Griz back on road seeking rare win in Ogden

Montana hits the road for a second-straight week on Saturday looking to stay undefeated this season at 8-0 (4-0 BSC) as the Grizzlies travel south on I-15 to take on Weber State (3-5, 1-3 BSC) in an old school Big Sky showdown between two of the league's founding members.

It's the second stop on Montana's 2025 revenge tour as the Griz look to make good on a 2024 loss to the Wildcats in Missoula after beating North Dakota on week two. It's also a chance to get the Weber State monkey off the Grizzlies' back, having lost three straight to WSU, and five of the last six meetings.

Despite UM holing a stout 40-18 lead in the all-time series that dates the dawn of the conference, playing in Ogden has been an uphill battle for Montana in recent years. The Griz, surprisingly, have not won at Weber since 2012 and only have that one road win since 2006. Just one win at WSU in two decades.

But this year's Griz head to Weber as one of the hottest teams in the FCS.

Montana loads the bus with a receiver that is the nation's leader in all-purpose yards, a young and tough quarterback that has continued to improve weekly and had guided the No. 5 passing offense in the FCS, and a running back that is on the cusp of crossing the 3,000 yard barrier… as a junior. The Grizzly defense has been increasingly salty as the season has worn on as well, leading the league in interceptions and finding six sacks last week in Sac town.

Montana has been playing at a high level all season, and just because it's Halloween weekend this is no time to let the Ogden curse derail its hopes of a 20^th Big Sky championship.

Kickoff from Stewart Stadium in Ogden is set for 1 p.m.

WATCH: The Grizzlies return to Montana Television Network stations around the state this week, with the Weber State matchup available on basic cable, satellite options, free-to-air channels, and online streaming.

This week's game will be shown on KPAX in Missoula and Kalispell, KTVQ in Billings, KRTV in Great Falls, KXLH in Helena, and The Spot – MTN in Butte and Bozeman. The Spot – MTN is a new independent television network that serves as the secondary home of Big Sky Conference games and will carry specific UM games in specific markets. The Spot stations in Salt Lake City, Boise, and Twin Falls, Idaho will also carry this week's game.

The Spot - MTN is available around the state free-to-air for viewers with antennas. It is also available on Spectrum Cable, TCT West, Montana Opticom, Access Montana, DIRECTV, the DIRECTV streaming platform, and FUBO TV.

ESPN+ will again serve as the primary streaming home of Montana Athletics this season.

In the booth are veteran play-by-play announcer Trey Bender, joined by former Grizzly All-American Jordan Tripp who serves as analyst. Kyle Hansen will report from the sidelines. For complete broadcast details visit GoGriz.com/WhereToWatch.

LISTEN: "Voice of the Griz" Riley Corcoran is in his tenth 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.

"Grizzly Gameday" starts two hours before kickoff each Saturday with the official pregame radio show featuring Ace Sauerwein and Denny Bedard before Corcoran and longtime color commentator Greg Sundberg take over 30 minutes to kickoff.

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.

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PLAYER(S) OF THE WEEK: It was a clean sweep of weekly awards for the Grizzlies after Montana earned a decisive road win over Sacramento State on ESPN 2 to remain undefeated on the season. Star receiver Michael Wortham was named the Stats Perform FCS Offensive Player of the Week while the Grizzlies swept Big Sky weekly awards, it was announced on Monday.

Wortham took both national and conference offensive player of the week honors, while linebacker Peyton Wing was named Big Sky Defensive Player of the Week and punter/kicker Ty Morrison was named Big Sky Special Teams Player of the Week.

Montana has now had 10 Big Sky Player of the Week selections plus one Stats Perform FCS Player of the Week and one Team of the Week nod. It's the most Big Sky Players of the Week for the Griz since 2011 when they had 12 picks and is tied for the second-most in program history with 2008's total of 10 dating back to when the conference started the award in 1972.

• Wortham did it all for Montana in a 49-35 road win over the Hornets with a hat trick of touchdowns and 238 all-purpose yards.

He led the Griz in rushing, receiving, and combined returns as the Division-I leader in all-purpose yards and made it a homecoming to remember in his native Sacramento. All told he rushed for a season and game-high 89 yards and two touchdowns from 27 and 15 yards out, caught five passes for 80 yards that included a 64-yard strike, and returned two kickoffs for 69 yards including a long of 44.

He leads both FCS and FBS football in all-purpose yards again this week with an average of 178.75 per game. His total of 1,430 yards on the season has already cracked Montana's all-time top 20 list with still four regular season games left to play.

His three TD total at Sac State ties the single game high in the Big Sky against a D-I opponent and marks the third time this season a Grizzly has found the endzone three times with Eli Gillman doing it twice.

