Taking It Back to 1992: No Playoffs in Montana

Going into the 116th Bobcat-Grizzly game, there were very few that thought even with a win over the Bobcats that the Grizzlies deserved to get into the playoffs. The Bobcats ended all speculation by coming out and running all over the Grizzlies en route to a 24-17 win at Washington-Grizzly Stadium. The playoff field was announced on Sunday morning and the Bobcats and Grizzlies were obviously left out.

2016 marks the first year since 1992 that the Big Sky State hasn’t been represented in the FCS (or I-AA) playoffs. Montana or Montana State had represented Treasure State football in the playoffs for 24 straight years. That got us to thinking what was going on back in November 1992 the last time this happened?

The Big Sky Conference

In 1992 the Big Sky Conference had 8 teams: Montana, Montana State, Idaho, Idaho State, Weber State, Boise State, Northern Arizona, and Eastern Washington. The University of Nevada jumped to the FCS (I-A) in 1992 and left the Big Sky.

Idaho won the Big Sky Championship in 1992 with a 6-1 conference record and ended the regular season #5 in the I-AA Top 25 poll.

The Vandals and the Eastern Washington Eagles were the two Big Sky teams to make the 16 team playoff with both teams losing in the first round.

Marshall defeated Jim Tressel’s Youngstown State 31-28 in the I-AA Championship.

Montana State Bobcats

In Montana State coach Cliff Hysell’s first year as Head Coach, the Cats coincidentally ended the 1992 season with a 4-7 overall record and went 2-5 in the Big Sky Conference. Current Head Coach Jeff Choate was 22 years old at the time.

Montana State had one First Team All Big Sky player in senior kick returner Rob Tesch.

Chad Mayer started the Bobcat-Grizzly game as a true freshman quarterback but, unlike recent freshman quarterbacks, could not lead the Bobcats to a victory in Washington-Grizzly Stadium.

Montana Grizzlies

In Coach Don Read’s 7th year as Grizzly Head Coach, Montana went 6-5 overall with a 4-3 conference record. Current Head Coach Bob Stitt was 28 years old at the time.

The Griz had no First Team All Conference players on either side of the ball.

Quarterback Brad Lebo had 410 passing yards as the Griz won their 7th straight Bobcat-Grizzly game 29-17 in Missoula. This was also the 7th of 16 straight wins over Montana State during “The Streak” which ran until 2002.

Dave Dickenson would start for Montana in the 1993 season and begin a streak of the Griz making the playoffs every year from 1993 through 2009.

Election Year

November 1992 was also the presidential election month with Bill Clinton (and Al Gore) beating the incumbent George HW Bush (and Dan Quayle) to become the 52nd president of the United States. Montana votes Democratic and Clinton gets Montana’s 3 electoral votes with 154,507 votes. 144,207 Montanans voted for Bush.

Republicans Marc Raciot and Dennis Rehberg beat Democrats Dorothy Bradley and Mike Halligan by less than 11,000 votes to become Montana’s governer and lieutenant governer for the first time.

Around the Country in November 1992

The #1 song in the country at the time was “How Do You Talk to An Angel” by The Heights.

On November 17, 1992, Major League Baseball held its expansion draft for the Colorado Rockies and Florida Marlins. The Rockies took Atlanta Braves pitcher David Nied with the first pick while the Marlins took Toronto Blue Jays player Nigel Wilson.

Boxer Riddick Bowe appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated’s November 23rd magazine.

The average price of gas was $1.13.

The Dow Jones was hovering around 3,223 points. (As of Cat-Griz weekend 2016, the Dow closed at 18,867).

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