In 2008 the Central Washington Wildcats came to Washington-Grizzly Stadium and the Montana Grizzlies needed a last-second field goal to prevail 38-35.

The next time the Wildcats visited was a different story: A 48-14 win for the home team, sparked by a crazy special teams play.

It seems like today’s game in Missoula, which kicks off at 11 a.m., could go the way of the ‘08 battle, which featured highly-ranked teams from Division II and the Football Championship Subdivision. Both the current Griz and Wildcats are coming off playoff-appearances, albeit in 2019. This is their first game since.

“Openers are unique,” Montana coach Bobby Hauck, who was on the sidelines for that 2008 battle, said Monday. “Certainly this one is unique because of the space and time between games.

“There’s going to be change. We’ve had staff changes, they’ve had personnel changes. ... We can anticipate a good battle.”

The Grizzlies’ two-deep features eight first-time starters, including Nick Ostmo, a 221-pound tailback who ran for 321 yards and two touchdowns backing up Marcus Knight in 2019.

Cam Humphrey will start at quarterback after throwing for 761 yards and six touchdowns (and won all three of his starts) two years ago. Kris Brown, a redshirt freshman from Bozeman, is listed as the backup QB.

Since Samori Toure has transferred out to Nebraska, Samuel Akem — who missed four games in 2019 but still had 848 receiving yards — becomes the leading receiver. Mitch Roberts and Bryson Deming are experienced guys stepping into starting roles.

Polson’s Matt Rensvold, a junior tight end that caught a TD pass in 2019, will get his first start.

The defense is peppered with area talent: Glacier product Patrick O’Connell is back at linebacker after leading the Griz with 6.5 sacks in 2019; Eureka’s Garrett Graves backs up Nash Fouch at the nickel spot.

O’Connell and company will be dealing with a 6-foot-5, 230-pound quarterback (Christian Moore), a 200-pound running back (Michael Roots) and receiver Tyson Rainwater (795 yards and five TDs receiving in 2019).

Waiting in the wings for UM: sophomores Jackson Pepe (safety) and Drew Turner (running back) and freshmen Drew Deck (receiver) and Hank Nuce (defensive end) out of Glacier; freshmen Dillon Botner (O-line) and Carver Gilman (kicker) out of Whitefish.

Gilman is listed as the backup to Jack Cooper at place-kicker; Turner had a solid scrimmage during UM’s fall drills but is currently banged up.

This is, as most know, Hauck’s second tenure at UM. His 2003-09 teams made three national championship games and were known for special teams play, power running backs like Kalispell’s Lex Hilliard and second-half adjustments.

Montana’s special teams took a dip when Hauck left for UNLV, but one play stands out, during Mick Delaney’s tenure: A 2014 punt return by UM in which John Nguyen got popped by a Central Washington player, fumbled, and teammate Tucker Schye picked it out of the air and went 46 yards for a TD.

Hauck strongly prefers players that don’t fumble. This is more or less his third season back at UM, and the Griz play a second spring game next Saturday against visiting Portland State.

It’s certainly different, because the Griz spent the three weeks heading into today doing the usual spring drills stuff.

“Normally we have a chance to do more of the dress rehearsal type stuff,” Hauck said. “We don’t have the same kind of time as we do in August (at fall camp). I hope it doesn’t look too haphazard next week.”

The routine will barely get going and then it’ll be over until the fall.

“These next two weeks… I think the best thing we’ll be able to see out of our team is their ability to adjust on the fly, to things we haven’t planned for,” Hauck said.

“And I think certainly our fans will be glad to watch us.”