Saturday, October 1
Pocatello, Idaho
1 PM
Montana
at
Idaho State
Photo by: Tommy Martino/UM Athletics
Griz return to the road looking to remain unbeaten at Idaho State
9/27/2022 7:27:00 PM | Football
They say a wounded animal is the most dangerous.
Off to their first 4-0 start since 2009, the No. 2/3 Montana Grizzlies look to keep the momentum rolling on the road this week as UM travels to Idaho State for its first Big Sky road test of the season and the 60th all-time meeting between the two founding members of the league.
The Bengals (0-4) enter this week's contest licking their wounds from four-straight losses, starting the year winless against two FBS teams, a perennially strong FCS team, and their Big Sky opener.
Under first-year head coach Charlie Ragle, who saw considerable success as a head coach at Chaparral High School in Phoenix and served as the special teams coordinator at both Arizona and Cal, these Bengals are still trying to find their feet.
They will have their hands full this week, however, with one of the hottest teams in the nation coming to Holt Arena as the Bengals look to snap a 13-game losing streak to the Griz.
Led by sophomore receiver Xavier Guillory's 377 all-purpose yards this season after coming off a 120-yard day in last week's 14-35 loss at Northern Colorado, the Bengals showed they can score, putting up 21 points at UNLV in the season opener.
However, Montana is playing, statically, the second-best defense in FCS football with one of the most complete defensive units to ever take the field for the Grizzlies. If the Bengals are to defend their jungle, they'll have to deal with UM's electric quarterback Lucas Johnson as well as a stable of dangerous running backs and receivers.
With championship aspirations, Montana heads to Pocatello with one mission: improve to 2-0 in league play.
WATCH: Montana's game in Pocatello will once again air around the state on the Montana Television Network, with a stream available nationwide without blackout on ESPN+
This week, the Griz will primarily be shown on The CW. The Missoula, Kalispell, Butte, Bozeman, and Billings markets will all carry the game on The CW, which can be found free-to-air and on cable and satellite packages in those markets as well. In Great Falls and Helena, the game will be shown on your local NBC station (KTGF and KTVH). The game will also be aired on The CW East Idaho.
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 firm as the No. 2 team in the land in this week's AFCA Coaches' Poll but slid back to No. 3 in the Stats Perform media poll despite hanging a 50 burger on PSU and receiving more first-place votes in the media poll.
The Griz slid out of a tie for second with South Dakota State (3-1) in the media poll on Monday after the Jackrabbits won a top-five battle at Missouri State 28-14. Montana totaled 1264 total points to SDSU's 1272, but received seven first-place votes to the Jack's three, which is one more than UM received last week.
PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: Montana doubled up on Big Sky Player of the Week honors this week with record-breaker Robby Hauck earning defensive honors for the second time in his career and quarterback Lucas Johnson earning his first weekly award as a Grizzly.
Hauck cemented his place in the Montana history books this week, breaking Buchanan Award winner Dante Olson's school record for the most tackles in program history. The senior posted seven stops against the Vikings to bring his career total to 402 tackles, breaking Olson's previous record of 397. He also brought the pressure on a quarterback hurry that led directly to an interception for cornerback Jayden Dawson.
He now needs just 72 more tackles to break the Big Sky Conference record for career stops set by Eastern Washington's Ronnie Hamlin between 2011 and 2014.
Hauck's special day against PSU was made even better with a big defensive play at the end of the first half, returning a missed Viking field goal a full 100 yards for his first career touchdown. He also received an honorable mention for the Stats Perform FCS Defensive Player of the Week.
Offensively, Johnson guided Montana to its highest scoring output of the season, with the Griz putting up 53 points and just under 400 total yards of offense against the Vikings. Johnson was deadly accurate, especially in the first half, where he didn't miss, going 14-14 passing. The senior finished the day 20-26 for 221 yards and two TDs in the air.
