Griz look to keep rolling with Eagles coming to town

Officially off the schneid following a soul-cleansing 57-0 whitewash of Cal Poly on a picture-perfect snowy night under the lights in Washington-Grizzly Stadium, the Montana Grizzlies look to keep the momentum rolling this week when old foe Eastern Washington visits Missoula on Saturday.

The Griz (6-3, 3-3 BSC) return to action after flushing out the bad taste from the month of October, refocused and ready to make a run at the postseason.

Standing in their way is EWU (2-7, 1-5 BSC), a program looking to finish the season strong after a tough season where they played two FBS money games against Oregon and Florida, no less, as well as four of the ranked Big Sky teams. And when they come to Missoula this week, they'll play their fifth.

All that gets thrown out the window when the Griz and Eagles square off, though. With decades of bad blood between the two programs, Montana and Eastern have played some of the most memorable games of the last decade, with EWU holding the advantage in recent history.

The Griz, however, got the last laugh against EWU last season. Montana dropped a nail-biter to Eastern in the regular season after starting QB Cam Humphrey went down with injury. When push came to shove in the FCS playoffs, however, the Griz returned the favor and out-gunned the Eagles at home to advance to the FCS quarterfinal.

This year, though, Montana enters the game against EWU in desperation mode, one game removed from snapping the team's second three-game losing streak in the last 30 years.

It's do-or-die time for the Griz if they are to improve on the program's FCS-record 25 playoff appearances, with must-win implications on the line when the Eagles fly into town.

Kickoff from Washington-Grizzly Stadium is set for 1 p.m., with sunshine and cold temps in the forecast. Just the way football should be played in Montana in November.

KNOW BEFORE YOU #GOGRIZ: Be sure to get in your seats early this week for these special events.

• MILITARY APPRECIATION DAY: Montana will celebrate the Veterans Day holiday Saturday with special pregame events to honor America's heroes. This year's Military Appreciation Day features a flyover of a United State Air Force KC-135.

• SENIOR DAY: Montana will celebrate the senior class of 2022 before kickoff. Set to be honored (in numerical order): #2 Jayden Dawson, #6 Justin Ford, #7 Lucas Johnson, #17 Robby Hauck, #19 Malik Flowers, #37 Marcus Welnel, #50 Deari Todd, #52 Michael Matthews, #55 Alex Hurlburt, #55 Chris Walker, #58 Patrick O'Connell, #80 Mitch Roberts, #83 Nico Ramos, #91 Eli Alford, and #97 Adam Botkin.

• CAN THE CATS: The 23^rd annual Can the Cats food drive is in full swing, with donations being accepted at all entrances to Washington-Grizzly Stadium at Saturday's game. A donation box will also reside in the lobby of the Adams Center until Nov. 19.

The Can the Cats food drive is a friendly competition between the UM and MSU communities to help stock the shelves at the Missoula Food Bank and the University of Montana Food Pantry. Learn more about how you can help neighbors in need at canthecats.com.

PACK 'EM IN: Montana is on track to sell out a fourth-straight home game when EWU comes to town Saturday after officially selling-out its third straight against Cal Poly last week.

The last time Montana sold-out four-straight games was back in 2015 when the Griz started the season with a bang, beating a Carson Wentz-lead NDSU squad in front of 26,472 fans.

Montana ranks second in the FCS in attendance this week, averaging 25,277 fans per game, over 100-percent capacity of Washington-Grizzly Stadium.

That average attendance (25,277) would make WGS Montana's seventh-largest city on a Saturday afternoon in the fall according to the 2020 census, with the five-game combined attendance total of 126,385 fans more than the entire population of Billings, the state's largest city.

Jackson State, coached by Deion Sanders, leads the FCS in attendance, with its stadium holding 40,000 and a visit from College GameDay to boost interest.

WATCH: The Griz return to the Montana Television Network this week with the UM/EWU game airing exclusively on The CW stations around the state, with kickoff from Washington-Grizzly Stadium set for 1 p.m.

