Griz Return Home To Host Morehead State

Nonconference action continues for Montana on Saturday when the Griz (1-1) face another first-time opponent in Morehead State (2-0) out of the Pioneer Football League.

The Eagles make the 2,000-mile journey from the town of Morehead (population 6,734) in Western Kentucky to Missoula for their second trip to Big Sky Country in three years after playing at Montana State in 2022.

While UM has never lost to a team from the Pioneer League in its 33 years of existence, the Griz enter this week's game on high alert, with teams from the PFL sitting at 2-0 over teams from the Big Sky so far this season. Cal Poly dropped its season-opener to rival San Diego on week one, and defending PFL champ Drake pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the new year with a 35-32 win over Eastern Washington in Cheney.

With Morehead State coming to town at 2-0 for the first time since 2007 and leading the nation in several statistical categories, Montana turns the focus inward this week, looking to perform more like it did in the first half at UND last week, and less like it did in the second.

Kickoff from Washington-Grizzly Stadium returns to its more traditional timeslot of 1 p.m. this week after opening the season with a nighttime blackout. With a forecasted high of 71 under partly cloudy skies, it's shaping up to be a perfect day for football.

WATCH: The Montana vs Morehead State contest will be the second-straight Griz game to air on the MTN Network, which is available over the airwaves around the state and on DIRECTV, the DIRECTV Streaming Platform, as well as FUBO TV. A nationwide stream of the game is also available without blackout on ESPN+.

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.

For complete Montana broadcast details as well as links to a channel finder for the MTN Network, visit GoGriz.com/wheretowatch.

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 with the Varsity Network App, powered by Learfield and Sidearm Sports.

THE SERIES: Saturday's contest is a first between Montana and Morehead State. The Eagles are the second of three first-time opponents for the Griz in this year's nonconference schedule with Missouri State and next week's foe, Western Carolina.

Morehead State has been a member of the Pioneer Football League since 2001 and is the only public school in the conference. Since joining the league, the Eagles played for four-straight conference championships from 2002-2005 but have never won a title or received the league's auto-bid for the FCS playoffs.

The Griz are 4-1 all-time against current teams in the PFL, with the only loss occurring way back in 1958 when Montana closed the season with a 24-13 loss at the University of San Diego before the league existed.

Morehead State has only played one other team from the Big Sky Conference in its history, but this will be the Eagles second trip to the Treasure State. Morehead's first and only game against a Big Sky team was in 2022 at Montana State, a 63-13 win for the Bobcats in Bozeman.

Like many of the teams in the PFL, Morehead State has seen much success on the basketball court. At the 2011 NCAA Tournament, the 13th-seeded Eagles upset Louisville 62–61 for their second all-time tourney win in a three-year span. Kenneth Faried, a first-round NBA Draft pick in 2011 and at one point the NCAA's all-time leading rebounder, was a star on that Eagles squad.

SALUTE TO SERVICE: Saturday's game mark's Montana's annual "Salute to Service" game, with Military Appreciation events scheduled throughout the day.

/// GRIZ TRACKS ///

HOME SWEET HOME: Montana will be looking for its 14^th-straight win in the friendly confines of Washington-Grizzly Stadium on Saturday, a streak dating back to the midway point of the 2022 season. The Griz have a 231-35 (.829) overall record and have played 14 undefeated seasons inside "The Mecca of FCS Football."

The Montana faithful will also be seeking the stadium's 12th-straight regular season sellout, and the 13th in the last 15 games played inside the building, including the program's first playoff sellout against North Dakota State last year. The Griz opened the year with a sellout crowd of 26,482 crossing the turnstiles against Missouri State, the seventh-largest attendance in program history.

12-straight regular-season sellouts would be a program first for Montana, with UM hitting 11-straight twice before from 2000-2001 and 2008-2010.

NONCONFERENCE NUMBERS: Montana saw its streak of 13-straight regular-season nonconference wins snapped at UND last week, a streak that includes a win at No. 20 Washington in Seattle, and dates back to the loss at No. 15 Oregon in 2019.

