Lumberjack Fans - This weekend is our playoff game!

[lumberjerk]

All we can do is hope to ruin playoff hopes for other teams. Will Jerome finally break the curse and finally beat Montana?

[cats2506]

All we can do is hope to ruin playoff hopes for other teams. Will Jerome finally break the curse and finally beat Montana?

Pflugrad is pretty good at removing streaks, so yeah, I think you have a good shot this weekend.

[lumberjerk]

Ya but Jerome is an expert at keeping those streaks going. Lets at least hope we can get a decent crowd, with only 9000 seats we should be selling this game out, especially with griz nation traveling.

[CatBlitz22]

Good luck getting thread page to 2 pages...

[dbackjon]

Hope so - we have been close last two years.

[mtjack]

Things look grim for NAU but what the hell...they have a shot this weekend. The knowledge of "no playoffs already" sucks but embrace the role of spoiler from this point on. Four of the last five Griz-Jacks games have been close contests. A few of them down to the last minute/play.

I predict a decent crowd due to homecoming and I have recruited 9 non-alumni to attend. Doing my best to help the cause.

Go Jacks!

[weberwildcat]

ill watch your game on the thumb nail screen during my game on big sky tv!

[AZGrizFan]

Hope so - we have been close last two years.

Griz are better than last year and NAU is significantly worse. I predict a 17 point Griz win.

Are you going or not?

[Wildcat Ryan]

Things look grim for NAU but what the hell...they have a shot this weekend. The knowledge of "no playoffs already" sucks but embrace the role of spoiler from this point on. Four of the last five Griz-Jacks games have been close contests. A few of them down to the last minute/play.

I predict a decent crowd due to homecoming and I have recruited 9 non-alumni to attend. Doing my best to help the cause.

Go Jacks!

Actually, NAU isnt out of the playoffs, NAU can still win out and finish 7-4, but to do that the Jacks would have to win at home vs UNC the Griz and SUU and beat both Sacramento State and Weber State on the road.

Thats tough, but not impossible






Edit, nevermind, I forgot NAU played Ft. Lewis, so they can therfore not get 7 DI wins

[hank scorpio]

Montana vs. NAU: Anatomy of domination


Last October, Jerome Souers was five small seconds away from exorcising some serious demons.

But, as has been the case throughout Souers' tenure as head coach at Northern Arizona, the Montana Grizzlies kept the Lumberjacks on the wrong end of domination.

The Griz have owned Souers ever since he was hired at NAU all the way back in 1998. Souers has had his share of successes with the Lumberjacks, to be sure. But for whatever reason, Montana has served as Souers' personal svengali.

Including last year's contest in Missoula -- where Griz wideout C.J. Atkins pinned a 1-yard touchdown catch from Justin Roper against his helmet for a 24-21 victory -- Souers is 0-13 all-time against Montana.

And it's a bit of a cruel twist of fate. Souers, you remember, was Montana's defensive coordinator for 10 years, helping the Griz win their first national championship in 1995. But for whatever reason, he hasn't been able to get over the hump against his former team.

Last year's game was especially tough on Souers -- because he had victory in his grasp. And his postgame quotes told the story. Here was one of them:

"I feel terrible for our kids. It's really been tough, and it's tough on me. But we are resilient and we'll hold our head high. We'll continue to follow the plan."

What will the plan entail for Saturday's meeting between NAU and Montana? We'll see when the time comes.

But As long as Souers and Robin Pflugrad are the coaches of their respective teams, this matchup will provide an interesting subplot. Souers and Pflugrad grew up together in Oregon -- they even successfully ran for student council together in the ninth grade -- and have been longtime friends and colleagues.

The cosmos say this might be the year Souers finally breaks through. Streaks have been falling in Missoula over the course of the last two seasons, first with the Grizzlies missing the playoffs for the first time in since 1993, and then with Montana losing for the first time in 16 games against Sacramento State.

For this streak to end, the Lumberjacks will have to find a way to solve the Grizzlies' gritty defense first. And they'll also need to slow down UM's running game, which has rushed for 660 yards in three straight victories.

A lot is on the line in this one.



Read more: http://billingsgazette.com/sports/colle ... z1bEowpsjX" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[AshevilleApp]

Good luck getting this page to 2 pages...

Bump

[AshevilleApp]

Good luck getting this page to 2 pages...