Last week, he was graded as the No. 1 receiver in all of college football by Pro Football Focus with a 91.2 offensive grade. It's the second time in the last month he's been named Big Sky Offensive Player of the Week after another 200-plus yard all-purpose day at Idaho State.

• Wing tied the Big Sky single game high this season with three sacks in the win over the Hornets, including one on a fourth and nine attempt that put a halt to a key Hornet drive in the third quarter that led directly to a Grizzly touchdown.

With six total tackles (four solo), half of his stops were sacks on Friday. He was a leader in a Grizzly defense that shut down the Sac run game, with the Hornets totaling just 141 yards on the ground – nearly 100 less than their season average.

Wing is now tied with Hunter Peck for the most sacks on the squad this season with 3.5 each and leads the team in TFLs with 5.5. The Buchanan Award Watch List member has been a major contributor to a Grizzly defense that ranks second in the league in scoring D and third against the rush. The UM defense also leads the league and is sixth nationally in interceptions at 10, with Wing accounting for two of them.

• Morrison had the usual solid day with his foot a Sacramento State, going 7-for-7 on PATs, to stay perfect on the year, totaling 429 yards on seven kickoffs with four touchbacks, and logging 112 yards on 3 punts. It was what he did with his arm that was special, however.

Morrison helped put the nail in Sac State's coffin early in the fourth quarter when he completed a 28-yard pass to Ian Finch on a fourth and nine to convert a huge fourth down for the Griz that led directly to a Wortham touchdown one play later.

He is now seventh in the Big Sky in overall scoring this week with 56 total points, averaging seven per game. He's also a major contributor to Montana's strong net punt average of 40.49, this week ranked top 12 in the FCS and third in the league. He's been named Big Sky Special Teams Player of the Week three times now, winning in consecutive weeks following the North Dakota and Indiana State games.

OTHER SATURDAY STARS: Caleb Otlewski posted a career high eight tackles at Sac State and picked off his second pass of the season (third in his career). He's now tied with Wing for the most INTs on the team with two each this year. They are both tied at fourth in the Big Sky for most INTs.

• As a team, Montana's defense leads the Big Sky and is sixth in the FCS with 10 interceptions. That 10 count is already tied for the second most a Grizzly team has totaled in a season since 2019 and is just two shy of UM's 30-year average of approximately 12 picks per season.

• Cornerback Kenzel Lawler continues his breakout season. The senior tied his career high with four tackles at Sac, two for a loss and two quarterback hurries. He leads the Big Sky in pass breakups with eight and is second in the league in total passes defended with nine.

• Diezel Wilkinson also had a career day at Sac State with eight tackles, two sacks, and 2.5 TFLs. He's second on the team in total tackles with 41 and sacks with 3 this season and is tied for the most solo tackles at 21.

GILLMAN GOES: Despite a relatively quiet game in Sacramento with 67 yards rushing and one receiving TD, Eli Gillman is still top of the heap in the Big Sky in several rushing categories. With 843 yards on the ground, he leads the league and is No. 8 nationally in total rush yards. He also leads the Big Sky in rushing TD's (12) and rush yards per game (105.4).

With a rushing touchdown in Sac, he's top of the league and No. 3 in the nation in overall scoring and total touchdowns with 14.

• Gillman also continues to climb the all-time rushing list for the Grizzlies. He now needs just 20 more yards on the ground to total 3,000 in his illustrious career.

He's currently chasing Jordan Canada's career total of 3,435 yards at No. 4 among UM's all-time rushers.

Another rushing TD at Sac tied him with Jordan Canada for the fourth-most in program history at 40 and his total TD mark of 44 is just four shy of tying Yohance Humphrey's career total of 48. With 264 points scored, he's now passed legendary kicker Andy Larson's career total of 261.

• The Griz have never lost when Gillman rushes for 100-plus yards in his career. He's hit the century mark 12 times in three seasons, including four times this season with a personal best 198 yards against Central Washington.

FAST FRESHMAN: Brooks Davis caught three passes for 47 yards and a touchdown at Sac State to bring his freshman season total to 29 catches for 397 yards as UM's second leading receiver.

He moved up to No. 7 on Montana's all-time freshman receivers list, passing Ellis Henderson and Hall of Famer Matt Wells. He now trails NFL vet Samori Toure's frosh season total of 553 by 156 yards with four regular season games to play.

EIGHT-AND-OH-YEAH: Montana remains unbeaten at 8-0 this week, UM's first unbeaten streak to start a season since 2009. The Griz have had an 8-0 start just seven times in program history. The first 7-0 start was back in 1969 when the Griz finished the regular season 10-0 before dropping their only game in the Camillia Bowl without the use of several starters. They repeated the feat in 1970 as back-to-back Big Sky champions. They've also gone at least 8-0 in '94, '96, '02, '08, and '09.

