EWU–UM Governors Cup

EWU–UM Governors Cup

File:Eastern Washington wordmark.png Eastern Washington Montana Grizzlies
Sport	Football
First meeting	September 24, 1938 Montana 27, Eastern Washington 0
Latest meeting	November 14, 2015 Montana 57, Eastern Washington 16
Next meeting	2016
Trophy	The Governors' Cup
Statistics
Meetings total	42
All-time series	Montana leads 27–15–1
Largest victory	Montana, 63–7 (1995)
Longest win streak	4, Montana (Four times) Eastern Washington (One time)
Current win streak	Montana, 1 (2015–present)

The EWU–UM Governors Cup is the annual college football game between the University of Montana Grizzlies and the Eastern Washington University Eagles.

History

Traditionally, the Governors Cup is a very intense and heated rivalry between these two teams, mainly because the winner of the game usually is in the running to be the champion of the Big Sky Conference.

In the past 7 seasons the winner of the game has gone on to the playoffs. The rivalry between the two teams is so popular that the game has also sold out the past 7 years. The game is usually played in the middle of the regular season, played on the Saturday alternating between Roos Field and Washington-Grizzly Stadium each year. From 1967–2004 (except for 1974), EWU hosted the game at Spokane's Joe Albi Stadium.

The Montana Grizzlies currently lead in the rivalry with 27 wins and 15 losses. There has been only one tie, which occurred in 1984.

Montana currently broke Eastern Washington four-game winning streak and won 57–16.

Game results

Eastern Washington victories

Montana victories

#	Date	Location	Winner	Score
1	1938	Missoula, MT	Montana	27–0
2	1940	Missoula, MT	Montana	9–0
3	1946	Missoula, MT	Montana	31–7
4	1947	Spokane, WA	Montana	21–0
5	1948	Great Falls, MT	Eastern Washington	12–7
6	1949	Missoula, MT	Montana	19–6
7	1950	Cheney, WA	Montana	52–0
8	1980	Missoula, MT	Montana	42–7
9	1981	Spokane, WA	Eastern Washington	14–13
10	1983	Spokane, WA	Eastern Washington	27–26
11	1984	Missoula, MT	Tie	14–14
12	1985	Spokane, WA	Eastern Washington	52–19
13	1986	Missoula, MT	Montana	42–37
14	1987	Spokane, WA	Montana	22–3
15	1988	Missoula, MT	Montana	30–6
16	1989	Spokane, WA	Montana	22–16
17	1990	Missoula, MT	Eastern Washington	36–35
18	1991	Cheney, WA	Eastern Washington	20–17
19	1992	Missoula, MT	Eastern Washington	27–21
20	1993	Cheney, WA	Montana	35–20
21	1994	Missoula, MT	Montana	49–29
22	1995	Cheney, WA	Montana	63–7

#	Date	Location	Winner	Score
23	1996	Cheney, WA	Montana	34–30
24	1997	Missoula, MT	Eastern Washington	40–35
25	1998	Spokane, WA	Montana	30–27
26	1999	Missoula, MT	Montana	25–7
27	2000	Spokane, WA	Montana	41–31
28	2001	Missoula, MT	Montana	29–26
29	2002	Spokane, WA	Eastern Washington	30–21
30	2003	Missoula, MT	Montana	41–10
31	2004	Cheney, WA	Montana	31–28
32	2005	Missoula, MT	Eastern Washington	34–20
33	2006	Cheney, WA	Montana	33–17
34	2007	Missoula, MT	Montana	24–23
35	2008	Cheney, WA	Montana	19–3
36	2009	Missoula, MT	Montana	41–34
37	2010	Cheney, WA	Eastern Washington	36–27
38	2011	Missoula, MT	Montana	17–14
39	2012	Cheney, WA	Eastern Washington	32–26
40	2013	Missoula, MT	Eastern Washington	42–37
41	2014	Cheney, WA	Eastern Washington	36–26
42	2014A	Cheney, WA	Eastern Washington	37–20
43	2015	Missoula, MT	Montana	57–16
Series: Montana leads 27–15–1

^A FCS 2nd Round Playoff Game

Roos Field

File:RoosField1.jpg

A sold out crowd (roughly 12,000 fans) watch EWU beat UM in the Annual Governors Cup rivalry game.

Main article: Eastern Washington Eagles football

Main article: Roos Field

With more than 2,000 bleachers added, record crowds of 11,702 in 2010 and 11,583 in 2006 attended the showdowns with Montana, the most recent match up in 2010 was won by the Eagles. The previous record before 2004 was 6,879 for the Eastern – Idaho game on Oct. 17, 1992, when temporary bleachers were employed in addition to the 5,000 permanent seats. The top 25 attendances at Roos Field have come since the early 1990s, including the top eight in the last three seasons.

On February 26, 2010, ESPN reported that Eastern Washington planned to remove the natural turf at Woodward Field and replace it with red SprinTurf, making it the second Division 1 college football program to have a non-green playing surface (Boise State of the WAC has a blue surface). On May 20, 2010 the Eastern Washington Board of Trustees approved a name change to Roos Field, scheduled for the 2010 season, upon the successful completion of the project.

Washington-Grizzly Stadium

Main articles: Montana Grizzlies football and Washington-Grizzly Stadium

The stadium is named after construction magnate Dennis Washington, a Montana business pioneer who donated $1 million to finance the stadium's construction in 1985. The stadium has been expanded three times since its opening in 1986, most recently in 2008 with an upper deck expansion of 2,000 seats on the east side.

The original seating capacity in 1986 was 12,500 permanent seats on the sidelines with open grass seating behind the end zones, an approximate capacity of 15,000. Permanent seating for the end zones was installed in 1995, which brought the seating capacity to over 19,000. The most recent expansion in 2008 brought the seating capacity to over 25,000.