Bump

[AshevilleApp]

Trying to do my part.

[NAU_Alum10]

Id like to say im optimistic about this game but its hard to grasp onto anything hopeful…after what I saw in Bozeman things are bad.

The o-line has been horrible this season …with the two backs we have (Bauman, Dixon) we should be able to run the ball fairly well, but I think we have the worst red zone offense in the league and we cant seem to get those 3rd and short 4th and short gains at all. Just my opinion but I think we are really weak up front on offense this season.

The secondary cant seem to turn around and find the ball for nothing, so they just look for the pi to bail them out. Theres too many break downs with this group. Counted at least twice against MSU when plays broke down for the cats and our guys rushed up to make the tackle on mcghee and he just flicked it over the top and had a wide open receiver, one for a long TD . Someone constantly blew their assignment on that kind of stuff and its killing us.

[hank scorpio]

Griz want to show claws earlier

You can take the No. 12 Montana Grizzlies' knack for third-quarter surges two ways, and Coach Robin Pflugrad fosters a half-full approach: He knows he has a great second-half team.

"Again, what a great defensive performance," Pflugrad said of Montana's third straight win, a 30-24 verdict over Portland State Saturday. "And then the ability to do some things in special teams and offense the second half.

"We'd obviously like those things to happen sooner, but those are some pretty good opponents we're playing, and I think it's always important to give them credit. Because they're out recruiting great athletes and have great schemes."

The Grizzlies' next opponent, Northern Arizona (4:05 MDT Saturday), fits in that group. The Lumberjacks lost at Montana State 41-24 to fall to 1-3 in Big Sky Conference play, but still have one of the more dangerous passers in the league in Cary Grossart.

Add in sophomore running back Zach Bauman - his 634 rushing yards rank second in the league to the 731 by now-injured Cory McCaffrey of PSU - and you have a team that you shouldn't start slow against.

Of course the Griz have generally done that in 2011 while going 5-2, including 4-1 in the Big Sky. Outscoring opponents 83-30 in the third quarter has salved a lot of sore first halves.

For the record, Pflugrad is concerned. Trailing 21-10 at halftime, like the Griz did against PSU, is neither fun nor the goal.

"That's why we practice every day, to get a better start," he said Tuesday. "It does get a little bit concerning when you practice either a game plan or certain things you see, and get stopped.

"Or you have to punt out of the end zone. Those are frustrating things. I don't want to punt out of that area. We've got to get the ball out of there; that's something we've got to get better at."

The positive thing is that Pflugrad's Griz have continued a trend that stayed in place during Bobby Hauck's seven-year stay as head coach: great third quarters. You have to go back to Joe Glenn's final season, in 2002, to see an opponent outscore UM in that period over a season (and it was just 90-88).

Yet it begs the question, why spend 70-100 hours a week on preparation only to make the biggest adjustments at halftime on Saturday?

"That's the great eternal question," Pflugrad said. "I think the first coaching staff didn't spend over 100 hours a week at work. Some guy along the way did, and now that's the standard.

"There's two ways to think of it - it's a very simple game made complicated by coaches and egos, but also there's being prepared for everything."

Pflugrad ticked through a little bit of everything: Red zone offense, scramble field goals, defending a hurry-up offense, the two-minute drill and a four-minute Kill-the-Cat offense. And every team has variations.

"If they were standard, I'd learn how to fly-fish," Pflugrad said. "They're not standard, and NAU's different than Portland State, so you've got to go back to ground zero and start all over. And if you're not prepared as they are, they'll take advantage."

Pflugrad will face junior-high classmate and NAU coach Jerome Souers for the second time Saturday in Flagstaff, Ariz.

The Griz edged NAU 24-21 in Missoula a year ago in the first battle between the Portlanders on C.J. Atkins' TD catch with five seconds left.

"They have, I believe, four former Grizzlies on that staff and the head coach there was here and is a pretty good friend of mine, having grown up together since sixth grade," said Pflugrad, who was on UM's staff with Souers from 1986-94.

"I know he'll have his guys ready. He'll have his staff working day in and day out on this one. It's also homecoming down there, and they'll have a great crowd."

Two years ago UM prevailed 41-34 in overtime, in Flagstaff. The Griz surrendered 440 passing yards to Michael Herrick; now Grossart is QB, and is ranked seventh in the Football Championship Subdivision in efficiency.

