Coastal Carolina football team prepares for icy reception at #4 Montana

by Mark Haggard The Coastal Carolina Chanticleers football team will make the longest road trip in program history when they play in Missoula, Montana in the second round of the FCS Playoffs. #11 CCU will face the #4 Montana Grizzlies (10-2) on Saturday at 2 p.m. (ET) at Washington-Grizzly Stadium. Coastal (11-2) will play Montana in below freezing temperatures. WPDE NewsChannel 15 Chief Meteoroligist Ed Piotrowski says the temperature at kickoff will be around five degrees. The Chanticleers are preparing for the game by packing plenty of warm clothing, and holding seminars from experts on how to deal with the chill. Coastal Carolina head coach Joe Moglia admits that the weather gives Montana an advantage, "if you have a team, look at the NFL stuff, you have Miami, they have to play in New England. That's an advantage for New England. There isn't any question about that. That's an advantage for them. (Montana). Another advantage is the Montana home crowd at a stadium that holds 25,217 fans, and a noise level that Coastal Carolina has experienced only one other time this season, in a 70-10 loss at South Carolina. Montana has a lifetime home winning percentage of 87.5 percent at Washington-Grizzly Stadium. They have won two national titles. This will be the first football meeting between the schools. Montana, out of the Big Sky Conference, is making its 21st appearance in the FCS Playoffs, most of any team at this level. The Griz have a 30-18 lifetime record in tournament games. The 30 post season wins are the second most of any team next to Georgia Southern with 45. Coastal Carolina has never advanced past the round of 16 in the FCS Playoffs. The Chanticleers will fly a private charter to Montana on Thursday morning. The driving distance between Conway, South Carolina and Missoula, Montana is 2,546 miles.