Former Griz footballer Brad Salonen is just one of a few of us – including my brother – who are curious about whether or not what two other former Griz, Lex Hilliard and Dan Carpenter, achieved last Sunday for the Miami Dolphins has ever been done before in the National Football League.

They scored all of the points for the Dolphins in their 27-20 loss to Houston. We’re all just wondering if it’s ever happened before that two players from the same college team scored all of the points in a game for an NFL team.

Seems likely it would be rare, only in part because – if it ever has happened before – a kicker would probably have to be one of the two involved.

Against Houston, Hilliard scored both Miami touchdowns while Carpenter booted a pair of extra points and two field goals. Carpenter also had only his third miss of the season, but geez, it was a 56-yarder!

Anybody out there know whether or not this has ever happened before in the NFL?

I’ve shot e-mails off to the Dolphins and the National Football League, but since it’s the holiday season – or more importantly because I’m from the sticks of Montana – I haven’t heard back from either yet.

On another note, how about ex-Griz Kroy Biermann booting a couple of kickoffs for the Atlanta Falcons in their win over Buffalo last weekend. Falcons kicker Matt Bryant, who had just signed to replace Jason Elam for Atlanta, was nursing a hamstring injury.

Enter Biermann, who kicked off twice for Atlanta. No word on how far he kicked the ball or whether he scored any style points.

Just further proof that the man will do anything to help his team win.

- Bill Schwanke

Here we are with those mixed emotions again.

With the announcement this week that Montana defensive coordinator Kraig Paulson has decided to follow another head coach to a new position, we want to wish him well.

For his sake, and his family’s, we certainly have to hope it turns out better than his tour of duty in Logan, Utah with former Griz coach Mick Dennehy.

That one ended with Paulson’s unceremonious removal as Utah State’s defensive coordinator, something that I’m sure Dennehy didn’t have a choice in. That Paulson ended up on Bobby Hauck’s staff was a blessing, both for Paulson and his family, and for Grizzly football.

There’s no doubt Paulson has learned a lot more about running a defense over the years than he knew when he became Dennehy’s defensive coordinator at Montana before the move to Utah State.

Undoubtedly some will blame Paulson for the Grizzlies’ inability to stop Villanova’s running game, especially in the second half of the national championship game in Chattanooga. But, let’s be honest, not many defenses were able to slow down the Wildcats on the ground or in any other way.

Paulson is a good man. We may never know if he was interested in the head coaching job at Montana. Perhaps he was told he wouldn’t be a solid contender in the impressive field of candidates that – at least by name – has emerged since Hauck took the UNLV job last week.

Some people, probably to their credit, don’t want to be a head coach. But if Paulson did want the UM job, maybe it just wasn’t his time. If he really wants to be a head coach, I hope he gets his chance somewhere down the road.

In the meantime, good luck, Barb Wire! You and your family deserve it.

- Bill Schwanke

Anyone who’s been around college athletics has some feel for the stress coaching young men and women can bring when your livelihood is based on winning more than you lose, having as few “public” issues with your players as possible, and making sure they are going to class and getting an education that will provide the vast majority of them with a potential livelihood far beyond their sports careers.

When change happens like what’s going on at the University of Montana with the departure of head football coach Bobby Hauck, those most often forgotten or overlooked in the public arena, at least, are the assistant football coaches.

Apparently Hauck won’t be able to take all of his UM staff with him to Las Vegas, even if he wanted to.

Athletics director Jim O’Day already has appointed Mick Delaney to the position of transitional assistant, meaning he will be in charge at the office while a new head coach is found and will be on that new guy’s staff once he comes on board.

Delaney will keep track of current UM recruits and provide counsel to returning Griz players. Because of his knowledge and coaching background, Delaney also can be a valuable resource for O’Day as he pares down the field of candidates.

Apparently some of the remaining UM football staff members already had been looking at other opportunities, but nothing is guaranteed there. Some have expressed a desire to stay, and at least a couple of them want to be considered for the head job at UM.

For those who have no desire to pursue the head coaching job here and have no other current options available to them, it’s life in limbo. Their UM contacts run out early next year.

How’s that for holiday stress for guys who generally don’t get enough credit or recognition for the part they’ve played in UM’s seven years of remarkable success under Hauck’s leadership.

