FCS powers collide as Griz travel to face Panthers

NOTES | WHERE TO WATCH

Coming off the program's 13th-straight win in a home opener, the Montana Grizzlies depart for the first of two September road games this week, with an opportunity to make a big statement early in the 2016 season, and a big statement about the future of a young team.

The Griz travel to face the No. 3 Northern Iowa Panthers of the Missouri Valley Conference on Sept. 10, followed by a Big Sky meeting against the always-tough Cal Poly Mustangs in San Louis Obispo, Calif., on Sept. 24, with a bye week in between.

First up is a trip to the UNI-Dome (cap. 16,324) in Cedar Falls, Iowa, to face the Panthers, who themselves made a statement last week, upsetting cross-state FBS foe Iowa State of the Big-12 Conference, 25-20.

THE GAME: The Montana/Northern Iowa game is not rife with playoff implications, but is an early-season litmus test that could provide playoff insight as November draws near.

The No. 14/15 Griz (1-0) are coming off an 8-5 season in 2015 where UM made the program's 23^rd foray into the FCS playoffs, before losing to North Dakota State in the second round. The Griz went 2-1 against teams from the MVFC last season, defeating NDSU and South Dakota State at home, and losing to the Bison in Fargo.

No. 3 Northern Iowa (1-0) is coming off a similar season in 2015, that saw the Panthers go 9-5 on the year, and losing to North Dakota State in the third round of the FCS playoffs. UNI defeated Big Sky foe Portland State in the second round of the playoffs after receiving a first-round bye. The Panthers went 3-0 against Big Sky opposition last season, defeating Eastern Washington, Cal Poly and PSU.

Like the Griz, the Panthers return a young squad with eight newcomers getting their first start last Saturday, as compared to Montana who had 12 newcomers get their first start against Saint Francis. The Panthers had nine true or redshirt freshmen make an appearance against Iowa State. The Griz had 14 redshirt freshmen make an appearance against SFU.

The Montana/Northern Iowa game is one of three Big Sky/Missouri Valley cross-conference showdowns on Saturday, with No. 8 Eastern Washington traveling to take on No. 1 North Dakota State, and No. 19 Northern Arizona traveling to face No. 18 Western Illinois.

WEEKLY POLLS: Montana dropped a spot in the weekly STATS FCS media poll to No. 14, and two places to No. 15 in the FCS coaches' poll. The Griz are the second-highest ranked Big Sky team in the media poll behind Eastern Washington, who shot from No. 14 to No. 8 after defeating Washington State.

In the coaches' poll, the Griz are ranked No. 15 behind two Big Sky schools, EWU and Portland State, who collected just 31 more points than Montana to come in at No. 14 this week.

SERIES HISTORY: The Griz have never lost to the Panthers in any of the five previous meetings between the two schools. The first meeting was in 1981 in Missoula, followed by Montana's only trip to the UNI-Dome in 1987, where the Griz won 33-18. The last three meetings have been in the FCS/D1-AA playoffs. The last meeting between the two was in the 2011 FCS playoffs, a game the Griz won 48-10, but was later vacated.

WATCH/LISTEN: Griz fans statewide can tune in to watch the game live from Cedar Falls on Cowles Montana Media stations (ABC in most Montana markets, SWX in Billings/Miles City). Fans around the country can tune in online via WatchESPN.

Turn your AM/FM dials to Montana Grizzlies Radio Network to hear the Voice of the Griz Riley Corcoran, color commentator Greg Sundberg and sideline reporter Adam Painter bring you the action from the UNI-Dome.

FIRST AND 10 WITH THE GRIZ: Saturday was a day of firsts for the Grizzlies in their 41-31 win over Saint Francis. It was the first game played on the new turf, and under the lights of the new Griz Vision at Washington-Grizzly Stadium. It was the first-ever meeting between the Griz and Red Flash. It was also the first start in maroon and silver for 12 UM players.

Quarterback Brady Gustafson set a new career long touchdown pass mark on Saturday, completing a 75-yard bomb to sophomore Keenan Curran. His previous long was 62 yards, which he hit twice in 2015.

That 75-yard pass is tied for the 13th-longest touchdown pass in Montana history. The longest pass in Griz history was thrown in 1997 by Brian Ah Yat for 93 yards against Portland State.

Curran had a career day against Saint Francis as well, catching four passes for 107 yards, with the long pass from Gustafson for 75 yards – all of which are new personal bests.

Gustafson threw for 353 yards against the Red Flash, the fifth-highest individual output in the nation so far this season, and the 10th-highest passing offense output.

The last time Gustafson threw for 300+ yards was against Montana State in 2015. He also threw for exactly 353 yards in that game, and threw for exactly 353 yards against Cal Poly as well.

The Grizzlies had perceived red-zone issues in 2015, scoring on 81-percent of trips inside opponent's 20, but only scoring touchdowns on 46-percent of trips to the red-zone.

The Griz opened the 2016 season going a perfect five-for-five from inside the Saint Francis red-zone, scoring touchdowns on four trips, and kicking a field goal on the other.

