Griz return home looking to regain momentum

It's home sweet home for Montana this week as the Grizzlies return to Missoula after a tough October, facing a must-win scenario against Cal Poly on Saturday following two-straight narrow road losses to top-10 teams.

But as they say: The games they remember are played in November.

At 5-3 overall and 2-3 in conference play, the Griz are not where they were hoping to be as the business end of the season draws near. But there is still a lot of football to play, and a run in the playoffs remains directly in Montana's crosshairs with three games left to play and plenty of momentum to recapture.

The mantra is "one game at a time" however, and this week Montana turns its focus to the Mustangs, who, on paper, appear to be overmatched at 1-7 on the year and winless in league play. On top of that, Cal Poly has to deal with UM at Washington-Grizzly Stadium, under the lights, in the cold, and hungry for a win.

But second year Cal Poly head coach Beau Baldwin is no stranger to success in this league after winning the 2010 national title at Eastern Washington. Despite his Mustang's miniscule record, he's well on his way to rebuilding the program in his image, replacing the triple-option with a high-flying passing attack.

Led by the top receiver in the league in Chris Coleman, Cal Poly comes to town with the nation's third-best passing offense, averaging 320 yards per game through the air.

Despite the recent slump, Montana is still the same ballclub that was perched at the top of the national rankings in the first half of the season, still the same team loaded with three defenders on the watch list for the Buchanan Award (and one on the radar for freshman of the year), and still the same team that was a top-10 scoring offense.

With a return to the friendly confines, Montana looks to rebound and prove to itself, and the Grizzly faithful, it is still the same team deserving of those national accolades, and still the same team capable of making a deep run in the playoffs.

Kickoff under the lights at Washington-Grizzly Stadium is set for 6 p.m.

KNOW BEFORE YOU #GOGRIZ: With the Griz returning to Missoula for just the second time in more than a month, here's a heads up on some items to make your Grizzly gameday go better.

• Griz for Kids Toy Drive: Help the Griz help local families have a happy holiday season with the Griz for Kids Toy Drive this week. Bring new, unwrapped toys to the game Saturday night starting at 3 p.m., with donation tables at every entrance to Washington-Grizzly Stadium. Cash donations are also gladly accepted.

The Griz for Kids Toy Drive was started by former Grizzly Chris Orwig and has been a fixture on the UM schedule ever since 2005.

• Traffic Alert: Construction on Missoula's Beartracks (Higgins Ave.) bridge has entered its final phases. Fans coming to/from Washington-Grizzly Stadium this week are advised to allow for extra travel time, however, with the northbound lane of the bridge closed. Traffic moving from south to north is being re-routed over Madison Street bridge for the next two home games, causing an increase in traffic delays around the Hip Strip and University neighborhoods.

Fans are asked to give themselves plenty of time when arriving on campus to avoid delay.

WATCH: The Grizzlies return to prime time on the Montana Television Network this week with the Montana/Cal Poly game airing on CBS stations around the state (KPAX in Missoula). Montana CBS Stations can be found on basic cable, DirecTV, and Dish Network in the state, as well as on streaming services like Hulu and Youtube TV.

The game will also be streamed nationwide without blackout on ESPN+, with a subscription required.

For complete broadcast details and channel listings, visit the Where to Watch page on GoGriz.com.

Long-time Montana broadcaster Jay Kohn will provide the play-by-play, with Grizzly Sports Hall of Famer and former NFL head coach Marty Mornhinweg serving as the analyst. Kyle Hansen will report from the sidelines.

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 each 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: Montana slides to No. 13 in this week's AFCA coaches' poll and No. 16 in the Stats Perform media poll. UM dropped just three spots in the coaches' poll and five spots in the media poll following its third-straight loss, two of which came across top five opponents.

IN THE RATINGS: Montana remained the fifth-highest-rated FCS team in this week's Sagarin Ratings, checking in at No. 90, one spot ahead of last week's rating at No. 91 following two narrow losses to higher-rated teams.

South Dakota State topped this week's list at No. 62, while Sac State came in at No. 75, NDSU at No. 78, and Weber State at No. 83, up from No. 88 the previous week.

