CWU, Reilly get a shot at Griz

The Daily Inter Lake

Central Washington University, led by former Flathead High School standout Mike Reilly, will finally play the University of Montana in Washington-Grizzly Stadium on Saturday.

Kickoff is set for 1:07 p.m. before another sellout crowd of more than 25,000.

CWU and UM were scheduled to play in 2005 and 2006, but the Grizzlies received handsome financial offers to play at Division I Football Bowl Subdivision teams from the Pac-10 (Oregon) and Big 10 (Iowa). The Griz accepted those big paydays, knocking CWU off the schedule.

This year, that did not happen.

Montana (3-0) is ranked third in the Football Championship Subdivision Coaches Poll and fourth in the TSN FCS Poll.

CWU (4-0) is ranked No. 8 in NCAA Division II, and is coming off a 48-10 victory over Humboldt State.

Reilly, a 6-foot-3, 212-pound senior quarterback, completed 23 of 40 passes for 311 yards and two touchdowns last week. He also ran for a score.

It was the 11th time he has passed for over 300 yards in a game.

Reilly has passed for 10,022 yards at CWU. He is the 16th player in NCAA Division II history to pass for more than 10,000 yards.

Reilly has 11,053 yards of total offense.

Jon Kitna is the only other CWU quarterback to pass from more yards than Reilly. He threw for 12,353 yards (1992-95).

Reilly was named a preseason first team All-American by D2football.com.

Frank Cooney's NFL Draft Scout lists Reilly as the 13th best quarterback out of 133. He is projected to be a seventh round draft pick in the 2009 NFL Draft.

CWU has faced two Big Sky foes with recent success. The Wildcats stunned Eastern Washington 21-14 in 2006, and surprised Montana State 31-16 in 2002.

The Wildcats play their home games in Tomlinson Stadium, where capacity is 4,000.