Griz host Thunderbirds in key Big Sky matchup

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After nearly a month away, the No. 11 Montana Grizzlies return to Washington-Grizzly Stadium this week for a Big Sky Conference showdown with the defending league champion Southern Utah Thunderbirds (No. 24), set for Saturday, Oct. 1 at 2:30 p.m.

Saturday's game is presented by the Missoula Federal Credit Union.

It's homecoming weekend for the Grizzlies, when The University of Montana welcomes alumni and guests from across the globe back for a week of celebration, "Under the Big Sky."

Saturday's game is the second Big Sky Conference game of the 2016 season for both Southern Utah and Montana. The Thunderbirds are coming off a 45-31 win over Portland State and sit at 1-0 BSC (2-1 overall). The Grizzlies (2-1 overall, 0-1 BSC) suffered their first loss of the season last weekend in California, in a 42-41 slugfest with Cal Poly, who executed the nation's number one rushing attack.

Though a loss for the Griz, quarterback Brady Gustafson and receiver Jerry Louie-McGee each broke school records and tied Big Sky conference records for pass completions and receptions.

With a school record 21 catches for 155 yards, Louie-McGee was named the STATS FCS National Freshman Player of the Week.

Southern Utah earned the program's first Big Sky Championship in 2015, just two seasons after entering the league in 2013. The T-birds also produced the league's top defense in 2015, with two players advancing on to play in the NFL.

Southern Utah's only loss so far this season came at the hands of the Pac-12's Utah Utes. In a solid defensive outing, the Thunderbirds' defense held the nationally ranked Utes to just 24 points, but their offense couldn't put any points on the board. SUU has since collected home wins over Southeast Louisiana (28-23) and Portland State (45-31).

THE GAME: The No. 11 Grizzlies host the No. 24 Thunderbirds in an important Big Sky Conference game that could have league ramifications down the line. A win for the Grizzlies would put them at 1-1 in league play with four of the next seven contests being held in Washington-Grizzly Stadium.

Montana will have to contend with another strong rushing offense in Southern Utah, who carry the Big Sky's third-best ground attack, averaging 207.7 yards-per-game, ranking them at No. 21 in FCS football.

After breaking school records for completions and catches in a game, the Grizzlies bring the No. 12 ranked passing offense in the nation into Saturday's game, with senior QB Brady Gustafson averaging nearly 300 yards passing per-game.

HOMECOMING CELEBRATIONS: Homecoming weekend will officially kick off at the homecoming pep rally, held annually on the oval in front of Main Hall. This years' yell night pep rally will be emceed by the "Voice of the Griz", Riley Corcoran, and will feature the UM Marching Band. The pep rally starts Friday, Sept. 30 at 8 p.m.

The annual Homecoming Parade gets Grizzly game day underway on Saturday morning, starting at 10 a.m. on Higgins Ave. in downtown Missoula, and finishing on University Ave.

The theme of this year's University of Montana Homecoming is "Under the Big Sky". For a complete listing of Homecoming activities, click HERE.

For Homecoming, the Montana/Southern Utah game is a maroon out, where fans are asked to dress in all maroon to celebrate. Official maroon out t-shirts are available at the UM Bookstore, the M Store downtown and Universal Athletics.

WATCH: Cowles Montana Media will provide a statewide broadcast of the Montana/Southern Utah 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.

Ron Davis 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 slipped out of the top-10 in both the FCS media and coaches polls this week after falling to Cal Poly on the road. A brace of record-setting performances kept the Griz knocking on the door, however, as UM comes in ranked at No 11 in both weekly polls.

The Grizzlies were one of three Big Sky teams in the STATS FCS media top-25 this week, with Eastern Washington leading the way at No. 4, and Cal Poly entering the rankings at No. 16. The FCS coaches have placed four Big Sky teams in the top-25, with EWU at No. 5, Cal Poly at 18, and Southern Utah at No. 24.

SERIES HISTORY: Montana leads the all-time series with Southern Utah 5-2 heading into Saturday's game. The last time SUU visited Missoula was in 2012, a game the Thunderbirds won 30-20 after outscoring Montana 17-3 in the second half. The Griz are 4-2 all-time against SUU at Washington-Grizzly Stadium. Southern Utah joined the Big Sky in 2013.

LAST MEETING: The first, and only time Montana has traveled to Cedar City, Utah to face the T-Birds was in 2014, where senior running back Jordan Canada rushed for a career-high 211 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Griz to a crucial 35-15 Big Sky Conference win over SUU.

FIRST AND 10 WITH THE GRIZ: Montana re-wrote the record books in last week's loss at Cal Poly, with Gustafson connecting on 47 passes to surpass the great Dave Dickenson's 1995 record of 43 completions, set at Idaho in the Grizzlies first National Championship season. Dickenson also set a record for passing attempts in that game with 72. Gustafson managed to break Dickenson's record with only 59 attempts. Those 59 attempts by Gustafson ties Dickenson on Montana's all-time pass attempt list at No. 5. Dickenson threw 59 times against Washington State in 1995. Gustafson's 59 throws are the most in the Big Sky this season.

Gustafson also tied the Big Sky Conference record for most completions in a game at 47 with three other quarterbacks. Weber State's Jamie Martin did it in 1991, Michael Herrick did it in 2009 for Northern Arizona, and Kevin Yost did it for Idaho State in 2011.

