Montana
‘No quit’: Montana, dealing with emotions of semifinal loss, goes back to drawing board
MISSOULA — It was an emotional scene at Bobcat Stadium for the Montana Grizzlies at the conclusion of Saturday’s playoff game as Montana finishes the season 13-2. Those two losses came against the same program as the Grizzlies got on the doorstep of the national championship game, but fell just short.
“I’m just extremely grateful,” UM wide receiver Michael Wortham said after the Grizzlies’ 48-23 semifinal loss to rival Montana State. “Sucks that it’s the last game, but thankful for these guys and the opportunity they gave me. There was never no quit, you know? We battled through a lot of things behind closed doors.
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‘No quit’: Montana, dealing with emotions of semifinal loss, goes back to drawing board
“This team is amazing. I just hope we’re remembered for how hard we worked and how hard we came out there each and every day to play against whoever.”
The Bobcats were too much to overcome for the Griz on Saturday as they beat them twice this season.
Photos: Montana State beats Montana in historic playoff meeting
The rivalry’s heightened importance in the regular and now postseason has risen because of where both programs stand in both the Big Sky Conference and FCS landscape.
“(Montana State has) done a really good job,” UM head coach Bobby Hauck said. “And the bar was set in this conference by us, and there’s been a desperate urgency at this place to catch up, and certainly they have.
“I talk to Leon (Costello), talk to Brent (Vigen), and everybody’s looking at the two of us. And we have good football programs. We have good players. We have good coaches. It’s highly competitive, whether it’s recruiting or on the field.”
That competition culminated into the largest meeting ever between the two.
“Competition’s good. That’s why you do this,” Hauck said. “And it’s highly and wildly competitive. And my impression, the wrong team won today, but that’s 50% of the state, not the other 50.”
Emotions surrounding these programs colliding are always high, and in sports one team has to lose.
This time it was Montana, as their season concludes one game short of where they’d like.
“It’s been the best time of my life,” UM safety TJ Rausch said. “I love these guys. I love my coaches. I’ve had more fun this year than I’ve ever had playing football. And I can’t thank our coaches and my teammates enough for that.”
“I’m proud of our team. I’m proud of my guys. We have quality, class, young men in our program,” Hauck added. “They play football the right way. Our coaches coach them the right way. And I’m as proud to be a head football coach as I’ve ever been today.”
Montana
Montana Lottery Mega Millions, Big Sky Bonus results for July 7, 2026
The Montana Lottery offers multiple draw games for those aiming to win big.
Here’s a look at July 7, 2026, results for each game:
Winning Mega Millions numbers from July 7 drawing
02-31-35-36-63, Mega Ball: 12
Check Mega Millions payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Big Sky Bonus numbers from July 7 drawing
09-21-24-29, Bonus: 15
Check Big Sky Bonus payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Millionaire for Life numbers from July 7 drawing
27-43-48-49-50, Bonus: 02
Check Millionaire for Life payouts and previous drawings here.
Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results
When are the Montana Lottery drawings held?
- Powerball: 8:59 p.m. MT on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
- Mega Millions: 9 p.m. MT on Tuesday and Friday.
- Lucky For Life: 8:38 p.m. MT daily.
- Lotto America: 9 p.m. MT on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
- Big Sky Bonus: 7:30 p.m. MT daily.
- Powerball Double Play: 8:59 p.m. MT on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
- Montana Cash: 8 p.m. MT on Wednesday and Saturday.
- Millionaire for Life: 9:15 p.m. MT daily.
Missed a draw? Peek at the past week’s winning numbers.
This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a Great Falls Tribune editor. You can send feedback using this form.
Montana
Surreal trail-cam footage shows giant, ‘big-headed’ grizzly bear
One characteristic that distinguishes male grizzly bears from female grizzly bears is a larger head.
With that in mind, check out the grizzly bear featured this week on the Mission Valley Montana Grizz Cam Facebook page. (Photo and video posted below; view Instagram version here.)
The imagery, captured after dusk on July 3, shows a large grizzly bear pausing and sniffing in front of the camera before exiting the frame. Several followers commented on the beauty of the the striking bruin.
“Absolutely MAGNIFICENT!” one person exclaimed.
ALSO: Bison fight on Yellowstone road reveals raw power of iconic beasts
But others remarked about the size and shape of the grizzly bear’s head, and the appearance of thicker fur on its shoulders.
This, along with the gray lighting, lends a surreal quality to the footage. (Click here if video player doesn’t appear below.)