They’re every bit as committed and hard working as the head coach was. Now they’re waiting to see what Hauck decides to do with them, something he says he’ll decide by the middle of next week.

O’Day’s decision might not come until nearly mid-January of next year, not long before their UM contracts run out. It’s kind of like being laid off while you’re still working.

It’s the nature of the beast, but knowing that surely isn’t much comfort to someone living life in limbo.

- Bill Schwanke

For those out there who are happy to see Bobby Hauck go, be careful what you wish for.

While Hauck had his rough edges, particularly at times with the media, he leaves Montana as arguably the most successful coach in the school’s history, despite not having won a national championship.

His players competed at a determination and skill level not always seen in these parts, and Hauck has to be given credit for being much of the driving force behind that, along with his coaching staff.

So I wish him well, along with anyone who chooses to go along with him.

We can only hope his successor – and the list of potential candidates does indeed look promising – will carry that same banner of hard work and determination to Grizzly players and assistant coaches.

Given the high level of success coupled with the fragility of the football program here, it’s always a scary time for Griz Nation waiting to see who the new guy will be, and – even more importantly – how he performs.

One thing Griz Nation doesn’t need is the endless and useless comparisons that always come with a new coach, things like, “He’s no Don Read,” or “He’s No Joe Glenn.”

Whoever takes the job has enough stress on his hands without having to worry about whose big pair of shoes he’s trying to fill.

Griz Nation needs to cut some slack.

- Bill Schwanke

The Montana men’s basketball team proved some things during its 59-56 come-from-behind win over tall and talented Fresno State Monday night.

One, it still has the grit it showed earlier in beating Oregon and taking Washington to the wire, both on the road.

Two, it can go toe to toe with a team that can put more size on the floor than even the Grizzlies when they have Brian Qvale and Derek Selvig in the lineup at the same time.

And three, its possible sources of inspiration are countless, and not necessarily limited to one per game.

Monday night, the key source of inspiration and a needed boost was blossoming freshman Will Cherry, recently taken out of the starting lineup.

The confident-laden rookie from California provided a timely spark at both ends of the floor, getting the Grizzlies into the flow against Fresno’s zone at the offensive end, and disrupting the Bulldogs on the defensive end.

If you haven’t watched the Grizzlies in person, it’s time you did.

If you like guys that bring their lunchbox to work and do the blue collar thing, you’ll like this team, win or lose.

- Bill Schwanke

Bobby Hauck must be starting to know how Mike Montgomery felt all of those years, albeit at a different level.

Montgomery, who left to coach Stanford basketball about the time Hauck was an undergraduate student at the University of Montana in the late 80s, carried the mantle of “never being able to win the big one” in reference to his teams coming close to winning Big Sky Conference titles, but never quite getting the ring.

Hauck has had three shots at the national championship – in 2004, 2008 and 2009 – and doesn’t have a ring to show for it. All three times the culprit has come from the Colonial Athletic Association.

I’m not sure that anyone realistically can argue that the CAA isn’t superior to the Big Sky Conference from top to bottom, and that playing in that conference better prepares its members for the FCS playoffs.

But that doesn’t temper the frustrations of Hauck, his players and Griz Nation, especially considering that only one of the national championship losses – this year to Villanova – was really closely contested, at least on the scoreboard.

Despite all of that, Friday night’s loss to Villanova shouldn’t diminish the fact that Hauck has done a tremendous job of producing wins and Big Sky Conference championships during his seven-year tenure here.

With a growing sense that Montana’s stay at the FCS level may come to a close sometime after the NCAA moratorium on schools moving up to the FBS level ends in 2011, Griz Nation should feel tremendous pride in what’s been achieved by its football program over so many years, and especially under Hauck.

His teams and coaches have shown tremendous grit under the pressure of being a target week after week. And even though the Big Sky may not be as strong as the CAA, winning the conference championship year after year isn’t as easy as some might think.

The target on Montana’s football program is biggest during league play. If Griz fans think they’re frustrated by the elusive national championship, they should try rooting for one of the other eight teams in the Big Sky.

- Bill Schwanke

As I sit here less than four hours from the kickoff of Montana’s latest national football championship game, I can’t help but think back to my good fortune following the Grizzlies’ first national championship win at Marshall in 1995.

