Griz Greats: The 20th Anniversary of the 2001 National Champions
Griz Greats: The 20th Anniversary of the 2001 National Champion Grizzlies, brought to you by Blackfoot Communications and First Security Bank, is a long form interview series hosted Colter Nuanez of ESPN Missoula chronicling the oral history of the University of Montana’s 2001 Division I-AA football championship, the last national championship captured by the Griz.
The Griz football program has established a reputation as one of the most dominant in the history of small-school college football over the last 35 years. When the Griz captured the first national title in school history in 1995, the program reached a new stratosphere.
In 2001, the Montana Grizzlies mauled their way to the 2001 Division I-AA national championship, culminating in a 13-6 victory over No. 3 Furman on December 21 of 2001 to seal UM’s second national title in seven seasons.
Montana has not won another national title, although the Griz won more games between 2000 and 2009 than any college football program had ever won in a decade.
Griz Greats: the 20th anniversary of the 2001 national champions is a 20-part podcast series featuring interviews with coaches, players and observers of that historic Montana team.
Joe Glenn returned to Montana to take over as Montana’s head coach leading into the 2000 season after former head man Mick Dennehy left for the same job at Utah State. Glenn’s three-year run at UM is among the best in the history of the school or the Big Sky Conference.
The Grizzlies ran the table in league play and went 13-2 overall in 2000, losing by a field goal to Georgia Southern in the Division I-AA state championship game. That set the table for the following season’s run to the national title, a 15-1 campaign that serves as one of the best in the history of UM capped by a 13-6 win over Furman to earn Montana’s last national crown.
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