Montana Set To Host No. 4 UC Davis On ESPN 2
Biggest games of the year? Heck, when you look at rankings it's one of the biggest games of the last decade in Missoula, with only four other home games against top four opponents having been played out inside the inside the "Mecca of FCS football" since 2014. What do they have in common? All Griz wins.
Montana was picked third in the FCS preseason polls and was selected to repeat as Big Sky Champions in 2024. This week the Griz have an opportunity to make a statement that they deserved those accolades, with everything still to play for in front of them.
To get there, Montana (7-2, 4-1 BSC) will have to take on a veteran Aggies squad (8-1, 5-0 BSC) that hasn't lost an FCS game all season and has one of the most prolific offensive players in the subdivision leading the league's second-best attack.
Montana has some mojo, however, entering Saturday's contest on a three-game win streak where they've outscored opponents 97-27 with only 14 of those 27 points scored against the defense. They've embraced the road warrior mentality to get there as well, riding a streak of six-straight Big Sky road wins, the most since 2009.
Head coach Bobby Hauck's goal is to always have his team playing their best football at the end of the season, and like they were in 2023, the Griz are working in that direction. This week's ranked matchup will tell them exactly how far they've come.
Adding to the import of this week's challenge: it will all play out on the Big Sky's biggest stage with ESPN 2 set to broadcast the excitement to millions of television sets around the country on Saturday night.
Bright lights, big stage, big implications, and a heavyweight showdown between two of the top teams in the FCS. What more could a fan want? Kickoff is set for 8:15 p.m.
HAPPENINGS: Saturday's game marks the annual Griz for Kids toy drive, where fans can help local underprivileged kids have a happy holiday season. Griz for Kids will have collection points at each entrance to Washington-Grizzly Stadium starting two hours before kickoff. Fans are asked to bring a new, unwrapped toy, craft, book or game for ages 0-17, or to donate to the organization at Saturday's game. For more details, visit GrizforKids.com.
WATCH: The eyes of the nation descend on Washington-Grizzly Stadium on Saturday, with "The Deuce" – ESPN 2 – broadcasting the game to millions of households around the country. It marks the first time Montana will host a regular season game on ESPN 2, after playing on the road each of the last three seasons since the agreement between the Big Sky and the "Worldwide Leader in Sports" was singed in 2021.
Longtime ESPN host Jay Alter will have the play-by-play call on the broadcast. Former Notre Dame linebacker, eight-year NFL veteran, and Super Bowl XLI Champion with the Indianapolis Colts Rocky Boiman will serve as analyst.
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. Fans can watch the pregame show live on stage at the GSA tailgate party.
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 and GoGriz.com/Listen.
As a head coach at Montana, Bobby Hauck is 4-1 against UC Davis in his career, winning twice in his first tenure (2008 and 2009) and entering this weekend at 2-1 in his second.
Montana and Hauck are also both 4-1 against Davis when Tim Plough has been on the Aggie staff. The head coach and former Davis QB was a student assistant and QB coach during Hauck's first tenure in '08 and '09 and was on the Aggie staff in 2018 for their only victory over UM, serving as the QC and QBs Coach that season.
LAST MEETING: The No. 13 Montana Grizzlies earned a crucial ranked road win over No. 18 UC Davis Aggies in California last season, using a balanced attack to tally over 400 yards of offense and a defense that allowed just 76 rushing yards in a 31-23 Big Sky Conference victory. Unknown at the time, it was a win that helped springboard Montana to a Big Sky championship season in 2023.
The win was Montana's first on the road over a nationally ranked FCS opponent since its last trip to Davis in 2019 and was the first of seven wins over ranked opponents that season.Montana scored 21 first-half points with two touchdown catches in the second quarter from Aaron Fontes to take a 21-20 lead into the locker room after the Aggies missed an extra point. The Grizzly defense clamped down in the second half, only allowing the Aggies into their red zone once in the period to hold them to just three points after the break.
Eli Gillman ran in what would prove to be the game-winner for UM late in the third quarter, taking a pitch around the right side for 85 yards – the longest touchdown run from scrimmage in program history – to help UM total 181 rushing yards.
