Editors note: This is the second of a three-part series looking at Montanas 1995 national championship football team for its 25th anniversary. Part one ran in Friday's paper and part three runs Sunday.

MISSOULAMike Bouchee still thinks back to Montana's 1995 national championship football game whenever he hears Kool & the Gang's song "Celebration."

The Griz linebacker and his teammates were at a banquet with Marshall, their opponent for that game 25 years ago, when the Thundering Herd's players sang that celebratory song during the karaoke portion of their two-team event. Some Marshall players wore T-shirts proclaiming themselves 1995 national champions the next day at an awards luncheon.

It didn't sit well with Montana's players, who were regularly told by coach Don Read to be "vanilla." Read's approach was all about staying humble and not giving the opponent bulletin-board material.

Montana already was eager to try to win a national title, but the disrespect added to the motivation. The Griz got the last laugh and were the ones who got to sing "celebrate good times" when they emerged on Dec. 16, 1995, with a 22-20 victory that still resonates with Montana fans.

Mick Dennehy, then-offensive coordinator: A day or two prior, we had a banquet for both teams, and our kids were so pissed. They felt like Marshall was big-timing us and there wasnt any respect. They were fighting mad. We had to escort Yohance Manzanarez out of that banquet. He was ready to kill somebody.

Yohanse Manzanarez, then-senior defensive end: These guys from Marshall were so cocky, and everything was mocking Montana, and theyre singing celebrate good times. I would have been just fine if we had the football game right there. I was OK to go to the parking lot and find out who the best team was that night. I had a hard time sleeping. If you didnt have any fire up to that point, it lit a flame.

Mike Bouchee, then-junior linebacker: In our minds, they were already celebrating their victory in the game yet to come. We felt like they were taunting us and pointing at us. We went into there with an edge and we came out of there angry and couldnt wait to play.

Dave Dickenson, then-senior quarterback: The guys were making fun of our country bumpkins and trying to sing country songs on karaoke. They were doing it in jest and trying to stereotype us. Our guys took offense to it. I felt really excited to play that game and created my own motivation.

Matt Wells, then-senior wide receiver: It definitely motivated us. They really did believe that this was going to be a walk in the park and wed gotten lucky to be there and they were going to win the game.

Blaine McElmurry, then-junior safety: We felt they were insulting us. I remember walking away from the banquet with a sour taste in my mouth. It really amped up the motivation. It was a weird experience and not vanilla by any means.

Montana had been slowly climbing the ladder of respect on the national stage under Read andwas making the program's first trip to the title game in 1995 while Marshall was there for the fourth time in five years. Read's hiring in 1986 and the opening of Washington-Grizzly Stadium that same season were pivot points in the rise of the football program, while the 1989 run to the semifinals taught them about the type of player they needed to recruit.

The Griz felt they had something special brewing by the time they suffered a 49-48 loss to Delaware in the first round of the 1993 playoffs and were bounced from the semifinals in 1994 after an injury to quarterback Dave Dickenson. The expectations were ramped up as did the potential recognized within the team, even as Read preached remaining vanilla. The Griz went into the 1995 playoffs with a 9-2 record and No. 6 seed and caught some breaks with teams being upset to give them three home games.

Dennehy: Our goal in 1993 was to win the Big Sky championship, and we did, and we got a taste of the playoffs and knew we were going to get better and we better start thinking bigger than Big Sky championship.

Bouchee: Coach Read got the whole team on the field after a practice and talked to us about what he thought our team could achieve and he pointed up at the press box and said up there the press box is empty, we have nothing written on that, weve been saving that to write national champions, I want this team to be up there.

McElmurry: It was on our radar that this is something we can do. Coach Read put it out there for us and said this is what we think we can do. The first goals were always Big Sky championship, beat the Bobcats.

Wells: 93 we were new to being good and didnt know how to handle it. 94 was an outstanding team with great players across the board, but we had injuries. 95 was really when we knew we could do it, but people didnt think we could do it because we lost some talented seniors, so that was some extra incentive.

