Furman at Montana

[The Jackal]

Not sure the accuracy of this, but if this is true, it won't be demonstrably different than playing at Western Carolina or the Citadel.

[GrizRick]

I've been looking over some of the posts here. No true Grizzly fan is overlooking Furman. When the Griz lost to Northern Arizona in the first conference game of the year, many Griz fans were in despair calling for the resignation of the coaching staff. Since then, the Griz have been on a tear, and our coach is a candidate for the Eddy Robinson coach of the year award. Griz fans have good reason to be optimistic given their 8 game win streak and playing this game at home, but I've been a fan long enough to remember when we have been knocked out of the playoffs early, sometimes by teams running triple option (Wofford in 2007, for example) that we didn't see often. So, I do not presume to predict outcomes, let alone margins. I have been to all 7 national championship games in which the Griz played: they won 2 and lost 5. Boy was it great when they won. Man was it depressing when they lost. But in the end, I appreciate the effort these college kids put in so that we old guys can have some entertainment. Thank you players for your efforts.

[OldGriz]

Not sure the accuracy of this, but if this is true, it won't be demonstrably different than playing at Western Carolina or the Citadel.

I would guess closer to 18k. They didn't release tickets for non season ticker holders until late Tuesday. And then they did a presale for a Pink concert at stadium this summer so the site was having issues. The guy was just guessing. A lot of Griz fans travel long distances and have to work on Friday so that is a factor. It won't be close to capacity for sure. Saturday afternoon game probably would have been 23-24k. The student section is a big source of the noise and they will all be there..and probably a little more liquored up for the game. Should be a great game.

[RobGriz]

Not sure the accuracy of this, but if this is true, it won't be demonstrably different than playing at Western Carolina or the Citadel.

I would guess closer to 18k. They didn't release tickets for non season ticker holders until late Tuesday. And then they did a presale for a Pink concert at stadium this summer so the site was having issues. The guy was just guessing. A lot of Griz fans travel long distances and have to work on Friday so that is a factor. It won't be close to capacity for sure. Saturday afternoon game probably would have been 23-24k. The student section is a big source of the noise and they will all be there..and probably a little more liquored up for the game. Should be a great game.

Exactly. Crowd is going to be approximately the same as last week. Still going to be loud.

[FUBeAR]

Not sure the accuracy of this, but if this is true, it won't be demonstrably different than playing at Western Carolina or the Citadel.

I would guess closer to 18k. They didn't release tickets for non season ticker holders until late Tuesday. And then they did a presale for a Pink concert at stadium this summer so the site was having issues. The guy was just guessing. A lot of Griz fans travel long distances and have to work on Friday so that is a factor. It won't be close to capacity for sure. Saturday afternoon game probably would have been 23-24k. The student section is a big source of the noise and they will all be there..and probably a little more liquored up for the game. Should be a great game.

Exactly. Crowd is going to be approximately the same as last week. Still going to be loud.

193.99 dB we are told

[The Jackal]

I've been looking over some of the posts here. No true Grizzly fan is overlooking Furman. When the Griz lost to Northern Arizona in the first conference game of the year, many Griz fans were in despair calling for the resignation of the coaching staff. Since then, the Griz have been on a tear, and our coach is a candidate for the Eddy Robinson coach of the year award. Griz fans have good reason to be optimistic given their 8 game win streak and playing this game at home, but I've been a fan long enough to remember when we have been knocked out of the playoffs early, sometimes by teams running triple option (Wofford in 2007, for example) that we didn't see often. So, I do not presume to predict outcomes, let alone margins. I have been to all 7 national championship games in which the Griz played: they won 2 and lost 5. Boy was it great when they won. Man was it depressing when they lost. But in the end, I appreciate the effort these college kids put in so that we old guys can have some entertainment. Thank you players for your efforts.

I doubt anyone that has watched enough football at this level believes this will be a blowout one way or the other. Both squads are really good. I'm expecting a low scoring physical football game.

Furman should be prepared for the moment. This group is loaded with veterans. With the exception of South Carolina, Furman has been the biggest game on every one of their opponent's schedules this season. They are used to getting everyone's best shot.

The game will likely come down to the basic stuff - tackling, blocking, executing, converting, and making plays. I'm anticipating a four quarter dogfight.

[FUTex]

My prediction: Furman 13 Montana 6

I hasten to add that most of my predictions so far this year have been way off.

But I do feel safe in stating that the altitude will have no effect on the Paladins, but the cold a small effect. Crowd - no effect. Travel time - mild effect. Night game - mild effect. It will all total to something noticeable.

I like Montana. Spent a lot of time in and near Bozeman. Really great folks up that way.

[purplehorse123]

I thought the review was very reasonable. What struck me were how close the majority of the stats were. I think he largely hit a home run-except for the final score of course.

FURMAN 20
Montana 17

[gofurman]

https://www.montanarightnow.com/missoul ... 10359.html

That article hurts some…

They have a “zoo crew”. With a leader. They are giving 3000 student tickets for free because some kids might not come for the $5. Man, we couldn’t pay some of our kids to come to football. I really wish our guys got more support. And - b3ore anyone says anything -I came to almost all games before past year or so. Even went to GSU playoff win (shh.. I still have the game ball from the last play at GSU in 2001) etc

[FUBeAR]

I thought the review was very reasonable. What struck me were how close the majority of the stats were. I think he largely hit a home run-except for the final score of course.