“No doubt that’s a big-headed male griz,” one follower remarked. “It looks like he picked up some scent left at the camera site and moved off!”
“Look at that head! YEOW!” another follower exclaimed. “What an amazing critter.”
The folks behind Mission Valley Montana Grizz Cam use motion-sensor cameras in different locations to capture footage of grizzly bears in Mission Valley, in northwestern Montana.
The Grizz Cam website states: “In 2015 we started seeing a lot of Grizzly Bears on our property so we decided that setting up some trail cameras might lead to some interesting footage and give us insight.
“Several cameras were put in various locations, and we came to realize there were more bears than any of us had anticipated.”
While many Grizz Cam clips look similar, and some feature brilliant daytime colors and audio, this post stands out because of the unique appearance of the bear.
As one follower stated, “That’s a bad boy there.”
Montana
The Record is Clear: The Wilderness Society, Greater Yellowstone Coalition, and Montana Wilderness Association have Consistently Undermined the Roadless Rule
Beartooth Range, Montana. Photo: Jeffrey St. Clair.
The Wilderness Society, the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, and the Montana Wilderness Association, now rebranded “Wild Montana,” all claim they support the Roadless Rule and have been asking people for donations to oppose efforts to repeal it. But a review of the record shows that these “conservation” groups have supported opening 1,585,000 acres or Roadless and Wilderness Study Areas to logging and road building since the roadless rule went into effect in 2001.
Tracy Stone-Manning, now the President of The Wilderness Society, has been widely quoted as supporting the Roadless Rule. But while working as a top environmental advisor for former Montana Senator Jon Tester, she strongly supported his 2009 Forest Jobs and Recreation Act. The Montana Wilderness Association, now doing business as Wild Montana, was also one of the main cheerleaders for Tester’s bill
Although the bill never passed, it would have opened one million acres of roadless lands in the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest in southwest Montana and mandated logging 10,000 acres per year for 10 years in the Beaverhead and Kootenai National Forests. The Kootenai contains the smallest, most threatened grizzly population in the world in the Cabinet-Yaak. Since most grizzly bears are killed within 1/3 of a mile of a road, more logging means more logging roads would be bulldozed into grizzly habitat, resulting in more dead grizzly bears. The measure was so extreme even the Forest Service opposed it.
The groups also strongly supported former Montana Senator Max Baucus’ Rocky Mountain Front Heritage Act, passed as a rider on the 2014 defense spending bill. The measure opened 208,000 acres of roadless lands to logging and road-building and guaranteed grazing in perpetuity with no environmental analysis or public review. The pitiful 67,000 acres of wilderness tack-ons also required the sacrifice of four Wilderness Study Areas in Eastern Montana, opening 29,000 acres to oil and gas exploration and development.
Then came Tester’s 2017 Blackfoot Clearwater Stewardship Act that carved up 50,000 acres of an Inventoried Roadless Areas contiguous to the Scapegoat and Bob Marshall Wilderness Areas. The measure also allowed loggers to decide where to build roads and designated 5,000 acres as a play area for snowmobiles and mountain bikes.
The bill didn’t even make it out of committee, but now these same groups have renamed it “A River Runs Through It Act” — although there is no sponsor and no “act.” In addition to the roadless lands Tester’s bill would have destroyed, it turns over management of 70,000 acres in grizzly, lynx and wolverine habitat in the Ogden Mountain Roadless Area northwest of Lincoln Montana to the timber industry. It also converts 130,000 acres of Inventoried Roadless Areas into play areas for motorized recreation and mountain bikers.
The clearcutting, bulldozing new logging roads, and motorized recreation in roadless areas will send tons of sediment into the Blackfoot River which has been designated critical habitat for bull trout, a threatened species. It should be called “A Clearcut Runs Through It Act.”
Finally, all three groups support the Greater Yellowstone Conservation And Recreation proposal. There is no sponsor and no bill, but the proposal opens much of the Lee Metcalf Wilderness Study Area and other Inventoried Roadless Areas to motorized recreation, logging and road building. While adding only 102,000 acres as wilderness — less than half of the 250,000 acres that qualify for wilderness designation — it also significantly reduces the 155,000 acre Hyalite-Porcupine-Buffalo Horn Wilderness Study Area by 53,000 acres.
Don’t fall for the con. The record is clear: these groups have supported reducing, not protecting Inventoried Roadless Areas in the past and are doing so now.
Please consider helping us get the only bill before Congress that would designate all 23 million acres of roadless in the Northern Rockies designated as wilderness, the Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act. Please also consider donating to Counterpunch to help them continue exposing hypocrites.
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