The dual-threat QB added 10 more yards and another touchdown on the ground for a personal haul of 231 yards and three scores.
Now a quarter of the way through the season, Johnson leads the Big Sky in total offense this week with 1,021 yards through the air and on the ground. That's an average of 255.3 per game which, if the season ended today, would be a top-10 all-time mark at Montana. He also leads the Big Sky and is ranked fifth nationally in points responsible for, tallying 85 of Montana's 173 total points so far this season.
Hauck was named co-Defensive Player of the Week with Sacramento State's Armon Baily. Special teams honors went to Northern Colorado's Elijah Dotson.
Montana has now had four Big Sky Player of the Week recipients this season, with Braxton Hill earning defensive honors after week one and Patrick O'Connell earning defensive honors last week.
SATURDAY'S OTHER STARS: Junior Bergen ripped off a 72-yard punt return touchdown early in the first quarter for Montana and nearly broke free for another in the third to set the tone for the Grizzlies' special teams against Portland State.
The sophomore from Billings totaled 91 punt return yards and 16 kick return yards on four total attempts, while adding three more receiving yards to finish with 110 all-purpose yards. Bergen's punt return score in the first quarter provided the spark Montana needed to take its first lead of the game after a strong start from the Vikings.
For the second time this season Mitch Roberts led the Grizzlies in receiving last week, hauling in six catches for a game-high 83 yards and a touchdown against the Vikings. The Missoula Sentinel product is UM's leading receiver on the season with 19 catches for 260 yards and with reliable hands is showing his big-play capability, averaging 13.7 yards per catch.
Xavier Harris had his best day of the season last week with a game-high 92 yards and a touchdown. The sophomore tailback ripped off a 64-yard scoring run one play after PSU made it a one-score contest in the second quarter to pull the Griz away for good. The Oxnard native is UM's leading rusher with 202 yards this season, the eleventh-highest total in the Big Sky this year. It's an impressive total considering Montana's run-by-committee approach that has four players combining for just under 600 rush yards to date.
Defensively, No. 37 Marcus Welnel put in a solid shift against PSU, putting in seven tackles with 2.5 TFLs and two sacks, which ties his career high set against EWU in 2021. Welnel is UM's third-leading tackler this season behind Hauck and O'Connell with 24 stops, five TFLs, and 3.5 sacks.
DOMINANT D: Coordinator Kent Baer's defense continued it utterly dominant start to the season last week as the Grizzlies kept yet another opponent under 230 yards of total offense and having outscored opponents 173-37 over the course of three games.
Let's go inside the numbers for a look at just how good the Grizzly defense has been.
• UM is the No. 2 total defense in the country this week, having allowed an average of just 212.8 yards per game.
• Paced by O'Connell, Montana leads the league in sacks and is ranked No. 6 in the FCS with a total of 16 this season, combining for an opponent loss of 115 yards. The Kalispell native leads the Big Sky with a tally of 5.5.
• NO GO RED ZONE: The red zone is defined statistically as anywhere between the opponent's 20-yard line and goal line, and Montana's opponents have been nowhere near it this season. After four games the Griz have only allowed four total plays to happen in their red zone. For comparison's sake, Montana's offense has played 21 snaps inside opponent red zones.
• The Griz have the third-best scoring defense in the nation and the tops in the Big Sky this week, having allowed opponents an average of just 9.2 points per game. The only teams to have allowed less points per game come from the Ivy League (Columbia and Penn), and have only played two games each this season.
• Not only have teams not been scoring against UM, they haven't even been getting first downs. The Griz lead the Big Sky and are top-10 nationally in first down defense, having given up only 52 on the season.
• Rushing defense has been a big part of that, with the Griz again leading the league and sitting No. 8 nationally in that category, giving up just 2.2 yards per carry and just over 80 total rush yards per game.
• Portland State's early touchdown from Mataio Talalemotu on the fourth play from scrimmage last week marked the first time this season a team has scored first on the Griz and only the fourth TD any team had scored.
