Scores.
Best of the bears: Ochs throws for three TDs as No. 3 Griz hold off Black Bears (Missoulian). Griz cubs play like veterans (Missoulian). Ochs trees Bears: Griz tallies three TDs, shows courage (Great Falls Tribune). UM wins opener: Griz shake off miscues, Maine for 27-20 victory (Billings Gazette).
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Hofstra, 9/11: Seck Leads Hofstra Past Albany in Season Opener 45-0 (HU).
UNC,9/25: Blocked Field Goal Sends Football Bears to 15-13 Victory over North Dakota St (UNC).

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Big Sky Conference Results

Montana 27, Maine 20
Portland St 38, Western State 0
Nicholls St 37, Eastern Wash 14
San Diego St 38, Idaho St 21
Arizona 21, NAU 3
Southern Utah 34, Weber St 31
Idle: Montana St, Sacramento St

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I-AA Top 25 Results

1. LOST Delaware 21, New Hampshire 24
2. won Southern Ill 42, SE Missouri 3
3. won Montana 27, #11 Maine 20
4. idle Wofford
5. idle Colgate
6. won Northern Iowa 0, at Iowa State 23 7. won Furman 52, Presbyterian 7 8. won McNeese St 35, at Southern U 17 9. won Villanova 20, Bucknell 14 10. LOST Georgia So 28, at Georgia 48 11. LOST Maine 20, at Montana 27 12. LOST Western Ill 17, at Nebraska 56 13. LOST W Ky 13, Kansas St 27 14. LOST NAU 3, at Arizona 21 15. idle Montana St 16. won SF Austin 30, Henderson St 14 17. LOST Grambling St 23, Alcorn St 34 18. LOST Northwestern St 7, at UL Lafayette 14 19. won Massachusetts 51, at Delaware St 0 20. LOST Appalachian St 7, at Wyoming 53 21. idle Eastern Ky 22. won Northeastern 71, Cheyney 0 23. won Lehigh 25, Stony Brook 2 24. TBD NC A&T vs. NC Central (Sunday) 25. idle Penn

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Best of the bears: Ochs throws for three TDs as No. 3 Griz hold off No. 11 Black Bears

By JON KASPER of the Missoulian

http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2004 ... griz91.txt


Fans arrived with questions Saturday. The Montana Grizzlies provided answers.

With the exception of a small group of Maine faithful, a crowd of 23,228 left Washington-Grizzly Stadium happy and a bit relieved after the third-ranked Grizzlies scored 24 second-half points and beat No. 11 Maine 27-20 in the season opener for both bears.

Senior QB Craig Ochs capped fourth-quarter drives with touchdown passes to Jon Talmage and Willie Walden as the Grizzlies turned a 13-13 tie into a
27-13 lead with 1:54 remaining.

Maine added a touchdown with 33 seconds left when Ron Whitcomb and tight end Josh Radulski connected on a 7-yard pass. The Black Bears' onside kick was recovered by Tate Hancock, securing the Grizzlies' 15th victory in their last 17 openers.

"I still thought we were going to win that game at the end,'' said Maine coach Jack Cosgrove, whose team was flagged 12 times for 119 yards, converted just 3-of-11 third downs, and threw two interceptions. "I was sure we were going to get that onside kick and we came damn close to it. Then we go score again and we have a chance to win it in overtime. It didn't happen.''

Ochs showed fans he's more than capable of getting the job done, even though the thumb on his throwing hand is protected by a splint. Ochs, who worked out of the shotgun most of the afternoon, completed 22-of-33 passes for 217 yards with no interceptions and three touchdowns. He also scrambled 13 times for 33 yards, running for a couple of crucial first downs.

"I was impressed with him,'' said Montana coach Bobby Hauck, who earned his first career victory last season with a 30-20 win over Maine. "He threw for a high percentage. I thought he had a heck of a day, a pretty good opening day.''

Ochs made one very costly mistake, but the 6-foot-2, 205-pounder was able to recover. With Montana holding a 13-6 lead and backed up at its own 7-yard line, Ochs waited too long to pull the ball away from running back Justin Green on a play-fake. Ochs dropped the ball and Maine's Matthew King recovered at the 1-yard line. A play later, Marcus Williams, who rushed for
105 yards on 20 carries, tied the score with a 1-yard run.


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Griz cubs play like veterans

By RIAL CUMMINGS of the Missoulian

http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2004 ... orts02.txt


The Montana Grizzlies may be too young for their own good. There are pot-holes aplenty on the road to Chattanooga. But on this day, they played better than most anyone had a right to expect.

