The Griz play for the Division 1-AA title

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - Almost a week of buildup has led to this - Montana versus James Madison for the Division I-AA championship.

The hype, the preparation, the journey and the wait is over. The Griz and Dukes will kick off shortly after 6 p.m. MST today to determine the only Division I football title not awarded through an opinion poll.

"We're certainly thrilled to be here playing for a national championship," UM coach Bobby Hauck said during a Thursday afternoon news conference at Finley Stadium. "We appreciate the hospitality we have received from the city of Chattanooga, especially the hard work of the committee that puts on the game.

"We're excited about it, and congratulations to these players and our team as well as our assistant coaches for a job well done. We're hoping it will be a heck of a ballgame tomorrow night."

The two teams took opposite paths here, with Montana winning three home games and the Dukes three road games, the first time that has been done.

The Griz come in perhaps their best shape of the postseason. No one was seriously hurt in last week's semifinal game, and they may even get defensive end Lance Spencer back from injury.

"That's possible," Hauck said of Spencer playing. "We'll have to see. That will be a game-time decision. As injuries get on the downhill side, they tend to get better quickly. He's certainly on the downhill swing."

At quick glance, Montana appears to be the better team, having dominated opponents in the playoffs by a 26.7-point margin. The Dukes won their first two playoff games by identical 14-13 scores before drubbing William & Mary 48-34 last week.

But when you figure Montana was at home all three times, playing Southern teams not used to the elements twice, and JMU hasn't slept at home on the weekend since before Thanksgiving, perhaps things aren't as lopsided.

"They remind me a lot of a couple of teams we've played," Hauck said. "One is Northwestern State because they've got good running backs, a good offensive line and can run the ball very well. They also stop the run extremely well on defense and they're highly ranked in scoring defense.

"They also remind me a lot of the Portland State team that beat us because of what they do on defense and their ability to control the ball on offense."

Well, Montana lost a close one to PSU after a bye week but dismantled Northwestern State in the first round, so that's a mixed comparison. And really, Northwestern State ran a run-oriented, ball-control offense too.

"The reason their here is their ability to run the ball," Hauck said. "They play extremely physical on offense and they've got a chance to shut down your run game and not let you get points on the board on defense. In a lot of areas of the country they would say that's the elements of a championship football team."

Said linebacker Shane MacIntyre: "We're used to seeing a lot of pass-first teams lately. It's a changeup, definitely. As a defensive unit we know we're going to have to stop the run at some point in the game. They're going to come out and run early, and we're going to have to right away get a battle and not let them establish the run.

"Their offensive line - there's no really weak spot. We're going to have to have great eyes and our technique in order to combat their physical nature."

It seems as though each week in the postseason the Griz have had to deal with a physical defense or an impressive offense, and each week they have done it with relative ease.

"You don't play football to lose," running back Justin Green said. "Not everybody gets to play for a national championship. Outside of this team, you don't know many people that have played for a national championship."

And that gives the Griz an edge. James Madison has never been to a championship game before, Montana is in its fifth, with several players still around from the 2001 team that won it all.

"I haven't really thought about it right now," Dukes quarterback Justin Rascati said of being in the title game. "Playing in the A-10, we've been in games like this all year long.

"I don't think there's any pressure, we'll probably all be a little more nervous tonight before we go to bed, but once we wake up in the morning we'll be ready to play like we have every game."

Said center Leon Steinfeld: "It hasn't even hit yet. It doesn't feel like it's come true. Probably tomorrow when we're starting to get dressed I'll start to realize it, but right now it feels like a normal game."

After the jitters for both teams get out of the way, the game boils down to can the Griz stop the run, and can they run on the Dukes.

James Madison has a big offensive line, over 300 pounds on average, and has the No. 2 run defense in the country.

"You don't get to game plan around an offensive line," Hauck said. "They're going to run it where they want to run it. The offensive front, their inside three are very physical. They're not tall in stature, but they're big, big guys that come off the ball and get after you.

"We need to move around a bit up front. You also have to have good technique. They're going to come off the ball low and hard, you'd better do that and have good hand placement, good body position and play with a lot of pride on the defensive line or you're going to get knocked off."

Should Spencer be available, that will help with depth and talent on a defense that still ranks last against the pass but has played very well the last six weeks, including a payback win over Sam Houston State last week.

"It really shows that stats don't mean a lot," MacIntyre said. "The only stat that matters is the points you give up and whether you win the game. We've been playing real good in the red zone, and people can get a lot of yards on us but they're fortunately not able to get a whole lot of points of us. I guess you can thrown those stats out."

Montana's ability to run the ball will depend on its offensive line. Last week's juggling of personnel due to injury had mixed results, though they've actually had a chance to practice together all week.

"We're going to try and get our most healthy, best five players on the field, and that's probably yet to be determined," Hauck said. "Right now our plan is to play Brad Rhoades at left tackle, (Cody) Balogh at right tackle, (Jeff) Marshall at center, (Chris) Orwig at left guard and (Cory) Procter at right guard. And that can change up to game time."

The Griz are playing for their third national championship in their fifth title game. They beat Marshall 22-20 in 1995 and Furman 13-6 in 2001. Montana lost to Marshall 49-29 in 1996 and Georgia Southern 27-25 in 2000.

Kickoff from Finley Stadium is scheduled for 6 p.m. MST. The game will be televised nationally on ESPN2, cable channel 33.