Kohn, Marty Mornhinweg, Kyle Hansen | L 14–28 | 6,428 |
| September 30 | 2:00 p.m. | Idaho State | No. 18 | Washington-Grizzly StadiumMissoula, MT | KPAX/ESPN+ Jay Kohn, Marty Mornhinweg, Kyle Hansen | W 28–20 | 26,678 |
| October 7 | 5:00 p.m. | at No. 20 UC Davis | No. 17 | UC Davis Health StadiumDavis, CA | KPAX/KQCA/ESPN+ Jay Kohn, Marty Mornhinweg, Kyle Hansen/Scott Marsh, Scott Gordon | W 31–23 | 9,576 |
| October 14 | 8:30 p.m. | at No. 3 Idaho | No. 16 | Kibbie DomeMoscow, ID (Little Brown Stein) | ESPN2 Jorge Sedano, Orlando Franklin, Marilyn Payne | W 23–21 | 14,218 |
| October 28 | 1:00 p.m. | Northern Colorado | No. 7 | Washington-Grizzly StadiumMissoula, MT | KPAX/ESPN+ Jay Kohn, Marty Mornhinweg, Kyle Hansen | W 40–0 | 25,463 |
| November 4 | 6:00 p.m. | No. 7 Sacramento State | No. 4 | Washington-Grizzly StadiumMissoula, MT | KPAX/ESPN+ Jay Kohn, Marty Mornhinweg, Kyle Hansen | W 34–7 | 25,888 |
| November 11 | 8:00 p.m. | at Portland State | No. 3 | Hillsboro StadiumHillsboro, OR | KPAX/ESPN+ Jay Kohn, Marty Mornhinweg, Kyle Hansen | W 34–10 | 4,578 |
| November 18 | 12:00 p.m. | No. 4 Montana State | No. 3 | Washington-Grizzly StadiumMissoula, MT (rivalry) | KPAX/MTN-CBS/ESPN+ Ty Gregorak, Kyle Hansen, Scott Breen/Jay Kohn, Marty Mornhinweg | W 37–7 | 27,178 |
| December 2 | 7:00 p.m. | No. 11 Delaware* | No. 2 | Washington-Grizzly StadiumMissoula, MT (NCAA Division I Second Round) | ESPN+ Shawn Kenney, Marcus Ray | W 49–19 | 20,580 |
| December 8 | 7:00 p.m. | No. 7 Furman* | No. 2 | Washington-Grizzly StadiumMissoula, MT (NCAA Division I Quarterfinal) | ESPN2 Lowell Galindo, Jay Walker, Ashley Stroehlein | W 35–28 $^{OT}$ | 20,884 |
| December 16 | 2:30 p.m. | No. 8 North Dakota State* | No. 2 | Washington-Grizzly StadiumMissoula, MT (NCAA Division I Semifinal) | ESPN2/ESPN+ Lowell Galindo, Tyoka Jackson, Dawn Davenport | W 31–29 $^{2OT}$ | 26,544 |
| January 7, 2024 | 12:00 p.m. | vs. No. 1 South Dakota State* | No. 2 | Toyota StadiumFrisco, TX (NCAA Division I Championship Game) | ABC/Westwood One Roy Philpott, Roddy Jones, Taylor McGregor/Ted Emrich, Ryan Leaf, Taylor Davis | L 3–23 | 19,512 |
| *Non-conference gameHomecomingRankings from STATS Poll released prior to the gameAll times are in Mountain time ||||||||

## Game summaries
### Butler

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Bulldogs | 3 | 3 | 14 | 0 | 20 |
| No. 14 Grizzles | 10 | 11 | 7 | 7 | 35 |

### at Utah Tech

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 13 Grizzles | 14 | 22 | 7 | 0 | 43 |
| Trailblazers | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 13 |

### Ferris State

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Bulldogs | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| No. 12 Grizzlies | 3 | 0 | 14 | 0 | 17 |

### at Northern Arizona

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 13 Grizzles | 0 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 14 |
| Lumberjacks | 7 | 14 | 7 | 0 | 28 |

### Idaho State

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Bengals | 7 | 0 | 7 | 6 | 20 |
| No. 18 Grizzles | 7 | 0 | 14 | 7 | 28 |

### at No. 20 UC Davis

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 17 Grizzles | 7 | 14 | 7 | 3 | 31 |
| No. 20 Aggies | 7 | 13 | 0 | 3 | 23 |

### at No. 3 Idaho

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 16 Grizzles | 10 | 10 | 0 | 3 | 23 |
| No. 3 Vandals | 0 | 7 | 0 | 14 | 21 |

### Northern Colorado

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Bears | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| No. 7 Grizzles | 0 | 14 | 12 | 14 | 40 |

### No. 7 Sacramento State

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 7 Hornets | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| No. 4 Grizzles | 7 | 14 | 0 | 13 | 34 |

### at Portland State

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 3 Grizzles | 7 | 17 | 10 | 0 | 34 |
| Vikings | 3 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 10 |

### Montana State

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 4 Bobcats | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 7 |
| No. 3 Grizzles | 14 | 6 | 10 | 7 | 37 |

## FCS Playoffs
### No. 12 Delaware – Second Round

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 12 Blue Hens | 0 | 12 | 7 | 0 | 19 |
| No. 2 Grizzles | 10 | 25 | 14 | 0 | 49 |

### No. 7 Furman – Quarterfinals

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | OT | Total |
| No. 7 Paladins | 14 | 0 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 28 |
| No. 2 Grizzles | 14 | 6 | 8 | 0 | 7 | 35 |

### No. 8 North Dakota State – Semifinals

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | OT | 2OT | Total |
| No. 8 Bison | 3 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 29 |
| No. 2 Grizzles | 0 | 10 | 0 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 31 |

### vs. No. 1 South Dakota State – Championship Game

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 2 Grizzles | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| No. 1 Jackrabbits | 7 | 0 | 16 | 0 | 23 |

## Ranking movements

Ranking movements Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking т = Tied with team above or below :
| | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week |
| Poll | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | Final |
| STATS FCS | 14 | 13 | 12 | 13 | 18 | 17 | 16 | 9 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | |
| Coaches | 14 | 13 | 11т | 11 | 16 | 13 | 10 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | |