Griz look to swat Hornets in Top-10 battle

The No. 7 Montana Grizzlies return to the road this week for a titanic showdown of top-10 teams in the national spotlight as UM travels to California to take on the No. 2/3 Sacramento State Hornets, who are looking to take another step toward defending their Big Sky title under the lights at Hornet Stadium on ESPN2.

Montana, meanwhile, enters the game looking to recover from last week's sting against Idaho when it squares off against the Hornets in the twenty-fourth all-time meeting between the two programs.

With the Grizzlies now sitting at 5-1 (2-1 BSC), and the Hornets unbeaten at 6-0 (3-0 BSC), Saturday's game may not hold immediate postseason implications, but it feels like a must-win situation if the Griz are to climb back to the top of the Big Sky mountain.

Viewers are in for a treat as well, with UM and Sac going strength-on-strength as one of the top rushing teams in the nation squares off against Montana's historically stout rush defense.

Montana, meanwhile, looks to take a defibrillator to the heart of its offense after a lackluster showing against Idaho, where the Griz mustered just 220 yards of total offense and just 34 yards on the ground. Led by QB Lucas Johnson, UM is looking to return the O to the high-flying status, scoring an average of 43 points a game in the first quarter of the season.

It will be Saturday night lights in Sacramento this week, with kickoff set for 8 p.m. Pacific and 9 p.m. back home, with a nationwide audience on ESPN2 on tap, giving the game a playoff feel in a crucial October showdown.

WATCH: Montana returns to prime time this week in a nationwide broadcast of the UM/SAC game on ESPN2, available on most basic cable, streaming, and satellite packages around the country. The game will not be streamed on ESPN+, but a stream will be available on the ESPN App, with a login required from a cable, streaming, or satellite provider.

Brian Custer, a SportsCenter anchor and host for Showtime's Championship Boxing, will handle play-by-play duties for the broadcast. Dustin Fox, a 2002 national champion safety at Ohio State with four years in the NFL and a current Cleveland sports radio host, will serve as analyst. Jalyn Johnson will report from the sidelines.

The lead-in to the game this week is Pat McAfee's simulcast of the Penn State/Minnesota game.

LISTEN: "Voice of the Griz" Riley Corcoran is in his seventh season behind the mic at Montana and is once again set to bring you all the Grizzly action over the airwaves on the Grizzly Sports Radio Network and its fifteen affiliate stations around the state.

Your "Grizzly Gameday" starts two hours before kickoff Saturday with the official pregame radio show featuring Denny Bedard and Scott Gurnsey, who then throw to Corcoran and color commentator Greg Sundberg 30 minutes to kickoff. Bedard and Gurnsey will also wrap up the day's action with the official post-game show.

Griz fans outside the radio footprint can stream all of Montana's broadcasts on their mobile device LIVE and FREE of charge with the Varsity Network App, powered by Learfield and Sidearm Sports.

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

GRIZ IN THE POLLS: The hyper-competitive FCS top-10 rankings received a shakeup this week, with No. 1 North Dakota State falling to No. 2 South Dakota State and No. 2/3 Montana falling to Idaho.

The Griz dropped to No. 7 in both the Stats Perform media poll and the AFCA coaches' poll, just the second week this season both polls have the UM in the same position.

Sacramento State and Montana State split at No. 2/3, with the Hornets sitting second in the media poll and third in the coaches poll with one first-place vote in each – their highest ranking in program history.

SCOPE THE SAGARINS: While the coaches and media have UM at No. 7, Montana slid from No. 1 to No. 4 among FCS teams in this week's Sagarin Ratings, which ranks each Division-I team regardless of subdivision in USA Today, and play a part in the Big Sky Conference's tiebreaking process.

The Griz checked in at No. 89 following the loss to Idaho, down from No. 72 last week. Sac State took over as the top-rated FCS team at No. 73, followed by Weber State at No. 77, SDSU at No. 79, and NDSU at No. 83.

Montana still leads FBS teams like Coastal Carolina (90), Wyoming (93), Virginia Tech (97), and Boston College (105).

