By Montana Sports Information (gogriz.com)

With fresh legs from a bye week and a spring in their step from a Homecoming win, the No. 9 Montana Grizzlies return to action on the road this week, heading to the Front Range to take on Northern Colorado in Greeley on Saturday.

In another battle of Ursus Horribilis versus Ursus Arctos, the Griz (5-2, 2-1 BSC) take on the Bears (1-6, 1-2 BSC) in a Big Sky Conference showdown, with both teams coming off a bye and both coming off a win. A big win in UNC's case.

Montana heads to Colorado riding a three-game win streak over UNC and owning back-to-back shutouts of the Bears in 2021 and 2023 by a combined score of 75-0. Regardless, the Griz will be on high alert as Northern Colorado rides high into the contest after an upset road win at Weber State (who beat UM in Missoula) that snapped the Bears' 20-plus game losing streak.

Tide-turning stuff if you are former Big Sky champion head coach at Southern Utah Ed Lamb, who leads UNC into battle with a team full of momentum, a rushing attack that's able to control the clock, a ball-hawk defense, and a special teams unit able to win the field position contest.

UM, by its own admission, has yet to play the perfect game this season. If the Grizzly defense wants to pitch a third-straight shutout of the Bears it will want to show its continued improvement after three offensive shootouts in the previous four games.

In that monthlong span, Montana has blitzed its four opponents for 177 points, while at the same time given up 159 points in a string of nailbiters. But the defense found its rhythm in the second half against NAU, allowing just 94 total yards of offense and zero points on the board in the period outside of one trick play that accounted for an 88-yard touchdown.

On the flip side, the Grizzly offense has been humming like a well-oiled machine. Montana's two-headed monster of a rushing attack that rates third in the FCS returns to action this week with rested bodies for both the ball carriers and the big boys up front.

Newstalk KGVO 1290 AM & 98.3 FM logo
Get our free mobile app

Quarterback Logan Fife has grabbed the reins of the arial attack and become one of the most efficient passers in the league, throwing for 907 yards in just three games as a starter and completing nearly 70 percent of his passes. All told, Fife's been responsible for 12 touchdowns in that time and 76 total points with four rushing TDs and eight passing.

Now Montana heads south looking to keep the foot on the gas and rack up the momentum following the bye week, just as it did a year ago in a 40-0 win over UNC following the bye week and proceeded to rattle-off six more wins to advance to the FCS title game.

Kickoff from Nottingham Field is set for 1 p.m.

GRIZ TAILGATE: Griz fans on Colorado's Front Range, and there are a lot of them, have the chance to connect with fellow Montanans on Saturday at the official Grizzly pregame tailgate party. The UM Alumni Association will host the gathering on UNC's Michener Library Lawn from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. The party is open to the public, with walk-up tickets available to purchase for $40 per adult and $20 per child. Tickets include a lunch buffet, water and soda, a drink ticket good for one beer or wine, gameday giveaways, and more. For more info visit GrizAlum.org.

Grizzly Sports Hall of Famer and former NFL head coach Marty Mornhinweg serves as the analyst on the broadcast, while longtime Montana newsman Jay Kohn will provide the play-by-play. Kyle Hansen will report from the sidelines.

LISTEN: "Voice of the Griz" Riley Corcoran is in his ninth season behind the mic at Montana and will bring you all the Grizzly action over the airwaves on the Grizzly Sports Radio Network and its fourteen affiliate stations around the state.

"Grizzly Gameday" starts two hours before kickoff each Saturday with the official pregame radio show with 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 on the Varsity Network App.

THE SERIES: In a string of 18 games dating back to 1976, the Griz hold a commanding 16-2 lead over Northern Colorado. Montana has never lost to the Bears in Missoula at 10-0 all time after last year's 40-0 shut out. As Big Sky Conference opponents, UM holds an 11-1 series lead. This week, the Griz head to Greeley for just the ninth time in program history, where UM holds a 6-2 series lead. That first meeting in '76 was played in Greeley and was UNC's first home win in the series. They wouldn't get another until 2016 when the Bears stunned UM 28-25, also in Greeley.

• However, Northern Colorado remains the only program in the Big Sky Conference to never beat a Bobby Hauck-led Grizzly team, with the ol' ball coach holding a 7-0 career record over the Bears. Not only have Hauck's Grizzlies never lost to UNC, they've dominated, outscoring the Bears 286-74 in those seven previous meetings.

LAST MEETING: Montana's defense stifled Northern Colorado in the frigid temperatures inside Washington-Grizzly Stadium in late October 2023, earning two defensive scores and holding the Bears to just 94 total yards in a 40-0 shutout win.

The Grizzlies' two defensive scores were both pick-sixes, one from Jaxon Lee and the other Braxton Hill. It's the first time the Griz have had multiple pick-sixes in a game since 2010 when they set a Big Sky record with four against Western State.