Defensively, Braxton Hill (now in the CFL) led Montana in tackles with 10, and UM recovered two Aggie fumbles, one with less than two minutes to go that iced the victory for the Griz.
Junior Bergen pitched in on special teams in a big way with 143 all-purpose yards, 126 of which came in the kickoff and punt return game.
LAST MEETING IN MISSOULA: A second half comeback from a ranked UC Davis team cost Montana its only loss in the series in the last matchup played at UM back in 2018.
The Griz flashed potential against the No. 6 ranked and league-leading Aggies, out-gaining Davis 292 to 113 and going into the locker room at halftime with a 21-3 lead. Coming out of the break it was a different story.
Aggie QB Jake Maier, now a starter with the Calgary Stampeders, engineered a second half comeback that saw Davis rattle off 46 unanswered points, and through the first 22 minutes of the second half out-gained Montana 316 to 89. Davis scored on seven consecutive drives while Montana punted three times, turned the ball over on downs once, fumbled once and threw two interceptions during that span.
The first half was executed near flawlessly. Quarterback Dalton Sneed was 15-of-21 for 171 yards and two touchdowns. Both went to wide receiver Samuel Akem and UM added a rushing TD as well. More impressive than Montana's 21 points were the three points the Aggies were held to. UC Davis was one of the nation's top offensive teams and had scored at least 44 points against every FCS opponent that season, but was stifled early on.
Montana even held a 21-13 lead after the third quarter, but Davis capitalized on turnovers and exploded for 36 points in the fourth to take the 49-21 win. The loss handed UM its first of only two three-game losing streaks the Griz have suffered through since 1992.
///GRIZ TRACKS///
STRING OF SELLOUTS: Montana returns home this week seeking the program's 16th-straight regular season sellout of Washington-Grizzly Stadium, a new UM record. As of Tuesday morning, only limited tickets remain for the top five showdown against UC Davis.
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.
FALSE START FRENZY: Northern Arizona jumped once back 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.
GRIZ IN THE POLLS: Montana bumped up a spot to No. 7 in both of this week's FCS polls after Tarleton State lost its second game of the season. The Griz have been on a roller coaster ride in the polls this year after starting off at No. 3 in both the media and coaches top 25. UM has been slowly climbing back into the top 10 after falling as far No. 14 following the Weber State loss. It's not where you start, it's where you finish, and the Griz can still climb back into the top three with two top four opponents left on the schedule. Montana has spent the last 51 weeks in the FCS media poll, tied for the third-longest streak in the subdivision.
GRIZ IN THE RATINGS: When the computers take over it's a different story for UM. This week's Massey Ratings, a tool available in playoff seeding, Montana ranks No. 6 in the FCS with the No. 33-rated strength of schedule this season.
The Griz have two wins over ranked teams at the time of competition (No. 24 Western Carolina and No. 24 NAU), and Missouri State now sits at No. 15 in the FCS coaches' poll, with the Bears' only FCS loss being at UM.
Montana also slots in as the No. 2 Big Sky team, the No. 5 FCS team, and the No. 99 overall D-I team in the Sagarin Ratings, another common computer model that accounts for strength of schedule.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Opposing coaches have gotten wise in 2024 and avoided punting to Junior Bergen at all costs. Montana's All-America receiver and return man entered Saturday's game at Cal Poly with only four punt returns this season, and the collective Grizzly faithful itching to see him conjure up more of the magic from last year's championship run. So when the Mustangs gave him a chance he took full advantage, and made a little history in the process.
With just under three minutes left in the third quarter, Bergen ripped off an 84-yard punt return touchdown, making one man miss, streaking down the left sideline and weaving his way through traffic on his way to the endzone.
It was the sixth punt return TD of his illustrious career, officially setting a new Big Sky Conference record after passing Corey Smith of Montana State's career total of five. He now needs two more to tie the FCS record of eight set by LeRoy Vann of Florida A&M. Bergen had two in last year's playoffs alone.