• TAKEAWAY TIME: Montana has only played two games in the last two seasons where the Griz did not force a turnover from the opposing team: James Madison in the 2021 playoffs and South Dakota on week two. This season, the Griz are currently +4 in the turnover differential, good enough to be ranked No. 9 in the nation.
EFFECTIVE O: Before Sunday, Johnson had been Montana's nominee for every Big Sky Offensive Player of the Week award this season, finally bringing home the award on Monday. It's easy to see why he's earned the nomination each week too.
• Johnson enters the week with the best pass efficiency in the Big Sky at 164.4 after the senior lit it up against PSU, a mark that ranks No. 10 in the FCS. Johnson also leads the Big Sky in passing touchdowns with 10, a mark that is No. 10 in the FCS as well.
• A true dual-threat, Johnson is just as effective with his feet. He's ranked No. 5 nationally in points responsible for this year at 84, has scored the third-most rushing touchdowns in the Big Sky this season at four, and leads the league in total offense with 1021 yards – an average of 255.3 per game.
• Fourteen different Grizzlies have caught a pass this season with Roberts and Bergen leading the way with three TD grabs each. To little surprise Malik Flower has had the big play spark for the Griz, averaging just under 20 yards per catch on eight grabs.
• Montana has the second-best scoring offense in the league at an average of 43.3 points per game.
RECORD WATCH: With Robby Hauck reaching Montana's mountain top for all-time tackles, the hill to climb in the Big Sky's record for career stops. Now with 402 tackles to his name and seven regular-season games left to play, it's an entirely surmountable challenge.
Hauck needs just 72 more stops to break the conference record of 473 currently held by Eastern Washington's Ronnie Hamlin. At a current clip of 9.5 tackles per game, Hauck is on pace to break the record in the FCS playoffs.
• Marcus Welnel began working his way up the table in Montana's record books for tackles for loss and sacks. He's now No. 25 all-time at UM in TFLs with 22.5 to his name and No. 18 on the sack list with 13 in his career.
• Malik Flowers didn't get a shot a return last week. In fact, not many teams have had the confidence to kick to him at all this season. Flowers has touched the ball only three times on kick return this year, but has averaged 21.3 yards per return. With one return for 12 yards against PSU, his career total improved to 2,108 yards, needing just 21 more to break Rob Schulte's career record of 2,129.
(Coach) HAUCK MILESTONES: With the win over Portland State, Bobby Hauck passed Nevada's Chris Ault (a College Football Hall of Famer) to become the Big Sky Conference's second-winningest coach of all-time with 112 overall wins as a head coach in the league.
The countdown is now on for Hauck to pass Jerome Souers' career mark of 123 wins, needing just 12 more victories to become both Montana's and the Big Sky's all-time winningest coach.
Hauck also passed Mike Kramer to move into third on the all-time Big Sky Conference game win list with 64 victories in league play following the win over PSU. He now needs five more wins to pass Ault's Big Sky total of 68, 11 more to pass Tim Walsh's total of 74, and 23 more to pass Souers' total of 85 wins in conference play.
SERIES HISTORY: Montana holds a commanding lead over Idaho State in the overall series history. The Griz lead ISU 46-13 in the matchup history dating all the way back to 1921.
But in games played at Pocatello, it's a different story. Montana holds a slim 15-10 advantage at Idaho State and has escaped Holt Arena with wins in the narrowest of margins in recent years.
The Griz last lost to ISU in 2003 in a double-overtime thriller 43-30 in Pocatello and squeaked by the Bengals 12-10 in 2009 with a team that would go on to play for a national championship.
That loss in 2OT? That remains the only time Bobby Hauck has lost to ISU, entering this week with a 7-1 record against the Bengals.
Who could forget the 2015 game when Montana escaped with a win at Holt by blocking a would-be game-winning field goal in overtime and returning it 40 yards for a touchdown to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.
