Running back Chase Reynolds will lead the Montana Grizzlies in their quest for a 13th straight Big Sky Championship.
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A coaching change hasn’t swayed the opinion of the Montana Grizzly football program – at least not in the minds of Big Sky Conference coaches and media.
The preseason polls were released Tuesday, and the Grizzlies are heavily favored to win a 13th straight Big Sky Conference football championship. The favorite status, however, came as a bit of surprise to new head coach Robin Pflugrad.
“Well, if you look at it close, yeah it is,’’ said Pflugrad, who served as an assistant at Montana in 2009. “We lost a lot of starters, more than most in the league, and there are some pretty good teams in the league. I know tradition is a big part of it, but those are some pretty good players we lost.’’
Despite the loss of NFL draft picks Marc Mariani and Shann Schillinger, the coaches unanimously voted Montana No. 1. The Grizzlies received eight first-place votes and 64 total points. Coaches were not allowed to vote for their own team. In the media poll, 40 of the 42 voters penciled Montana at the top of the ballot. The Grizzlies received 356 total points.
Under Bobby Hauck, Montana won its first 14 games in 2009 before falling to Villanova 23-21 in the Division I National Championship game. Montana had advanced to the FCS playoffs a record 17 straight seasons. The Grizzlies have also won 15 straight conference games and 31 of their last 32.
Montana’s 12 straight conference titles is second all-time in Division I history behind Oklahoma’s 14 straight from 1946-1959.
Senior running back Chase Reynolds and senior quarterback Andrew Selle return to lead the offense. Both are candidates for the Walter Payton award. The defense will be led by junior cornerback Trumaine Johnson, a candidate for the Buck Buchanan award.
“Expectations are high,’’ Pflugrad said. “You’d rather have it that way than not have it high and have the stadium half full. We lost a lot of depth, and most of all lost an unprecedented amount of leadership. I’ve never been around a college football team that had a senior class with that much leadership. That leadership made the difference in four or five games that could have gone either way.”
“To me this league has great parity,’’ Pflugrad added. “Really, it’s anyone’s to win because of that parity. There are great individual players and great teams in this league, and that’s why I picked the teams in the order I picked them.’’
The coaches and media picked all nine teams in the same order, with spots two through five very tight. Eastern Washington, which went 8-4 last season and earned an at-large bid to the playoffs, was selected second. Beau Baldwin’s Eagles earned one first-place vote in the media poll and 280 total points. In the coaches’ poll, the Eagles earned 51 points.
Montana State was tabbed third, finishing getting 279 points from the media, and 48 from the coaches. Weber State, a playoff qualifier in 2008 and 2009, was picked fourth. Northern Arizona earned one first-place vote from the coaches and one from the media, but was picked to finish fifth by both entities, with 41 points from the coaches and 240 from the media.
Sacramento State, Northern Colorado, Portland State and Idaho State rounded out the polls. Portland State is the other team in the league with a new coach. Nigel Burton, the Nevada defensive coordinator the past two seasons, takes over for Jerry Glanville.
The 2010 season begins on Thursday, Sept. 2 with Eastern Washington and Northern Arizona in action. The seven other Sky teams open on Saturday, Sept. 4.
The 2010 Division I National Championship will be played on Friday, Jan. 7, 2011, at Pizza Hut Park in Frisco, Texas. The FCS playoff field expands from 16 to 20 teams. Eight teams will play first-round games on Saturday, Nov. 27. Twelve teams – included five seeded squads – earn byes to the second round on Saturday, Dec. 4.