Griz host Delta Devils in first-ever showdown

TICKETS | WHERE TO WATCH | UM NOTES | MVSU NOTES | LIVE STATS

Fresh off an important Big Sky Conference win over the defending league champion Southern Utah Thunderbirds, the No. 10 Montana Grizzlies (3-1, 1-1 BSC) prepare to make program history this week, facing the Mississippi Valley State Delta Devils (0-5, 0-4 SWAC) of the Southwestern Athletic Conference for the first time.

Saturday's game is presented by Providence Montana Health Foundation/Team Up Montana. It's the annual pink game, where fans are asked to wear pink to support breast cancer awareness, and the team will have pink accents on its uniform to show its support too.

Kickoff against the Delta Devils is set for 2:37 p.m. at Washington-Grizzly Stadium on Oct. 8, with the GSA tailgate starting at 12:30.

THE GAME: Saturday's game against MVSU nears the midpoint of Montana's 11-game 2016 schedule, and is the final nonconference game of the year. The remainder of the Grizzlies' season is loaded with a tough Big Sky slate of games that include road trips to face Eastern Washington and Northern Arizona.

A win against MVSU would put the Griz at 4-1 on a season for the third time since 2009 with three more games in Washington-Grizzly Stadium left to play. The Grizzlies have been 4-1 or better over the first five games of the season in 10 of the last 15 years. UM has advanced to the FCS playoffs in each of those seasons. The Grizzlies now sit in a five-way tie for fifth place in the Big Sky standings at 1-1.

Mississippi Valley State (enrollment 3,400), located in Itta Bena, Miss., in the heart of the Mississippi Delta region, makes its first trip to the Rocky Mountains since 2015 when the Delta Devils played at New Mexico.

While suffering a narrow 16-14 loss last week to Jackson State, the Devils may be coming to Missoula with some extra inspiration after receiving a visit from the program's most prestigious alum, NFL Hall of Fame wide receiver Jerry Rice. Rice played for the Devils from 1981-'84, where he set NCAA record for career touchdown receptions with 50, a record that stood until 2006.

Last Saturday was Jerry Rice Day in the state of Mississippi, as Rice was on hand to watch the game, speak to the team and to be honored by the Governor. Rice's nephew Joshua Rice is a junior receiver for the Devils and has made appearances is two games this season, catching a pair of passes for 13 yards.

WATCH: Cowles Montana Media will provide a statewide broadcast of the Montana/MVSU game. In most Montana markets, the game will be shown on your local FOX 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 GoGriz.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.

WEEKLY POLLS: The Grizzlies reentered the FCS top-10 rankings in both the STATS FCS media poll and the FCS coaches poll, coming in at No. 10 on both lists this week. Western Illinois suffered a loss to South Dakota State last week to bump them out of the top-10.

The Griz are the second of four Big Sky teams to receive a ranking this week, with EWU at No. 4/5, Cal Poly at No. 21/22 and North Dakota at No. 24/21.

SERIES HISTORY: This is the first-ever matchup between Montana and MVSU. The game marks only the second time Montana has faced a member of the famed SWAC conference, comprised entirely of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). The only other time a member of the SWAC has played Montana was in 1989 when Jackson State visited Missoula in an FCS (then D1-AA) playoff game. That game was a 48-7 victory for Montana under head coach Don Read.

NEW UNIFORMS: Fans may have noticed the Grizzlies sporting new uniforms last week against Southern Utah. The new Nike Mach Speed uniforms will be UM's go-to home kit for the next three years, replacing the maroon shirts the team has worn since 2013.

The uniform combo features a matte maroon shirt and matte silver pants with heavy duty stretch woven panels, "chain maille" mesh vents and laser perforations for increased airflow and breathability.

The design features a tighter fit, white numbers with maroon and silver outlines for easier readability and a smaller MONTANA across the front of the jersey. Details also include a white Griz script logo on the pants and a silver bear paw on the sleeve. Silver helmets with a maroon script Griz logo complete the look.

FIRST AND 10 WITH THE GRIZZLIES: The Grizzlies put together a solid outing on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball against the Thunderbirds, and have improved in the national statistical rankings as a result.

Montana now has the nation's fourth-best passing offense, averaging 328.5 yards in the air per game.

Senior QB Brady Gustafson has thrown for 833 yards and six touchdowns in the past two games, placing him fourth amongst the nation's passing leaders in total offense and pass yards per game.

The Billings native has thrown for 10 touchdowns so far this year, only two shy of eclipsing his 2015 season total of 12 TDs with seven games yet to play.

Gustafson's current total of 3,328 career passing yards is just 328 yards away from passing Brent Pease's (UM QB '85-'86) career mark of 3,655 yards and moving into twelfth place on UM's all-time passers list.

Sophomore running back Jeremy Calhoun rushed for a pair of touchdowns against SUU, putting him at five so far this year after four games. During his breakout freshman season, Calhoun ran for nine TDs in 10 games, putting him halfway toward eclipsing that mark this season.

Jerry Louie-McGee, Montana's breakout star at wide receiver has moved to the top of the nation in receptions, averaging 10.3 grabs-per-contest. He is tied for the most receptions per game with EWU's Cooper Kupp.

Less than halfway through the season Louie-McGee is on track to break Joe Douglass' 1996 record for most receptions in a season with 82. Louie-McGee has 41 receptions after Saturday's game. In that record-setting 1996 season, Douglass averaged 7.45 catches per-game.

After holding the Big Sky's third most prolific rushing attack to 138 yards on the ground last Saturday, the Montana defense has also moved up the rankings, taking a seat at the top of the league's total defense list, allowing just 333.2 yards-per-game from opponents.

FOUR DOWNS WITH MISSISSIPPI VALLEY STATE: Montana defense will likely focus on stopping the Mississippi Valley passing game this week, with the Delta Devils having rushed for only 73 total yards so far this year (14.6 yards-per-game), the nation's worst rushing attack.

Junior QB Austin Bray leads the passing game for MVSU with a 102.51 efficiency rate. Bray has thrown for 905 yards this season and three TDs, averaging 181 yards in the air per game.

Brays' two favorite targets are #7 Trey Simms, who averages 13.06 yards-per-catch, and #13 Joshua Banks, who has averaged 11.5 yards-per-catch.

The Devils have been a member of the SWAC conference since 1968. The SWAC has not competed in the FCS playoffs since 1997, instead choosing to hold its own championship in December. The 2015 SWAC championship was held at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas, and drew a crowd of over 40,000.

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Players Mentioned

Jeremy Calhoun

Mick Delaney

Brady Gustafson

Jerry Louie-McGee

University of Montana Athletics