#12 Southeast Missouri State Redhawks (9-2, 5-0 OVC)
at #17 Montana Grizzlies (7-4, 4-4 Big Sky)
Saturday, November 26 • 9:00 p.m. CT
Washington-Grizzly Stadium (25,217) • Missoula, Mont.
Video:..............................
https://es.pn/3hTuQMj (ESPN2)
Live Stats:.........................................
https://bit.ly/3UTioLj
Series Record:............................................. First meeting
Last Meeting:.............................................................. n/a
Tom Matukewicz at Southeast Missouri:....... 50-51 (9 yrs.)
Tom Matukewicz Overall:........................... 51-51 (10 yrs.)
Bobby Houck at Montana:........................ 115-33 (12 yrs.)
Bobby Houck Overall:.............................. 130-82 (16 yrs.)
Southeast Missouri Last Week:. W, 52-22 vs. Murray State
Montana Last Week:........... L, 55-21 vs. #3 Montana State
NOTEWORTHY
• Southeast Missouri is making its third playoff appearance in the past five years and its fourth overall when it travels to Montana for the first meeting between the schools.
• The Redhawks are 1-3 all-time the Playoffs including two games against Big Sky Conference teams (Eastern Washington in 2010 and Weber State in 2018).
• SEMO finished 9-1 against FCS opponents this season and finished OVC play 5-0 and shared the title with UT Martin. It was the team's third overall OVC Championship. SEMO has had five-straight winning OVC record; prior to this run the team had not had a winning OVC mark since 2010 or back-to-back winning OVC records since 2002-03. SEMO is 26-8 in the OVC over the past five years.
• Running back Geno Hess ran for 317 yards in the team's regular season finale against Murray State; he is the only FCS player to rush for 300 yards in a game this season. He ranks second nationally in rushing yards/carry (7.62) and third in rushing yards/game (142.6). His 19 rushing touchdowns are tied for first nationally and fourth in OVC single-season history.
• Bryce Norman leads the team with 108 tackles this season.
• SEMO is seventh nationally in total offense (472.6 yards/game) and 11th in scoring offense (36.6 ppg)
• Montana is in the FCS Playoffs for a record 26th time, and for the second-straight season. The Griz are under its second stint with head coach Bobby Houck, who took the program to three national titles games the first time (2003-09) and returned to his alma mater in 2018.
• The Griz are 34-23 overall in the postseason and 31-7 at home.
• Montana started the season 5-0 before losing three-straight Conference games against teams currently ranked in the Top 25. They ended the regular season with a 55-21 loss to rival Montana State in the 121st Brawl of the Wild, which featured a visit from ESPN GameDay. All four of its losses came to teams in the Playoffs this year.
• Lucas Johnson has passed for 1857 yards and 19 touchdowns while rushing for 265 yards and seven additional scores.
• Montana ranks eighth nationally in scoring defense (18.5 ppg) and 10th in scoring offense (37.3 points/game) and is the 10th least penalized team in the FCS (4.18/game).