Griz to host Thunderbirds in Final matchup as Big Sky foes

Back on the winning track with four games left to play in the regular season, the No.11 Montana Grizzlies return to Missoula this week for their penultimate home game as the Southern Utah Thunderbirds fly in Saturday for the first time since 2016 and the last time as Big Sky opponents.

After the fourth and final night game of the season at Idaho, the Grizzlies (5-2, 2-2 BSC) take the field in a much-welcome noon kickoff this week in Washington-Grizzly Stadium, hosting a T-Bird squad (1-7, 0-5 BSC) in search of its first league win of the year.

Montana enters the game fresh of a seventh-straight rivalry win over the Idaho Vandals, with the Grizzlies once again retaining the Little Brown Stein - the traveling trophy that has resided in Missoula since the turn of the century – with a convincing 34-14 win.

The victory over the Vandals righted Montana's ship after a week seven loss to Sacramento State, and sets the Grizzlies sailing into the business end of the with two more road games to play in the leadup to the 120^th "Brawl of the Wild", as the Griz look to capture the program's first Big Sky title since 2009.

For those championship aspirations to become reality, Montana must stay on the winning track, however, especially with two of its final three games being played on the road.

Montana's momentum following a signature win at No. 20 Washington on week one took a hit in early October in one-score losses to Eastern Washington and Sacramento State, and a hit the team's health as well with the Griz having to look down the depth chart for injury cover.

But despite that, the Griz found their footing Saturday in the win over Idaho, with junior Mitch Roberts putting in a career day receiving and QB Kris Brown getting settled in the starting role.

Montana's ground game also continued to produce against Idaho despite being down, not one, not two, not three… but four running backs in the depth chart to injury, turning to a pair of true freshmen against the Vandals in Junior Bergen (brought to UM as a wide receiver), and Colter Janacaro.

Despite that, UM has nearly doubled its opponent's rushing output this season, totaling 1,028 yards on the ground and allowing only 554 rushing yards all season. The Griz are 5-1 this year when outrushing their opponent, and have only been outrushed once. UM is also undefeated when holding opponents to 20 points or less.

That dominant rush D equates into UM allowing a Big Sky-low of just 79.1 YPG, the eighth-best rush defense in the FCS.

THE MATCHUP: Montana enters the game against Southern Utah looking to go back on a winning streak headed into the tail end of the season, while the T-Birds are seeking just their second win of the year.

Averaging just under 30 points per game, the Griz offense is beginning to click, while Southern Utah is giving up nearly 39 points per contest.

The Thunderbirds are coming off a narrow 17-9 home loss to Northern Colorado last week stymied by a goal-line stand by UNC and a dropped touchdown pass in the loss to the Bears.

Southern Utah's passing attack is has put up the fourth-most yards in the Big Sky this season at 1,932 and is averaging over 20 points per game, highlighted by their 40-35 week-three win over Tarleton State.

But the defense is last in the Big Sky, giving up over 481 yards per game.

SERIES HISTORY: Saturday's game marks just the 10^th all-time meeting between Montana and Southern Utah, with the Grizzlies holding a commanding 7-2 advantage since the first meeting in 1996, but with both of those losses occurring in Missoula. The first T-Bird win came just two years later in 1998, with the second in 2012.

It's also the last meeting between the two for the foreseeable future as Big Sky Conference foes, with Southern Utah joining the league in 2012 and now set to depart for the WAC a decade later in 2022. In that short time the Griz have only made two trips to Cedar City and came away with wins in both 2014 and 2018.

LAST MEETING: The last time the Griz and T-Birds met was early November, 2018 in just UM's second-ever trip to Cedar City. Led by Dalton Sneed, the Griz piled up 635 yards of total offense and eight touchdowns in a 57-14 romp in Bobby Hauck's first year back at UM.

Then-sophomore Samuel Akem featured in the receiving game for the Griz with five grabs for 89 yards and two touchdowns. The pair of scores was part of his breakout 2018 season where he totaled 13 TD grabs. In the two weeks prior and one week after the SUU game, Akem had two TD catches in each, and finished the year on a five-game streak of at least one TD catch.

Defensively, freshmen Robby Hauck and Marcus Welnel had big games for UM, with Hauck leading the team with seven tackles and a TFL, and Welnel picking up his second career sack and forcing a fumble as well.

HAPPENINGS: The University of Montana will celebrate the careers of five UM legends this week as the Grizzly Sports Hall of Fame inducts the class of 2021 Friday at the banquet in the Adams Center, with an on-field celebration during Saturday's game.