TURNOVER MARGIN: Montana lost the turnover battle for the third time this season against Idaho, with two interceptions to the Vandals' one. On the balance, the Griz remain in the green this week at +1 in the season-long turnover differential with nine takeaways and eight giveaways.

But despite the relatively balanced margin, the Grizzly defense has made its turnovers count where it matters: on the scoreboard. This week, Montana enters the game at Sac State with nearly double the amount of points off turnovers than its opponents, with the Griz leading that category 35-18.

ZIP IT AROUND THE FIELD: Missoula Sentinel's Mitch Roberts is Montana's leading receiver this season with 346 yards and an average of 57.7 per game. Roberts made his 25th start last week against Idaho.

Like the run game, the Griz have shared the love in the receiving department, with six different Grizzlies totaling more than 100-yards receiving.

FRESH STARTS: Tight end Cole Grossman is slated to make the 20th start of his career Saturday in Sac. The redshirt sophomore tight end has been making big plays for the Griz this season, averaging the second-most yards per catch on the team (14.5) for 174 total yards and two touchdowns.

QUITE THE JOURNEY: Redshirt freshman Journey Grimsrud earned his first career start on Saturday, filling in for Liam Brown at right guard.

A prototypical small-town, hard-nosed Montana kid, Grimsrud came to Missoula as a defensive lineman from Huntley Project High School, where he was a two-way All-State pick on both the O and D front.

At the start of fall camp he made the switch to the offensive line and has been a staple on the two-deep all season, making his first career start as a freshman against the Vandals.

• Grimsrud has been the only to Montana's starting offensive front this season, with Chris Walker, Hunter Mayginnes, AJ Forbes, and Brandon Casey each holding down the starting spots across the line.

#PAT4BUCK: Patrick O'Connell continued to make a strong case for the Buck Buchanan Award last week against the Vandals with eight tackles, two TFLs, a half-sack, a QB hurry, and an interception that he returned 42 yards, eventually leading to a UM touchdown.

O'Connell, who finished third for the award as a junior, is tied for third in the nation this week with 7.5 sacks and tied for fourth in the FCS with 11 TFLs – both Big Sky-best marks.

With 28 career sacks to his name, O'Connell is sixth all-time in the Montana record book, needing two more to pass Andy Petek and move into the top five. He also needs two more TFLs to pass Petek and move to seventh all-time at UM.

WELNEL WOWS: Fellow linebacker Marcus Welnel posted a career and game-high 16 tackles against the Vandals, with three TFLs and one sack.

The Helena native is creeping up Montana's all-time lists as well with 15 sacks to sit at No. 15 on UM's all-time list with Randy Riley. He also has 28.5 career TFLs, needing one more to pass Jordan Tripp and move into the top 15 all-time at UM in that category.

HAUCK'S RECORD: Safety Robby Hauck continued to add on to his school record tackle total with 10 stops against the Vandals, bringing his career mark to 419. He needs 54 more stops to break Ronnie Hamlin's Big Sky record of 473 career tackles and has five more regular season games to do it. Hauck is averaging 9.1 tackles per game so far this season.

FORD'S NO FLY ZONE: Montana cornerback Justin Ford led all of college football with nine interceptions in 2021 to earn unanimous All-America honors and a place on the Senior Bowl Watch List. It's a good reason why opposing coaches have avoided his side of the field line the plague this year.

Montana's six opponents this season have thrown the ball 194 times against the Griz. Exactly eight of those have been thrown in Ford's direction, with only three being completed – a mark of respect for the senior's ability. The last ball to be thrown his was against Idaho was nearly intercepted by Ford as well, if it weren't knocked down by the intended receiver.

Ford's nine INTs in 2021 were the most ever by a Grizzly cornerback. He remains among UM's top-20 in career interceptions this week, despite having little opportunity to move up the ranks so far this season.

FLOWERS POWER: Malik Flowers, who has hardly been given a chance to touch the ball on kick returns this season at a mere five attempts, became Montana's all-time leader in return yards last week with 2,170 to his name, breaking Rob Schulte's career record of 2,129.