The last time Montana played at Pocatello was in 2017 and the Griz rallied with 26 second-half points in a come-from-behind 39-31 win, again escaping by the skin of their teeth.
UM has had some convincing wins at Holt Arena too, shutting the Bengals out 33-0 in 2011. That win would remain Montana's last shutout for a decade when the Griz blanked Northern Colorado 35-0 in 2021.
THE LAST TIME IT HAPPENED: Montana has forced two safeties so far this season, one coming from a tackle in the end zone from Braxton Hill against South Dakota and one credited to the team after PSU QB Dante Chachere slipped while avoiding a sack.
The last time the Griz forced two safeties in one season was 2011 when Ben Hughes got one at Tennessee while the other was credited to the team as well.
Montana also gave up an uncharacteristic safety to Portland State when a snap slipped through the fingers of punter Patrick Rohrbach. You have to go back to 2010 to find the last time the Griz gave up a safety when Andrew Selle was stopped in the end zone recovering a fumble against Western State for what would be the Mountaineers' only points of the day in a 73-2 drubbing by UM.
• Junior Bergen returned a punt 72-yards for a touchdown against PSU last week. It was Montana's first punt return for a TD since "Mr. Electricity" Jerry Louie-McGee ran one back 74 yards against North Alabama in 2019.
FRIENDLY FACES: Montana's coaching staff is loaded with former Bengal coaches. Offensive Analyst Rob Phenicie is in his first year back at UM after serving as the Bengal's head coach for five seasons. Grizzly safeties coach Roger Cooper spent 10 years at ISU prior to joining the program, and strength coach Dan Ryan spent four years in Pocatello as well.
MISC: Last week's win also marked No. 620 all-time for Montana. The Griz are one of just six FCS programs west of the Mississippi River with more than 600 wins in program history.
• Montana has started strong this season, scoring 54 of its 173 points in the first quarter, the most of any period in the game this season. Thanks to a dropped snap last week, the Griz have only allowed their opponents to score 2 points in the third quarter all year.
Off to their first 4-0 start since 2009, the No. 2/3 Montana Grizzlies look to keep the momentum rolling on the road this week as UM travels to Idaho State for its first Big Sky road test of the season and the 60th all-time meeting between the two founding members of the league.
The Bengals (0-4) enter this week's contest licking their wounds from four-straight losses, starting the year winless against two FBS teams, a perennially strong FCS team, and their Big Sky opener.
Under first-year head coach Charlie Ragle, who saw considerable success as a head coach at Chaparral High School in Phoenix and served as the special teams coordinator at both Arizona and Cal, these Bengals are still trying to find their feet.
They will have their hands full this week, however, with one of the hottest teams in the nation coming to Holt Arena as the Bengals look to snap a 13-game losing streak to the Griz.
Led by sophomore receiver Xavier Guillory's 377 all-purpose yards this season after coming off a 120-yard day in last week's 14-35 loss at Northern Colorado, the Bengals showed they can score, putting up 21 points at UNLV in the season opener.
However, Montana is playing, statically, the second-best defense in FCS football with one of the most complete defensive units to ever take the field for the Grizzlies. If the Bengals are to defend their jungle, they'll have to deal with UM's electric quarterback Lucas Johnson as well as a stable of dangerous running backs and receivers.
With championship aspirations, Montana heads to Pocatello with one mission: improve to 2-0 in league play.
WATCH: Montana's game in Pocatello will once again air around the state on the Montana Television Network, with a stream available nationwide without blackout on ESPN+
This week, the Griz will primarily be shown on The CW. The Missoula, Kalispell, Butte, Bozeman, and Billings markets will all carry the game on The CW, which can be found free-to-air and on cable and satellite packages in those markets as well. In Great Falls and Helena, the game will be shown on your local NBC station (KTGF and KTVH). The game will also be aired on The CW East Idaho.