At the time I was an assistant athletics director at UM, and as I watched the jubilant players, coaches, parents and support folks begin to grow more quiet on the plane flight back to Missoula following the game, I began to contemplate the role I would be playing when the plane touched down at the airport, a role I still think of as one of the greatest honors of my life.

That was, or course, well before 9-11 and the burdensome but necessary airport security we have dealt with ever since. So fans were invited to come to the airport to welcome the team home. A special area for the ceremony was roped off on the tarmac, pretty close to where the latest addition at the west end of the terminal is located.

I recall my reaction, and that of everyone else on the plane, when we saw how many people were waiting for the Grizzlies to arrive. It was the middle of the night! It was even more amazing than the send-off the team got up and down Broadway on the way to the airport to leave for Huntington, W. Va., just days before.

Athletics director Bill Moos did not accompany the team home, and had asked me to be in charge of emceeing the welcome-home event at the airport. Needless to say, I was feeling some pressure.

But the adrenaline rush I got from seeing the number of people waiting for their heroes energized me rather than intimidating me.

I remember running down the stairs and over to the stage where the team would gather in front of the crowd and being greeted by a huge roar.

As the players, coaches and others began filing off of the plane and heading toward their fans, I remember shouting into the microphone something like, “And here they are. The 1995 Division I-AA national champions – your Montana Grizzlies!!”

Then the cheering and applause were really deafening. As I introduced head coach Don Read and a few of the players, it was simply a magical moment.

I’ll never forget it, and I could never thank Bill Moos enough for allowing me the honor.

And then there was the ride through town on the way back to campus. Wow!

- Bill Schwanke

I can only imagine how Grizzly football players felt Tuesday on their way through town to the airport and the flight to Chattanooga, based on my own experience back in 1995.

Especially any players doing it for the first time.

And I’m sure the outpouring has only grown over time as the Grizzlies have left for the finals in different years.

I remember sitting on one of the buses in 1995 when the Griz were on their way to beat Marshall in Huntington, W. Va. I was sitting with football players, other athletics department employees and invited guests as we made our way through town.

I remember the looks on the players’ faces, some with eyes clouding up, and I distinctly remember having tears streaming down my own face.

The only experiences more exciting were watching the Griz win the game itself and the immediate aftermath, but especially the welcome home the team got at the airport upon their return from Ah-most Heaven.

But that’s another blog entirely.

- Bill Schwanke

To call the 2009 Grizzly football season remarkable would be selling it short, but I think all of us are running out of superlatives for this team.

Billed as a classic, Saturday’s semifinal win over Appalachian State had all of the elements – pardon the pun – and it had the elements to boot.

Neither team seemed dissuaded by the weather conditions, nor did the raucous crowd.

Armanti Edwards of Appy State was as advertised – just a tremendous college football player with unreal poise and accuracy. I thought the Griz did a nice job of bottling him up from the running standpoint, but then it became – as Fritz Neighbor so aptly put it following the game – a matter of picking your poison.

What he doesn’t do to you on the ground he’ll do to you through the air.

But the bottom line is, the Griz prevailed. Montana penalties were remarkably few, Chase was Chase, the o-line came to play from the very beginning of the game, and Andrew Selle – who appeared to be understandably a little too high for the game (thus a number of his passes were the same) – made the perfect throw at the perfect time in tough conditions to give the Grizzlies a lead they were able to hold on to, albeit barely.

The result, another trip to Chattanooga to face yet another Colonial Athletic Association team in the grand finale Friday night. No doubt Griz Nation will be well represented in person at the game, and thousands will follow it on the tube.

My trip to Huntington, W. Va., in 1995 to witness Montana’s first championship win was a memory that will remain one of my life’s highlights.

But Friday night’s win over the salty Mountaineers will bump right up against it.

- Bill Schwanke

Thank God, the House of Representatives has decided to make a major college football playoff one of its priorities.

Everybody knows the government is absolutely the best avenue for solving all of our problems.

I mean, some might think that the House is way out of line tinkering with something as relatively meaningless in the scope of things when you think about health care, war, pestilence, global warming and Tiger Woods (speaking of which, why no censure from the House on this one?).

Rest assured, our government will find the answer to the football playoffs dilemma. But rest assured, given its history, government will come up with something even more baffling and unfair than anything else that’s been suggested so far.

And rest assured, when they do, they’ll figure out a way to tax it, too.

That’s one thing the government and the NCAA have in common besides inefficiency: it’s all about the money.