"I remember down there it went to overtime - Shann (Schillinger) got the interception, Trumaine (Johnson) tipped it," said Griz defensive end Ryan Fetherston. "And last year, C.J.'s catch. During those games you never saw any of us quit. That's what we want this weekend, too."

Pflugrad rued the loss of Atkins to a knee injury in UM's second game, against Cal Poly. The Griz lost as many as three more skill players for Saturday: Receiver Jabin Sambrano (ankle), receiver/QB Gerald Kemp (shoulder) and running back Dan Moore (knee).

"Dan Moore will definitely not be with us on this trip, and that's tough," said Pflugrad of the Arizona native. "A big time loss for us, as far as short-yardage situations and down in that red zone area.

"I don't know how Gerald and Jabin are responding, but I'm hopeful both will be there and ready to go."

Pflugrad said Beau Donaldson, who ran for two touchdowns in 2009 and sat out 2010 with a leg injury before moving to linebacker this year, will get reps at Moore's spot.

"He hasn't been with us a lot but I have confidence in him," Pflugrad said.

QUICK KICKS: The Griz are No. 15 in the Sagarin ratings among FCS teams. Montana State is No. 6. Weber State is No. 23, Eastern is No. 25 and NAU is No. 59. ... NAU's Bauman ran for 127 yards against UM a year ago as a true freshman. ... Griz RB Jordan Canada is now seventh in the Big Sky in rushing with 365 yards. ... NAU receiver Austin Shanks, a preseason all-Big Sky pick, has been shelved by a hamstring injury. ... Montana is the least-penalized team in the Big Sky at 50.4 yards a game. ... UM is tied for second in the BSC in turnover margin with MSU, at plus-2. ... NAU coaches with UM ties besides Souers are LB coach Andy Thompson, who played for the Griz in 1999-2003; and safeties coach David Reeves, who played for the Griz from 1984-87. ... DE Josh Harris and RB Jordan Canada were UM's offense and defense nominees for Big Sky player of the week.



Read more: http://missoulian.com/college/griz/arti ... z1bF5WPWR2" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[GrizFanStuckInUtah]

Id like to say im optimistic about this game but its hard to grasp onto anything hopeful…after what I saw in Bozeman things are bad.

The o-line has been horrible this season …with the two backs we have (Bauman, Dixon) we should be able to run the ball fairly well, but I think we have the worst red zone offense in the league and we cant seem to get those 3rd and short 4th and short gains at all. Just my opinion but I think we are really weak up front on offense this season.

The secondary cant seem to turn around and find the ball for nothing, so they just look for the pi to bail them out. Theres too many break downs with this group. Counted at least twice against MSU when plays broke down for the cats and our guys rushed up to make the tackle on mcghee and he just flicked it over the top and had a wide open receiver, one for a long TD . Someone constantly blew their assignment on that kind of stuff and its killing us.

Sounds like an interesting matchup to me. Our D is solid and should cause you some fits for sure. Our offense is, well, not doing so well. Only on rare occasion have we been able to throw the ball deep and our passing game is pretty weak this year and Sambrano and Kemp are questionable to play.

[eaglesfootball]

NAU has a good enough offense to make this interesting however they need to cut down on all the mistakes and improve their red zone scoring %. Griz are beatable but i will take nau's best effort to win. I think Montana wins this game by around 13 points.

[DSUrocks07]

GO NAU!

LET'S! GO! JACKS!

no offense Griz fans

[SeattleGriz]

Is this thread on page 2 yet?

[DSUrocks07]

Is this thread on page 2 yet?

How about now?

[grizcountry420]

It would be nice to see Montana play at least 3 quaters of good football..

[AZGrizFan]

It would be nice to see Montana play at least 3 quaters of good football..

Dont' hold your hand on your ass waiting....it'll grow there.

[GrizFanStuckInUtah]

Is this thread on page 2 yet?

How about now?

Gotta be getting close.

[lumberjerk]

If the griz stop the run, its all over. Plus its about that time of year where Souers likes to blow a homecoming game in front of our biggest crowd

[dbackjon]

If the griz stop the run, its all over. Plus its about that time of year where Souers likes to blow a homecoming game in front of our biggest crowd

Really our only chance - run it over them