With just two home games remaining the Griz are looking to remain undefeated at home for the 14^th time in Washington-Grizzly Stadium since the venue was built in 1986. Most recently the Griz went 9-0 at home in the 2023 run to the national championship.

HAUCK HISTORY: Montana's win at Sacramento State was head coach Bobby Hauck's 50^th as Grizzly mentor since 2020, the second-most among active FCS coaches.

It was also the 83^rd Big Sky Conference win at Montana. He needs just three more in conference play to pass Jerome Souers' record of 85 win in league play at NAU. Hauck is already the overall winningest coach in the Big Sky at 146 wins.

THE GAMES IN NOVEMBER…. Are the ones they remember, and Hauck has done plenty of winning in the final month of the regular season. With Montana at Weber State set for Nov. 1, Hauck enters the month 42-10 all-time, 26-5 in games played in Missoula, and went 3-2 last November.

FIRST TIME? With Montana's win over Sacramento State, Hauck improved to 20-6 in his career against first year head coaches after defeating the Hornets' Brennan Marion and North Dakota's Eric Schmidt this season. Hauck is 12-3 at home, 7-1 on the road, and 0-2 in national championships against first year head coaches.

CAN'T WIN WITHOUT THE BALL: With a pair of takeaways against the Hornets (one fumble recovery by Tanner Huff and Otlewski's pick), Montana came home from Sac +1 in the all-important turnover differential and now sits +4 on the season with 13 takeaways to nine giveaways.

UM's turnover margin is second-best in the Big Sky this week and 22^nd in the FCS. 13 turnovers gained is second-most in the league overall as well.

BALL SECURITY: With just four regular season games left, Montana has given the ball away just nine times and has only fumbled the ball twice – no surprise given the Grizzly coaching staff's focus on ball security. Since Hauck returned to UM in 2018 the Griz have averaged 19 giveaways per year and currently sit 10 below that average. Zoom out more and UM has averaged 21 turnovers per season, currently sitting at less than half that average.

GRIZ IN THE POLLS: Montana jumped up a spot to No. 3 in the two major FCS top 25 polls this week after spending the last four weeks at No. 4 in both polls. South Dakota State dropped out of the No. 2 spot down to No. 4/5 after falling to NDSU in Brookings over the weekend.

The Griz are the highest ranked of three Big Sky teams in the top six and four in the top 25 with MSU in fourth, UC Davis in sixth, and NAU sitting 19/21.

GRIZ IN THE RATINGS: Montana slots in at No. 89 in this week's Sagarin ratings, the sixth-highest FCS team and the second highest rated Big Sky team with a 65.74. Notably, North Dakota, who the Grizzlies beat this season, is rated above UM at 74. So, take it for what it's worth. The Griz are fifth in the FCS and second in the Big Sky according to the Massey Ratings this week, with no movement from last week.

The Sagarin and Massey ratings are computer calculations that take into account strength of schedule, among other variables, to rank teams, and can be used in tiebreaking scenarios for championships and the postseason.

GRIZ ON THE WORLDWIDE LEADER: Montana at Sacramento State posted a viewership of approximately 190,000 on ESPN 2 last week. That's the second-most viewers of a Griz broadcast on ESPN Networks in the last two years but is the fourth lowest of all UM games on "the Worldwide Leader in Sports" over the last decade, dating back to 2015's season kickoff against NDSU which drew 981,000 viewers.

PREP FOR 2026: With an extra week added to the football calendar and the addition of two new league members, the Big Sky has revised its 2026 football schedule, the conference announced Tuesday.

Montana director of athletics Kent Haslam also announced the addition of the Drake Bulldogs to Montana's nonconference slate, completing the entirety of the Grizzlies' 2026 schedule.

The Griz will now play seven games at home and five on the road in the 12-game slate, opening the year with three straight at Washington-Grizzly Stadium. UM will then play two more at home in October and two more in November before capping the regular season on the road at Montana State.

Montana Football 2026
Aug. 29: SOUTHERN UTAH*
Sept. 5: DRAKE
Sept. 12: UTAH TECH
Sept. 19: at Oregon State
Sept. 26: at UC Davis*
Oct. 3: NORTHERN COLORADO*^
Oct. 10: at Northern Arizona*
Oct. 17: IDAHO*
Oct. 24: Open
Oct. 31: at Eastern Washington*
Nov. 7: PORTLAND STATE*
Nov. 14: IDAHO STATE*
Nov. 21: at Montana State*

Home games in BOLD
*= Big Sky Conference Game
^= Homecoming

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Players Mentioned

Brooks Davis

Ian Finch

Eli Gillman

Tanner Huff

Kenzel Lawler

Ty Morrison

Caleb Otlewski

Hunter Peck

Diezel Wilkinson

Peyton Wing

Michael Wortham

University of Montana Athletics