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 firm as the No. 2 team in the land in this week's AFCA Coaches' Poll but slid back to No. 3 in the Stats Perform media poll despite hanging a 50 burger on PSU and receiving more first-place votes in the media poll.
The Griz slid out of a tie for second with South Dakota State (3-1) in the media poll on Monday after the Jackrabbits won a top-five battle at Missouri State 28-14. Montana totaled 1264 total points to SDSU's 1272, but received seven first-place votes to the Jack's three, which is one more than UM received last week.
PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: Montana doubled up on Big Sky Player of the Week honors this week with record-breaker Robby Hauck earning defensive honors for the second time in his career and quarterback Lucas Johnson earning his first weekly award as a Grizzly.
Hauck cemented his place in the Montana history books this week, breaking Buchanan Award winner Dante Olson's school record for the most tackles in program history. The senior posted seven stops against the Vikings to bring his career total to 402 tackles, breaking Olson's previous record of 397. He also brought the pressure on a quarterback hurry that led directly to an interception for cornerback Jayden Dawson.
He now needs just 72 more tackles to break the Big Sky Conference record for career stops set by Eastern Washington's Ronnie Hamlin between 2011 and 2014.
Hauck's special day against PSU was made even better with a big defensive play at the end of the first half, returning a missed Viking field goal a full 100 yards for his first career touchdown. He also received an honorable mention for the Stats Perform FCS Defensive Player of the Week.
Offensively, Johnson guided Montana to its highest scoring output of the season, with the Griz putting up 53 points and just under 400 total yards of offense against the Vikings. Johnson was deadly accurate, especially in the first half, where he didn't miss, going 14-14 passing. The senior finished the day 20-26 for 221 yards and two TDs in the air.
The dual-threat QB added 10 more yards and another touchdown on the ground for a personal haul of 231 yards and three scores.
Now a quarter of the way through the season, Johnson leads the Big Sky in total offense this week with 1,021 yards through the air and on the ground. That's an average of 255.3 per game which, if the season ended today, would be a top-10 all-time mark at Montana. He also leads the Big Sky and is ranked fifth nationally in points responsible for, tallying 85 of Montana's 173 total points so far this season.
Hauck was named co-Defensive Player of the Week with Sacramento State's Armon Baily. Special teams honors went to Northern Colorado's Elijah Dotson.
Montana has now had four Big Sky Player of the Week recipients this season, with Braxton Hill earning defensive honors after week one and Patrick O'Connell earning defensive honors last week.
SATURDAY'S OTHER STARS: Junior Bergen ripped off a 72-yard punt return touchdown early in the first quarter for Montana and nearly broke free for another in the third to set the tone for the Grizzlies' special teams against Portland State.
The sophomore from Billings totaled 91 punt return yards and 16 kick return yards on four total attempts, while adding three more receiving yards to finish with 110 all-purpose yards. Bergen's punt return score in the first quarter provided the spark Montana needed to take its first lead of the game after a strong start from the Vikings.
For the second time this season Mitch Roberts led the Grizzlies in receiving last week, hauling in six catches for a game-high 83 yards and a touchdown against the Vikings. The Missoula Sentinel product is UM's leading receiver on the season with 19 catches for 260 yards and with reliable hands is showing his big-play capability, averaging 13.7 yards per catch.
Xavier Harris had his best day of the season last week with a game-high 92 yards and a touchdown. The sophomore tailback ripped off a 64-yard scoring run one play after PSU made it a one-score contest in the second quarter to pull the Griz away for good. The Oxnard native is UM's leading rusher with 202 yards this season, the eleventh-highest total in the Big Sky this year. It's an impressive total considering Montana's run-by-committee approach that has four players combining for just under 600 rush yards to date.
Defensively, No. 37 Marcus Welnel put in a solid shift against PSU, putting in seven tackles with 2.5 TFLs and two sacks, which ties his career high set against EWU in 2021. Welnel is UM's third-leading tackler this season behind Hauck and O'Connell with 24 stops, five TFLs, and 3.5 sacks.
