Montana faces Washington challenge to open season

Saturday, September 4

Seattle, Wash.

6 PM (MT)

Montana

Washington

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8/30/2021 4:35:00 PM | Football

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By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana Grizzlies officially get back down to business this week when UM travels to Seattle to open the much-anticipated 2021 season against the Washington Huskies following a long layoff from the normal fall routine.

And to prepare for the game, Montana's fall camp has felt exceedingly normal, with head coach Bobby Hauck and his staff running the Griz through 18 practices of a fall camp that was as routine as possible.

It's been a minute since the Grizzlies have been here, however. Over a million minutes, to be exact, have passed since the last time Montana opened a complete regular season against a nonconference opponent. The last time? August 31, 2019, when Montana went to South Dakota and came home with a 31-17 win, in what seems like an eternity ago.

Like Tom Petty said, the waiting is the hardest part.

All that goes out the window Saturday when the No. 9 (FCS) Griz face the tall task of muzzling the No. 20 (FBS) Huskies in just the 20th all-time meeting between the two flagship state schools, set for a 6 p.m. (MT) kickoff. Considering the proximity, it's a rare occurrence for UM and UW to square off, with the last meeting coming in 2017. But previous to that, the two hadn't faced off since 1951.

Montana will be seeking to put the same pressure on an FBS powerhouse it did the last time the Griz "played up", when Montana held future NFL Rookie of the Year Justin Herbert and the high-flying Oregon Ducks to just 35 points in a 2019 tussle in Eugene.

The Griz enter the season with two games already played in the 2021 calendar year, a pair of big wins that saw UM beat Central Washington and Portland State by a combined 107-10 in the spring.

Montana's defense put in one of its best performances of the last decade against Central Washington, forcing three turnovers and limiting the Wildcats to less than 200 yards of total offense and just three points in a 59-3 win.

The last time the Grizzlies held an opponent to a single field goal or less was back in 2017 when UM beat Savannah State 56-3. Before that, however, you have to go all the way back to 2011 when the Griz went to Idaho State and blanked the Bengals 33-0.

UM was equally impressive against Big Sky opponent PSU, with the Griz running out to a 27-0 first-half lead before winning 48-7 thanks to five rushing TDs from Xavier Harris and Nick Ostmo.

Saturday's game officially kicks off the season those two games were designed to prepare for, as the Grizzlies seek to improve on 2019's FCS quarterfinal appearance.

WATCH: The Pac-12 Network and its online streaming platform at Pac-12.com will broadcast Saturday's game at Husky Stadium. J.B. Long, the long-time radio voice of the Los Angeles Rams on ESPN radio, will handle the play-by-play duties. The analyst for the broadcast will be former USC quarterback Max Browne.

LISTEN: "Voice of the Griz" Riley Corcoran and long-time analyst Greg Sundberg will bring you the action live from Missoula on KGVO Missoula, the flagship station of the Grizzly Sports Radio Network, and its fourteen affiliates around the state. Live audio web streams can also be found at GoGriz.com/Listen.

COACHES SHOW: The Bobby Hauck radio show returns for 2021 and will be 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, airing each Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.

TAILGATE ON THE ROAD: The Grizzly Scholarship Association (GSA) kicks off its 2021 road game tailgate party slate on Saturday in Seattle. While there is no official Montana tailgate, Griz fans are encouraged to gather in "The Zone," Washington's official lakeside pregame tailgate headquarters.

The Zone is located on the East Practice Field of Husky Stadium between the Waterfront Activities Center and the Husky Softball Field. The Zone opens three (3) hours prior to kickoff (2 p.m. PT) and will feature food trucks, beer, wine, soft drinks, the UW radio show, TVs with other college football games, and more. A game ticket is required in order to enter The Zone.

Montana Grizzly Football Press Conference Week 1 https://t.co/Z1WiKki4jz
— Montana Griz Football (@MontanaGrizFB) August 30, 2021

GRIZ TRACKS

CHASING 100: Montana head coach Bobby Hauck – the winningest coach in UM history – is seeking his 100th overall win as the Grizzlies' mentor, entering the season with a 98-26 record in his two terms at UM.

MORE HAUCK HISTORY: This week, Hauck returns to Washington for the first time as Grizzly head coach since he was an assistant for the Huskies prior to coming to Montana for his first stint as head coach in 2003.

From 1999-2002 Hauck was Washington's defensive backs and special teams coach under head coach (and former co-graduate assistant at UCLA) Rick Neuheisel.

Among many notable wins under Neuheisel, in 2000, Hauck helped the Huskies to a share of the Pac-10 championship and a win in the Rose Bowl, where Washington defeated a Drew Brees-led Purdue Boilermaker squad 34-24.

THE OLD AND THE NEW: With Covid throwing a wrench in the college football recruiting wheel and the NCAA pausing all eligibility for student-athletes, Montana's roster has an experienced look but is also loaded with freshmen.

Out of the team's current 110-man roster, a whopping 53 players are listed as either true freshmen or redshirt freshmen. That's not to say the Griz are inexperienced, however, with 20 starters returning from the spring season (9 O, 11 D) and 14 starters from 2019's quarterfinal team back for the year.

Some of Montana's "freshmen" can hardly be considered that, however. Consider Cole Grossman, who is in his fourth year at UM after coming to Montana as a grey shirt in 2018, redshirting in 2019, and pausing a Covid season in 2020.

A LOOK AT THE UM TWO-DEEP: To little surprise, senior Cam Humphrey was named the starting QB for the Griz halfway through fall camp and will make the start for the Griz just 21 miles from his hometown of Issaquah, Wash.

