Griz back to Big Sky play as Hornets visit Missoula

Saturday, October 15

Missoula, Mont.

2:30 PM

Montana

Sacramento State

Griz back to Big Sky play as Hornets visit Missoula

10/10/2016 9:00:00 PM | Football

By: Montana Sports Information

WHERE TO WATCH | UM NOTES | SSU NOTES | LIVE STATS

The Montana Grizzlies return to Big Sky Conference play this week after a 67-7 win over Mississippi Valley State in the team's final nonconference game of the year. The Griz will take on Sacramento State in the first of six-straight Big Sky games that will round-out the 2016 league schedule.

It's Family Weekend at the University of Montana this week when parents and family members of UM students visit campus. The office of University Relations has a full schedule of events planned for visitors to UM and Missoula that can be found at umt.edu.

This week's game against Sacramento State is presented by Stockman Bank.

THE GAME: The No. 10 Griz enter this week's home contest against the Hornets at 4-1 on the season (1-1 BSC). It's the third time since 2009 and the eleventh time since 2000 Montana has started a season off at 4-1. In all eleven of those seasons, the Griz have advanced to the playoffs.

Sacramento State comes to Missoula at 1-5 and 1-2 overall with their only victory coming over Montana State in Sacramento two weeks ago.

After a nonconference victory, Montana once again sits in a tie for fifth place in the Big Sky standings with a 1-1 conference record. Sacramento State sits in a tie for ninth place in the league standings at 1-2 overall.

A win for Montana would put the Griz at 2-1 in league play and 5-1 overall heading into a difficult two-game road stretch where UM will travel to preseason favorites Northern Arizona and current No. 4 ranked Eastern Washington to close out the month of October.

Kickoff from Washington-Grizzly Stadium is set for 2:37 p.m.

WATCH: Cowles Montana Media will provide a statewide broadcast of the UM/Sac. State game. In most Montana markets, the game will be shown on your local ABC station, while in the Billings/Miles City Market, the game will be shown on SWX.

Fans around the globe can tune into the web stream of the game at WatchBigSky.com

Chris Byers will lead the play-by-play, with color commentary and analysis from former Griz quarterback Grady Bennett and former Griz head coach Mick Delaney. Shaun Rainey will provide the sideline coverage.

LISTEN: Radio announcer Riley Corcoran will have the call of Saturday's game, supported by long-time color commentator Greg Sundberg in the booth, and Adam Painter on the sidelines. Fans can tune-in statewide to hear the call on the Montana Grizzly Sports Network, or visit gogriz.com to listen to the audio-only web stream.

SERIES HISTORY: The Grizzlies have only lost once in program history to the Hornets, leading the overall series 18-1 heading into this week's contest. Montana rattled off 16-straight wins since the first meeting between the two schools in 1993, before suffering the first loss against the Hornets in 2011. Montana is 17-1 against Sac. State since joining the Big Sky in 1996.

Jordan Canada rushed for 109 yards and two touchdowns, as the then, 12th-ranked Grizzlies defeated the Hornets 31-13 in Missoula back in 2014, the last time the two programs met.

The Griz "D" set the tone early in that game and held the Hornets to just three yards on three plays, forcing the visitors to kick a field goal to take a 3-0 lead on the opening drive.

Montana then out-scored Sac State 17-0 over the next 23 minutes, though, capped off by a Travon Van 7-yard touchdown run to give the Griz a 17-3 lead with 6:07 left in the second quarter.

WEEKLY POLLS: The Grizzlies held tight at No. 10 in both the STATS FCS media poll and the FCS coaches' polls this week after a big nonconference win. None of the other top-10 teams in the nation suffered a loss last week.

The only movement in the top-10 came thanks to the fact that No. 8 Charleston Southern was idle. No. 9 Citadel and Charleston Southern swapped places in the rankings to match the coaches' poll, as Montana held firm at 10.

The Griz are once again the second of four Big Sky teams to receive a ranking this week, with EWU at No. 4/5, Cal Poly at No. 19/20 and North Dakota at No. 22/18.

FIRST AND 10 WITH THE GRIZ:

- Montana picked up its 190^th win in Washington-Grizzly Stadium last week against MVSU. UM is now 190-28 at home since moving into the stadium in 1986. That's an 87 percent winning percentage at home.

- Mike Ralston may be in the running for the Montana Grizzlies' all-time "Mr. Versatility" award, as the 6-foot-5, 266-pound wide receiver has once again changed positions. In a rare move, Ralston bumped in from wide receiver to offensive lineman this week against the Delta Devils and has changed his number from 18 to 51.