It was UM's first shutout of the season that year, allowing UNC to rush for just 18 yards on 31 carries and go 1-for-15 on third down with only seven total first downs, and logged six sacks. Riley Wilson had a breakout game with four tackles and three sacks to himself.

The offense had an efficient day to put up 455 yards of total offense as Montana improved to 7-1 overall and 4-1 in Big Sky play. It was the first 7-1 start for Montana since the 2009 season, which ended in a trip to the National Championship. Last year's 7-1 Grizzlies also made a trip to the title game.

UM also controlled the ground game, running for 285 yards. Gillman carried the rock 14 times for 106 yards and two scores, averaging 7.6 yards per carry. Ostmo also toted it 13 times for 86 more yards. As a team, Montana averaged 5.6 yards per carry with a long of 21 yards.

True freshman Keali'i Ah Yat also threw the first touchdown pass of his career.

LAST TIME IN GREELEY: The Griz put up yet another dominant defensive effort in a 35-0 win over UNC in Greeley back in 2021. The defense allowed just 245 yards, with a large chunk of that (over 100 yards) coming in the fourth quarter when the result was all but guaranteed. Montana forced a pair of turnovers, including an early interception for Justin Ford, his seventh of the year, a mark that led the nation.

Montana's offense scored early and often to keep the game well out of reach, with QB Cam Humphrey making his first start since returning from injury. He didn't miss a beat, throwing for 233 yards and three scores. He also ran for 71 yards and another score.

His favorite target was Mitch Roberts, who hauled in seven catches for 74 yards. Cole Grossman had three catches for 49 yards and a touchdown, and Samuel Akem also had a big day, finding the end zone twice on just three catches.

On the ground, Junior Bergen – at the time a running back - led Montana with eight carries for 64 rushing yards, Isiah Childs – now a linebacker – added a touchdown with 24 yards, and Xavier Harris also had five carries for 15 yards.

///GRIZ TRACKS///

GRIZ IN THE POLLS: Montana returned to the top 10 this week in both the media and coaches' national polls, slotting in at No. 9 in both after sitting at No. 11 prior to the bye week. UM is the third of three teams in the national top 10, with MSU up to No. 2 and UC Davis up to No. 5 in the media poll. Idaho (5-3) squeaked by Cal Poly at home last week and sits at No. 11 to round-out the ranked Big Sky teams.

GRIZ IN THE RATINGS: When the computers crunch the data, it paints an even better picture for the Griz. UM sits No. 7 in the FCS and No. 2 in the Big Sky in the Sagarin Ratings and come in at No. 7 nationally and No. 3 in the BSC in the Massey Ratings. Both computer models take into account strength of schedule and can be used in postseason and championship tiebreaking scenarios. Speaking of strength of schedule….

A LOOK BACK: If hindsight is 20-20, the overall quality of Montana's 2024 nonconference schedule is coming into focus as the back half of the season gets rolling and playoff seeding chatter increases.

UM's week one opponent Missouri State was unranked coming into Missoula when the Griz pulled out a 29-24 win. Since then, the Bears have improved to 5-2 and haven't lost another FCS game. They also pulled-out a statement 41-7 win at No. 16 Illinois State. Stats Perform won't rank them in the media poll because of their planned move to the FBS, but the FCS coaches rank MSU No. 18 this week, making UM's victory that much sweeter.

North Dakota was ranked No. 20 when they came from behind to sneak out a home win over the Griz in Grand Forks. The Hawks have continued their winning ways, now ranked No. 7 at 5-2 with just a loss at No. 1 NDSU on their schedule. UND has also not left the state of North Dakota for a game, or played outdoors, since that win over UM.

The Griz wrapped up nonconference play with a shootout win over then No. 24 Western Carolina. The Catamounts (now 4-3 with a loss to NC State and UM) are on top of the SoCon standings after pulling out a big 52-20 win at Furman (who UM faced in last year's quarterfinal) last week.

Griz fans will remember WCU QB Cole Gonzales, who threw for 340 and two TDs in Missoula. Turns out he's pretty good, throwing for a So-Con record 620 yards and five TDs at Furman. That's the seventh-most passing yards in FCS history.

Montana sits at 5-2 but could be considered a play or two away from potentially sitting pretty at 7-0. While a lot more goes into winning a game, a 43-yard field goal at North Dakota and a 49-yarder against Weber State were keys in those Grizzly losses. As time goes on, UM's strength of schedule is on the rise.

BEST OF THE BEST: Even after his relatively quiet two-game stretch of 69 yards against WSU and 76 against NAU (the first of which snapped a three-game streak of 100+ on the ground), Eli Gillman remains one of the top overall ball carriers in college football this week.

Gillman continues to lead the FCS in average yards per carry heading down to UNC with a stout 8.66 per tote. That's the third-most in all of D-I football this week, trailing only Marshall's AJ Turner at 10.1 YPC and Heisman candidate Ashton Jeanty of Boise State's 9.9 YPC.