Entering the Grizzly Sports Hall of Fame in the Class of 2021 are record-setting quarterback Brian Ah Yat of Griz football, All-American decathlete Adam Bork of Grizzly track and field, Big Sky MVP Skyla Sisco of the Lady Griz, and championship-winning Grizzly men's basketball player and coach Wayne Tinkle.

Gary Hughes, a 35-year athletic department veteran, former ticket office manager, associate athletic director, and servant to the UM and Missoula communities, will also receive the Grizzly Lifetime Honors Award.

WATCH: Saturday's game marks the first of two Griz games this season to be broadcast nationally on ROOT Sports. The annual "Brawl of the Wild" game against Montana State will also be broadcast on ROOT Sports. Veteran broadcaster Tom Glasgow will have the play-by-play, with analysis from Taylor Barton.

ROOT Sports Northwest and its affiliates AT&T Sports Net Rocky Mountain (which includes the Las Vegas market), and AT&T Sports Net Pittsburgh are available on DirecTV, and Spectrum Cable. In Missoula, ROOT is available on Spectrum cable channel 60 and HD channel 560, and on DIRECTV channel 687 and 688. NOTE: DISH Network no longer carries ROOT Sports or AT&T Sports Net.

STREAMING: The game will air live on the ESPN+ outside of the ROOT Sports/AT&T Sports Net footprint only. The ROOT Sports/AT&T Sports Net footprint encompasses states like Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.

Streaming options are also available through DirecTV and fuboTV, with subscription required.

To see if ROOT Sports is available in your area, visit their channel finder page.

LISTEN: "Voice of the Griz" Riley Corcoran and long-time analyst Greg Sundberg will bring you the action live from Washington-Grizzly Stadium on KGVO Missoula, the flagship station of the Grizzly Sports Radio Network, and its fifteen affiliates around the state.

New in 2021, Griz fans have a better than ever way to stream all of Montana's radio broadcasts on their mobile device LIVE and FREE of charge with the Varsity Network App, powered by Learfield and Sidearm Sports. Live audio web streams can also be found at GoGriz.com/Listen.

Fans can download the app for iPhone or Android use for instant access to free gameday audio streams plus the Coach Hauck Radio Show, and receive push notifications to remind them of games starting or upcoming audio broadcasts as well.

COACHES SHOW: The Bobby Hauck radio show returns this week, broadcast live across the state from the banks of the Clark Fork River at the show's new home of FINN in the DoubleTree Hotel in Missoula, each Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. Admission to watch the live broadcast at FINN is free, with a special coaches' show menu available.

// GRIZ TRACKS //

VANQUISHING THE VANDALS: Montana extended its winning streak against the Idaho to seven-straight games and has now not lost the little brown stein since 1999. The Griz have also won 11 of the last 13 meetings dating back to 1991, with the only losses coming in 1995 and '99. It was UM's 30^th all-time win over the Vandals, which now trails in the 87-game series 30-55-2.

GRIZ IN THE POLLS: Montana remains the highest-ranked 5-2 team in the land in this week's coaches' poll, holding steady at No. 11 in the Stats Perform FCS media poll, and moving up a spot to No. 11 in the AFCA Coaches' poll, after another wild weekend of college football.

Previously 7^th-ranked South Dakota State (now 5-2) dropped below the Griz to No. 13 in the coaches' poll after losing to Northern Iowa at home, and Eastern Washington slid to No. 7 after losing to Weber State at home. Montana was just eight voting points shy of passing SDSU at No. 10 in the media poll.

At 7-1 (but yet to play EWU) Montana State bumped up to No. 6 in the polls, setting up a photo-finish for the Big Sky Championship down the stretch.

SATURDAY'S STARS: What's Patrick O'Connell gotta do to earn himself a Big Sky Defensive Player of the Week Award? The junior from Kalispell continues to lead the league in sacks and ranks third nationally with 9.5 as he keeps the foot on the gas in a breakout season. But the linebacker hasn't yet earned a nod from the conference.

That said, here's Montana's nominations for Big Sky Player of the Week after the win at Idaho.

• OFFENSE: Montana junior receiver Mitch Roberts had a banner day against Idaho, hauling in seven catches on eight targets for a career-high 145 yards with 76 of those yards gained after the catch.

Roberts' 145-yard haul was the most of any receiver in the Big Sky Conference last week and the third-most of any Big Sky receiver this season. His seven catches are also tied for the fourth-most for a Big Sky receiver in a game this season, and his 70-yard long catch is the is the third-longest in the league this season too.

