'All-American guy'

Bill Oram
GameDay Kaimin

Under the fluorescent lights of the University Center Commons, Kyle Ryan looks just like any other University of Montana student cramming for a midterm exam. He sports a blue zip sweatshirt and a white Notre Dame ball cap backwards. The hat is a nod to his Irish Catholic roots and his love of Fightin’ Irish football – a religion of its own.
Huddled in a corner of the room, little about him stands out.
Ryan is used to blending in. Of the three senior starting linebackers for the top-ranked Griz – Ryan, Loren Utterback and Tyler Joyce – the Billings West High School product is the one who has flown the most under the radar.
His No. 46 holds little prestige compared to the hallowed No. 37 Utterback wears, and he’s not as brash or, frankly, as violent as Joyce.
“Kyle’s kind of quietly put together a great career,” said Griz linebackers coach Ty Gregorak. “In my opinion Kyle’s been unbelievably consistent.”
As a three-year starter, Ryan has accumulated 234 tackles. But just a year removed from tying the team high with 115 stops, he has recorded only 23 to start this season.
“This year I’ve kind of struggled to make the plays I have in years past, but I just have to be patient and it will come,” Ryan said.
One of those plays in which patience paid off came last weekend.
In the third quarter, with Weber State clinging to a 10-9 lead, Ryan stepped in front of a Cameron Higgins pass for his first interception of the season. He stuck out a hand, first tipping the ball and finally corralling it.
The Washington-Grizzly Stadium crowd, restless and anxious for a reason to cheer, exploded.
Gregorak was planted on the sideline near where the play happened.
“His eyes just got huge because there was nothing but green in front of him and it looked like he probably thought he could score and next thing you know he gets whacked from the side,” Gregorak said. “I was just so happy he didn’t fumble the ball.”
The interception led to Montana’s lone touchdown of the game, a one-yard run by Greg Coleman.
“It was a heckuva play,” Gregorak said. “It was a game-changing play. It set up a score and ultimately we ended up winning the game.”
It’s fitting that Ryan has spent his college career at Montana, though it might have been more so had he landed at Notre Dame.
His father was a rugby player for the Irish, and Ryan grew up a Notre Dame fan. His bedroom in Billings was equally plastered in Notre Dame and Montana posters, he said.
His brother Casey played offensive line for the Griz in the late ‘90s, and his brother Pat was a reserve linebacker for Notre Dame from 1999-2002.
Naturally, the youngest Ryan wanted to play for the Irish too.
He saw how hard Pat worked in high school to earn a chance at Notre Dame, so he said he tried to put in that same effort. He attended a camp at Notre Dame his junior year. Future Irish players, including current Cleveland Brown quarterback Brady Quinn, surrounded him there.
But when the recruiting period got into full swing, Notre Dame showed little more than cursory interest in Ryan.
“Kyle thought he was going to be a teammate with those guys, but it just didn’t work out that way,” his father, Bill Ryan, said.
Other schools showed interest – Montana State, of course, Colorado State, Stanford and a handful of Ivy League schools – but Kyle Ryan had essentially already pared his list to two.
“I’m glad it ended up that I’m a Griz,” he said. “I don’t regret that for a second. Growing up, I had thought about it (playing for the Irish), but when my brother played at Notre Dame, I kind of realized that I’d be better off at Montana.”
The Grizzlies offered Ryan the opportunity to play closer to home, and, as he said, to have a greater chance of success.
Ryan made his splash with the Griz as a sophomore in 2005 when Utterback broke his foot at Oregon. Ryan started the rest of the season at middle linebacker.
Ryan would not have likely had the opportunity to start as a sophomore at Notre Dame or another big school.
Pat Ryan said he is happy that his brother ended up with the Griz.
“I loved my experience (at Notre Dame); Kyle’s loving his experience,” he said. “I don’t think he’d give up what he has now. I think he’s in a perfect spot for him.”
Even if Notre Dame had offered him a shot, Kyle Ryan isn’t certain he would have taken it.
“I would have had to think about it,” he said. “It wouldn’t have been the clear choice that it would have been earlier in my life.”
Kyle Ryan was not the prototypical star-to-be. He was “mushy-faced little four-eyed guy,” Bill Ryan said.
However, continuing in the mold of Casey and Pat, Kyle Ryan slowly developed into a force, the biggest of the football-playing brothers, his dad said.
According to Bill Ryan, his son’s offer to join the Griz came the spring of his sophomore year of high school. The season was highlighted by a game against Flathead High School when Ryan recorded an eyebrow-raising tackle against another future Grizzly standout – running back Lex Hilliard.
One Ryan brother never played football, but Kyle Ryan looked up to him as well. Bill Jr., who his father said was actually the best athlete of the group, went to Stanford for his undergraduate degree and is a lawyer in Billings.
“Kyle kind of went down that road academically,” Bill Ryan Sr. said. “And then with Casey and Pat right in front of him, that was a huge motivator (to play football).”
Gregorak said Ryan’s reputation as an “all-American guy” sometimes may earn him some teasing from his teammates.
“My wife loves him,” Gregorak said. “He’s a big, good-looking dude. He is a smart guy, he is a gentleman, he is ‘yes sir, no sir.’ I think he takes some flack for it, too.
“He’s a great student. He’s a student of the game, I bet he does real well in his business school.”
Ryan is an accounting major and has few illusions about playing football beyond college. When his career is over, he plans to take a year off and apply to law school. He’d like to stay at UM.
But before Ryan gets too caught up in his long-term goals, he’s focused on a more imminent one: winning a national championship.
In Ryan’s four seasons, the Griz have been close to winning the title twice. He was a redshirt freshman in 2004 when they were painfully close, losing in the championship game to James Madison 31-21.
“We kind of felt invincible for a while up until that last game,” he said.
The other near-championship run was last season, when, after a season-opening loss to Iowa, the Grizzlies were undefeated until faltering at home against Massachusetts in the national semifinals.
“It definitely left a bad taste in our mouth,” Ryan said. “It just makes us better, makes us work harder in the offseason.”
While he said the No. 1 national ranking means little now, it would mean everything to be on top at the end of the season.
“My whole thing is I want to go out with a national championship,” he said. “That’s the most important thing to me. All the personal accolades are great, but nothing would compare to a national championship.”

