2022 Montana Grizzlies football team

The 2022 Montana Grizzlies football team represented the University of Montana as a member of the Big Sky Conference during the 2022 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The Grizzlies were led by 12th-year head coach Bobby Hauck and played their home games at Washington–Grizzly Stadium in Missoula, Montana.

2022 Montana Grizzlies football
NCAA Division I Second Round, L 26–49 at North Dakota State
Conference	Big Sky Conference
Ranking
STATS	No. 14
FCS Coaches	No. 14
Record	8–5 (4–4 Big Sky)
Head coach	Bobby Hauck (12th season)
Offensive coordinator	Timm Rosenbach (5th season)
Defensive coordinator	Kent Baer (4th season)
Home stadium	Washington–Grizzly Stadium
Seasons ← 2021 2023 →

2022 Big Sky Conference football standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 4 Montana State +^		8	–	0					12	–	2
No. 5 Sacramento State +^		8	–	0					12	–	1
No. 9 Weber State ^		6	–	2					10	–	3
No. 18 Idaho ^		6	–	2					7	–	5
No. 25 UC Davis		5	–	3					6	–	5
No. 14 Montana ^		4	–	4					8	–	5
Portland State		3	–	5					4	–	7
Eastern Washington		2	–	6					3	–	8
Northern Colorado		2	–	6					3	–	8
Northern Arizona		2	–	6					3	–	8
Idaho State		1	–	7					1	–	10
Cal Poly		1	–	7					2	–	9
+ – Conference co-champions ^ – FCS playoff participant Rankings from STATS Poll

Preseason

Polls

On July 25, 2022, during the virtual Big Sky Kickoff, the Grizzlies were predicted to finish first in the Big Sky by both the coaches and media.^[1]

Coaches poll

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Montana	111 (3)
2	Sacramento State	110 (4)
3	Montana State	109 (5)
4	Weber State	84
5	UC Davis	82
6	Eastern Washington	76
7	Northern Arizona	62
8	Idaho	45
9	Portland State	42
10	Cal Poly	33
T-11	Idaho State	19
T-11	Northern Colorado	19

Media poll

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Montana	356 (14)
2	Montana State	352 (13)
3	Sacramento State	335 (4)
4	Weber State	261
5	UC Davis	255 (1)
6	Eastern Washington	236
7	Northern Arizona	191
8	Portland State	146
9	Idaho	142
10	Cal Poly	85
11	Northern Colorado	71
12	Idaho State	66

Preseason All–Big Sky team

The Grizzlies had five players selected to the preseason all-Big Sky team.^[2]

Offense Malik Flowers – WR

Defense Patrick O'Connell – LB Alex Gubner – DT Robby Hauck – S Justin Ford – CB

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 3	1:00 p.m.	Northwestern State*	No. 3	Washington–Grizzly Stadium Missoula, MT	KTMF/ESPN+	W 47–0	24,096
September 10	1:00 p.m.	South Dakota*	No. 3	Washington–Grizzly Stadium Missoula, MT	KTMF/ESPN+	W 24–7	24,204
September 17	11:00 a.m.	at Indiana State*	No. 3	Memorial Stadium Terre Haute, IN	ESPN+	W 49–14	5,929
September 24	2:00 p.m.	Portland State	No. T–2	Washington–Grizzly Stadium Missoula, MT	KPAX/ESPN+	W 53–16	26,087
October 1	1:00 p.m.	at Idaho State	No. 3	Holt Arena Pocatello, ID	KPAX/ESPN+	W 28–20	6,659
October 15	1:00 p.m.	Idaho	No. 3	Washington–Grizzly Stadium Missoula, MT (Little Brown Stein)	KPAX/ESPN+	L 23–30	26,314
October 22	9:00 p.m.	at No. 2 Sacramento State	No. 7	Hornet Stadium Sacramento, CA	ESPN2	L 24–31 OT	15,927
October 29	1:00 p.m.	at No. T–5 Weber State	No. 11	Stewart Stadium Ogden, UT	KPAX/ESPN+	L 21–24	11,722
November 5	6:00 p.m.	Cal Poly	No. 16	Washington–Grizzly Stadium Missoula, MT	KPAX/ESPN+	W 57–0	25,684
November 12	1:00 p.m.	Eastern Washington	No. 16	Washington–Grizzly Stadium Missoula, MT (EWU–UM Governors Cup)	KPAX/ESPN+	W 63–7	25,403
November 19	12:00 p.m.	at No. 3 Montana State	No. 13	Bobcat Stadium Bozeman, MT (rivalry, College GameDay)	KPAX/ESPN+	L 21–55	22,047
November 26	8:00 p.m.	No. 14 Southeast Missouri State*	No. 19	Washington–Grizzly Stadium Missoula, MT (NCAA Division I First Round)	ESPN2/ESPN+	W 34–24	13,390
December 3	2:30 p.m.	at No. 4 North Dakota State*	No. 19	Fargodome Fargo, ND (NCAA Division I Second Round)	ESPN+	L 26–49	12,929
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game All times are in Mountain time