Other familiar faces will take the field for the first snap of fall camp as well, with senior All-Big Sky receiver Samuel Akem lining up outside with Mitch Roberts, with UM moving to a three-tight end rotation this fall that includes Grossman, Freshman Erik Barker, and sophomore Joey Elwell.

Team captain offensive tackles Conlan Beaver and Dylan Cook leading the charge upfront. Washington State transfer Hunter Mayginnes earns his first start at UM at guard against his former Apple Cup foe, and Nebraska transfer AJ Forbes returns to start at center in his first FBS game since coming to Montana in the fall of 2020.

After a stellar spring, running back Xavier Harris earns the start with support from another FBS transfer in freshman Isiah Childs, who came to Missoula this summer after a Covid year spent at FBS Akron.

Defensively, there are plenty of other familiar faces to go around for the Griz, with all-everything senior Jace Lewis of Townsend, Mont., leading a homegrown linebacker group that features eight players from the state of Montana in the ten-man room.

Up front, senior D-ends Joe Babros (N.C. State) and Justin Belknap (Arizona) bring more FBS experience to the Grizzly D, with Michigan State transfer Deari Todd comes in the depth chart as the backup to Babros.

Oregon State transfers Omar Hicks Onu (cornerback) and TraJon Cotton (nickel) will also return to Pac-12 play, with Cotton set to make his debut in a Grizzly uniform at No. 2 on the depth chart behind Woodinville, Wash., native Nash Fouch and fellow safety Gavin Robertson, who hails from Auburn, Wash.

SPEAKING OF LOCAL CONNECTIONS: With the state of Washington being a recruiting hotbed for the Grizzlies, 10 players from Washington will return to their home state this weekend, with five hailing from the greater Seattle area.

2 Cam Humphrey Issaquah, Wash. / Issaquah HS
2 Gavin Robertson Auburn, Wash. / Auburn Mountainview HS
4 Nash Fouch Woodinville, Wash. / Woodinville HS
8 Corbin Walker Renton, Wash. / Hazen Senior HS
11 Cole Grossman Vancouver, Wash. / Skyview HS
52 Michael Matthews Camas, Wash. / Camas HS
68 Cody Kanouse Jr. Gig Harbor, Wash. / Peninsula HS
70 Skyler Martin R-Jr. Vancouver, Wash. / Skyview HS
89 Peyton Brammer Brush Prairie, Wash. / Hockinson HS
92 Jacob McGourin Cheney, Wash. / Cheney HS

IT'S WHO YOU KNOW: Humphrey will get his first chance to throw a pass in his home state since he was an All-KingCo performer at Issaquah High this week, and he'll be used to the big stage.

He's familiar with throwing (and catching) passes in the biggest stadiums Seattle has to offer. As a former Seahawks equipment assistant, part of his job included shagging balls for Russel Wilson from 2014-15, when the Hawks won the NFC Championship over Green Bay. Not a bad gig for a high schooler.

FAMILY CLASH OF THE BIG MEN: Montana senior big man Moses Mallory (#77 – 6-3, 332lbs) gets the start at right guard for the Grizzlies on Saturday, and job No. 1 will likely be going nose-to-nose with his cousin Tuli Letuligasenoa (#91 – 6-2, 300lbs), a sophomore who is picked to start on the Husky D-line.

SPEAKING OF BIG MEN: Montana's offensive line will be one of the most veteran and sizeable of the last decade when the Griz take the field this weekend. Six of Montana's 10 O-linemen in the two-deep are upperclassmen, and eight of the 10 have started at least one game in their careers.

This year, the average weight of those eight with at least one start climbed to a total of 317 pounds. Mallory checked in as the heaviest O-lineman at a lean and mean 332, down considerably from the 360+ he arrived at.

SCOUTING THE HUSKIES: Washington was able to complete just four games (all at home and all against Pac-12 opponents) in the Covid-shortened 2020 season – the first under head coach Jimmy Lake. UW went 3-1 last year, with a 27-21 win over Oregon State, a 44-27 win over Arizona, and a 24-21 win over Utah. UW capped the season with a 26-31 loss to Stanford. In those four games, the Huskies didn't lose a fumble, and allowed just one quarterback sack.

Montana will be looking to get the offense fired up, with UW having gone 75 games in a row without allowing an opponent to score more than 35 points, the longest such streak in the nation.

UM will look to keep its own streak going, with Montana not having been shut out in over 400 games, a point-scoring streak that lasts back to 1988.

LAST MEETING: Montana was nearly run off the field without any points scored in 2017 when the Griz fell to a Husky team that was predicted to make the College Football Playoff 63-7.

Among the future NFL Stars on that stacked UW team were Vita Vea, who recently won a Super Bowl with Tampa Bay, Dante Petis, who set the NCAA record for most punt return TDs, and Bozeman native Will Dissley, who scored twice against the Griz before going on to be a staple on the Seahawks roster.

THIS TIME OUT: Coming off a season where the Huskies won the Pac-12 North Division, UW returns three All-Pac-12 performers in TE Cade Otton, LB Edefuan Ulofoshio, and DB Trent McDuffie. Four other current Huskies picked up an All-Pac-12 honorable mention, including predicted starting QB Dylan Morris, OL Henry Bainivalu, OL Victor Curne, and OL Luke Wattenberg.

Morris was a two-time Pac-12 freshman of the week in 2020, passing for 897 yards and 4 TDs in four games, three of which were caught by Otten.

On the ground, Washington was led by Sean McGrew who netted 227 yards and four TDs. McGrew was one of three Huskies who rushed for 100-plus yards in the four-game season (Kamari Pleasant and Richard Newton being the others) that are all in this week's UW depth chart.