Plan To Bring Their Cannon Blows Up In Grizzlies’ Face

University of Montana football fans will have to provide their own “boom” after each Grizzly touchdown Saturday during the NCAA Division I-AA national championship game.

The NCAA rules committee on Monday nixed a plan to haul the Grizzly ROTC Touchdown Cannon to Huntington, W.Va. for the title game.

“They said the decision was based on safety and crowd control issues,” said Tony Shawmede, a captain in UM’s ROTC. “We haven’t heard about anyone getting hurt in all the games we’ve had it at.”

Shawmede speculated that Marshall had something to say about banning the 500-pound cannon.

“It definitely would have been an equalizer for their 26,000 fans,” he said.

The ROTC is going to try and find a place to fire the cannon as the Grizzlies leave town today to board their charter plane. And Shawmede said he hoped it could boom from somewhere in the Missoula valley on Saturday each time the Grizzlies score.