Eric Simonson, then-senior O-lineman: We should have sealed the deal in 94. We had such a great team with some seniors who graduated, but Dave got hurt, and that hurt us. I felt we left a trophy on the table that year.

Andy Larson, then-junior kicker: I think the 94 team was extremely talented. I think our defense was better in 95. In 94, we had the talent offensively and defensively, the awesome leaders. We just had that one injury to our best player. 95 it worked out really perfectly. Our 96 team was better; we were housing everybody but ran into a team that was loaded.

McElmurry: The 96 team, we returned a lot of good players. I thought in a lot of respects we were better than 95, but that Marshall team was better too.

Brian Toone, then-junior D-lineman: I have not watched the 96 championship game again. To win a title and go 14 games untested, we were handling people and were confident and wanted a second one so bad. It kind of showed me how elusive that national title is. I think thats what resonates about 95 is they had seen sparks of magic in 93 and in 94, and it all came together in 95. We had an incredible junior class and senior class that wouldnt stop and some underclassmen who contributed huge.

Crebo, then-sophomore linebacker: We knew the senior class and juniors were going to be with us and knew we had a special team. I dont think we were overconfident that we had it in the bag, but we knew we had a good team, the guys dedicated themselves in the offseason that this is our chance and this is Daves last year. We felt we had the pieces and the team. That 95 team is just sandwiched between some really good teams.

Dickenson: We werent riding our laurels going into the playoffs because we got our butts handed to us by Idaho and had a dogfight vs. the Cats. There was nobody slacking. Nobody was overconfident. We wanted an opportunity. We got the games at Washington-Grizzly and the confidence grew.

Wayne Hogan, then-athletic director: Were at practice Thanksgiving week heading into the playoffs, and Don Read calls the whole team together and says our new AD came out to practice and I thought Id bring him over to see what he wants to say. Im all jacked up about being there, and so I get in the middle and say Ive seen great football teams at Florida State where we won a national championship in 1993 with Charlie Ward and Warrick Dunn, and Im going to tell you, Ive seen you guys play and this team looks like a national championship team. That was not what Don wanted me to say. Next time I saw him, he said thats the last time Ill ever ask you to speak to the team.

Simonson: At times, it felt like we were unbeatable because of the way things were coming together. Coach Read harped on walking up and down the stretching lines day after day preaching vanilla, vanilla, vanilla. It was his mantra.

Montana opened the playoffs with a 48-0 win over Eastern Kentucky, pitched a 45-0 shutout against Georgia Southern and blasted Stephen F. Austin, 70-14, to advance past the semifinals, the place where the 1994 season ended against Youngstown State. That sent the Griz to the title game in Huntington, West Virginia, a predetermined site that happened to be the home of the other title-game participant, Marshall.

Montana's defense rose to the occasion in the title game after not having to be relied upon in the playoffs. McElmurry had the tone-setting hit early, and the Griz held standout running back Chris Parker to 94 rushing yards.Grizzly cornerback Mike Temple picked off future NFL quarterback Chad Pennington, who was held to 246 yards passing. Pennington was called for intentional grounding in the end zone as Butte natives Brian Toone and Randy Riley combined for the safety, the margin in the 22-20 victory, which had two ties and two lead changes.

Bouchee: Losing at Youngstown in 94, we knew coming back in 95 that somehow we were going to have to pick up the pace on defense. We watched a ton of film on Youngstowns defense and watched the speed and intensity and discipline with which Youngstown played, and we knew we had to replicate that speed and intensity. By the time we got to the playoffs, we really were playing our best defense.

McElmurry: At the championship, I thought we were going to be after them. I didnt think it would be as close as it was. I was nave. That team was better than I realized. Its hard because youre watching film and the teams we played before that looked really tough too, but we had been unstoppable.