The third-ranked Grizzlies held off No. 11 Maine 27-20 Saturday at Washington-Grizzly Stadium in a season opener that was part football game, part freshmen mixer. And while the Griz offense, spurred by a rejuvenated passing attack, had its share of good moments, the overcast afternoon's most encouraging development may have been on the defensive side of the ball - where some of the gang are still exchanging "how-do-you-dos."

"They played very experienced out there today," said Maine coach Jack Cosgrove of a Griz defense that, early in the fourth quarter, had five freshmen on the field. "They did their jobs. I don't think they busted a coverage. They played with enthusiasm, they played hard, they hit our guys.
And my hat's off to them."

Maine outgained Montana 359-334 in total yardage. But even with Payton Award candidate Marcus Williams rushing for 105 yards and a quality quarterback, Ron Whitcomb, probing the secondary, Maine managed only two drives of more than 40 yards.

The defensive line, anchored by veteran tackles Jonny Varona, Blake Horgan, John Cahill and Alan Saenz, held firm, and that established a base for everybody else.

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Ochs trees Bears

Griz tallies three TDs, shows courage

By GEORGE GEISE, Great Falls Tribune

http://www.greatfallstribune.com/news/s ... 81596.html


MISSOULA -- Craig Ochs might not be much of a practice player, but Montana's senior quarterback is turning into quite a gamer when it counts.

Ochs, who missed about 10 days of fall camp with a mysterious thumb injury, passed for three touchdowns and 217 yards without an interception Saturday as he guided the third-ranked Grizzlies to a 27-20 victory over No. 11 Maine.

Freshman placekicker Dan Carpenter, trying to replace All-American Chris Snyder, also booted field goals of 32 and 47 yards as UM opened with a victory over Maine for the second straight year.

The oft-injured Ochs, who missed the Maine game and three others last season with a variety of physical woes, also scrambled for some tough yards as he displayed courage and charisma in the pocket.

"There's no comparison to last year," said Ochs, who was anointed the starting UM quarterback in the spring of 2003 after he transferred from the Division I-A program at Colorado, where he was plagued by concussions. "It's like night and day. Now, the offense is ingrained in the quarterbacks and receivers."

The UM offense certainly wasn't spectacular, generating just 4.7 yards per play and 334 yards overall against a solid Maine defense. But it was relatively mistake-free (one turnover, one penalty), and it was productive enough in the second half.

Ochs passed 25 yards to senior Jefferson Heidelberger for the first UM touchdown midway through the third quarter, then fired 12 yards to junior Jon Talmage to put Montana ahead 20-13 early in the fourth period. After junior cornerback Kevin Edwards intercepted Maine quarterback Ron Whitcomb at the Black Bears' 28-yard line, Ochs connected with 275-pound tight end Willie Walden for a 2-yard TD pass to put the Grizzlies up 27-13 with just
1:54 to play.

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UM wins opener: Griz shake off miscues, Maine for 27-20 victory

By FRITZ NEIGHBOR, Billings Gazette

http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.ph ... opener.inc

MISSOULA - The turning point for the Montana Grizzlies' 27-20 football victory over Maine Saturday came, oddly enough, after a fumble allowed the Black Bears to tie the game in the fourth quarter.

Montana quarterback Craig Ochs, sporting a splint on his injured right thumb, messed up an exchange with running back Justin Green. Matthew King recovered the ball at the 2-yard line, setting up Marcus Williams for a touchdown that knotted the score 13-13 with 12:30 remaining.

But then the third-ranked Grizzlies, as they had all day, rebounded. Ochs led a 70-yard drive that culminated in a 12-yard scoring strice to Jon Talmage, then hit Willie Walden with another short scoring pass with 1:54 left as Montana went up by two touchdowns.


The game wasn't over until the Grizzlies' Tate Hancock recovered an onside kick - which was tantalizingly close to being Maine's ball - with 30 seconds left. But Montana was able to offset a handle of mistakes, not all of which can be blamed on youth, to beat a quality opponent ranked 11th in Division I-AA. The Grizzlies won their 15th season opener in 17 years in front of
23,228 fans at Washington-Grizzly Stadium.

"Completely my fault," Ochs said of the fumble, which came one play after fellow senior Levander Segars mishandled a Maine punt - twice - before recovering at the Grizzly 7-yard line. "I left it in there too long. I was supposed to pull it out for a pass play, and ... your stomach just drops when you see that ball lying there, and (you're) not able to fall on it."

