MISSOULA — John Stiegelmeier recalls thinking that things seemed awry. It couldn’t possibly be this easy. Not at one of the most hallowed venues in college football. Not against the undefeated Montana Grizzlies.
Stiegelmeier’s South Dakota State Jackrabbits were in their first-ever FCS playoff appearance. SDSU moved up from Division II in 2004 and five years later, Stiegelmeier had his team in the playoffs. The first-ever playoff draw sent the Jackrabbits to Missoula for a matchup with a Montana team in the midst of a historic run that included 12 straight Big Sky Conference titles and seven national title game appearances in 15 seasons.
South Dakota State’s defense stuffed Chase Reynolds and the UM offense in the first quarter, building a 14-0 lead. UM battled back as Tyler Palmer’s 25-yard touchdown pulled the Griz within three, 17-14. But SDSU seized the momentum once again as Colin Cochart scored his third touchdown, Kyle Minnet turned a Conrad Kjerstad touchdown into another score and Montana quarterback Andrew Selle’s fumble turned into a field goal as SDSU took a 34-14 lead into halftime.
The lead swelled to 41-14 when Corey Jeske blocked Sean Wren’s punt in the end zone and fell on it. The SDSU lead grew to 48-21 with 5:25 left in the third quarter when Thomas O’Brien hit Glen Fox for a 61-yard gain and Minett punched in his second touchdown two plays later.
South Dakota State head coach John Stiegelmeier
“I kept thinking things were easier than they should’ve been,” Stiegelmeier said on Wednesday afternoon. “There were some turnovers in there and some perfect plays. It’s just like when you start out a game and you go right down the field. Sometimes, that’s not the best thing because your team has the opportunity to go, ‘This is going to be easy.’ It’s never easy.”
On the ensuing kickoff, future NFL Draft pick Marc Mariani took the kick 98 yards for a touchdown. The Thanksgiving weekend crowd of 19,197 erupted. Montana had life.
“When that guy ran the kickoff back and the stadium woke up, I knew we were in serious trouble,” Stiegelmeier said. “That kid was electric.”
Mariani would catch two fourth-quarter touchdowns, Reynolds would cap two long drives with short touchdowns and Severin Campbell’s 32-yard interception return for a touchdown would stamp one of the best comebacks in the history of the FCS playoffs. Over the final 20:25, Montana scored 40 unanswered points and emerged with a 61-48 victory that November 28 day in 2009. The win propelled Montana to a playoff run to remember, highlighted by a 24-17 overtime win over Appalachian State in the driving Missoula snow and ended with a 23-21 loss to Villanova in the championship, Montana’s first loss in 15 games that season.
On Saturday, South Dakota State will return to Washington-Grizzly Stadium for the first time to face Montana in the first round of the FCS playoffs. The memories of his last trip to the Garden City still resonate and sting Stiegelmeier.
“Every human being, really special things or really disappointing things, memories have a tendency to reoccur or come back,” SDSU’s 20th-year head coach said. “What would you learn from that experience? Certainly, that was a special time because that was the first time we went to the FCS playoffs. We played some great football and then we had a hugely disappointing loss at the end.
“What lingers is a great crowd, first-class environment, played a great football team and we lost. Heart-breaking loss. But our players don’t even know about that game unless they look it up in the press guide because we don’t talk about the past.”
That game seems a world away now. Following 2009, head coach Bobby Hauck left Montana for UNLV. The Griz are on their third head coach since as the program attempts to return to elite status in the second decade of the 21st century. Saturday will mark Montana’s fourth playoff appearance since 2010 and it’s third straight, but UM has not made it past the second round since 2011. Even the semifinal run that year is only partially affirmed; officially, it does not count because of a collection of NCAA violations that vacated a number of wins from the program that season.
Under first-year head coach Bob Stitt, Montana has survived a tumultuous season that has included devastating injuries to its top two quarterbacks and emerged to qualify for the postseason yet again. UM won three games straight down the stretch to punch a playoff ticket for the 21st time since 1993. The Griz are 183-25 at Washington-Grizzly Stadium since the venue opened in 1986.
“Playing at home, there’s nothing else like it,” UM wide receiver Jamaal Jones said. “Playing at home in the playoffs the last three years has been a blessing. I think the one thing we have to focus on is getting further than we have the next three years. The furthest we’ve gotten is the second round with disappointing losses to Coastal (Carolina in 2013) and (at) Eastern (Washington) last year. I think with the way we have been playing, our team has a good chance to make a run.”
Despite the fact that SDSU enters the game with a better record (8-3) than 7-4 Montana, the ‘Jacks are on the road playing at a Big Sky Conference opponent in their opening game for the third straight season. SDSU beat Northern Arizona 26-7 in Flagstaff in 2013 before losing 41-17 to Eastern Washington in the second round. Last season, SDSU posted a 47-40 win at Montana State before falling 27-24 at eventual national champion North Dakota State in the quarterfinals.
“It is what it is,” SDSU senior captain linebacker T.J. Lally said. “Our home stadium (Coughlin-Alumni Stadium) is gone right now, under construction so we knew we weren’t going to play here (in Brookings, South Dakota). We were hoping to play a game in Sioux Falls (South Dakota) but that’s just kind of how it goes. We knew we could’ve been a Top 8 seed we felt like if we would’ve taken care of business the last week of the season. We are over that now. The draw is the draw. We’ve done it four times now. It is what it is.”
In 2012, SDSU defeated Eastern Illinois in the first round of the playoffs before losing to North Dakota State, again the eventual FCS national champion.
“Experiencing anything like that is huge, especially going to Montana last year, it’s kind of like déjà vu,” Lally said. “That definitely helps out with the confidence of the team and hopefully it helps get rid of a lot of butterflies and things like that since you pretty much know what you are expecting.”
If not for a 10-7 loss to Northern Iowa with quarterback Zach Lujan on the shelf with an ankle injury or a 30-24 loss to Western Illinois, SDSU would have almost certainly been a Top 5 seed in the playoffs. Instead, the double overtime loss to the Leathernecks means South Dakota State hits the road for the first round of the playoff again. Despite the past, Stiegelmeier is excited for his team’s next trip to Missoula even if he is critical of the process.
“It has nothing to do with Montana, the draw, but I think the concept in FCS football where, after the first eight teams, there’s no regard for how good of a season you’ve had,” Stiegelmeier said. “It’s regional and it’s a bid. They surely don’t do that in basketball because they fly people all over the world. I think it’s unfortunate that certain teams that have had good years, whether it’s us or not, and the decision is not based on your season but is based on the finances of the tournament. Once we saw where North Dakota State was, we knew we would be in the bracket outside of them because that’s the way the deal works. When we saw Montana, we were certain we were next.
“But it’s exciting. It will be interesting to play there once again.”
