College Football: Grizzlies open with NDSU Bison

MISSOULA – Bob Stitt brings his past-paced offensive style to the storied tradition of Montana football here Saturday and football fans across the Treasure State and beyond have the same question:

Will it fly?

Stitt, regarded as an offensive innovator whose misdirection “fly sweep” is a famous play at all levels of football, makes his Montana head coaching debut as the Grizzlies tackle four-time defending national champion North Dakota State in a Football Championship Subdivision battle of powers.

Stitt’s history at NCAA Division II Colorado Mines, where his record was 108-62 in 15 seasons, is no secret.

“They had an unbelievably explosive offense. Great plan and great execution,” North Dakota State head coach Chris Klieman said. “I know how fast they want to go, and that’s kind of where college football is heading.”

All FCS teams want to go where NDSU has been. The Bison, 15-1 a year ago in Klieman’s first season, have won a staggering 58 of 61 games since 2011 and are top-ranked in preseason polls this year.

“We’ve got our hands full, but it’s exciting and I think the kids are ready,” Stitt said. “We’re prepared and we know how to attack them. We’ve got to go see how good we are and if we can compete with a team like that right now.”

Despite smoky conditions that have provided unhealthy air quality, a capacity crowd of more than 25,000 will be at Washington-Griz where Montana, 9-5 a year ago under now-retired coach Mick Delaney, is 142-20.

It’s the only major-college game of the day and ESPN TV will provide coverage to much of the nation with longtime play-by-play man Brent Musburger, a native Montanan, calling the action.

“I wish it was clear because Missoula’s so beautiful. You’d like to showcase the city a little bit,” Stitt said.

That will be left up solely to the Grizzlies, a program that owns a pair of national championships and has won 19 Big Sky Conference titles while making 22 national playoff appearances since 1982.

‘I think there’s a tremendous amount of respect for what Montana has done in the Big Sky and nationally,” said Klieman, whose team defeated the Griz 22-10 last fall in Fargo. “Montana has great tradition and a great football storied history. Our guys know that. They know they’re going into a great environment against a great program. We’ll just tee it up and see what happens.”

The Bison offense is led by senior quarterback Carson Wentz, a 6-foot-6, 235-pounder from Bismarck who last year passed for 3,111 yards and 25 touchdowns. He also ran for 642 yards and six scores.

“They’re as good as it gets on offense,” Stitt said. “They’ve got four of their five O-linemen back, an All-American quarterback, a couple of real nice receivers and a bruising fullback.”

Halftime King Frazier ran for 616 yards in 2014 while backing up All-American John Crockett, who had 1,994 yards rushing and 21 scores. Crockett is now with the Green Bay Packers.

The Grizzlies have a lot of weapons themselves, especially with a receiving corps that includes Ellis Henderson, Jamal Jones, Chase Naccarato and Ben Roberts, the 6-4 transfer from the Washington State baseball program who had a fabulous football career at Missoula Sentinel.

“I think they’ll have a tough time covering those guys if they want to play man coverage,” Stitt said. “It was nice to add Ben to the mix, because we needed another outside receiver. He came in and acted like he’s been playing football all his college career. He’s been really impressive.”

Junior quarterback Brady Gustafson, a 6-7 former Billings West star, makes his first career start for Montana.

“Brady knows what we’re wanting him to do and he’s really understanding this week where we want to go with the ball and what we want to do with it,” Stitt said. “He just has to run the show and not try to do too much.”

The Bison defense is rebuilding but Klieman, the former Bison defensive coordinator who replaced Wyoming-bound Craig Bohl as head coach last season, said that’s OK.

“It’s fun for me to watch the defense, a bunch of young guys that I think have a lot talent, come together,” he said. “Every year presents new challenges.”

Senior defensive tackle Brian Schaetz and junior defensive end Brad Ambrosius are three-year starters on the defensive line. Klieman said he’s expecting great things from junior middle linebacker Nick DeLuca, a 6-3, 244-pounder.

“He stopped in when Travis Beck (a four-year starter) got hurt last year and Nick was one of our best players throughout the playoff run,” he said.

The Bison also have highly regarded veteran cornerbacks in seniors CJ Smith and Jordan Champion.

“They’ve played an awful lot of snaps for us,” Klieman said. “And if you’re going to be experienced somewhere, I’d like to be experienced at corner and defensive line.”

The Grizzly defense features a strong front seven. Tyrone Holmes and Caleb Kidder are considered honors candidates up front and linebacker Kendrick Van Ackeren anchors a senior-dominated group of linebackers.

The Washington-Grizzly crowd is certain to be into it.

“The challenge for Carson this week,” Klieman said, “is being able to handle the adversity of the noise and getting our guys on the right page. I know it’s going to be incredibly loud.”

There’s been plenty of hype for this one, with tickets sold out for months. Rare in the rich history of Grizzly football has a nonconference game received so much attention.

“By no means is this going to define the season for either program,” Klieman said. “I think it’s a great test to see what you need to work on and what your strengths and weaknesses are. I’m sure Montana has the same goal we do, which is win your conference. If you win your conference a lot of things will be set up for you later in the season.

“I just know we’re going into a great environment and play a great college football team that I’ve got a lot of respect for and we’ll see where we’re at as a program, we’ll reevaluate it and go at it again in a couple of weeks.”