But a little over four minutes later, the Grizzlies were in front for good.
Ochs was 6-for-8 passing on the drive, including a 17-yard strike to Segars on third-and-4. Talmage hauled in his scoring pass on the next play with
8:04 left in the game.

Kevin Edwards' second interception, at Maine's 27-yard line, set up Walden's TD.

"Those were big," Ochs said. "Those drives really displayed what our offense has the capability to do. Running it, throwing it, really mixing it up - I think Maine got to the point where they had to go vanilla. They had to get out of their blitz, because we were keeping them off-balance with our play-calling."

A year ago special teams played a huge role in Montana's 30-20 win over this same Maine team. About the only similarity the rematch had was Maine again scored a consolation TD with under a minute left. Maine continually kicked away from Segers and Heidelberger, the Griz' two return standouts; but Montana's passing game clicked, with Ochs completing 22 of 33 for 217 yards and three touchdowns.

The TD passes equaled the Grizzlies' total for their last four games of 2003, and matched Ochs' single-game high, set in the 43-40 double-overtime loss at Idaho State last year.

He did it without being 100 percent, thumb-wise. "It happened in practice a couple weeks ago," he said. "I fell on it. I'd like to say it was something more dramatic, but it wasn't. I just fell on it, and it's been kind of nagging me, but it's getting better each day.

"I had a couple balls that floated on me as a result of that (splint), but overall I was pretty pleased with the results out there."

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Seck Leads Hofstra Past Albany in Season Opener 45-0

http://www.hofstra.edu/Athletics/Footba ... 454F3D1660


Hempstead, NY -- Junior quarterback Bobby Seck (Westbury, NY - pictured) threw for 424 yards and four touchdowns, and added a fifth touchdown rushing, as the Hofstra Football team opened the 2004 season with a 45-0 win over Albany on Thursday evening at Shuart Stadium.

Seck threw for 201 yards in the first quarter alone, helping the Pride break out to an early 14-0 lead. Hofstra tacked on 24 second quarter points to take a commanding 38-0 lead and cruised to the easy win.

Hofstra wasted little time getting started, as it marched 80 yards in seven plays on its first possession, culminating in a three-yard touchdown run from sophomore Terry Crenshaw (Sarasota, FL) with 9:53 left in the first quarter. After the defense held, Seck connected with junior receiver Devale Ellis (Brooklyn, NY) on a two-yard touchdown pass with 2:27 left in the first quarter to stretch the lead to 14-0.

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Bearkats Defeat Ouachita Baptist 60-7

By Jason Barfield, From The Huntsville Item

http://www.shsu.edu/~ath_www/football/obu.html

Dustin Long completed 11 of 15 passes for 231 yards and three touchdowns as he played only one half is his debut as a Bearkat as Sam Houston State defeated Ouachita Baptist 60-7 to open the 2004 season.

Long, a transfer from Texas A&M, threw for touchdowns of 30 yards to Jarrod Fuller, 57 yards to Vincent Cartwright, and 26 yards to Robert Garmon as SHSU jumped out to a 37-0 halftime lead.

Fuller also caught a 68-yard scoring pass from Noah Allen, a transfer from Oklahoma, completed four of eight passes for 135 yards. Fuller ended with five catches for 133 yards.

The Bearkats also blocked two Tiger punts for scores. Both blocks were made by Robert Herron and both were picked up for touchdowns by Tony Jones.

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Blocked Field Goal Sends Football Bears to 15-13 Victory over North Dakota State

Jacob Carlson block gives UNC win in inaugural Great West game.

Corey Eedwards, UNC Media Relations Intern

http://uncbears.collegesports.com/sport ... 04aac.html

GREELEY, Colo. - The first conference game of the inaugural season of the Great West Football Conference is in the books. The University of Northern Colorado Bears defeated the North Dakota State University Bison 15-13 on Saturday afternoon at Nottingham Field in Greeley bringing the Bears' home winning streak to 16 games. The point total represented the lowest output between these heated rivals since 1981.Defense was the theme of the day as the Bears (1-0, 1-0 GWFC) intercepted the Bison (1-1, 0-1 GWFC) offense five times and recovered a fumble. North Dakota State did some defensive work of their own by pulling down two interceptions, recovering a fumble and denying the Bears offense admittance to the end zone.

Leading the defensive effort for the Bears was junior safety Reed Doughty who had two interceptions, a forced fumble and game-high 17 tackles.
Teammates Thomas Smith, junior linebacker, and Ryan Palmer, senior linebacker, who had 11 and nine tackles respectively, complemented Doughty's effort. Palmer also had one of the Bears' five interceptions.

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