Schmidt’s father Ed has coached all over the country, including a stint for Montana State in the late 1970s and it seems like a lot of that knowledge was passed down to the next generation.
Andrew Schmidt grew up in Bozeman and became a record-setting running back for the high school Hawks, before making the unthinkable decision to cross over to the maroon sideline for college.
Q. What’s it like for a guy who grew up playing high school football for the Bozeman Hawks to go back there and play as a Grizzly?
A. It was awesome to see all those people that I played in front of in high school and it was especially good to get the win. There were a lot of people after the game that came down to wish me well. That meant a lot to me personally. They were fans of the Cats and they lost, but they still took time to congratulate me.
Q. Did you take a lot of grief from Cat people when you decided to come to UM?
A. I always take a lot grief from people. A lot of my friends go to that school, but it’s all in good fun.
Q. Were you originally from Bozeman?
A. I moved to Bozeman when I was eight years old from San Diego. Actually, I was born in Toledo, Ohio, while my dad was coaching at Bowling Green, but we moved to San Diego when I was like a month old. He went to San Diego State and then we moved up here in ’93, just because he’d also coached at Montana State from about 1979-83.
Q. So, you were a Cat family then?
A. We were definitely a Cat family. But when I made my decision to come to UM, it was good. My dad wanted me to go to the place that would work the best for me and that was definitely here. Coach Hauck and the rest of the staff did a great job making me feel like part of the (Griz) family. My brother actually goes to MSU, but when he came to the game last weekend he was wearing all Griz stuff. It made me proud.
Q. Does the attitude change now, knowing in the playoffs it could be one-and-done if you don’t win?
A. It’s a brand new season. There’s no losers bracket, it’s win or go home. So there’s definitely a sense of urgency to go out and get it done.
Q. What do you expect from Wofford?
A. They’re a hard-nosed, disciplined team. They beat Appalachian State, so we’re not taking them lightly by any means. They’re a good, fundamentally sound team and we definitely expect to get their best, with them coming up here to play us.
Q. What did you know about the Terriers before last weekend’s selection show?
A. I had no idea where Wofford was. I just knew that they had beat App State earlier in the year. That was the extent of it. Now we’re getting to see them on tape and we can see that they’re a good opponent.
Q. UM tried to run a reverse to you on a punt return against MSU, but got called for a forward lateral. What went wrong?
A. We saw on tape that they might be susceptible to that, but the punter bobbled the snap and it took a long time for him to get it off. That gave the bullets a lot of time to get down field and disrupt the play. We looked at it on tape this week and had a good laugh. Under different circumstances it might have worked.
Q. Your birthday’s next week. What do you have planned?
A. Well, it’s one of my other friends’ birthday as well and it’s Tyson Johnson’s birthday too. We’ll probably get together and have some sort of a fun time. I’m definitely not going to do what I did last year on my 21st birthday. That got a little crazy. I’m another year older and another year wiser, so it’s not going to be as intense as that one.
Q. Do you think Eastern Washington has a shot, going down to McNeese State?
A. Eastern Washington is a good team, but so is McNeese. I think this bracket is full of good teams, and obviously because of that we have to take it one game at a time and stay focused this week on Wofford. We have to concentrate on them and give them our best game.
Q. Were you surprised that UM got the No. 3 instead of the two?
A. I think we were all a little bit surprised, but that’s the way it shook out. There’s nothing we can do about it now. We just have to focus on playing the game now. These are the cards we were dealt and there’s nothing we can do about it now.
Q. Do you prefer the playoffs, or the Bowl Championship Series?
A. I prefer a playoff system because you get a true champion. We saw last year that Florida got in with one loss and was able to destroy Ohio State. With a playoff system in place there would be no complaints about who got the national championship.
Lightning round
Favorite pizza topping? Pepperoni.
Do you play an instrument? I don’t, but I do “Guitar Hero,” pretty well, if that counts.
Ever cried at a movie? Oh, my gosh. Can I answer that? OK, I’ll say yes. “The Green Mile,” got me a little misty-eyed. Just a little bit.
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