This is the third position change for Ralston in his three years of action for the Griz. In 2014, the Eugene, Ore., native caught four passes for 41 yards at tight end before moving to defensive end in 2015 and playing in seven games. He moved to wide receiver in 2016, and with ample depth at that position, is now using his size to his advantage on the O-line.

- Quarterback Brady Gustafson has been outstanding for Montana over the last three games, throwing for 1,084 yards and setting the school record for most completions during that stretch. With his hot hand, he is now No. 7 in the nation in passing yards per-game, averaging 311 per-outing.

Gustafson has now thrown for 1,555 yards this season and 14 touchdowns, two more than he threw in seven games during the 2015 season. He's slowly climbing the list of all-time passing leaders with 3,579 career passing yards so far. "Gus" is just 55 yards shy of passing Brent Pease (UM QB '85-'86) on the all-time passing list at No. 12, and 555 yards away from passing current UM QB coach Andrew Selle at No. 11, who threw for 4,131 career yards.

- Another of Montana's all-time great passers is in the news this week. Marty Mornhinweg was a UM QB from '80-'84 and currently sits on the career passing yards leaderboard at No. 8 with 6,083 yards. It was announced Monday that Mornhinweg was hired as the new Offensive Coordinator for NFL's Baltimore Ravens, being promoted after serving as the club's quarterbacks coach.

- 59 different Grizzlies saw playing time against MVSU, providing ample opportunity for career firsts. Three players scored their first career touchdowns in that game, two of which came on the defensive side of the ball.

Connor Strahm's 78-yard interception return was the first score of his career, as was Donald Bedell's fumble recovery in the end zone.

Missoula native Colin Bingham caught his first touchdown as Grizzly. Gustafson found the redshirt freshman receiver halfway through the first quarter against MVSU for an eight-yard touchdown pass that put Montana up for good, 14-7.

Linebacker Josh Buss posted a career-high three tackles for loss against MVSU in a dominant display that earned him UM's nomination for Big Sky Defensive Player of the Week.

Backup linebacker Dante Olson had a career day with seven tackles (the second most on the team), collecting his first sack as a Grizzly and a pair of tackles-for-loss, also a first.

The Grizzlies also developed depth at the quarterback position, with senior Chad Chalich scoring his first rushing touchdown since coming in for an injured Gustafson at Liberty during week three of the 2015 season.

- Sophomore running back Jeremy Calhoun continues to find the end zone at an alarming rate. Calhoun has hit pay dirt seven times this season and is tied for second on the Big Sky's scoring list with EWU's record-setting receiver, Cooper Kupp. He's also tied with Kupp on the league's scoring leader list, a list topped by UM kicker Tim Semenza who has scored 46 points this season.

Calhoun has scored 16 TDs so far in his short career, well on his way to becoming one of the top rushing scorers in program history. For reference, Calhoun's position coach Justin Green is ranked sixth on Montana's all-time rushing touchdown list with 22 career TDs. Calhoun needs just six more to pass his coach's mark.

He's also rushed for 548 yards in less than a season and a half of action, needing just 255 more yards to crack Montana's top-20 all-time rushing yards list.

- Montana's defense has, unsurprisingly, climbed in the national defensive statistical categories after holding the Delta Devils to a school record -61 rushing yards last week.

Defensive Coordinator Jason Semore's group now ranks No. 10 in the nation in total defense and No. 8 in team tackles for loss with 43 so far this season. The Griz "D" is also boasting the Big Sky's best rushing defense, total defense, and red zone defense while holding opponents to the fewest first downs and third down conversion in the league.

FOUR DOWNS WITH SACRAMENTO STATE

Sacramento State comes to Missoula with the Big Sky's worst scoring offense, averaging 20.3 points-per-game over six games so far this season. The Hornets are also at the bottom of the league table in rushing defense (a category the Grizzlies lead the conference in) allowing opponents to rush for an average of 249.5 yards-per-game.

Sac. State's lone win this season came against Montana State two weeks ago when the Hornets scored 20 points in the fourth quarter to erase a 21-38 deficit at the end of the third quarter.

Quarterback Nate Ketteringham passed for 356 yards in that game, including 89 yards to receiver Jaelin Ratliff, who scored the final two touchdowns to seal the SSU win.

Also lining up to catch passes for the Hornets this season is Sac. State basketball star Cody Demps who has caught nine passes for 129 yards so far this season. Demps, a 6-4, 195-pound guard, was the Hornets' third-leading scorer in the '15-'16 hoops season, averaging 12 points-per-game.