Bearing the Griz: Preseason pressure

The Montana Grizzlies are exactly where they want to be.

Or don’t you think so?

Let me be probably the first media person ever (because lets be honest, all media
people think they’re right, every time) to admit to you that pre-season polls aren’t exactly the most accurate things in the world.

Not that the media people covering the Big Sky necessarily had to work very hard when picking a winner of the conference. How many times in the past 15 years have you thought “you know what? I don’t think the Griz have it this year” when thinking about the upcoming season?

Even in what was considered a down season, a 7-4 record that caused them to miss the playoffs, the Montana Grizzlies were still in the thick of things last year. However, Eastern Washington and Montana State stole the thunder.

And that’s just fine. The latest Sports Network preseason poll has EWU ranked
No. 1 in the country. While Eagle fans like myself are tap dancing on our lifesize mannequins of Taiwan Jones, we know what this means: every team in the nation will be gunning for the Eagles.

They’re not going to get an easy game the entire year. And they open up with the
University of Washington, who should have no problem getting pumped to play the defending FCS national champion and No. 1 team ranked in the country. I am now shuddering at the FBS shellacking the Huskies might put on the Eags.

Ask the teams in the FBS that were ranked No. 1 last season how things turned out and they probably would have been more inclined to stay under the radar until the national championship game… which is impossible without a playoff system. The FCS does have a playoff system, but EWU getting the No. 1 spot in the preseason is like painting a big red bull’s eye on their back.

(Good thing it will blend well with the red turf).

Meanwhile, the Montana State Bobcats were ranked at a lofty No. 6. While not quite up to the Eagles level, they now have some pressure heaped on them since they were ranked above the Grizzlies, who come in at No. 12.

Other than the 1984 national championship team, when has the words “clutch” and “always come up in a big spot” come to describe the Bobcats? Lets face it, all the pressure in the state will be on Montana State when they play Montana this year.

The Grizzlies are respected but they won’t be under the pressure that Eastern Washington and Montana State are under. That’s the same unfair preseason pressure that tends to break down good squads.

Eastern Washington couldn’t get on the front page of their local daily newspaper
while the FBS Washington State Cougars controlled the market and got more attention despite being more hapless than a dog without a sense of smell.

Now? The buzz is building around the program.

How will they handle that?

Montana’s been there before, and while they may be in the weird spot as preseason underdogs, something tells me that the Big Sky championship goes through Missoula this year.