Toone: I think that toughness that our defense watched our offense perform with made the defense want to play even tougher and even harder.

Bouchee: In seven on sevens, wed be going against Dave (Dickenson) every day in skeleton period. You couldnt imagine a better training for our defense than to chase around our receivers.

Dickenson: Give (defensive coordinator) Jerome (Souers) some credit because being a spread offense, we scored quite a bit and werent shortening the clock. They found that groove on defense to turn the tides for us.

Wells: Our defense played so well, and one of the biggest turning points was when Blaine McElmurry hits that running back. In todays world, he probably would have been thrown out for targeting. Our touchdowns, safety or field goals, that was at that point as big a play as any.

Manzanarez: The McElmurry hit set the tone. I love how that encapsulated Montana. Heres your tough-nosed Montana kid who runs through their running back, and the cocky Marshall guy does a dance and gets a penalty. No showboating or swagger for us. Coach Read preached you just do your job and you do it well.

Bouchee: Blaines big hit established the tempo that we wanted to play with, that we were going to play hard, play fast and play smart. I think it let them know how we were going to be playing that day. The safety by the two Butte guys ended up being the difference in the game.

Toone: I had broken my arm in the Idaho game, so I played that game with a club on and two rods in my forearm. That was pretty awesome. Not being a young kid now, you start looking at the level of work and coaching that went into that. The safety was incredible play calling on the line to give us players the opportunity.

McElmurry: We wanted to show the rest of the country that our defense was there too and we were part of the team too. It was fun for us to step up and make plays.

After Montana blew a 19-10 lead, Dickenson and the offense rose to the occasion running Reads pass-heavy offense that featured Matt Wells, Mike Erhardt and transfer Joe Douglass. They put together a 12-play, 72-yard, game-winning drive in the waning minutes, keyed by a fourth-and-2 conversion on a slant pass to Erhardt.

Dickenson, who won the 1995 Walter Payton Award, threw for 281 yards and two touchdowns to Matt Wells in the win despite being sacked 10 times. He finished with 1,500 yards and 13 touchdowns in four playoff games, giving him 5,676 yards and 51 passing touchdowns in 15 games that season.

Simonson: The first time I became aware of our offense was when we were running the scout-team offense against the first-team defense and Dickenson and myself and some phenomenal kids on the scout-team offense would march down the field and score on the first-team defense. Dickenson would be working his magic and Souers would yell at the scout team coaches to pull us back a little bit: You cant let those guys run roughshod over us, youre ruining our defenses confidence.

Dickenson: My two biggest fourth-down throws were my first start and my last, South Dakota State and Marshall. One to (Scott) Gurnsey on fourth down and the slant to Erhardt on fourth down. I never felt any pressure being behind but felt pressure when youre ahead because you dont want to screw it up. For me, thats why I never felt any pressure on those fourth-down throws because Im going for it. Thats how Ive lived my life as well.

Simonson: One of the big hurdles was against Boise in 1994. They opened a blitz package that confounded us and they put it on us. That hurt our pride as an offense and cast doubt and were not invincible. Thats the game Dave got hurt. The following year in 95, we had Boise for homecoming, my son was born that week, and that was a paramount moment to overcome that obstacle that had cast some doubt, and it acted as a springboard for our offense.

Brent Pease, then-QBs/RBs coach: I have been fortunate to coach some good players and guys in the NFL, and I look at two guys, (Boise State quarterback) Kellen Moore and Dave Dickenson. Something they had other kids dont is the awareness, the anticipation. They know the movements of the defense and knew their assignments, but to know what the other 10 are doing, it takes a pretty football-intelligent guy. I went along on my career, and Dave set a standard of what to look for in a player. Some of that is not something you can develop. Thats something I appreciate about him.

Simonson: Coach Read was an offensive genius and wrote a book on the subject. What made everything gel was Dave and his acumen. Its hard to put a specific quality on his intangibles. The difference between Dave Dickenson and Drew Brees is 2 inches, 20 pounds and $200 million dollars. His attention to detail and ability to translate it in high-pressure situations, Ive never seen anybody else be able to do that. Not only did he have the X-factor in games but a calming effect on the offense.

