UM's O’Connell among 3 Buchanan Award finalists
Montana linebacker Patrick O'Connell (58) smiles on the sideline in the fourth quarter against Cal Poly at Washington-Grizzly Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 25. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
MISSOULA — The Montana Grizzlies’ Patrick O’Connell is getting to Frisco, Texas, one way or another.
The junior linebacker out of Glacier High School has been invited to the 2021 FCS Awards Banquet on Jan. 7, a day before the championship game in Texas, because he finished among the top three vote-getters for the Buck Buchanan Award.
Montana State linebacker Troy Andersen, the Big Sky Conference defensive MVP, is also a finalist along with Florida A&M’s Isaiah Land. The award, voted on by a 50-member media panel at the end of the regular season, honors the top defensive player in the FCS.
Andersen and O’Connell are both playing in Football Championship Subdivision quarterfinal games this week, as both their teams chanse a national title. Montana plays at James Madison Friday night, before Montana State takes on top-seeded Sam Houston Saturday afternoon.
Grizzly cornerback Justin Ford, who has nine interceptions and three defensive touchdowns this season, gave the Big Sky Conference three of the top four vote-getters.
O’Connell, 6-foot-2 and 225 pounds, has a Big Sky-best 13 sacks and is among the top 15 in the FCS in sacks, tackles for loss and forced fumbles (three). He anchors a defense that is third-best against the run in the nation. He had 91 stops, with 19.5 for losses totaling 121 yards and one fumble return for a TD.
Andersen, 6-4 and 235 out of Dillon, has 111 tackles, 9.5 tackles for loss, two sacks and two interceptions. He returned one of those picks for a TD.
Andersen’s Big Sky MVP may or may not mean a lot for the Buchanan Award: Of the Big Sky’s eight previous Buchanan winners, three were not league MVP: Idaho State’s Jared Allen in 2003 (Kane Ioane, MSU, got the Big Sky nod); Montana State’s Caleb Schreibeis in 2012 (teammate Jody Owens); and Montana’s Tyrone Holmes in 2015 (James Cowser of Southern Utah).
The others either won or shared Big Sky Conference MVP, including Montana’s Kroy Biermann in 2007 and Dante Olson in 2019, and MSU’s Brad Daly in 2013.
The Big Sky is sending one other player to the FCS Awards Banquet: Eastern Washington quarterback Eric Barriere is among the top three vote-getters for the Walter Payton Award, for the top offensive player in the FCS.