NCAA Semifinals Foe
12/12/2011 10:23:00 PM | Football
The Grizzlies, who ranked No. 5 in the final regular season Sports Network Football Championship poll, battle Sam Houston State at 7 p.m. Friday in the NCAA Division I football semifinals.
Montana features an balanced offense that is averaging 219.15 yards rushing and 204.31 per game passing to rank No. 21 in the national in total offense (423.46).
The Grizzlies led the Big Sky Conference in scoring offense with 34.31 points per game and were tops in the league in total defense (314.15) and scoring defense (19.08).
Quarterback Jordan Johnson leads the offense. Tailback Peter Nguyen is the Grizzlies' top rusher and Jabin Sambrano their top receiving threat.
Montana's only losses came in September, both on the road when the Grizzlies lost to Tennessee 42-16 in their opener and 42-28 to Sacramento State in Montana's fourth game.
Since then, the Griz have out-scored their foes 348-127 in their last nine games. In their final regular season game, they knocked Montana State out of the No. 1 spot in the rankings with a 36-10 victory over the Bobcats in Bozeman.
Montana defeated Central Arkansas 41-14 and Northern Iowa 48-10 in their two NCAA Division I playoff games.
This will just the fourth road semifinal game for the Griz, who lost at Georgia Southern (45-15) in 1989 and at Youngstown State (28-9) in 1994, but won at unbeaten (and top-ranked) James Madison 35-27 in 2008.
The Grizzlies are 7-3 in semifinals, including a 6-1 mark at home.
The winner of Friday's game advances to the NCAA Division I Football Championship on Jan. 7, 2012, at Pizza Hut Park in Frisco, Texas.
General admission tickets priced at $15 each are on sale at the SHSU athletic ticket office located in the Ron Mafrige Field House in the south end of Bowers Stadium. The ticket office is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday.
Tickets also are on sale online at www.gobearkats.com through 12 noon on Friday.