FBS programs like Virginia Tech, Tusla, San Diego St, Wyoming and Rutgers fall behind the Griz in the 90-100 range, while Incarnate Word comes in at 103 and Montana State comes in at 105.

The Sagarin Ratings calculate strength of schedule into its ranking of all D-I teams, and factor in the Big Sky Conference's tiebreaker process.

THE OCTOBER GAUNTLET: After a sizzling start to the season, Montana started the month of October in Pocatello with a less-than-satisfying win at Idaho State, and spooky season continued to get scarier from there.

Montana would go on to lose the next three matchups to a surging Idaho, and two of the top-five teams in the nation, on the road, without the use of starting quarterback Lucas Johnson. It was a perfect storm of problems for the Griz, and yet they still managed to force overtime at Sac State and only fell at Weber by three.

Montana has only dropped three-straight games once (2018) in the last 30 years, going all the way back to 1992 for the last time it happened.

FLOWERS POWER: In one of the few games he's had an opportunity this season, senior Malik Flowers made the most of his chances in the kick return game against Weber State, and made more history in the process.

The All-American found a seam, bounced off a pile of would-be tacklers, and turned the corner for a 100-yard kickoff return touchdown in the fourth quarter to breathe life into Montana's chances in Ogden to earn UM's nomination for Big Sky special teams player of the week.

The touchdown was the sixth of his career, tying him with Hampton's Jerome Mathis for second all-time in FCS history. He now needs just one more to break Weber State's Rashid Shaheed's FCS and Big Sky record seven kickoff return touchdowns. He also needs just one more to tie the FBS record for career kick return touchdowns.

There are currently four FBS players with 7 return TDs, one of whom is San Diego State's Rashaad Penny, who was coached by Bobby Hauck from 2014-17.

Flowers finished the game with 147 yards on three returns, an average of 49 per attempt. He scored the only kickoff return touchdown of the week in the Big Sky and posted the most return yards in the league this week as well.

Flowers has been limited in his opportunities to return kicks this season with teams avoiding him at all costs. He has still managed the second-best return average in the league this year, however, with 10 returns for 341 yards to pencil out at 34.1 yards per return. His career average is now at 29.1 yards per attempts, the best in school history a

His average is now 29.1 yards per return, above 28 for the first time this season, and a top-five Big Sky all-time average.

#PAT4BUCK: Just how important linebacker Patrick O'Connell is to Montana's defense became apparent last week when, after combining on an early sack with Levi Janacaro, Patrick O'Connell departed the game at Weber State with an injury.

Without him (and other key defensive players), Weber State posted the most rushing yards on UM's defense so far this season at 192 and averaged nearly four yard per tote on a season-high 51 attempts.

Despite missing the bulk of last week's game, O'Connell is still on pace to be one of the nation's top defenders this season as he continues to build his resume for the Buck Buchanan Award.

Though his status is still TBD for this week, the Kalispell native leads the Big Sky and has the sixth-most sacks in the FCS entering the Cal Poly game with eight. He also leads the league and is top-10 FCS in tackles for loss, and is also now ranked among UM's top 40 tacklers of all time at 225 stops in his career.

FORD'S NO FLY ZONE: Weber State became one of the first teams to actually test Ford this season, with mixed results against the all-America corner. The Wildcats threw his way five times, the most of any team this season, and completed three of those passes. WSU scored on a miscommunication on one play, but Ford made up for the mistake with his second INT in as many games.

Montana's eight opponents this season have thrown the ball 257 times against the Griz. Exactly 16 of those have been thrown in Ford's direction, with only seven being completed.

Now with 11 career INT's, Ford is tied for fifth all-time at Montana, needing two more to tie Grizzly greats Trumaine Johnson and Blaine McElmurry at 13 on the career list.

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.

INJURY BUG: Johnson's absence at Weber State marks yet another year the Griz have not had the full services of their starting QB. Since 2013, Montana has only had one season (2018) where a Grizzly QB has not left a game with injury.

THE NIGHT TIME IS THE RIGHT TIME (AT HOME): Montana is 10-2 all-time in night games played at Washington-Grizzly Stadium. The last time the Griz hosted the Mustangs in a night game, however, was one of those losses. In 2015 Montana suffered a letdown the week after beating a Carson Wentz-led NDSU, falling to Cal Poly 19-20.

