2012 Montana Grizzlies football team

The 2012 Montana Grizzlies football team represented the University of Montana in the 2012 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The Grizzlies were led by first-year head coach Mick Delaney and played their home games on campus at Washington–Grizzly Stadium. Montana is a charter member of the Big Sky Conference.

2012 Montana Grizzlies football
Conference	Big Sky Conference
2012 record	5–6 (3–5 Big Sky)
Head coach	Mick Delaney (1st season)
Offensive coordinator	Timm Rosenbach (1st season)
Defensive coordinator	Ty Gregorak (1st season)
Home stadium	Washington–Grizzly Stadium (Capacity: 25,217)

2012 Big Sky Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 4 Eastern Washington +^		7	–	1					11	–	3
No. 2 Montana State +^		7	–	1					11	–	2
No. 12 Cal Poly +^		7	–	1					9	–	3
No. 20 Northern Arizona		6	–	2					8	–	3
Sacramento State		4	–	4					6	–	5
Northern Colorado		4	–	4					5	–	6
Southern Utah		4	–	4					5	–	6
North Dakota		3	–	5					5	–	6
Montana		3	–	5					5	–	6
UC Davis		3	–	5					4	–	7
Portland State		2	–	6					3	–	8
Weber State		2	–	6					2	–	9
Idaho State		0	–	8					1	–	10
$ – Conference champion ^ – FCS playoff participant Rankings from The Sports Network poll

Previous head coach Robin Pflugrad was fired in March by university president Royce Engstrom before starting his third season.[1][2]

The Grizzlies finished the season 5–6, 3–5 in Big Sky play to finish in a three way tie for eighth place.

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 1	1:30 PM	South Dakota*	No. 11	Washington–Grizzly Stadium Missoula, MT	Max Media/Big Sky TV/KDLT	W 35–24	25,126
September 8	4:30 PM	at No. 11 Appalachian State*	No. 12	Kidd Brewer Stadium Boone, NC	ESPN3	L 27–35	30,856
September 15	1:30 PM	Liberty*	No. 14	Washington–Grizzly Stadium Missoula, MT	Altitude/MASN	W 34–14	24,991
September 22	1:30 PM	Northern Arizona	No. 14	Washington–Grizzly Stadium Missoula, MT	RTNW/Audience Network[3]	L 31–41	25,254
September 29	5:00 PM	at No. 7 Eastern Washington	No. 21	Roos Field Cheney, WA (Governors Cup)	RTNW/Audience Network	L 26–32	10,529
October 6	1:30 PM	at Northern Colorado		Nottingham Field Greeley, CO	RTNW/Audience Network	W 40–17	4,751
October 13	1:30 PM	Southern Utah		Washington–Grizzly Stadium Missoula, MT	Max Media/Big Sky TV	L 20–30	25,684
October 20	1:30 PM	at North Dakota		Alerus Center Grand Forks, ND	RTNW/Audience Network	L 34–40	9,000
October 27	1:30 PM	Idaho State		Washington–Grizzly Stadium Missoula, MT	RTNW/Audience Network	W 70–24	24,152
November 3	1:30 PM	at Weber State		Stewart Stadium Ogden, UT	RTNW/Audience Network	W 24–21	7,251
November 17	1:30 PM	No. 2 Montana State		Washington–Grizzly Stadium Missoula, MT (Brawl of the Wild)	RTNW/Audience Network	L 7–16	26,210
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from The Sports Network FCS Poll released prior to game Poll released prior to the game All times are in Mountain time

• Source: Official Schedule

Game summaries

South Dakota

	1	2	3	4	Total
Coyotes	0	10	14	0	24
#11 Grizzlies	3	13	19	0	35

See also: 2012 South Dakota Coyotes football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
9–6	1999	MONT, 45–13

Appalachian State

	1	2	3	4	Total
#12 Grizzlies	7	14	0	6	27
#11 Mountaineers	21	0	0	14	35

See also: 2012 Appalachian State Mountaineers football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
2–0	2009	MONT, 24–17

First ever regular season meeting. Previous two meetings came in the playoff semifinals in 2000 and 2009.

Liberty

	1	2	3	4	Total
Flames	0	0	7	7	14
#14 Grizzlies	7	17	0	10	34

See also: 2012 Liberty Flames football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
First meeting

Northern Arizona

	1	2	3	4	Total
Lumberjacks	7	7	13	14	41
#14 Grizzlies	17	7	0	7	31

See also: 2012 Northern Arizona Lumberjacks football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
34–11	2011	MONT, 28–24

Eastern Washington

	1	2	3	4	Total
#21 Grizzlies	7	3	13	3	26
#7 Eagles	7	10	0	15	32

See also: 2012 Eastern Washington Eagles football team and EWU–UM Governors Cup

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
26–11–1	2011	MONT, 17–14

Northern Colorado

	1	2	3	4	Total
Grizzlies	0	10	14	16	40
Bears	0	0	10	7	17

See also: 2012 Northern Colorado Bears football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
11–1	2011	MONT, 55–28

Southern Utah

	1	2	3	4	Total
Thunderbirds	6	7	7	10	30
Grizzlies	7	10	0	3	20

See also: 2012 Southern Utah Thunderbirds football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
4–1	2008	MONT, 46–10

North Dakota

	1	2	3	4	Total
Grizzlies	7	10	17	0	34
North Dakota	17	14	0	9	40

See also: 2012 University of North Dakota football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
11–7–1	2010	MONT, 27–10

Idaho State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bengals	3	7	7	7	24
Grizzlies	21	21	21	7	70

See also: 2012 Idaho State Bengals football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
41–13	2011	MONT, 33–0

Weber State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Grizzlies	3	7	3	11	24
Wildcats	0	7	7	7	21

See also: 2012 Weber State Wildcats football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
38–13	2011	MONT, 45–10

Montana State

	1	2	3	4	Total
#2 Bobcats	3	7	3	3	16
Grizzlies	7	0	0	0	7

See also: 2012 Montana State Bobcats football team and Brawl of the Wild

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
70–36–5	2011	MONT, 36–10

Rankings

Ranking Movement
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking. ██ Not ranked the previous week.

Poll	Pre	Wk 1	Wk 2	Wk 3	Wk 4	Wk 5	Wk 6	Wk 7	Wk 8	Wk 9	Wk 10	Wk 11	Wk 12	Final
The Sports Network	11	12	14	14	21	RV	RV
FCS Coaches	10	9	12	11	20	RV	RV

References

1. "Montana fires football coach, AD". ESPN. Associated Press. March 29, 2012. Retrieved November 17, 2012.
2. "New football coach addresses advisory board". Montanagrizzlies.com. Archived from the original on June 30, 2012. Retrieved April 15, 2012.
3. "DIRECTV Sports Networks and Big Sky Conference Announce Inaugural 2012 Football Schedule on ROOT SPORTS". Rootsports.com. Retrieved April 10, 2012.