^[3]

Game summaries

Northwestern State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Demons	0	0	0	0	0
No. 3 Grizzles	13	13	7	14	47

See also: 2022 Northwestern State Demons football team

South Dakota

	1	2	3	4	Total
Coyotes	0	0	0	7	7
No. 3 Grizzles	13	0	9	2	24

See also: 2022 South Dakota Coyotes football team

At Indiana State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 3 Grizzles	14	7	14	14	49
Sycamores	7	0	0	7	14

See also: 2022 Indiana State Sycamores football team

Portland State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Vikings	7	7	2	0	16
No. 2T Grizzles	14	25	0	14	53

See also: 2022 Portland State Vikings football team

At Idaho State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 3 Grizzles	0	21	7	0	28
Bengals	3	3	0	14	20

See also: 2022 Idaho State Bengals football team

Idaho

	1	2	3	4	Total
Vandals	3	9	10	8	30
No. 3 Grizzles	6	7	3	7	23

See also: 2022 Idaho Vandals football team and Little Brown Stein

At No. 2 Sacramento State

	1	2	3	4	OT	Total
No. 7 Grizzles	7	3	7	7	0	24
No. 2 Hornets	0	7	0	17	7	31

See also: 2022 Sacramento State Hornets football team

At No. 5т Weber State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 11 Grizzles	3	7	3	8	21
No. 5T Wildcats	7	3	7	7	24

See also: 2022 Weber State Wildcats football team

Cal Poly

	1	2	3	4	Total
Mustangs	0	0	0	0	0
No. 16 Grizzles	14	17	13	13	57

See also: 2022 Cal Poly Mustangs football team

Eastern Washington

	1	2	3	4	Total
Eagles	0	0	7	0	7
No. 16 Grizzles	21	21	14	7	63

See also: 2022 Eastern Washington Eagles football team and EWU–UM Governors Cup

At No. 3 Montana State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 13 Grizzles	7	0	0	14	21
No. 3 Bobcats	21	10	10	14	55

See also: 2022 Montana State Bobcats football team and Brawl of the Wild

FCS Playoffs

No. 14 Southeast Missouri State – First Round

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 14 Redhawks	7	10	7	0	24
No. 19 Grizzlies	0	3	21	10	34

See also: 2022 Southeast Missouri State Redhawks football team and 2022 NCAA Division I FCS football season

At No. 4 North Dakota State – Second Round

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 19 Grizzlies	7	6	7	6	26
No. 4 Bison	14	7	14	14	49

See also: 2022 North Dakota State Bison football team and 2022 NCAA Division I FCS football season

Ranking movements

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
т = Tied with team above or below ( ) = First-place votes

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Final
STATS FCS	3	3	3	2т (6)	3 (7)	3 (6)	3 (7)	7	11	16	16	13	19
Coaches	2	2	2 (1)	2 (5)	2 (4)	2 (3)	2 (3)	7	10	13	14	12	17

References

1. "Montana Tabbed Big Sky Preseason Favorites by Coaches & Media". July 25, 2021. Retrieved July 25, 2021.
2. "O'Connell named MVP as five Griz land on preseason All-Big Sky team". University of Montana. July 25, 2022. Retrieved June 27, 2022.
3. "2022 Football Schedule". University of Montana Athletics. Retrieved April 6, 2022.