MISSOULA, Montana -- The Montana Grizzlies will once again play a full Division-I football schedule in 2017, with the addition of Savannah State, an FCS program out of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC), to complete next season’s slate of games.
The addition of Savannah State on Sept. 16 completes the Grizzlies’ 2017 schedule, with UM playing a total of six home games. Montana opens the season on Sept. 2, hosting Valparaiso of the FCS Pioneer Football League.
The Sept. 16 game against Savannah State marks the first time the Griz have played a team from the MEAC, and only the second time UM has played one of America’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in the regular season, after hosting Mississippi Valley State of the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) in 2016. The Griz hosted Jackson State of the SWAC in the 1989 playoffs.
Savannah State, located in Savannah, Georgia, finished the 2016 season at No. 8 in the MEAC standings. North Carolina Central won the league at 8-0 and finished at No. 22 in the final STATS FCS media poll of the year.
N.C. Central lost to Grambling State 10-9 in the Celebration Bowl on Dec. 17, 2016, at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta in front of 31,096 fans. The Celebration Bowl is played annually between the winner of the MEAC & SWAC and is the de facto national championship for HBCU schools.
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