You have to go all the way back to 2015, however, to find the last time Montana lost a nonconference regular-season game at home, however, riding a streak of 17-straight heading into the Morehead State game. UM's last loss at home in a regular-season nonconference game was against Cal Poly – a Big Sky team playing in a non-conference game – in Sept. of 2015, one week after the Griz opened the season with a win over No. 1 NDSU.

WE THE NORTH: Montana's Washington-Grizzly Stadium has been home to some of the loudest fans in college football over the years, with fans in the North Endzone being the beating heart of that monstrous noise.

The Grizzly faithful came up big time once again for Montana against Missouri State, helping the visitors cause four false start penalties. A new in-stadium feature this season rewards Griz Nation with free McDonalds if opponents jump four or more times in a game, with a tracker in the North Endzone spelling GRIZ for every false start.

Last season, fans helped away teams to 26 false start penalties. NDSU was famously flagged five times in the FCS Semifinal – the second-most of any team to enter Washington-Grizzly Stadium all year.

Morehead State averaged just under 7,000 fans at its home of Jayne Stadium in 2023, with the largest crowd they faced of 23,042 at Tarleton State.

HISTORIC BACKFIELD: Montana entered the season with three 1,000-yard rushers in its backfield, with two of those already among UM's top 25 all-time rushers, and a third knocking on the door to that list.

Senior Nick Ostmo became one of the Grizzlies' top 10 rushers ever on week one and enters the game against Morehead State with 1,937 career yards, putting him No. 9 overall in program history and needing just 49 more yards to pass Peter Nguyen's career total.

Fellow senior Xavier Harris currently sits No. 24 on the list with 1,329 career yards on the ground, giving UM two seniors among the top 25 rushers in program history on the roster at the same time. The only other time that has happened was in 1970 when Arnie Blancas and Les Kent, who sit No. 18 and 19, respectively, were both on the roster.

UM's leading rusher and reining FCS freshman of the year Eli Gillman is knocking on the door to the top 25 list, needing just 115 more yards in his sophomore season to make the cut. A good game Saturday could get him there.

Ostmo and Gillman are also among Montana's all-time leaders in rushing TDs, with Ostmo at 21 on his career and Gillman at 16 after bursting away 63 yards for the second-longest touchdown of his career at UND last week.

Ostmo is also on two other Grizzly all-time lists with 24 total touchdowns and 144 total points scored.

• Gillman is ranked second in the Big Sky and eighth in the FCS this week in total touchdowns on the season with three in two games. That puts him at No. 2 in the league in average overall scoring with 9 points per game. His kicker teammate Ty Morrison in right behind him at No. 3 in the league with 8.5 points per game.

RJ's STOPS: Junior cornerback Ronald Jackson had a career day at UND with 12 tackles, 10 of which were solo stops. He's now fourth in the Big Sky and 12^th in the FCS in solo tackles with an average of 6.5 per game.

After two games Jackson leads the team in total tackles with 18, followed by linebacker Ryan Tirrell's 15 and newcomer Chrishawn Gordon's 14.

TURNOVER TOALS: Montana has activated two quarterbacks so far this season with Logan Fife and Keali'i Ah Yat splitting reps. Combined, Montana is one of 30 teams in the FCS that has not thrown an interception so far this season with a combined 57 attempts between them.

• Frenchtown's Jace Klucewich got his first career interception in Grand Forks last week, giving UM's defense two total picks this season, ranking the Griz second in the league behind Sac State with three.

• The Griz are +1 in turnover differential so far this season, and lead the Big Sky in defensive pass efficiency, allowing teams to complete just 54 percent of their passes.

• Montana's opponent this week just happens to lead the FCS in interceptions this season, with Morehead State having picked-off five passes to date. Last week the Eagles intercepted four passes in a single game alone against NAIA Kentucky Christian. Morehead State also leads the nation in turnover margin with six total takeaways (five picks, one fumble recovery) and zero picks or lost fumbles of their own in two games.

The Eagles have been playing clean as well, entering the week with the fewest penalties in the FCS with five.

DUAL THREAT QBs: Barring the second half of last week's game where the Griz couldn't find rhythm, UM's QB room has looked efficient over the air and on the ground and is showing improvement in the numbers. In the first half alone at UND, Ah Yat completed 16 of his 21 passes (.761) for 151 yards, more than he threw for in the entire game against Missouri State. Fife was also a shoelace away from turning the corner on UND and rushing off for a long TD run, but the side of his cleat just brushed the chalk and instead it was a 13-yard gain.