RECORD WATCH:Eli Gillman and Nick Ostmo shouldered the bulk of Montana's rushing yards in the win over NAU, collecting 76 and 74 yards, respectively. The pair head to Greeley as two of UM's top 15 rushers in program history.

Gillman's 76 yards increased his career total to 1,743 and bumped him up two spots on UM's all-time leaders list to go ahead of greats JR Waller (2002-05) and Jody Farmer (1986-89).

He now needs just 42 more yards to pass his position coach Justin Green's career total of 1,784. Besides their mentor/mentee relationship, there's another similarity between the two. Green racked up his 1,784 yards in just two seasons of action at UM (2003-2004). Gillman is now on track to pass him in just two seasons as well.

Gillman, however, has two more years in Missoula to rack up the stats, and at the rate he's running he's got a shot to climb all the way to the top of UM's record book. He enters the UNC game with a career average of just under 73 rushing yards per game.

Extrapolate that out over UM's remaining five regular season games this season and add the 23 games on the 2025 and 2026 regular season schedules, and Gillman could total nearly 3,800 career rushing yards. That's enough to put him in spitting distance of Yohance Humphrey and the program's all-time record of 4,070.

Ostmo increased his career total to 2,390 yards against NAU to solidify his spot as UM's No. 5 rusher of all-time.

FINDING BALANCE: A little more than halfway through the season and Grizzly offensive coordinator Brent Pease has once again found mechanical balance in Montana's production.

The Griz O is fifth in the FCS and second in the Big Sky in total production with 3,380 yards this week, and they are split nearly down the middle with 1,753 rushing and 1,627 passing – a difference of just 126 total yards.

EXPERIENCE MATTERS: Helping lead Montana's offensive charge this season is senior tackle Brandon Casey, who is set to make his 38th career start at UNC this week. He's been a staple of the Grizzly O-Line ever since making his first career start as a true freshman in 2021… against Northern Colorado… in Greeley.

DEFENSIVE STARS: Senior defensive end Hayden Harris heads into the tail end of the regular season as one of the top overall defenders in the Big Sky, leading the league in forced fumbles with three, sitting second in the league in total sacks with 7.5, and third with 9.5 TFLs.

Linebacker Riley Wilson also logged his second-straight game with a sack against NAU and is UM's No. 2 overall tackler with 41 stops to his name. Fellow backer Ryan Tirrell leads the team and is seventh in the league in tackles with 55.

ROAD WARRIORS: Road wins in the Big Sky Conference are always hard to come by, but they were a catalyst to UM's league title in 2023. The Griz haven't lost a conference road game in over a year, when they tripped at NAU before ripping off 10 straight overall wins.

UM is looking to go four-straight again in league games on the road, starting their string last year at UC Davis, Idaho, and Portland State. The last time UM won four-straight Big Sky games straddled the 2021-22 seasons, starting at Idaho in '21 and lasting through the win at Idaho State in '22.

HAPPY HOMECOMING: Montana continued its winning ways on homecoming two weeks ago, when 26,229 Griz fans returned to Missoula to see the win over NAU. UM improved to 69-33-1 on Homecoming since 1919 and to 34-4 inside Washington-Grizzly Stadium. It was also the fifth-straight homecoming win for the Griz and 10th win in the last 12 games. Bobby Hauck, a Montana alum, is now 12-1 overall on Homecoming.

STRING OF SELLOUTS: Those 26,229 fans at the NAU game marked Montana's 15th-straight regular season sellout of Washington-Grizzly Stadium, a Montana program record and the 11th-highest attended game in stadium history.

The Griz return home from their two-game road swing on Nov. 9 looking to extend that streak to 16 on national television as Montana hosts UC Davis on ESPN2 in a night game at WGS. A sellout of the Portland State game a week later would mark two consecutive seasons with every regular season game in Missoula sold to capacity. Tickets for both are selling fast, but limited quantities remain at GrizTix.com.

FALSE START FRENZY: NAU jumped once on week seven to bring the total opponent false start penalties inside Washington-Grizzly Stadium to 15 this season. With two regular season home games left on the calendar, the Grizzly faithful will have work to do to break Montana's 2023 total of 26 opponent false starts in Missoula.

STEAKS OR HOT DOGS: Over the bye week, Montana held its annual Academic Champions dinner, where players who earned a 3.0 GPA in the classroom last semester enjoyed a steak dinner, while those who did not feasted on hot dogs. Impressively, only 12 of Montana's 110 players had a hot dog.

Montana has posted an impressive 12-straight semesters with a team 3.0 cumulative GPA or better since Hauck's return, an almost unheard-of achievement in college football.

2024 Montana Grizzlies Football Schedule

Gallery Credit: Ace Sauerwein

More From Newstalk KGVO 1290 AM & 98.3 FM