wbtfg wrote:Here's a great article that Welsch wrote after the Cat/Griz game this last year...Hopefully Bobby learned a few lessons on class from Ochs.
http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/ar ... column.txt
Hauck not as endearing after loss
By Jeff Welsch, Chronicle Sports Editor
Opinion
MISSOULA - In the aftermath of the one game neither football coach can afford to lose, the gracious loser, wittingly or not, took a moment to subtly impart some wisdom on the relieved winner.
Just before leaving his postgame session with reporters from most of the state's daily newspapers, Bobcat coach Mike Kramer paused.
Outside the media room in Adams Fieldhouse, Montana's players and coaches waited for their turn.
That's the way it usually works at these things.
Shuffle the losers in for a few somber and brief comments before welcoming the smiling and talkative winners.
Kramer, who spent half of his press conference lamenting his team's late-season swoon and the other half praising the Grizzlies' surge, suddenly flashed on Montana quarterback Craig Ochs.
The agonizingly accurate passes? The maddeningly elusive scrambles? The grudgingly respected leadership?
No, though he'll be seeing plenty of that in his fits of insomnia over the next 12 months.
Instead, Kramer remembered Ochs, in the grim wake of his team's shattering defeat in the snow last season, making a point of congratulating the coach and wishing his family well.
"Classy," Kramer called it.
Saturday, uncertain whether he'd get the chance to do so personally, Kramer asked reporters to print the same wishes to Ochs.
And he was asking loud enough for anyone waiting in the hallway - say, UM coach Bobby Hauck - to hear.
Mere coincidence?
Or a subtle, timely, clever message about gracious losing?
Judge for yourself, but be aware that underneath all the multi-syllabic bluster is a man who has a reason for everything he says.
It escaped no one's notice last year that Hauck was anything but gracious after his Brawl of the Wild head-coaching debut.
In defeat, the onetime legend of Big Timber could barely speak at his press conference. When he did, it was about how the Grizzlies doomed themselves with their repeated "gifts" to the Bobcats.
Hauck would sooner swim the Clark Fork in winter than utter the words "Bobcats" or "Montana" and "State" together.
He's only slightly more likely to give Bobcat players credit, though he did praise receiver Ricky Gatewood after Saturday's 38-22 victory and lauded quarterback Travis Lulay occasionally during the week.
"This game is personal to me," Hauck acknowledged, noting that he's a third-generation Grizzly who listened to games with brother Tim while shooting baskets in the family's backyard in Big Timber.
"It takes a lot of discipline on my part not to be amped up."
Indeed, after last year's debacle, Hauck made the fortuitous decision to treat this year's Brawl as just another game for his players, knowing emotions would take care of themselves.
Too "amped" to go cold turkey himself last week, Hauck said he would "close the door and yell and scream" before emerging with a calm exterior for his players.
In fairness, the pressure to win this game is more intense at this juncture for Hauck than it is for Kramer.
He has a 25,000-seat stadium to fill, indulged boosters to placate, a juggernaut to keep at high octane.
The Bobcats have emerged as a credible player from the ashes of 0-11, but they remain the upstarts with the smaller stadium, fickle fan base and limited resources.
One look at the sea of maroon in the prettiest college football setting this side of Cal's Strawberry Canyon provides stark evidence of the daunting challenges the Bobcats face in this rivalry.
Thus, the last two years have disoriented the Grizzlies, even though they've won or shared the Big Sky Conference title for a record 12 seasons.
Saturday, as a maroon and white sign in the west grandstand pointed out, life was "Back to Normal."
"We felt like we righted the ship a little bit," Griz receiver Justin Heidelberger said.
Yes, but in his own way, so did Kramer, whose postgame graciousness in defeat elicited images of former Montana coach Joe Glenn, who refused to gloat over his team's Brawl domination.
Message heard?
Hauck did sheepishly refer to last year's press conference. He then closed by saying, "This beats the hell out of last year at this time."
Then again, it's easy to say in victory in the one game neither coach can afford to lose.
Hmmm. But Welsch is an awful journalist, according to you State fans, if I get the drift of this thread. So maybe we could look at the reporting of a neutral reporter who is not looking to stoke the fires of the hatred State fans have for Coach Hauck.
Still plenty to play forPosted: Saturday, Nov 20, 2004 - 08:49:54 am PST
By ANDREW HINKELMAN
The Daily Inter Lake
Big Sky title, home playoff contest, bragging rights all up for grabs in annual gridiron contest
Today's 'Cat-Griz game has the Big Sky championship and a home playoff game on the line for Montana. It has state bragging rights and school pride on the line for Montana State.
It's a familiar scenario for this rivalry game over the last 18 years, and for 16 of them it resulted in a Griz victory. What is unfamiliar in this particular situation this year is the quality of the Bobcats.
This is an MSU team that was in first place in the conference just two weeks ago. But an uncharacteristic defensive breakdown in the two games leading up to the 'Cat-Griz game -- resulting in an unforgivable loss to Sacramento State and a bitter overtime defeat to Eastern Washington in a game the Bobcats led by three touchdowns in the second half -- has left Montana State as an also-ran in terms of a league title and playoffs.
Should the Bobcats be able to reclaim any of the defensive acumen they showed through the first eight games of the season, then today's 104th Brawl of the Wild could be one for the ages.
Consider that both teams average more than 30 points and 400 yards of offense (MSU is over 500) per game in league play. Both teams have All-American-worthy quarterbacks in Craig Ochs (Montana) and Travis Lulay (Montana State).
And while the Griz won 16 in a row from 1986 to 2001, the Bobcats have won the last two, each time preventing Montana from winning the Big Sky and taking the title for themselves.
All the ingredients are present for the makings of a classic.
"It's definitely still easy to get up, even if it isn't for the Big Sky championship," MSU linebacker and former Flathead star Mac Mollohan said. "One of our goals is to beat the Griz. We'll all be up for it."
For Montana State to have any shot, though, the defense is going to have to rebound after getting shredded two weeks in a row.
"Unfortunately for us, the wheels have come off defensively," Bobcats coach Mike Kramer said. "We've underplayed our own ability. As we look to Saturday, can our down four guys create enough harassment of Craig Ochs to force some turnovers?"
Said Mollohan: "For the front seven, we need to stop the run and we need to get to the quarterback so Ochs doesn't have time to throw it. We need to get after Ochs a lot and help our DBs out."
UM coach Bobby Hauck was confident the Bobcats would get their defense together for today's game.
"They've got a good defense and they'll play well against us," he said. "They've got a good team and we need to play well.
"Our goal on defense remains to improve every week. We need to put our best team out on the field on Saturday."
Kickoff from Washington Grizzly Stadium is scheduled for noon. The game can be seen locally on KAJ-TV, cable channel 8, over the air channel 18. Tom Katz will handle play-by-play with Flathead coach Grady Bennett and Mike Callaghan providing color.
NOTES: Montana leads the series 64-35-5, including 26-14-1 in Missoula. ... The Bobcats have turned in 10 100-yard receiving performances over the last five games, eight more than they had all of 2003. ... The Grizzlies are enjoying their 19th consecutive winning season and will likely make the playoffs for the 12th straight year. ... Lulay will start his 32nd consecutive game at quarterback. The junior is 18-13 during that stretch.