NIGHT-MARES (ON THE ROAD): Montana's 8 p.m. kick time loss at Sac State added to its night game road woes. The Griz now have a 1-13 road night game record since 2011 in games starting after 6 p.m. local time. The Grizzlies are also now 0-3 since 2011 in night games played at Sacramento.

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.

BOBBY'S RECORD(S): Bobby Hauck is 7-1 all-time against Cal Poly with the lone loss occurring in the first round of the 2005 FCS playoffs. He's also 4-1 against Beau Baldwin when he was either an offensive coordinator (2003-2006) or head coach (2008-2016) for Eastern Washington.

Hauck remains the winningest Grizzly coach of all time and is on his way to becoming the winningest coach in Big Sky history, with only four teams having beaten him more than once in his time at UM.

• 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.

ROBBY'S RECORD: Already Montana's all-time leading tackler, senior safety Robby Hauck continued to add on to his school record tackle total with 8 stops at weber State, bringing his career mark to 434.

He needs 40 more to break Ronnie Hamlin's Big Sky record of 473 career tackles and has three more regular season games to do it. With 70 stops this year, Hauck is third in the conference in total tackles.

TOPS IN STOPS

• Marcus Welnel now sits at No. 5 among the list of top tacklers in the Big Sky this week with 67 to his name after a productive stretch of defense for the senior from Helena.

Welnel totaled 16 tackles and three TFLs against Idaho and logged 14 against the Wildcats to move into second on the team. He's also second in TFLs (8.5) and sacks (4.5) on the season.

• Levi Janacaro has (not so) quietly become another of Montana's top tacklers. In the last four games the Missoula native has racked up 44 tackles, six TFLs, and a sack, making the most of his opportunity filling in for Braxton Hill. He's now third on the team in stops and top-15 in the conference.

• Including O'Connell, Janacaro, Welnel, and Hauck, Montana is the only team in the Big Sky to have four of the top-15 tacklers in the league.

TFLS & SACKS: As a team, Montana leads the league and is top-five nationally in both team tackles for loss and sacks. Lead by O'Connell, who in-turn leads the league in both categories, Montana has racked-up 66 TFLs and 27 sacks, while allowing opponents just 12 sacks and 46 TFLs.

STOP AT 100: Montana's historically stout rush defense has given up 100 or more yards in two straight games, with Sac State rushing for 180 and Weber rushing for 192. The Griz haven't have back-to-back 100-yard opponents since 2019 when Idaho State (197), Sac State (158), and EWU (101) crossed the century mark.

Despite the two 100+ games, Montana still leads the league in rush defense and slots in at No. 13 in the FCS at an average of 103 yards allowed.

WIN THE TURNOVER BATTLE: Montana did not give up the ball against Weber State, winning the turnover battle for a second-straight week at +1 against the Wildcats. The Griz remain top-10 in the nation in turnover margin at +6 this week, and have outscored their opponents 48-25 in points off turnovers.

FLIP THE FIELD: Montana is now the No. 1 team in the FCS in Net Punt average after freshman Patrick Rohrbach had another huge day with his boot at WSU. Rohrbach averaged 52 yards on eight punts with a long of 64. The UM punt coverage team only allowed the Wildcats to return four of those, for a total of 31 yards.

That brought Montana's season net punt average to an FCS-best 42.24 yards per attempt, with the coverage team allowing less than four yards per return.

LAST MEETING WITH THE MUSTANGS: Montana turned two first-quarter turnovers into an early 17-0 lead and never trailed in picking up a 48-28 victory over Cal Poly in the last meeting between the two teams back in 2018 in Sal Louis Obispo.

The Grizzlies won at Alex G. Spanos Stadium for the first time since 2008 and snapped a three-game losing streak on the Mustangs' home field.

Dante Olson racked up a career-high 24 tackles defending Cal Poly's triple-option that day, while Josh Buss added a pick-six in a big day for the Grizzly defense.

Matt Rensvold scored the second touchdown of his career that day as well on an eight-yard pass from Dalton Sneed, and Samuel Akem scored on a 54-yard strike to put UM up 31-7 at halftime.

University of Montana Athletics

Next Event

Related Videos