Flowers is one of only four players in Big Sky Conference history to rack up more than 2,000 kick return yards and currently has the third-best return average in league history among players with 50-plus attempts at 28.2.

PUNT-GAME SHOWDOWN: Montana enters the week with the second-best net punt average in the nation, a signature of Hauck-coached special teams. Montana's coverage unit is averaging 42.27 yards per punt, with freshman punter averaging a Big Sky-best 44.9 yards per attempt. Meaning: UM's opposition is averaging 2.63 yards per return.

We're in for a showdown of an immovable object versus an unstoppable force Saturday when Sac State's Marcus Fulcher takes the field to return a punt. Fulcher is leading the league and ranked No. 3 in the FCS in punt return yards, averaging 16.5 per attempt. Something's gotta give.

(Coach) HAUCK MILESTONES: Bobby Hauck is 8-2 against Sac State in his career at Montana. The winningest Grizzly coach of all time, only one team in the Big Sky Conference has beaten a Hauck-lead team more than twice (MSU), and only five teams have beaten him more than once.

Hauck became Montana's winningest coach of all time in 2018, surpassing Read's 85-win mark following the Grizzlies' 46-27 victory at Idaho.

• Now with 113 victories as UM's head coach, Hauck needs just 11 more to break Jerome Souers' Big Sky record 123 overall wins.

• With 65 wins in Big Sky play, Hauck needs four more wins to pass Nevada Hall of Famer Chris Ault's Big Sky total of 68, 10 more to pass Tim Walsh's total of 74, and 22 more to pass Souers' total of 85 wins in conference play.

HOMECOMING: Montana cornerback TraJon Cotton and offensive lineman Kevin Good return to Northern California and their hometown in the Sacramento metro area this week. Cotton played his high school ball at Inderkum, a 20-minute drive from Hornet Stadium. Good played at Whitney High School, 43 minutes northeast of Hornet Stadium in the town of Rocklin, a suburb of the state capitol.

Montana has 12 players from the state of California on the roster, but only two from Northern California.

SOLD OUT: Montana packed its second-straight sellout crowd into Washington-Grizzly Stadium for the UM/Idaho game, with 26,314 in attendance – the fifth-largest crowd in stadium history. 26,087 fans attended UM's homecoming win over Portland State on Sept. 24.

Tickets are selling fast for a third and fourth-straight sellout in Montana's final two home games of the season. Montana educators are invited to attend the UM/Cal Poly game on Nov. 5 at a discounted price to help pack the stands yet again.

BYE WEEK BLUES BOUNCEBACK: The bad news: Montana lost to Idaho following its bye to move the Grizzlies to 2-6 since 2015 in games played after the open week on the schedule. The good news: the Griz have been able to bounce back following those losses, with a 5-2 record two games removed from the bye.

NIGHT-MARES: Montana has had serious success under the lights at Washington-Grizzly Stadium with a 10-2 night game record since 2011.

It's a different story in night games played on the road, however, with UM heading to Sac with a 1-12 road night game record in the same time frame (2011).

The Grizzlies will look to buck a trend this week, with kick from Hornet Stadium set for 8:02 p.m. Pacific Time, but it won't be easy. Montana has played in Sacramento twice at night since 2011. Both of those losses.

UM's last win at night on the road came in 2013 at North Dakota, a 55-17 win at the Alerus Center that kicked at 6 p.m. Central Time.

SERIES VS THE HORNETS: Montana has dominated the overall series against the Hornets with an all-time record of 20-3 and an 8-2 record in games played in Sacramento.

All of that will be forgotten this week, however, as Montana looks to right the ship following two consecutive losses to the Hornets in 2019 in Sacramento and 2021 in Missoula.

LAST MEETING: Montana's comeback attempt came up just short as the Grizzlies dropped a 28-21 decision to the Hornets last year in Missoula. Sac put together a complete performance, outgaining Montana by nearly 200 yards to pick up their first-ever win at Washington-Grizzly Stadium, snapping a 12-game winning streak for UM at home in the all-time series.

