Griz Greats: The Silver Anniversary of the 1995 National Champions ESPN Missoula
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- Sports
In 1995 the University of Montana football team made a magical run to its first national championship, beating the Marshall Thundering Herd 22-20 on December 16th for the title. We commemorate this remarkable season 25 years later, through the eyes of the players, coaches and personnel involved in bringing a championship to Missoula Montana.
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Defensive end Corey Falls
Corey Falls was a junior defensive end from Medford, Oregon who led the Grizzlies with nine sacks during the 1995 run to the national title. Falls, who hails from the same town as future Griz Buck Buchanan Award winners Dante Olson and Tyrone Holmes, now works in law enforcement in the Portland area.
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Running back Kelly Stensrud
Kelly Stensrud is a Missoula native and a Hellgate alum who was a senior starting running back for Montana's 1995 national title team. He scored 10 touchdowns during that 1995 season.
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Defensive end Randy Riley
Randy Riley and fellow Butte, Montana native Brian Toone converged to make one of the biggest plays of Montana's 22-20 national title game victory over Marshall in December of 1995. The Butte safety proved to be the final margin of victory as the Grizzlies won their first Division I-AA national title.
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Sean Goicoechea, All-Big Sky safety
Sean Goicoechea hailed from just down the road from Missoula, growing up in Stevensville, Montana. He rapidly rose to become a starter and key contributor at safety during his junior year to help the Montana Griz to the 1995 Division I-AA national championship.
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Offensive coach Brent Pease
Brent Pease was a record-setting quarterback during his time playing for the Montana Grizzlies. During the middle and end of his professional playing career in the early 1990s, the Moscow, Idaho native returned in the off-seasons to help coach various offensive positions on Don Read's staff.
Pease, who went on to become an offensive coordinator at several Power 5 schools including Kentucky, Baylor and Florida, primarily worked with quarterbacks during Montana's 1995 run to the national championship, meaning Pease had a key hand in developing Walter Payton Award winner Dave Dickenson. -
Defensive end Yohanse Manzanarez
Yohanse Manzanarez was part of the heart and soul of the Griz defense in 1995. The physical, tough defensive end from Great Falls set the tone in many ways, helping anchor the Montana defensive front as a senior on UM's national championship team 25 years ago.