Montana enters Bobby Kennedy era still built for FCS title run

Montana did not lose its championship ceiling when Bobby Hauck walked out of the picture. It simply entered the Bobby Kennedy era with a roster that still looks more like a contender than a team in transition, and the standard in Missoula remains blunt: anything short of a title run counts as underachieving.

Kennedy was named Montana’s 38th head football coach on Feb. 5, 2026, after Hauck’s departure following the 2025 season. He has already said the championship standard has not changed, and the numbers back up the expectation. Montana finished 13-2, went 7-1 in the Big Sky Conference and reached the FCS semifinals, which is the kind of resume that keeps a program in the national conversation even when the sideline changes.

The centerpiece is Keali'i Ah Yat, who led the FCS with 4,070 passing yards and 33 touchdown passes in 2025. He was completing more than 70% of his throws and stacking 300-yard games during the playoff run, but the real question is whether that production holds when the games tighten in November and December. Montana’s semifinal loss to Montana State exposed the edge it still has to close: Ah Yat and the offense started fast, then the Bobcats ripped off 28 unanswered points after halftime in a 48-23 win.

Eli Gillman gives Montana a second gear that most playoff teams would envy. He finished 2025 with more than 1,500 rushing yards and 21 touchdowns, building on the 2023 Jerry Rice Award he won before becoming a consensus All-American. With Brooks Davis back at receiver and key defensive pieces such as Solomon Tuliaupupu, Peyton Wing, Tanner Huff and Jake Mason returning, Montana is not trying to replace a core. It is trying to preserve one.

That matters because the Grizzlies’ most revealing games are still ahead of them. The trip to Oregon State gives Montana an FBS test, while the late-year collision with Montana State remains the real measuring stick. The 2025 semifinal was the first FCS playoff meeting between the rivals, the 125th meeting overall in a series that began in 1897, and Montana still leads 75-45-5 despite the Bobcats winning three straight. If Kennedy’s transfer group from programs such as Georgetown, San Diego, Utah Tech, Arizona State, North Texas, Bowling Green, Rice and Carroll blends quickly, Montana has the infrastructure, the production and the pedigree to stay in the title hunt. The margin between very good and champion-level will come down to whether the Grizzlies keep their quarterback upright, their backfield explosive and their late-season edge intact.