Eastern Washington brings young team to face an old rival

Bill Oram
GameDay Kaimin

The Montana football team learned last week that being ranked No. 1 nationally doesn’t give it a free pass through Big Sky Conference play.
The undefeated Grizzlies narrowly topped Weber State 18-10 last weekend, but will face an even more formidable opponent today, with the 3-1 Eastern Washington Eagles in town.
Eastern fell out of the rankings after losing 28-21 to Portland State. It had risen to 21st before the defeat.
Eastern Washington has a record of playing well in Washington-Grizzly Stadium. Their four wins are the most of any team since the stadium opened in 1986.
“Eastern’s always played the Montana Grizzlies tough, forever,” Montana head coach Bobby Hauck said.
The last time the Eagles were in Missoula, in 2005, they rolled behind standout quarterback Erik Meyer.
But Meyer and much of that team is gone. In their places, the roster is loaded with sophomores. However, according to Eastern coach Paul Wulff, it’s an experienced group of youngsters.
“We have some experience on offense; and defense, there’s some experience there,” he said. “We’re youthful from an age standpoint.”
When the Eagles won in 2005, the Griz were led by a freshman quarterback named Cole Bergquist, who was filling in for the injured Jason Washington.
This season, Bergquist is again the starter for Montana, and has averaged just over 195 passing yards and 39 rushing yards in the team’s four wins.
“He’s developed a lot,” Wulff said this week. “He’s a lot more confident in what he does, a lot more accurate in throwing the ball. He’s a tough guy to defend because he runs the ball so well.”
Bergquist said Eastern Washington’s defense appeared on film to be stifling.
“They look like an Eastern defense that I’ve seen for the past three years that I’ve been here,” Bergquist said. “They play aggressive, their secondary (has) got an attitude, they want to play hard. You can tell that they don’t fear many teams. They’re always swarming to the ball.”
Both teams are coming off games in which injuries played a key role. A spate of Griz players had to be helped off the field against Weber State, though none of the injuries will likely keep any Grizzlies out of today’s game.
Eastern Washington, on the other hand, has already lost nine players for the season, Wulff said. Star receiver Tony Davis left the Portland State game with a shoulder injury and center Chris Carlsen left with a knee injury. Wulff said neither would play against Montana.
Both Montana and Eastern Washington have been successful this season by putting lots of points on the board, but Eagles coach Paul Wulff said he would rather have less scoring.
“Anybody would want a lower scoring game,” he said. “I don’t want it to be a shootout.”
Giving Montana, a team that leads the nation in scoring defense, lots of scoring opportunities could be fatal for Eastern Washington.
However, if Montana can eliminate its own mistakes, it should be fine, Bergquist said.
“I think we’re well aware that Eastern’s a good team. They’ve shown that they can put up a lot of points,” he said. “We need to put together a full game, which we haven’t quite done yet, I don’t feel, as an offensive unit.”