DOMINANT D: Coordinator Kent Baer's defense continued it utterly dominant start to the season last week as the Grizzlies kept yet another opponent under 230 yards of total offense and having outscored opponents 173-37 over the course of three games.
Let's go inside the numbers for a look at just how good the Grizzly defense has been.
• UM is the No. 2 total defense in the country this week, having allowed an average of just 212.8 yards per game.
• Paced by O'Connell, Montana leads the league in sacks and is ranked No. 6 in the FCS with a total of 16 this season, combining for an opponent loss of 115 yards. The Kalispell native leads the Big Sky with a tally of 5.5.
• NO GO RED ZONE: The red zone is defined statistically as anywhere between the opponent's 20-yard line and goal line, and Montana's opponents have been nowhere near it this season. After four games the Griz have only allowed four total plays to happen in their red zone. For comparison's sake, Montana's offense has played 21 snaps inside opponent red zones.
• The Griz have the third-best scoring defense in the nation and the tops in the Big Sky this week, having allowed opponents an average of just 9.2 points per game. The only teams to have allowed less points per game come from the Ivy League (Columbia and Penn), and have only played two games each this season.
• Not only have teams not been scoring against UM, they haven't even been getting first downs. The Griz lead the Big Sky and are top-10 nationally in first down defense, having given up only 52 on the season.
• Rushing defense has been a big part of that, with the Griz again leading the league and sitting No. 8 nationally in that category, giving up just 2.2 yards per carry and just over 80 total rush yards per game.
• Portland State's early touchdown from Mataio Talalemotu on the fourth play from scrimmage last week marked the first time this season a team has scored first on the Griz and only the fourth TD any team had scored.
• TAKEAWAY TIME: Montana has only played two games in the last two seasons where the Griz did not force a turnover from the opposing team: James Madison in the 2021 playoffs and South Dakota on week two. This season, the Griz are currently +4 in the turnover differential, good enough to be ranked No. 9 in the nation.
EFFECTIVE O: Before Sunday, Johnson had been Montana's nominee for every Big Sky Offensive Player of the Week award this season, finally bringing home the award on Monday. It's easy to see why he's earned the nomination each week too.
• Johnson enters the week with the best pass efficiency in the Big Sky at 164.4 after the senior lit it up against PSU, a mark that ranks No. 10 in the FCS. Johnson also leads the Big Sky in passing touchdowns with 10, a mark that is No. 10 in the FCS as well.
• A true dual-threat, Johnson is just as effective with his feet. He's ranked No. 5 nationally in points responsible for this year at 84, has scored the third-most rushing touchdowns in the Big Sky this season at four, and leads the league in total offense with 1021 yards – an average of 255.3 per game.
• Fourteen different Grizzlies have caught a pass this season with Roberts and Bergen leading the way with three TD grabs each. To little surprise Malik Flower has had the big play spark for the Griz, averaging just under 20 yards per catch on eight grabs.
• Montana has the second-best scoring offense in the league at an average of 43.3 points per game.
RECORD WATCH: With Robby Hauck reaching Montana's mountain top for all-time tackles, the hill to climb in the Big Sky's record for career stops. Now with 402 tackles to his name and seven regular-season games left to play, it's an entirely surmountable challenge.
Hauck needs just 72 more stops to break the conference record of 473 currently held by Eastern Washington's Ronnie Hamlin. At a current clip of 9.5 tackles per game, Hauck is on pace to break the record in the FCS playoffs.
• Marcus Welnel began working his way up the table in Montana's record books for tackles for loss and sacks. He's now No. 25 all-time at UM in TFLs with 22.5 to his name and No. 18 on the sack list with 13 in his career.
• Malik Flowers didn't get a shot a return last week. In fact, not many teams have had the confidence to kick to him at all this season. Flowers has touched the ball only three times on kick return this year, but has averaged 21.3 yards per return. With one return for 12 yards against PSU, his career total improved to 2,108 yards, needing just 21 more to break Rob Schulte's career record of 2,129.
