MISSOULA – It’ll be a case of youth vs. experience when South Dakota State takes on top-ranked Montana in the first round of the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision playoffs.
The Jackrabbits (8-3) are playing in their first FCS playoff game Saturday while Montana (11-0) is making a record 17th straight appearance and 20th overall, also a record. The Grizzlies have won 116 games since the start of the 2000 season and will finish the decade with the most wins of any Division I team.
But that doesn’t mean SDSU, which moved up to the FCS in 2004, doesn’t come in with talent.
The Jackrabbits defense is led by Buck Buchanan Award finalist Danny Batten, who has 82 tackles and nine sacks, and Derek Domino, who has 88 tackles and five interceptions.
“Batten is a really good player,” said Montana coach Bobby Hauck. “But it’s not just one guy when you’re talking about their defensive numbers. They’re good across the board.”
SDSU is holding its opponents to 13.5 points per game, fifth in the nation, and 280 yards in total offense.
Kyle Minett is the top rusher with 1,173 yards and 14 touchdowns this season.
“He’s a little bigger version of Chase Reynolds,” said Hauck, comparing him to UM’s leading rusher, a Walter Payton Award finalist who has 1,159 yards and 15 touchdowns.
Both Minett and Reynolds have posted back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons.
Thomas O’Brien, a redshirt freshman, has won the starting quarterback job for the Jackrabbits. He averages 125 yards passing and has eight touchdown passes this season. The leading receivers are Glen Fox and Mike Steffen, with around 60 yards per game and four touchdowns apiece.
Montana has split quarterbacking duties between Andrew Selle and Justin Roper, with Selle seeing more playing time in the past month. Selle has passed for 1,941 yards and 18 touchdowns this season while Roper has added 899 yards and eight more scores.
Marc Mariani is the leading receiver with 980 yards and nine TD catches. He’s also Montana’s leading punt returner, with 18.8 yards per return.
“Holy cow, as a punt return guy he’s scary,” SDSU coach John Stiegelmeier said of Mariani.
Shawn Lebsock has 73 total tackles, Tyler Hobbs leads the Griz with three sacks and Trumaine Johnson has four interceptions and 10 pass breakups.
Montana has won all six of its games against SDSU including a 36-7 win in 2006 in which Dan Carpenter, who now plays for the Miami Dolphins, kicked five field goals and three extra points. Montana held on for a 7-0 win in 2005. The Griz rallied for a 52-48 win in 1993 in a game that introduced Montana football fans to the talents of Dave Dickenson, who led the Griz to their first national championship two years later.
The Grizzlies also won a national championship in 2001 and were runners-up in 1996, 2000, 2004 and last season, falling 24-7 to Richmond, which is seeded fourth in this year’s playoffs.