The CW is a free-to-air station owned by MTN that is also available on basic cable, DirecTV, and Dish Network statewide. Local CW programming can also be found on Hulu and Youtube TV. To see if the CW is available over the air in your neighborhood, visit thefreetvproject.com.

The game will also be streamed nationwide without blackout on ESPN+, with 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 held steady at No. 16 in the Stats Perform FCS media poll for a second-straight week on Monday, one place behind Idaho and one of five Big Sky teams in this week top-25.

Surprisingly, Montana dropped one spot to No. 14 in this week's AFCA coaches' poll, but remained the top-ranked 6-3 team in the polls and the fourth of five ranked Big Sky teams.

IN THE RATINGS: Montana moved up in this week's Sagarin Ratings to retake the spot as the fourth-highest-rated FCS team at No. 79 from No. 90 last week. The Sagarin Ratings, published weekly in USA Today, rank all D-1 teams regardless of subdivision, and are a metric commonly used in the Big Sky tiebreaking process, calculating total strength of schedule.

The Griz currently sit behind SDSU (64), Sac St (70), and NDSU (72). UM remains ahead of notable programs like Virginia, Miami, and Northwestern. Weber State is also close behind UM at No. 86, while Idaho comes in at 102 and MSU slots at No. 112.

IMPLICATIONS: With the NCAA FCS Playoff Committee preparing to announce the 24-team postseason bracket on Nov. 20, the Griz are still very much in the playoff conversation, and potentially alive for a first-round bye.

However, at 6-3, with two losses to top-five teams, on the road, without its starting QB, Montana remains in must-win mode this week against EWU to pick up the requisite seven D-I wins to qualify for the postseason. That's job number one.

Job two comes next week when UM takes on No. 3 MSU in Bozeman. Win them both and the committee could have reason to view the Griz as one of the top eight teams in the nation and give UM a first-round bye. Go 1-1 and the likelihood of hosting a first-round game remains on the table with Montana's traditionally strong postseason bid.

SERIES AGAINST THE EAGLES: Don't let the record fool you. Despite sitting at 2-7, Eastern Washington will take the field in Missoula on Saturday hungry to get back in the win column after dropping two-straight, and bringing plenty of recent success against the Griz with them.

Montana leads the all-time series with Eastern 29-18-1 dating all the way back to 1938. The Eagles, however, have controlled the series over the last decade-plus, with the Griz sitting 4-8 since 2010.

Eastern also owns the most wins inside Washington-Grizzly Stadium of any team not named the Montana Grizzlies, with UM leading the series inside the friendly confines of WGS 12-6 since 1987. For reference, Montana leads the Idaho series 6-4 in WGS (including wins when the Vandals were an FBS team), and the Montana State series 13-5.

As head coach at Montana, Hauck is 8-2 over Eastern in his career.

LAST MEETING: All that said: Montana is 2-0 against the Eagles at home in Hauck's second tenure at UM, winning 34-17 in 2019 and 57-41 in a memorable FCS playoff game in 2021.

The 2021 playoff meeting featured one of the best offenses against one of the best defenses in the entire country, with the Grizzlies beating the Eagles in a shootout under the lights in Missoula.

When the two met in the 2021 regular season, Montana had victory on its fingertips. But a last-second Hail Mary was broken up, and Eastern Washington escaped Cheney with a win. In the playoffs, however, the Grizzlies left no doubt.

The Montana defense withstood an outstanding performance from Eric Barriere, who threw the ball 80(!) times for 530 yards and five touchdowns, the offense rushed for over 200 yards for just the second time all season, and the special teams delivered on signature big plays for a complete team win.

THE NIGHT TIME IS THE RIGHT TIME: In a beautiful snow globe under the lights, Montana improved its all-time record in night games at Washington-Grizzly Stadium to 11-2 since 2011 with a 57-0 win over Cal Poly.

The last time Montana won a night game at home? That same 2021 playoff game where, coincidentally, the Griz again scored 57 points to beat the Eagles.

