Griz vs. Jacks: Looking back at 10 eventful meetings

Dec. 2—BROOKINGS — South Dakota State played Montana State three years in a row from 2021-2023, and by that third meeting players from both sides admitted it was starting to feel a bit like a rivalry.

Now the Jacks are starting to build one with the other program from the Last Best Place.

SDSU will visit the Montana Grizzlies on Saturday in Missoula, marking the third consecutive year the teams have faced off in the FCS playoffs.

It will be the 11th meeting all-time between the programs, and each of the last five have come in the playoffs.

Montana leads the all-time series 8-2. They won the first eight, and SDSU has won the last two.

Here's a look at the all-time series between the Jacks and the Griz.

Both schools were in what was called the 'College' Division (what was then Division I was known as the 'University' Division).

Just a few years later, Division I, Division II and Division I-AA were all officially formed.

According to former Jacks coach Mike Daly, Division I-AA was created specifically for leagues like the Big Sky and the old NCC — schools that were serious about football but weren't quite good enough to play with the Big Ten.

The NCC decided not to go, however, choosing Division II. The Big Sky went I-AA.

Anyway, the Griz beat the Jacks 58-0 just a couple months after Bryan Adams got his first real six-string.

Before last year, this was the only time the teams faced off in Brookings.

The Grizzlies won 24-0.

At least this time the Jacks scored. But they still lost big, 41-16.

What if I told you that the Grizzlies' epic comeback over SDSU in the '09 playoffs (which we'll get to in a sec) wasn't their biggest comeback over the Jackrabbits?

In '93, the Daly-coached Rabbits jumped out to a 24-7 halftime lead and pushed it to 38-7 in the third quarter.

The Griz then scored 39 fourth-quarter points to overcome a pair of Adam Vinatieri field goals and steal a 52-48 win. Given that Montana was I-AA and the Jacks were D2 it would've been a huge win for SDSU and a bad loss for Montana. The Griz ended up going 10-2 that year and winning the Big Sky. The Jacks finished 7-4. Not surprisingly, Montana would not play SDSU again while they were still a Division II team.

The Jacks were in their second year in Division I. The Griz were in their third year under a young coach named Bobby Hauck, who had taken them to the I-AA national championship game the previous season.

The SDSU defense was up for the challenge in Missoula but their offense was not, totaling just 108 yards in a 7-0 loss.

The Jacks returned to Washington-Grizzly Stadium coming off a horrific 17-3 loss to Division III Wisconsin-La Crosse. There were rumors swirling that coach John Stiegelmeier's job was in jeopardy.

Probably not a great time to go on the road and challenge a I-AA powerhouse.

Montana 36, SDSU 7.

The Jacks' move to Division I finally had some validation, as they made their first-ever appearance in the FCS playoffs. They were sent to Missoula to face the undefeated and No. 1 Grizzlies.

And for three quarters, the Jacks beat their ass. Unfortunately for them, football games have four quarters.

In what was linebacker and future coach Jimmy Rogers' last career game, SDSU led 41-14, only to get outscored 34-0 in the final stanza of an eventual 61-48 loss.

The Griz followed with wins over Stephen F. Austin and Appalachian State before losing to Villanova in the national championship game. Hauck left to be the coach at UNLV afterwards.

A certain sportswriter's first year on the SDSU beat for a newspaper that used to cover sports, the Jacks were making their fourth straight playoff appearance and taking the first steps towards maybe one day being a national championship contender.

SDSU had gone into the regular season finale at Western Illinois needing a win to secure a top-8 seed. They didn't get it, falling to the Leathernecks (coached by one Bob Nielson) in overtime. Some thought the Jacks, at 8-3, would still get a seed. And if they had, their first round home game would've been played at Howard Wood Field in Sioux Falls, as SDSU had already begun construction on Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium.

Instead, the Jacks got sent to Missoula.

SDSU had alternated between junior Zach Lujan (now a Big Ten offensive coordinator) and true freshman Taryn Christion at quarterback that year, but Lujan had suffered a concussion against WIU.

Christion got the start and it took the offense awhile to get going. By the time they did they were down 24-0. But then they rallied in the second half, and pulled to within a score on a 30-yard touchdown pass from Christion to Dallas Goedert on 4th and 19 with 4:44 to go.

They never got the ball back, and the Griz won 24-17.

After an 8-year layoff the Grizzlies and Jackrabbits faced off again, this time in Frisco for the national championship game.

Hauck had returned for a second stint as the Griz coach. The Jacks were reigning national champions, and looking like one of the most dominant teams in FCS history, having steamrolled everyone in their path. They won their semifinal game to get to Frisco 59-0.

Montana never found the end zone, and a pedestrian performance by the Jacks was more than enough for a 23-3 win that gave them back-to-back championships.

While the Jacks were a legit threat to three-peat, the Griz didn't appear to be as strong. They went 8-4 in the regular season and got an at-large bid to the playoffs.

After a 41-27 win over Tennessee State in the first round, they made their first visit to Brookings since 1970.

Mark Gronowski ran for two touchdowns and threw for two (both to Griffin Wilde) and a pick-six from Adam Bock early in the fourth quarter made it 35-3.

The Griz got a couple garbage-time scores to bring the final score to 35-18. SDSU would win again the next week against Incarnate Word, but fell to NDSU in Fargo in their bid to get back to Frisco for a third straight season.