Dickenson: I was always nervous for every single game. In my younger years and in the pros, Id get myself so worked up and throw up and off Id go. I had a bit of a shoulder separation, and I didnt get hit that much in the playoffs, but that game started and they were faster than any team wed played. They were on me so damn fast that it did feel like, Wow, we had played Washington State that year, but they were fast and confident and on that AstroTurf. I think we all knew this isnt going to be like the rest of the playoff games.

Dennehy: Poor ol David got the crap beat out of him. And yet he still was a tough son of a gun. He persevered. We persevered and found a way.

Wells: If you would have told us before the game we could get the ball with 4 or 5 minutes left where a score wins the game and put the ball in Daves hands, wed sign up for that. I know a lot of people like to talk about how talented Marshall was and David vs. Goliath coach Reads mantra was always vanilla, we dont give anybody any bulletin board material, but I can drop vanilla now and say we were a very good team too.

Larson put the finishing touches on the championship with a field goal after making a 48-yarder and missing a 37-yard earlier in the game. It was the ultimate conversion for the eventual four-year starter whose missed extra point in 1993 against Delaware bounced the Griz from the playoffs.

The celebration was on after Marshall missed a 63-yard field goal as time expired. The party that began on the east coast didnt prepare the players for what was to come when they returned to Missoula.

Larson: Delaware, that was a tough one my freshman year, but I got to learn from my mistakes. I missed kicks throughout my sophomore year, which was pretty rough year to be honest. The McNeese State game, which was the end of my sophomore year, I had a really up and down year, but I made a kick against McNeese State 37 yards in the mud and won the game, so that was kind of helping to heal and let me get things rolling again. It helped me hitting the game winner against Northern Arizona in 95, so I was continuing to build.

Dickenson: When its over, instead of elation, theres a feeling of relief that weve done this. I felt it was one of those where Im just exhausted. I dont think people realize how much it takes to play that many games and go to school and take care of grades and grow up and everyone still has to make time for girlfriends and family.

Crebo: I hated flying, so I wasnt looking forward do that flight back. That plane was so weighted down, its amazing we made it back. We got back late and saw the crowd at the airport and the streets lined up, it was a neat thing to be a part of it. You were sort of celebrity status for a night.

Bouchee: We landed in Missoula and didnt know what was going on back in town. There was no internet back then, so we could only imagine. When we landed, this is late at night, pitch black and just hundreds and hundreds of people to greet us at the airport. At that point, it hit us: this is really something huge for the university, the community, the state.

Manzanarez: You feel like a true rock star, and to go downtown that night and be in the environment where people still were partying, we had a hard time navigating through the bars. You go somewhere with Dave Dickenson, it was a circus. That was the mountaintop for our division, for Griz football, and to be on that mountain is pretty euphoric.

Bouchee: We had these goofy blue track suits on, so the Griz football players had a blue track suit on, and if you had one on, it was the life of the party, free drinks at the bar, pats on the back. The ride didnt really stop. We had the celebration at the fieldhouse, retired Daves number, played his call with President (Bill) Clinton. This is huge, this is major stuff.

Dickenson: I do remember the post assembly. Bill Clinton gave me a holler. Don retired my jersey; I didnt want it then. I didnt even think about it because other things were going on. When I went back in 2018 for the College Football Hall of Fame, I was able to soak it in and feel the love of the people and the fans. That was one of my top experiences in my life.

Larson: I remember Dave saying something like, 'Yeah, I set a bunch of records, but records are there to be broken. A championship is in stone and nobodys going to take that away from you.' Its pretty awesome to be the first and to always have that.

Excerpt from:

From vanilla to victorious: An oral history of Montana's rise to winning the 1995 national championship - 406mtsports.com