Peter Christian brings his faith to games as Griz announcer

Roman Stubbs
GameDay Kaimin

For nine seasons, Peter Christian has been the big guy upstairs in Washington-Grizzly Stadium as the voice of Montana football.
“I’ll never forget when I first was offered the job, I felt so lucky to be able to do this,” said Christian.
A Helena native, Christian’s path to being the lovable PA voice on game days wasn’t as easy as merely talking.
“I hadn’t seen a lot of college football games, so my first time up there was a little rough,” he said. “But everyone remained very supportive and I got gradually better.”
Now, he can’t get enough of Saturdays.
“We don’t sit down up there the entire game, it’s that much fun,” said Christian, who is quick to point out that as the PA voice, he isn’t the only one contributing. “Without my spotter, John Wall, I would look like a complete idiot.” Wall helps Christian with names, plays and timeouts. “He is a complete genius,” Christian said. “I depend so much on him; we really work together.”
With his original name being Peter Wall, he asserted his Christian faith into his broadcast career when an employer told him to come up with a radio moniker.
“People know me as Christian, and it is a name to show my faith,” he said.
He also attributes that to his job as the PA voice.
“I go by the hot stove theory; everything I touch is going out to the stadium,” he said. “I just remember to represent God, the University and myself in the best possible way I can.”
Christian’s hot stove theory has won him the respect of others in the business. He recalls meeting the sports information director from Sam Houston State, who told him that he admired his work and enthusiasm as the voice of the Griz.
“He’s one of the best in the country, by far,” said Mick Holien, Montana’s radio network flagship play by play announcer. “He’s such an entertaining guy to begin with, and he works with so much enthusiasm.”
Holien, who has known Christian for about 20 years, was the Griz PA announcer before Christian.
Christian’s signature has become the first-down cry, in which he yells “first down”, and the fans respond in a climactic “Montana.”
“To be fair, that isn’t mine,” he said. “I kind of picked it up from an old announcer when I was watching an Idaho game a few years back. He would be pretty enthusiastic about the first down, so I figured we would add the Montana part and bring it to the Big Sky.”
Christian said a lot of Big Sky teams have picked up the idea.
“I think the ultimate compliment to Peter is when fans of the opposing teams complain when he screams ‘first down Montana,’” Holien said. “He’s so good at it, has so much energy, that they want their announcer at home to do it.”
Christian’s rise in the radio business began after a friend suggested he become a disc jockey to channel his love for music.
“I was playing drums in a local band with my friends, traveling the country and trying to make a living as a struggling musician,” Christian says, laughing about the nostalgic moments of his youth. “And then my friend told me to get involved as a disc jockey, and I joined the number one network in Helena, and I’ve loved it ever since.”
Since then, he acknowledges the hard work he must put into the business.
“I didn’t graduate with a degree in journalism, so I feel like not only have I had to teach myself a lot about this business, but also that I have to work that much harder to be successful,” he said.
Christian has taken that work ethic to Clear Channel Radio Network, where he has been for over 20 years. He rises at 3 a.m. every morning and is at work at 3:30 a.m. to begin his duties at the station. At 6 a.m., he hosts the award-winning Montana Morning on KBGO 1290. He then returns home around 10 a.m. to work at his own business, Peter Christian Communication, which is a commercial hub to radio stations nationwide. The full schedule doesn’t get to a humble Christian.
“They are really full days, but I love it,” he said. “There is always five or six people behind the scenes who are really doing a lot of the work; so I have a lot of help with my work.”
Married and a father of two, Christian stays loyal to not only his faith and career, but also to his game day ritual. “I park way across campus,” he said. “Then I grab my briefcase, pop and paper,” he continued, chuckling at his superstition. “I’m all nervous, you know, I’m walking across campus, just talking to God, hoping to have a good day doing my job,” he said.
When Peter Christian arrives at the stadium, he is thrust into a nine-year labor of love, as the voice thundering over the stadium. Even before game time, before he has to pronounce tough names and plays, even before a “first down Montana” cry, Christian might be reflecting on his own lucky job, and take his own time out.
And thank the big guy upstairs.

