Toreros to play Montana in playoffs

Dressed in the college football player’s standard early-morning attire (sweats and droopy eyelids), USD’s team trudged into the Jenny Craig Pavilion’s Warren Hospitality Suite today to find out who the Toreros face Saturday in the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs.

When the ESPNU Selection Show bracket flashed the Toreros opposite Montana, in Missoula, the players unleashed the perfunctory ovation. Then they logged onto their cell phones for a scouting report.

What they found of interest:

The weather report for the 1 p.m. Pacific Standard Time kickoff calls for temperatures in the low 30s, with a 40 percent chance of snow and/or rain.

“All I knows is if it’s 30 and snowing, it’ll be the same on their sideline,” said head coach Dale Lindsey.

The Grizzlies play at Washington-Grizzly Stadium, an outdoor facility that seats about 25,000, where fans throw Twinkies at opposing offensive linemen and snowballs into the opposition’s coaching booth.

“That’s college football at its finest,” said USD safety Troy McClelland.

The Toreros (9-2) qualified for the playoffs by winning the Pioneer Football League. Montana (8-4), which plays in the Big Sky Conference, received an at-large bid. USD has been eligible to play in the FCS playoffs since joining the PFL in 1993, but this is the Toreros’ first trip to the FCS’s 24-team playoffs.

“We want to (ital) do (end ital) something in the playoffs,” said wide receiver Brandon White. “Not just (ital) be (end ital) in the playoffs.”

Montana features two key players with San Diego ties. Running back Travon Van is a Helix High product. He’s the Grizzlies’ second-leading rusher (478 yards, 5.4-yard per-carry average) and second-leading receiver (53/555 yards). He has scored a team-best 11 touchdowns.

Linebacker Jeremiah Kose (Vista High/Palomar College) is the team’s second-leading tackler with 102 stops.

USD and Montana share one common opponent. The Toreros closed the regular season Saturday with a 34-3 loss to Cal Poly. Montana was dealt a 41-21 defeat by the Mustangs.

Neither players nor coaches feel the lopsided Cal Poly defeat will negatively impact USD.

“That might have been a little bit of a wake-up call,” White said.

“Everyone get their wounds licked up, heal up real good and forget about ’em,” Lindsey told his players. “The 2014 FCS playoff season has begun.”

Like USD, Montana features a 1,000-yard rusher in 5-foot-9, 190-pound senior Jordan Canada (1,011 yards). The Grizzlies are led by senior quarterback Jordan Johnson, who has thrown for 2,405 yards and 20 TDs against only five interceptions.