Griz veterans of final

When the Montana football team walked out on Davenport Field at Finley Stadium on Wednesday, none of the Grizzlies, except maybe a freshman or two, were looking around in wide-eyed wonder at where they were and why they were there.

"It seems like just yesterday we were here," senior safety Shann Schillinger said.

Being in Chattanooga and playing for the FCS national championship is, after all, familiar territory. Flying in Tuesday night, dinner at the Tennessee Aquarium, the media functions Wednesday and Thursday -- it's all part of the routine.

"We've been here three times in the last six years, so it feels like a home game coming in here. It really does," Montana coach Bobby Hauck said.

The top-seeded Grizzlies (14-0) definitely have a title-game experience advantage over tonight's opponent, No. 2 seed Villanova (13-1), which is making its first appearance in the championship game.

Whether that advantage will be worth anything once the ball is in the air on the opening kickoff remains to be seen, but Montana senior wideout Marc Mariani said the Grizzlies have been a lot more focused this week than they were before last year's title game against Richmond.

"I hate to compare, but I would say we're just a lot more prepared," said Mariani, who had seven catches for 172 yards in last year's game. "I think we were just so pumped last year just to be here that we kind of lost track of exactly why we were here. And I think we're pretty well focused this year."

Even though Montana has made it to the title game often -- this is the program's seventh trip, with championships in 1995 and 2001 -- last year's appearance was the first for nearly all the current Grizzlies. The previous trip to Chattanooga was in 2004, so a lot of the players "took it more of as just a fun experience to be here," Mariani said.

After losing to Richmond 24-7, "it wasn't very much fun climbing back on that plane back to Missoula, I tell you that much," he said.

The Grizzlies are staying in the same hotel that they did last year, their meeting room is the same, and they're the visitors again, so their locker room is the same. It's all familiar, so everyone is comfortable.

"We'll try to use it to our advantage, I guess, but we know that's not going to win us the game," Schillinger said.

Villanova can take some comfort in the fact that recent first-timers have done quite well in the title game. Appalachian State won the first of its three straight titles in its first appearance in 2005, and Richmond's Spiders were hardly overwhelmed a year ago in their first championship game.

Wildcats coach Andy Talley said he's confident his team won't get caught up in the gravity of the game.

"We play in an awfully tough league (the Colonial Athletic Association), and this is just another tough game for us," he said. "It's our 15th game and we've played so many top-10 teams, so the fact that it's the national championship game, I just think that puts a tag on it."

No matter how many times Montana plays for the title, Hauck said he always instills in his younger players an understanding that every appearance is special, and by no means can they count on being back any time soon.

"For us to be here three times in the last six years is a little bit remarkable," he said, "but there are no guarantees. You have to go take advantage of the opportunity."