Montana Tech football will wrap up their spring drill tonight at Alumni, as they prepare for the 2023 Frontier Conference Football season. The Orediggers will open the ’23 campaign against the Saints of Carroll College on Thursday, August 31st at 6 pm. It will be the 131st meeting between Montana Tech and Carroll College, dating back to 1920. This year the two programs will meet twice, this first game will be classified a non-conference game, and they will then meet again to finish the season in Helena, on November 11th, in the conference game.

The last time the Orediggers opened a season with Carroll was 2017 when the Diggs won 45-28. You have to go back 20 years to 2003 to find the last time Montana Tech opened the regular season and then closed the season with Carroll College. Montana Tech is 6-4 against the Saints over their last 10 meetings.

The Best seat in the house.
The Best seat in the house.
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Week 2 (Sept 9th) was to be a matchup with Simon Fraser, but not long after the schedule was released Simon Fraser dropped their football program (you can read more about that HERE.) leaving the Diggs scrambling for a replacement.

Week 3 (Sept 16th) will see the Mountaineers of Eastern Oregon in town to battle the Diggs. It will be meeting number 36 between the programs. Montana Tech leads the overall series with 20 wins and 15 losses. The Orediggers have won 7 of their last 10 meetings.

Week 4 ( Sept 23rd) will be another home game, this time the Yotes from the College of Idaho. After reviving their football program in 2014, the Yotes have been a powerful addition to the Frontier Conference. The Yotes lead the overall series 9-3 (one of those wins, a 2019 field goal that still haunts my nightmares) The last Oredigger win coming on Sept 1, 2018.

Week 5 (Sept 30th) will see the Orediggers on the road to Ashland, Oregon to battle the Raiders of Southern Oregon. The Diggs are 10-7 all-time against the Raiders and have won the last five meetings overall.

Southern Oregon University football field
Southern Oregon University football field
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Week 6 (Oct 7th) will have the Orediggers back on Bob Green Field to host Western, for the Hall of Fame Game. According to my numbers, this will be the 123rd meeting between the Diggs and Dogs. (Tech leading the overall slightly 64-56-2) Looking at the last 10 games, Western has the edge winning 6. They met twice last season, splitting those contests, each team winning on the road.

(Oct 14th BYE Week)

Week 8 (Oct 21st) The Orediggers will be on the road to Billings to take on the Battlin’ Bears of Rocky Mountain College. If we consider all the games played against Intermountain Union, and Billings Poly before they combined to formed Rocky in 1947, Montana Tech has played ‘Rocky’ more than any other school. This will be the 135th game. If you just count the games against Rocky from 1949- current, this will be the 115th meeting between the programs. The Orediggers have won 7 of the last 10 meetings, and the teams split a pair of games last season.

Week 9 (Oct 28th) The Orediggers will welcome the newest Frontier Conference member to Bob Green Field, as the Firestorm of Arizona Christian will be the opponent for Senior Day. The Firestorm join the Frontier (in football only) from the Sooner Athletic Conference. ACU opened in 2012, and in that short span has made the NAIA football playoffs twice.

Sunset over Alumni
Sunset over Alumni
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Week 10 (Nov 4th) The Diggs will head north. To quote Bob Green (quoting Johnny Horton) “The Northern Lights are a running wild, in the land of the midnight sun.” Montana Tech leads the overall series 36-25-0, they have also won the last 12 meetings between the two programs. (Northern’s last win coming on Oct 18,2014.

Week 11 (Nov 11th) at Carroll College. Again, this game will be considered a conference game. (where the first game goes down as a non-conference game) Tech’s last win in Helena coming on Oct 14, 2017. But again, it is Tech-Carroll, so no hype needed.

Carroll College from the crows nest
Carroll College from the crows nest
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There is a solid chance that now open Week 2 will be filled, and when that happens, we will let you know.

#RollDiggs

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