Montana fell behind on the first drive of the day and would never hold the lead in the loss. A 23-yard touchdown run by Kris Brown (who started the game over the injured Cam Humphrey) tied the game at 21 in the third quarter. The Hornets answered that score on a 24-yard pass from Jake Dunniway to Jared Gipson to put the visitors up for good 28-21.

Sacramento State gained 456 yards and converted 9-of-15 third-down attempts, while Montana converted just 4-of-14 third attempts. The Griz struggled to move the chains all day, going three-and-out four times and turning the ball over twice early in drives as well.

The Grizzlies did force three turnovers. Patrick O'Connell forced a fumble, Justin Ford had an interception, and the Hornets mishandled a punt. But Montana was unable to score off any of those opportunities and coughed it up twice themselves, leading to seven points for Sacramento State.

FRIENDLY FACES: The Hornets enter the week with one of the top-25 defenses in the FCS, allowing opponents an average of just 20 points per contest with just 10 allowed to Mountain West foe Colorado State.

The Griz will see some familiar faces across the sideline when they look at the Hornets' defensive staff this week, with two former Grizzlies now patrolling the sidelines in Sacramento.

Hornet defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Andy Thompson was a three-year letterman for the Griz and played under Hauck in 2003, helping the Griz win the 2001 national title and five Big Sky championships.

Sac State D-line coach Kraig Paulson has even deeper ties to Montana as a native of Plentywood and originator of UM's #37 tradition. Paulson lettered for the Griz from 1983-86 and went into coaching at UM immediately after graduation, helping the Griz to the 1995 national championship. He became Montana's defensive coordinator in 1998. After a stint at Utah State, he returned to Montana and served as the DC under Hauck from 2004-2009 and coached at UNLV with him from 2010-14.

Hornet special teams coordinator and tight ends coach Jeremy LaPan is also a former Grizzly offensive lineman, having graduated from UM in 2011.

SCOUTING THE HORNETS: Lead by head coach Troy Taylor, the defending Big Sky co-champs run a triple-option-esque, up-tempo, run-and-gun offense that is putting up big offensive numbers this season, with the Hornets having not trailed in a game to date - the only FBS or FCS team to do so.

With a two-QB system, Asher O'Hara and Jake Dunniway split reps under center, with Dunniway passing for 1121 yards and 11 touchdowns this season and O'Hara rushing for 433 yards and 11 more TDs. To add to their rushing prowess, sophomore running back Cameron Skattebo has been a revelation for Sac, averaging 7.7 yards per carry and 123 per game with five scores.

It all adds up to a Hornet squad that is fourth in the nation in total offense at 520 yards per game, third in rushing offense at 275 yards, second in scoring at an average of more than 48 points per game, and top-five in both first and third down conversions.

Montana's challenge: Stop the rush. Luckily for the Griz, UM has been allowing opponents to run for a meager 76 yards per game, the best rush defense in the Big Sky and the sixth-best in the FCS. Including pass defense, Montana enters the week with the third-best total defense in the nation, allowing just 262 yards per game over the first half of the season.

Sac State will be juiced up this weekend, making its first national television appearance and entering the game undefeated and tied for the program's best start in program history.

THE OCTOBER GAUNTLET: The meat-grinder month of October continues for the Griz this week at No. 2/3 Sac State. Montana is coming off a loss against traditional rival Idaho, who is receiving top-25 rankings this week, and is set to take on another ranked opponent next week.

Montana will travel to Ogden next week to face No. 4/5 Weber State in the third-straight matchup against ranked opponents in the month of October, and second-straight against a top-five opponent on the road to close out the month.

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Players Mentioned

Kris Brown

Liam Brown

Brandon Casey

TraJon Cotton

Malik Flowers

AJ Forbes

Justin Ford

Kevin Good

Journey Grimsrud

Cole Grossman

Robby Hauck

Cam Humphrey

Lucas Johnson

Hunter Mayginnes

Patrick O'Connell

Mitch Roberts

Chris Walker

Marcus Welnel

University of Montana Athletics