The 2025 FCS championship has been decided, but the Montana Grizzlies won’t be playing. After getting off to an 11-0 start and eliminating their first two playoff opponents, Bobby Hauck and his Grizzlies appeared to be on the fast track to Nashville and a chance at the program’s first national championship since 2001. However, all those hopes were dashed in Saturday afternoon’s semifinals as one team threatened to make a playoff loss hurt even more. While Michigan is now in offseason mode, they will have to wait as their archrival Montana State now has that opportunity.
Losing to an opponent in the semifinals is one thing, but losing like Montana State is going to sting for a while, especially after how dominant they’ve looked the past two weeks. The Bobcats came away with a 25-point victory in a game where the Grizzlies were missing in many areas. At least when it matters most. With a defense that collapsed on third and long, trailing by just three points and leading to an 87-yard touchdown, an inability to stop the run, and an overall lack of explosiveness on offense that featured All-American talent at several positions, Montana simply failed to deliver in what was arguably the most important game and moment in school history.
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Understandably, there was deep resentment among fans and donors, as is always the case after a loss of this magnitude. The Grizzlies are a proud team with a great history and their expectations are to win a championship in Missoula. Always. However, it now feels like the Grizzlies may be further away from that ultimate goal than previously thought. A record of 13 wins and 2 losses is already good. It’s already good to reach the semi-finals. However, Montana is great by its standards, but great things aren’t happening this year.
So what now?
Less than 24 hours after the game, there were calls for Hauke’s head to be chopped off, but firing a coach with his pedigree may not be the answer. While coaching changes may be on the horizon at the coordinator and staff level at Michigan, Hauck likely won’t be going anywhere, which is likely to end up being a good thing for the program. Stability at the head coaching position, especially in this day and age of college football, is rare, and even more so in the FCS.
However, Hauck has yet to win a national championship, and now that the Grizzlies are falling short, that fact is being forgotten. However, the same can be said for most coaches. If Montana were to fire Hauke, then bigger questions would arise about who to hire, where to look and what the unknown merchandise might be. This brings a completely different challenge to the offseason. This is going to be a very busy offseason for a team trying to retain a lot of talent.
First, the Grizzlies will say goodbye to one of their best players, senior receiver Michael Wortham. Wortham is a huge difference-maker for the 2025 team since transferring from Eastern Washington last year, bringing explosive big-play ability that the offense and special teams haven’t seen in a long time. Wortham set the program’s single-season all-purpose yardage record this year and threw for 18 touchdowns. Losing him would be a big blow, but it wouldn’t be a huge blow to the offense either.
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However, it is the transfer portal that will really have an impact on the future. It’s a constant battle that teams, especially at the lower levels of college football, have to contend with this time of year. When it opens next month, UM will look to retain some of its other big-name players, such as quarterback Keali’i Ah Yat and running back Eli Gillman. Gilman has proven his loyalty over the past few years by abandoning the portal, and Hajime, the son of the former Grizzlies great, likely won’t be leaving either. However, this is still an issue that the team needs to solve.
The sky is not necessarily falling as some people think, and that will become clear over time. What is clear, though, is that something needs to change, but not necessarily the wholesale changes that many are demanding. For example, continuing to strengthen and improve the offensive and defensive lines is something that should be on the agenda. This is the tried and true formula in FCS. To win a championship, a team needs elite trench play, and North Dakota State has provided that example time and time again.
Montana is solid in this area, but not great. Against Montana State, they were torn for much of the game, and that’s the difference between a really good team and an elite one. Continuing to develop their current forwards will likely be the focus, but there may also be a pursuit of some of the big men in the portal. Hauck doesn’t shy away from leveraging portals to meet team needs. There’s a good chance the Grizzlies will be active in that area as well.
Montana will likely still be a strong team in 2026. The Grizzlies have been in contention for the Big Sky title and will only have to take an unforeseen drastic slump to make the playoffs again. But what’s most obvious now is that the program has to find a way to cross a wall.