(Coach) HAUCK MILESTONES: With the win over Portland State, Bobby Hauck passed Nevada's Chris Ault (a College Football Hall of Famer) to become the Big Sky Conference's second-winningest coach of all-time with 112 overall wins as a head coach in the league.
The countdown is now on for Hauck to pass Jerome Souers' career mark of 123 wins, needing just 12 more victories to become both Montana's and the Big Sky's all-time winningest coach.
Hauck also passed Mike Kramer to move into third on the all-time Big Sky Conference game win list with 64 victories in league play following the win over PSU. He now needs five more wins to pass Ault's Big Sky total of 68, 11 more to pass Tim Walsh's total of 74, and 23 more to pass Souers' total of 85 wins in conference play.
SERIES HISTORY: Montana holds a commanding lead over Idaho State in the overall series history. The Griz lead ISU 46-13 in the matchup history dating all the way back to 1921.
But in games played at Pocatello, it's a different story. Montana holds a slim 15-10 advantage at Idaho State and has escaped Holt Arena with wins in the narrowest of margins in recent years.
The Griz last lost to ISU in 2003 in a double-overtime thriller 43-30 in Pocatello and squeaked by the Bengals 12-10 in 2009 with a team that would go on to play for a national championship.
That loss in 2OT? That remains the only time Bobby Hauck has lost to ISU, entering this week with a 7-1 record against the Bengals.
Who could forget the 2015 game when Montana escaped with a win at Holt by blocking a would-be game-winning field goal in overtime and returning it 40 yards for a touchdown to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.
The last time Montana played at Pocatello was in 2017 and the Griz rallied with 26 second-half points in a come-from-behind 39-31 win, again escaping by the skin of their teeth.
UM has had some convincing wins at Holt Arena too, shutting the Bengals out 33-0 in 2011. That win would remain Montana's last shutout for a decade when the Griz blanked Northern Colorado 35-0 in 2021.
THE LAST TIME IT HAPPENED: Montana has forced two safeties so far this season, one coming from a tackle in the end zone from Braxton Hill against South Dakota and one credited to the team after PSU QB Dante Chachere slipped while avoiding a sack.
The last time the Griz forced two safeties in one season was 2011 when Ben Hughes got one at Tennessee while the other was credited to the team as well.
Montana also gave up an uncharacteristic safety to Portland State when a snap slipped through the fingers of punter Patrick Rohrbach. You have to go back to 2010 to find the last time the Griz gave up a safety when Andrew Selle was stopped in the end zone recovering a fumble against Western State for what would be the Mountaineers' only points of the day in a 73-2 drubbing by UM.
• Junior Bergen returned a punt 72-yards for a touchdown against PSU last week. It was Montana's first punt return for a TD since "Mr. Electricity" Jerry Louie-McGee ran one back 74 yards against North Alabama in 2019.
FRIENDLY FACES: Montana's coaching staff is loaded with former Bengal coaches. Offensive Analyst Rob Phenicie is in his first year back at UM after serving as the Bengal's head coach for five seasons. Grizzly safeties coach Roger Cooper spent 10 years at ISU prior to joining the program, and strength coach Dan Ryan spent four years in Pocatello as well.
MISC: Last week's win also marked No. 620 all-time for Montana. The Griz are one of just six FCS programs west of the Mississippi River with more than 600 wins in program history.
• Montana has started strong this season, scoring 54 of its 173 points in the first quarter, the most of any period in the game this season. Thanks to a dropped snap last week, the Griz have only allowed their opponents to score 2 points in the third quarter all year.
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/ FootballGriz Football vs North Dakota Highlights
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Griz football weekly press conference 9/15/25
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UM vs UND Postgame Press Conf.
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Griz Football Weekly Press Conference - 9/8/25
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