Around the Big Sky Conference

Amber Kuehn
GameDay Kaimin

Today features a slate of conference games, and one final nonconference competition for rival Montana State. Here is a preview of today’s matchups and what you can expect to see in each. You can watch them all on www.bigskytv.org.

Sacramento State at Weber State (1:05 p.m.)

The Hornets are coming off a 38-9 victory over Northern Arizona and one of their best performances in school history. The win was Sac State’s first of the season. One player to watch in this game is Hornet linebacker Cyrus Mulitalo, who was named co-defensive player of the week after last weekend. The 6-foot-1, 245-pound junior had a game-high nine tackles and a sack against NAU, in addition to returning an interception 60 yards for a touchdown. The Hornet offense compiled 422 yards and the defense held the Lumberjacks to just 187 yards. Quarterback Jason Smith had a solid arm and was mobile, throwing for two touchdowns and rushing for another.
If Sac State can continue their hot play from last weekend, they should find success in Ogden, Utah. Weber State still hasn’t found a way to win this season, but gave Montana a run for its money last weekend. The Wildcats tested the Griz in Washington-Grizzly Stadium last weekend and the defense held the Griz to just one touchdown. But despite the Weber State offense jumping out to a 10-0 advantage early on, the Wildcats then allowed 18 unanswered points.
Weber State leads the series 7-4 all-time and has never lost to Sac State at home. The Hornets won last year’s game in Sacramento. If the Hornets win today, they will open the season 2-1 in Big Sky play for the second year in a row and just the second time in school history. The Hornets have yet to win a game on the road this season.
This should be a close game, and might be one of the most exciting matchups of the day.
I predict Weber State will jump out to another lead, only to let it slip away. The Hornets will get their first road win and the Wildcats will start the season 0-5 for the first time since 2004.

Northern Colorado at Idaho State (2:05 p.m.)

The Bears haven’t won a game this season and now must enter the often-hostile confines of Holt Arena (even though Idaho State has struggled at home against Big Sky opponents in the last five contests). Northern Colorado still hasn’t beaten a Big Sky team since joining the league last season.
In the series, ISU leads 17-6, and won last October 41-13.
The Bengals dropped their first two conference decisions to Eastern Washington and Montana State, and the Bears lost their 13th-straight game to Cal Poly, 56-21, last Saturday. In that game, Bears junior running back David Woods rushed for a career-high 130 yards and completed a 35-yard pass to senior receiver Andy Birkel to set up the score. That was the team’s longest pass of the season.
The Bengals are coming off a 40-20 loss to MSU in which they blew an early lead and were unable to keep the Bobcats out of the end zone in the third quarter.
ISU is switching signal callers once again, as quarterback Luke Butler suffered a concussion with nine seconds remaining in the MSU game. Butler is out for at least a week, and Russel Hill will get the start today.
Today marks homecoming festivities at ISU, and the Bengals will be naming the turf Caccia Field to honor Babe Caccia, 90, ISU’s all-time winningest football, baseball and wrestling coach, and also a former athletic director.
I will continue my trend of never picking Northern Colorado. Besides, it’s ISU’s homecoming, and no team should have to lose such a festive game. Idaho State will win, and the Bears will start considering a possible move to another conference.
You can catch this game on Altitude.

Montana State hosts Southern Utah (1:35 p.m.)

All of 2007, MSU has managed to dominate the third quarter. Last Saturday, the Bobcats scored 17 third-quarter points to come back from a three-point halftime deficit and beat Idaho State 40-20. In that game, the Bobcat defense also held the No. 2 receiver in the nation, Eddie Thompson, to just six catches for 53 yards. Montana State moved up five spots in the national polls this week to No. 13.
MSU now faces a Thunderbird squad that the Grizzlies defeated in their season-opener. Southern Utah is coming off a bye week, and fell to McNeese State, 41-20, the weekend before. Despite the defeat, SUU piled up over 400 yards. Senior running back Johnny Sanchez had a career-best 181 yards on 16 carries. Third-year starting quarterback Wes Marshall was knocked out during the McNeese game and taken to the hospital. It is uncertain whether he will start in today’s game.
The only time these two teams have faced each other, MSU edged SUU with a one-point victory.
Montana rolled over SUU and I expect Montana State to do the same, especially with home-field advantage.
Cats win.