WELCOME BACK WILSON: All-Big Sky linebacker Riley Wilson made his first appearance for the Griz at UND and picked up right where he left off in 2023. He tied his career high in total stops with seven against the Fighting Hawks. He must not like birds that much, because he also had 7 stops against the Delaware Blue Hens in last year's playoffs.

FRESH STARTS: Linebacker Caleb Otlewski, a redshirt freshman who came to UM from San Diego State, made his first collegiate start at UND last week, and was again impactful with three tackles and one QB hurry. He made his first appearance at UM on week one and logged six tackles and another hurry to go along with a half sack.

He's now the ninth Grizzly to make their first career start this season, with one on the offense and eight on the defense.

MORRISON PUNTS:Ty Morrison, the week one Big Sky Special Teams Player of the Week, was again solid in the punting game at UND, uncorking a 51-yarder early in the game. He's got three punts this season over 50 yards and has dropped four of his nine attempts in the 20. He's helped UM's coverage team to the No. 2 net punt average in the Big Sky, which is No. 15 nationally at 41.44 yards per punt.

GRIZ IN THE POLLS: Montana slipped in the weekly FCS polls on Monday but remained in the top 10 following the loss at No. 20 North Dakota.

The Griz, who entered last week at No. 4, check-in at No. 8 in the media poll and No. 9 in AFCA Coaches Poll heading into the Morehead State game. UND jumped up the list to No. 10 in both polls. Morehead State is unranked.

Montana is one of six teams from the Big Sky to earn a place in this week's coaches' poll. Montana State is ranked No. 3, Idaho No. 5 after beating Wyoming, Sac. State No. 11, UC Davis No. 12, and Weber State No. 25. MSU, Davis, and Weber are all on Montana's schedule this season.

A seventh Big Sky team (Northern Arizona) is also receiving votes after hanging with the No. 20 Arizona Wildcats last week in a 22-10 loss. The Lumberjacks also pay a visit to Missoula this year for Homecoming.

GRIZ VS. THE VALLEY: Montana slipped to 6-2 against teams from the Missouri Valley Conference after the loss at UND in the Big Sky/Missouri Valley Challenge Series, dating back to 2018 when the series started in Hauck's first season. Including playoffs, the Griz are 7-4 against the Valley during Hauck's second term, and Hauck is 11-6 in his career against teams that currently reside in the Valley.

Montana now 15-10-1 over North Dakota in the all-time series dating back to 1915, with games played in Grand Forks now tied 6-6-1.

FUTURE SCHEDULES: Montana will get its shot at redemption against North Dakota in 2025 when the Hawks make the return visit in the home-and-home series to Missoula on Sept. 13. UM is 7-2 all-time against UND in games played at UM.

The UM/UND game in 2025 will be the second of four-straight home games to start the season for the Griz, and one of eight total home games on a blockbuster schedule that includes two MVFC teams, Idaho, Eastern Washington, and Montana State, all in Missoula.

SCOUTING THE EAGLES: MSU is led by first-year coach Jason Woodman, the first Eagle head coach since 1979 to start his tenure 2-0. Woodman came to Morehead State from D-II Fairmont State in West Virginia where he led the Falcons to 61 wins since 2013 and three-consecutive eight-win seasons for the first time in program history. Prior to that, Woodman had coaching stops at LSU and Florida State under high-profile mentors like Nick Saban, Les Miles, Jimbo Fisher and Bobby Bowden.

The Eagles are led by veteran quarterback Connor Genal, a native of California who transferred in from New Mexico, threw for 221 yards on 15 completions with three TDs in his debut against Kentucky Christian. All told, MSU played four Quarterbacks against KCU.

Genal's favorite target is receiver Ryan Upp, who needs 12 yards to break 1,000 in his career.

Morehead State comes to Missoula ranked first in the FCS in interceptions, turnover margin at +6, fewest penalties committed at 5, and punt return defense at -6 yards. Last year, they tied UM for second-most interceptions in the FCS with 17. Safety Mathew McClelland tied a program record with three picks against Kentucky Christian.