RUN THE DANG BALL: Montana ran the ball for a whopping 412 yards last week against Cal Poly en route to 695 total yards, the second-best offensive output in program history.

It marked the fourth time this season Montana has run for 200-plus yards (Northwestern State, Idaho State, Sac State, and Cal Poly) and the sixth time the Griz have gone over 150, now averaging 171 per game. UM has also now outrushed its opponents in six of its nine games this season.

Nick Ostmo became the first Grizzly since 2018 to rush for over 200 yards when Dalton Sneed passed the double-century against Sacramento State.

Much of the Grizzly rush attack has been by committee this season, with four Griz racking up 200-plus yards on the ground this season (Ostmo, Knight, Harris, and Johnson), with Ostmo now leading the team and top-10 in the league with 558 yards.

• Montana rushed by committee in the 208-yard day against EWU in last year's playoffs too, with Malik Flowers leading all rushers with 98 yards, Xavier Harris chipping in 79, and Junior Bergen adding 45. All three had a touchdown run as well.

MOVE THE CHAINS: Montana broke a school record with (appropriately) 37 first downs against Cal Poly. That broke the previous school record of 35 set against both Idaho State and Monmouth in 2019. Those two games broke the previous school record of 34 first downs set against South Dakota back in 2012.

What do all those games have in common? Timm Rosenbach was Montana's offensive coordinator in all four contests.

• Montana was also seven plays away from breaking the school record for total plays in a game with 93 against Cal Poly. The school record of 99 has been accomplished twice. Once at South Dakota State in 1970, the other against Idaho State in 2016.

AN OVATION FOR OSTMO: Ostmo had a career day against the Mustangs, earning Montana's nomination for Big Sky Offensive Player of the Week and picking up an honorable mention for Stats Perform FCS Player of the Week.

The junior from Portland rushed for a personal-best 221 yards and added 39 more receiving for 260 yards of total offense, capped with two rushing TDs at an average of 8.5 yards per tote.

• Those 221 yards are the sixth-most in a game in program history. He became just the tenth Grizzly to rush for over 200 and the first to do it since Jordan Canada did it in 2014. He also crossed the 1,000-yard mark on his career, now with 1,016.

• He became the first UM player since Malik Flowers at EWU in 2021 to record over 250 all-purpose yards as well.

• His 221 yards rushing was the second-most of any player in the conference this season, and his 260 yards of total offense is also the second-most in the league as well.

THE RETURN OF LUKE: Montana senior QB Lucas Johnson made and emphatic return to play after missing the bulk of two-straight games.

Johnson was dealing against the Mustangs, completing 17 of 29 passes (in the worst conditions possible) for 262 yards and three touchdowns. He added 24 yards and another score with his feet for a four-TD day and did not take a sack.

FCS analyst Stan Becton ranked Johnson the No. 10 quarterback in the subdivision following his showcase return, despite sitting out a pair of games.

ROBBY'S RECORD – THE HALF CENTURY MARK: Montana's all-time leading tackler Robby Hauck is anticipated to make his 50^th career start this week, having played in and started every game in his time in Missoula.

In that time as the ultimate Montana Iron Man, he's become the Grizzlies' all-time leading tackler with 439 stops to his name, adding five more to his total against the Mustangs.

He now needs 35 more to break Ronnie Hamlin's Big Sky record of 473 career tackles and has two more regular season games to do it. With 75 tackles to his name this season, he currently sits sixth in the league in stops.

WELNEL WOWS: Just behind Hauck on the team tackle table is Marcus Welnel, who earned Montana's nomination for Big Sky Player of the Week following a standout performance against the Mustangs.

Welnel totaled five tackles with one sack, 1.5 TFLs and a key first-quarter interception that stopped Cal Poly from building any momentum.

He was a key player in a Grizzly defensive unit that pitched its second shut-out of the season by limiting the visitor's No. 3 ranked passing attack to just 150 yards in the air and less than 200 yards of total offense.

With 72 tackles this season and 215 in his career, the Helena native is just 10 stops shy of becoming one of UM's top 40 tacklers of all time.