Northern Arizona at Portland State (1:35 p.m.)

The Vikings are 2-0 in Big Sky action and are coming off a big win over Eastern Washington, handing the Eagles their first loss of the season.
NAU is coming off a 38-9 loss to Sacramento State and lost starting quarterback Lance Kriesien to an injury. Northern Arizona struggled on third down in that game, unable to convert the entire game. The Lumberjacks only had 73 yards rushing.
PSU leads the nation in passing defense. Quarterback Brian White threw for 329 yards last weekend on 29-of-37 passing with three touchdowns. He’s one of the league’s strongest arms, and has thrown for 1,100 yards in the past three contests. The Vikings also had 191 yards on the ground in the last game.
If Portland State can put forth the same effort they did last weekend, they’ll beat NAU easily.

Where are they now: Karl Stein

Jake Grilley
GameDay Kaimin

Karl Stein knew what he had to do if he needed to gain more respect from the students in his middle school art class.
He would tell the students to go over to the computer to search for Montana Grizzly football records on the Internet.
“My students didn’t think I played for the Grizzlies,” Stein said. “They just thought I was a doofy looking art teacher.”
Stein said his students came away from the computer with a newfound respect for their instructor, the Grizzlies’ all-time leader in interceptions.
Stein excelled as a free safety at Montana during the 1969 and 1970 seasons. The Grizzly Hall-of-Famer was a first-team All-Big Sky Conference selection each of his seasons with the Grizzlies. During his two seasons, Stein set a team record of 21 interceptions and set the single-season interception record at 11. Stein is also Montana’s all-time leader in interception return yards and fifth in all-time punt return yards. Montana went 20-0 during Stein’s two regular seasons with the team.
Stein remembers the Griz fans were particularly captivated by the successes the team had during his tenure.
“We always felt the support from the Missoula community,” Stein said. “They had a tickertape parade down Higgins Avenue after both of our undefeated seasons.”
Even though the team was winning, the coaches instilled a strong work ethic in all the players.
The first practice after every game the coaches would make the players run up to the “M” on Mount Sentinel in full pads, Stein said.
After graduating from UM with an art degree in 1972, Stein found himself in a multitude of artistic professions.
His paintings have been sold in art galleries across Montana and the Northwest. Stein also worked as a professional dancer and actor as well as an art teacher for several years.
Stein has lived on a plot of land near Arlee for the last 34 years. The acreage has allowed him to try his hand at land and forest maintenance along with building two houses on the property.
For Stein, who grew up outside San Francisco, Montana was love at first sight.
“When I first came to Montana in 1968 there was four feet of snow on the ground,” Stein remembered. “I just loved all that snow. It was almost the amount of snow rather than the school.”
Stein did more than just play in the snow when he came to Montana. He was part of two undefeated teams that helped to serve as building blocks for the tradition behind Montana football.
Coaches have told Stein over the years that the team’s level of play during his two seasons helped to bring in better players and established a higher standard for Montana football.
“I think we had a solid effect on the history of football at Montana,” Stein said. “Of course Dave Dickenson had something to do with that as well.”
The only regret Stein has about his football career is that he never played at the professional level.
Stein made the preseason roster of the Los Angeles Rams in the early 1970s and had an interception in his only preseason game. After being released, Stein had the option of trying out for the Denver Broncos or play in Canada.
“Instead I went back to Montana to live in the mountains,” Stein said.
Stein never lost his football hunger. In the early 1980s, many of the players from Stein’s team participated in the football alumni game, in which former Griz would play the varsity squad. The alumni team beat the varsity four years in a row.
“Sometimes I still wish they had the alumni games,” Stein said. “I would put on my wild socks and try to keep up with them.”
Nowadays, Stein spends his time painting – mostly watercolor landscapes – and spending time with his 9-year-old son, Kai.
Stein is currently working on a short story infused with the struggles of an aging athlete.
“I am writing about a 50-year-old who is trying to break the world speed record in sprinting,” Stein said.
Stein said having his name atop the Grizzly record books is a great ego boost for a man entering his late 50s. However, Stein does have one gripe.
“They always get my record wrong; it was 11, then 10, 20 interceptions,” Stein said. “It’s even wrong in the Hall of Champions. I’m trying to get them to change that.”