After one game, the Griz sit third in the Big Sky conference in both total offense and total defense. The Griz produced 520 total yards of offense against SFU, and held the Red Flash to 253 total yards.

UM leads the league in total first downs, moving the chains 30 times in 86 plays from scrimmage.

BONUS GRIZ NOTES: Nebraska transfer Lane Hovey has drawn comparisons to former Griz receiver Ben Roberts with his length and ball-fetching ability. Hovey now has another comparison to Roberts: both of their first receptions as Grizzlies each resulted in touchdowns. Roberts scored from 38 yards out on a pass from Gustafson against NDSU. Hovey caught a Gustafson pass for 16 yards and a score against SFU.

Three other Grizzlies caught the first pass of their careers on Saturday as well. Jerry Louie-McGee (R-Fr.) caught six passes for 60 yards, R-Fr. Justin Calhoun caught four balls for 42 yards and a score and R-Fr. Colin Bingham caught three for 18 yards.

Redshirt freshman safety Josh Sandry of Bigfork led the Grizzlies in tackles on week one, collecting nine total takedowns with a half-sack. He is currently tied at No. 8 on the Big Sky tackle leaders list with six other players, and is the only freshman in the group.

Sophomore linebacker Josh Buss is tied for second atop the league's sack table. Buss notched 1.5 sacks against SFU for a whopping 20-yard loss.

Brady Gustafson was responsible for all five of the Grizzlies' touchdowns on Saturday (two running, three passing). The only other Big Sky player to top that mark was Eastern Washington QB Gage Gubrud who was responsible for six.

IOWA HOMECOMING: Saturday's game in Cedar Falls will be a homecoming of sorts for three Grizzlies. Wide receiver Lane Hovey is a native of Adel, Iowa, 127 miles to the southwest of the UNI-Dome.

Senior offensive lineman McCauley Todd is also an Iowa native, hailing from 62 miles downstream of the UNI-Dome on the Cedar River, in Cedar Rapids.

The third homecoming for the Griz in Iowa comes for director of football operations Colin Bonnicksen, originally from Ringstead, 157 miles to the north west of Cedar Falls.

ANOTHER HOME-OPENER WIN: The Grizzlies have won every season-opening game inside Washington-Grizzly Stadium since 2003 when North Dakota State upset the Griz in Missoula. Saturday's win over SFU was UM's 13th-straight home-opener victory.

Since Washington-Grizzly Stadium hosted its first season opener in 1987, the Grizzlies have gone 26-4. Montana's all-time record in the friendly confines of home is 188-28 (including Saturday's win), an 87-percent winning percentage.

GUSTAFSON WATCH: Following Gustafson's second half surge against Saint Francis, where he threw for 242 of his 353 total yards, the senior QB has moved into No. 15 on Montana's all-time career passing list with a new career total of 2,377 yards.

Gus moved past former Griz QBs Ray Brum (69-70), Scott Werbelow (86-87), Bert Wilberger (91-94), Bob Boyes (78-79) and Tom Kingsford (48-50) on the career yardage list, and now sits behind Josh Swogger, who threw for 2,685 yards in one year as a Griz QB in 2006.

Gustafson earned his eighth start at QB against Saint Francis, throwing for 353 yards. Over the course of those eight games, he has averaged 292.1 yards passing per-game. If he keeps that pace up for four more games, he will rocket to toward top of Montana's career average passing yards per-game list, where he could be ranked third all-time behind Drew Miller (327.8) and Dave Dickenson (316.6) after a minimum of 12 games.

FOUR DOWNS WITH UNI: Northern Iowa coach Mark Farley is 130-61, in his 16^th season in Cedar Falls at his alma mater.

The Grizzlies and Panthers both have a player listed on the STATS FCS Defensive Player of the Year watch list. Senior defensive end Karter Schult had a game-high three tackles for loss against Iowa State, giving him a total of 35 in his career. Schult was also named a preseason STATS All-American, and named to the preseason All-MVFC team.

Schult posted a Panther school record 23.0 tackles for loss in 2015, along with 15.0 sacks that ranked him No. 2 all-time at UNI. He also holds the school record in quarterback hits in a career with 16.

The Panther offense is led by versatile senior QB Aaron Bailey, who was also named to the STATS FCS Player of the Year watch list. He was also named the CFPA Performer of the Year watch list, and preseason All-MVFC team. Bailey is the leading rusher for the Panthers under head coach Mark Farley, running for 1,334 yards last season.

The Panthers have another 1,000-yard rusher on the roster in senior Tyvis Smith, who ran for 1,079 yards last season. It's the only time in program history the Panthers have had two 1,000-yard rushers in the same season.

The Panthers posted a school record 3,266 yards on the ground in 2015, ranking them No. 15 in the country in rushing offense.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Colin Bingham

Josh Buss

Justin Calhoun

Keenan Curran

Brady Gustafson

Lane Hovey

Jerry Louie-McGee

Ben Roberts

Josh Sandry

McCauley Todd

University of Montana Athletics