SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — The No. 14-seeded Montana Grizzlies (9-4) will clash with the No. 3 South Dakota State Jackrabbits for the second time in 11 months. And for the Grizzlies, they're the underdogs and looking to play spoiler against the two-time defending national champs.
It comes after Montana won a wild first-round game over Tennessee State last weekend in Missoula that saw late-night magic turn into records falling.
"That was a fun game to be a part of," UM head coach Bobby Hauck said of last week's thriller. "That was a fun atmosphere in the stadium on Saturday night. And I thought our guys played hard. It was fun to be around them all week, and it was really fun to be around them on Saturday."
But now the task at hand is the Jackrabbits, who are 10-2 this season with a loss to FBS Oklahoma State and a close defeat to No. 2 North Dakota State.
"South Dakota State, they're a very good football team. Obviously they're tough. They play really hard. Obviously they won a lot," Hauck said. "Be a huge challenge to go over there and win. So got our hands full. Got to go over and play a great game if we we want to go over there and get a win."
Montana is 8-1 all-time against SDSU, with the lone loss being January's national championship game. But this is the first time UM has played a game in Brookings, S.D., since 1970.
"Biggest thing is just be able to overcome adversity," UM senior safety Ryder Meyer said. "It's going to strike at some point. We got to be able to lock arms and and be able to move ahead and, you know, have the next-play mentality and just play as hard as we hard as we can."
Only 16 teams remain in the FCS playoff field. UM and SDSU will kick off at noon Mountain time with the game exclusively streaming on ESPN+. There, the fate will be decided for both as each program competes to see who moves on to the quarterfinal round and who sees their season come to a close.
It's a different scenario than the last time these two teams met, but the goals and results of the outcome remain the same.
"I think we approach every week as a championship week," Meyer said. "Our goal is to go 1-0 every single week. We got a good feel for them, and I'm sure they have a good feel for us. I know as a team, we're super excited for the opportunity to go down to Brookings."