He's already working his way up UM's record book, now tied with Lance Spencer at No. 14 in all-time TFLs with 30.5, and No. 15 on the all-time sack list with 16.

SHUT THEM OUT: Montana's defense, the No. 4 scoring D in the nation this week, pitched its second shut-out of the season against the Mustangs and just the third shut-out for the program dating all the way back to 2011 when UM beat ISU 33-0.

In the season opener Kent Baer's defensive unit shut-out Northwestern State 47-0, a Demons outfit that is currently on top of the Southland Conference standings with four-straight league wins.

The other shut-out came in 2021 when the Griz traveled to Northern Colorado and came home 35-0 winners.

Montana, conversely, has not been shut-out of a game since 1989.

WIN THE TURNOVER BATTLE: With all the snow on Saturday, it's a surprise only two turnovers were committed in the UM/Cal Poly game with each team giving up an interception.

The Griz have now won or tied the turnover battle in three-straight games and sit +7 on the differential chart, placing them at No. 13 in the nation this week. The Griz have made the most of their 15 total takeaways, however, outscoring opponents 55-25 off turnovers to date.

FLIP THE FIELD: One advantage of a 57-0 win is the opportunity to get game reps for guys down the depth chart. While most of the dressed Grizzlies saw the field on Saturday, one player in particular did not. Punter Patrick Rohrbach.

Montana put together 14 drives against the Mustangs, with nine of them ending with a touchdown or field goal, two getting turned over on downs, one turned over with an INT and two more ending the half. Not once was the punter called on.

Regardless, Rohrbach has been spectacular for the Griz this season. Montana once again holds the best net punt average in the nation this week at 42.24 yards per attempt. The freshman Rice Award candidate is averaging 46.6 yards per kick – the second best average in the nation – meaning the UM punt coverage team is allowing only 4.2 yards per return this season.

• Another player who barely saw the field (on special teams, anyway) was Malik Flowers, whose only kickoff return opportunity came at the start of the second half, and it was a touchback.

Flowers hasn't seen many chances to return kicks this year, but still maintains the second-best kick return average in the league at 34.1 per attempt on just 10 tries. Montana as a whole enters the week at No. 5 in the FCS in kickoff returns, averaging 28.21 yards as a unit.

SPEAKING OF SPECIAL TEAMS: Senior kicker Nico Ramos made hay with his boot for the Griz in whiteout conditions to earn Montana's nomination for special teams player of the week.

Ramos, from Miami, Florida, scored eight points from PATs and one field goal, and put up 532 yards on nine kickoffs with two touchbacks in the kicking game.

In slippery conditions he connected on five of six PATs and drilled a 24-yard field goal in the snow in a consistent performance for the Griz.

BOBBY'S RECORD(S): Bobby Hauck enters Saturday's game seeing Big Sky win No. 20 since returning to Missoula to lead the Griz in 2018. A win against EWU would also put him at No. 130 in his 16-year career.

Hauck is UM's winningest coach of all time and is on his way to becoming the winningest coach in Big Sky history, with only three teams having beaten him more than twice.

• Now with 114 victories as UM's head coach, Hauck needs just 10 more to break Jerome Souers' Big Sky record 123 overall wins.

• With 66 wins in Big Sky play, Hauck needs three more wins to pass Nevada Hall of Famer Chris Ault's Big Sky total of 68, nine more to pass Tim Walsh's total of 74, and 21 more to pass Souers' total of 85 wins in conference play.

Griz look to keep rolling with Eagles coming to town

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Players Mentioned

Eli Alford

Junior Bergen

Adam Botkin

Jayden Dawson

Malik Flowers

Justin Ford

Xavier Harris

Robby Hauck

Alex Hurlburt

Lucas Johnson

Michael Matthews

Patrick O'Connell

Nick Ostmo

Nico Ramos

Mitch Roberts

Patrick Rohrbach

Deari Todd

Chris Walker

Marcus Welnel

University of Montana Athletics