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Jerry Louie-McGee was named the STATS FCS National Freshman Player of the Week after his record-breaking performance at Cal Poly, and was also given another national nod by the Associated Press, who named him one of "Saturday's Best" stars amongst all college football players, including FBS schools.

Louie-McGee smashed the 19-year-old Montana school record for receptions in a game and tied the Big Sky record with 21 grabs. Louie-McGee racked up 155 yards and 2 TDs with his 21 receptions. The redshirt freshman out of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, broke Josh Paffhausen's previous school record of 15 receptions in a game, set in 1997 against St. Mary's. Louie-McGee also tied Montana State's David Pandt's 1985 Big Sky Conference record for most receptions in a game.

Louie-McGee's two touchdown catches against Cal Poly was the first time a Grizzly had caught a pair of TDs since Jamaal Jones caught three against Montana State in 2015.

With 155 kick return yards last week, Louie-McGee was also the first Grizzly since 2013 to record 250 all-purpose yards in a game. Ellis Henderson accomplished that feat at South Dakota in 2013 when he posted 315 all-purpose yards.

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Gustafson has moved up to No. 13 on Montana's all-time passing yards list with a career total of 2,913 yards in the air. He now trails Brent Pease on the all-time list, who passed for 3,655 yards for the Griz in 1985-86.

Redshirt freshman kicker Tim Semenza is tied for first in the nation amongst FCS kickers in field goals. Semenza is 6-7 on FGs and a perfect 12-12 on PATs in his first season of action with the Griz. Semenza is also tied for first in the Big Sky in scoring, averaging 10 points-per-game.

Montana's defense continues to be one of the most stringent in the Big Sky, sitting fourth on the scoring defense conference list, allowing an average of 29 points-per-game so far this season. Cal Poly's score of 41 was the most points scored this season against the Griz. Montana held Saint Francis to 31 and Northern Iowa to just 14 points.

The Griz "D" is second in the Big Sky and ranked No. 36 in the nation in total defense, allowing an average of only 345 yards of total offense per contest so far this year.

Montana safety Justin Strong has led the Grizzlies in tackles in each of the first three games this year and now sits at No. 6 on the Big Sky's list of top tacklers with an average of 9.7 takedowns per game.

The Grizzly passing attack has racked up an average of 296.3 yards per game, making it the No. 12 most prolific passing attack in the country, despite going cold in two halves of football.

Led by Louie-McGee, the Montana punt return team is ranked No. 11 in the nation, averaging 18.2 yards-per-return. Louie-McGee's record-breaking game at Cal Poly has also vaulted him to the top of the Big Sky's receptions-per-game list, averaging 10.7 per contest.

The Grizzlies red-zone offense is tied for first in the Big Sky with a 100 percent success rate from inside the opponent's 20-yard line.

Sophomore running back Jeremy Calhoun is one of only four players in the Big Sky to rush for three touchdowns in a game, a feat he accomplished at Cal Poly, leading the Griz in rushing with 63 yards.

FOUR DOWNS WITH SOUTHERN UTAH: Southern Utah safety Tyler Collet was named the ROOT SPORTS Big Sky Defensive Player of the Week the league announced Monday. Collet sealed the victory for the T-Birds over the Vikings with two interceptions and posted eight tackles while also breaking up a pass. His first interception came in the final minutes of the second quarter, while his second interception came in the final minutes of the game, as the Vikings attempted to drive for a score.

Collet is tied for the lead in interceptions so far this season in the Big Sky with three, and

SUU is once again having a strong defensive season, ranked No. 14 in the country in tackles-for-loss. Linebacker Mike Needham has posted 5.5 TFLs so far this season, ranking him first in the Big Sky.

Needham, a junior, is tied for third in the Big Sky in tackles after three games, averaging 10.3 takedowns per game.

The Thunderbirds have dealt with quarterback injuries this season after starter McCoy Hill went down with an injury at Utah. Junior Patrick Tyler got the start against Portland State last week, and threw for 249 yards and two TDs, going 15-20. He also threw a pair of interceptions.

BEER & WINE FEST: The "social event of the year" is coming soon. Summit Beverage and the Grizzly Scholarship Association (GSA) are excited to announce the date of the 11th Annual Montana Wine & Beer Festival scheduled for Friday, October 14, at the Adams Center on the campus of the University of Montana. The event will run from 7-10 p.m.

The festival consists of fine wine and beer tasting with food samples from some of Missoula's top restaurants and caterers. In addition, Montana artists will be on site displaying and selling art. A silent auction consisting of limited edition originals and a variety of wine& beer items as well as Griz memorabilia will be a part of the evening's festivities. All proceeds from this event benefit the GSA and their mission of providing scholarships for student-athletes.

Tickets are $50 per person and attendees must be at least 21 years of age.

Tickets go on sale September 1st and are available at the GSA office in the Adams Center, online by click HERE or by calling the GSA Office at 243-6481.

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Players Mentioned

Jeremy Calhoun

Mick Delaney

Brady Gustafson

Ellis Henderson

Jamaal Jones

Jerry Louie-McGee

Tim Semenza

Justin Strong

University of Montana Athletics