His haul marks the first 100+ yard day of his career and is the most for the Missoula Sentinel grad since he totaled 85 yards against Southeastern Louisiana in the 2019 FCS playoffs.

He has quietly become Montana's leading receiver this season with 30 catches for 390 yards, averaging 55.7 YPG.

• DEFENSE: O'Connell continued his dominant defensive season at Idaho, adding two sacks to his Big Sky-best season total, 2.5 TFLs, and nine total tackles to lead a defensive unit that held the Vandals to just 97 yards rushing.

The junior from Kalispell now has the third-most sacks in the FCS and the most in the Big Sky at 9.5 this season, the most of any player from a top-25 team to date.

O'Connell has gotten in on at least one sack in every game so far this season and has now had three games with two or more.

• SPECIAL TEAMS: Montana kicker Kevin Macias slotted a pair of field goals with a career-long of 48-yards and went a perfect 4-for-4 in PAT attempts for a personal haul of 10 points against Idaho.

The senior's 10-point haul was the most of any kicker in the Big Sky this week, and his 48-yard long is fifth-longest kick in the conference so far this season.

The last Grizzly to kick a 50-plus yard field goal was Ben Worst back in 2013 who kicked a 50-yarder against Oklahoma Panhandle State.

BUILT FORD TOUGH: Justin Ford became the first player in Montana history to record five interceptions in five-straight games with yet another pick at Idaho last week.

Montana and Big Sky record holder Karl Stein had four-straight games with at least one interception in 1969 when he set the long-standing record of 11 picks that season, helping the Griz to their first-ever Big Sky Championship and a 10-0 regular season record.

Ford, a junior cornerback, started his five-game pick streak one month ago to the day (as of publication) on Sept. 25 against Cal Poly.

The Concord, North Carolina, native's five picks are now tied for the most of any player in Division-I football (FCS or FBS), and are the most by two in the Big Sky Conference.

Jaylan Foster of the South Carolina Gamecocks, Christian Benford of Villanova, Brandon Dowdell of Chattanooga, and Jordan Jones of Rhode Island are the other D-I players to haul in five picks so far this season.

With 12 this season Montana as a team is second in the Big Sky and tied for fourth in the FCS in interceptions. UC Davis leads the league with 13, tied for the FCS-most. Notably, the Griz had two more interceptions called back against Idaho on penalties. One, a would-be touchdown for Omar Hicks Onu, and one for Robby Hauck.

RECORD WATCH: With seven grabs against Idaho, Samuel Akem now has 168 in his career, moving him past Marc Mariani (164), Jeremy Watkins (166), and Scott Gurnsey (167) to move into seventh on UM's all-time catches list.

He also passed Etu Molden and Joe Douglass on the career receiving yards list, now at 2,369 to date to move into Montana's all-time top-10. Held without a TD catch at Idaho, Akem remains third on UM's all-time touchdown catch list at 25, needing five more to pass Mariani's all-time mark of 29.

• With eight at Idaho, Robby Hauck now has 303 career tackles, needing just two more to tie and three more to pass his uncle Tim Hauck's career total of 305 on the UM all-time tackler list.

• He also needs just one more to enter the top-10 in UM's all-time tacklers, chasing Dante Olson's total of 397 career tackles while averaging nearly 9 stops per game with another full season to play. Hauck is also closing in on other UM legends career marks in Colt Anderson (313), Jordan Tripp (335), and Vince Huntsberger (393).

• Hauck leads the team in career starts with 34 to his name, having started every game of his career at UM to date. Offensive tackle Conlan Beaver has the second-most starts at 32 while Gavin Robertson returned to the fold last week for his 23^rd career start, matching Jace Lewis' career total of 23.

• With a game-high 13 tackles against Idaho and pair of TFLs, Lewis also climbed up a pair of lists. He needs just three more tackles to pass his former teammate (and still his backup, according to his twitter profile) Josh Buss' career total of 273.

Lewis also now has 30 TFLs in his career, passing Jordan Tripp and Shawn Poole on the UM all-time list, needing just two more to pass fellow #37 Caleb Kidder's career mark.

Griz to host Thunderbirds in Final matchup as Big Sky foes

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Players Mentioned

Samuel Akem

Conlan Beaver

Junior Bergen

Kris Brown

Justin Ford

Robby Hauck

Omar Hicks Onu

Colter Janacaro

Jace Lewis

Kevin Macias

Patrick O'Connell

Mitch Roberts

Gavin Robertson

Marcus Welnel

University of Montana Athletics