FURMAN 20
Montana 17

FUBeAR did some 'work' on the stats for Montana and Furman - FUBeAR likes to take out the results from games that are not vs. D1 FCS 63 Scholarship Teams, so he laboriously removed those stats (Butler & Ferris games for Montana / South Carolina game for Furman) from the stats for both Teams. And using the REVISED stats plugged into 'the review' by the Montana .... See below - BOLD and added (National Rank). This is the most OBJECTIVELY level way to analyze stats. We can quibble about "strength of schedule" among 63 schollie FCS Teams until the cow come home to roost...but that's all subjective ish and/or voodoo math. This is SCIENCE!

Actually, it's also interesting that some of Montana's stats were IMPROVED by removing their Non-Schollie and D2 games - they dang near lost both of those games - PLEASE let THAT Montana Team show up tonight!

Anyway...

General Stats

Passing yds per game GRIZ (199 for GRIZ vs 190 for FUR) | REVISED GRIZ (207 (59) for GRIZ vs 185 (78) for FUR)
Rushing yds per game GRIZ (194 for GRIZ vs 163 for FUR) | REVISED GRIZ (202 (12) for GRIZ vs 170 (29) for FUR)
Total offense GRIZ (393 for GRIZ vs 353 for FUR) | REVISED GRIZ (409 (3) for GRIZ vs 355 (63) for FUR)
Pass yds allowed/game GRIZ (214 for GRIZ vs 220 for FUR) | REVISED FUR (215 (69) for GRIZ vs 198 (43) for FUR)
Rushing yds allowed per game FUR (98 for GRIZ vs 93 for FUR) | REVISED FUR (100 (9) for GRIZ vs 91 (3) for FUR)
Total defense GRIZ (312 for GRIZ vs 313 for FUR) | REVISED FUR (316 (20) for GRIZ vs 289 (6) for FUR)

I’d said it on the pod, pretty evenly matched across the board. UM’s rushing game is really the only large difference, notice how close the defenses are – they practically all should be a push. But techinally we have Montana getting 5 and Furman getting 1 | REVISED 'we have Montana getting 3 and Furman getting 3'

Offense points scored GRIZ (32 for GRIZ vs 27.3 for FUR) | REVISED GRIZ (33.3 (14) for GRIZ vs 27.9 (42) for FUR)
Defense points allowed GRIZ (14.8 for GRIZ vs 16.8 for FUR) | REVISED FUR (14.8 (5) for GRIZ vs 14.1 (2) for FUR)
Turnover margin FUR (+10 for GRIZ / +17 for FUR) | REVISED FUR (+9 (9) for GRIZ vs 18 (1) for FUR)
Fieldgoal % FUR (70% for GRIZ vs 73% for FUR) | REVISED FUR (69% for GRIZ vs 73% for FUR)
Punt Ret GRIZ (12.8 yards for GRIZ vs 8.4 yards for FUR) | REVISED GRIZ (12.3 (22) for GRIZ vs 8.9 (48) for FUR)
Kick Ret FUR (19.8 yards for GRIZ vs 22.6 yards for FUR) | REVISED FUR (21.0 (33) for GRIZ vs 22.6 (17) for FUR)
T.O.P. GRIZ (31:31 for GRIZ vs 31:29 for FUR) | REVISED GRIZ (32:02 (15) for GRIZ vs 31:47 (20) for FUR)
Red Zone defense (touchdowns) GRIZ (55% GRIZ / 64% FUR) | REVISED FUR (67% (80) GRIZ / 56% (31) FUR)
Red Zone offense (touchdowns) GRIZ (67% GRIZ / 60% FUR) | REVISED GRIZ (70% GRIZ / 57% FUR)
3rd down offense GRIZ – (45% for GRIZ / 43% for FUR) | REVISED GRIZ (45% (12) for GRIZ / 43% (31) for FUR
3rd down defense GRIZ – (30% allowed for GRIZ vs 33% allowed for FUR) | REVISED FUR (31% (9) allowed for GRIZ vs 30% (8) allowed for FUR)

I’m kind of surprised at this one, thought it’d be more evenly split. Griz get 8, Furman gets 3. That puts the total at Montana 13 – Furman 4. | REVISED 'Griz get 5, Furman gets 6. That puts the total at Montana 8 - Furman 9.'

[Roundball]

Latest forecast is for 33 balmy degrees at kickoff. Thankful the weather will not be an issue. Play the game. Furman 20 Montana 16.

[The Jackal]

Latest forecast is for 33 balmy degrees at kickoff. Thankful the weather will not be an issue. Play the game. Furman 20 Montana 16.

Gotta be careful with this. Montana guys lurk on this forum and screen shot what fans say and run post it to twitter.

This statement will circulate twitter as "Furman fans talking crap about Montana weather" or something.

[Roundball]

Montana fans are ultra sensitive.

[The Jackal]

Montana fans are ultra sensitive.

I saw this. Just a bunch of trolling.

Two take aways:

1. If these Montana folks had followed Furman for more than two days, they'd know that our coaches frequently note we are not the most athletic team in the conference. We are clearly the best team in the SoCon, but Hendrix will frequently say that we are not the most talented. Huff was complimentary of Montana's defense, their tackling, and team approach.

2. Huff isn't one bit intimidated by Montana.

[AstroDin]

Tyler can be blunt, and his comments are what I would expect them to be.

Montana fans are going to jump on this as they have and pick a school like VMI to say oh sure, "VMI has a more talented D-line than the Griz." I think a healthy MOC D-line probably has more 'talent.' Does that make them the overall better defense? No?

If they want to play that way, I'm sure both teams can kick off with a chip on their shoulders. I think Furman will come out business as usual, and I do expect the Griz to be jacked up at kickoff.