After etching his name in the history books Bergen was named the Big Sky's Special Teams Player of the Week, the league announced on Monday. He was also given an honorable mention for the Stats Perform FCS Special Teams Player of the Week. Surprisingly, it's the first Big Sky weekly honor of his career.
Bergen totaled 98 all-purpose yards in the win at Cal Poly, adding another short punt return for two yards and three catches for 12, but it was the record-breaking punt return that had the biggest impact on the game. Montana found itself in a tussle with the Mustangs late in the third quarter when Bergen broke free, opening the flood gates for the Grizzlies with the first of four touchdowns in the final 18 minutes of the game to run away with a 42-7 win. The 84-yard punt return goes down as the fourth-longest in program history.
Despite having a relatively quiet season due to opposing teams keying on him and missing the season opener to injury, Bergen is etching his name all over Montana's record books this year. Not only does the senior from Billings now hold the school and conference punt return touchdown record, He's also currently on top of UM's punt return average list at 15.7 yards per attempt, just above Hall of Famer Marc Mariani's career average of 15.01.
He's also currently No. 7 in UM history in career all-purpose (4,011), and among Montana's top 30 all-time points scorers (146) and leaders in receiving yards (1,615). Now with 1,004 to his name, Bergen needs 438 more punt return yards to break fellow Grizzly Levander Segars' school and Big Sky record of 1,441 as well.
SATURDAY'S OTHER STARS:Keelan White had a highlight reel, fingertip catch for a touchdown and was Montana's leading receiver against Cal Poly with six catches for 73 yards against the Mustangs, including 28 yards after the catch. He earned Montana's nomination for Big Sky Player of the Week as well. White is Montana's leading receiver this season with 468 yards to date. The "Canadian Spiderman" has been a model of consistency in his career at UM. As he gets set to make his 39th career start, he recently cracked UM's top 30 all-time receivers list with 1,702 yards to date.
• QB Logan Fife has been deadly accurate this season. After 170 passing attempts in his first year at UM, he threw his first and only interception as a Grizzly last week. As a group, he and Keali'i Ah Yat have only thrown three picks this season out of 300 attempts, a top 10 percentage in the FCS and the third fewest in the Big Sky. He's completed 116 of his 170 passes for a 68-percent average, a top 13 mark in the FCS.
• Montana linebacker Riley Wilson was a fixture in the Cal Poly backfield on Saturday, putting in an effective 4 tackles (3 solo) – two of which were TFLs, and one was a sack. He also logged two QB hurries and a pass breakup for a full stat line on the day. He was a leader on a big day for the Grizzly defense that posted a season-high 11 TFLs (the most in the league this week) and kept Cal Poly off the scoreboard through three and a half quarters while forcing three turnovers and three more turnovers on downs.
• Fellow linebacker Ryan Tirrell posted a team-high nine tackles at Cal Poly last week, bringing his season total to 67 stops, the most on the team and the sixth-most in the Big Sky.
• D-end Hayden Harris logged yet another TFL at Cal Poly as he continues to lead the Big Sky with 13 this season. Harris is also second in the league in sacks this year with 7.5, both marks that rank among the top 15 nationwide.
THE NIGHTTIME IS THE RIGHT TIME: Montana returns for its second night game under the lights at Washington-Grizzly Stadium this season, a setting that has helped produced a copious number of wins in recent years.
Montana is 16-2 in night games played at WGS since lights were installed in 2011, riding a streak of 11-straight home victories after dark. It's a streak that dates to 2018 when Hauck returned to Montana, meaning he's never lost a night game in his entire career at UM. Of those 11-straight wins, six have been against ranked opponents in the FCS media poll, with this week's matchup against No. 4 UC Davis being the highest ranked opponent of them all.
POSESSION, POSESSION, POSESSION: You can't win the game without possession of the ball, and collecting turnovers is something the Grizzly defense has excelled at in recent weeks. Montana is now +5 in the turnover margin with 12 takeaways after going +2 and +3 in consecutive weeks, with +5 being the best margin in the league this week.
The Griz have made hay while the sun was shining too, having scored 43 points off turnovers to opponents 13.
LAUNDRY ON THE FIELD: Montana was penalized 10 times for 132 yards at Cal Poly, the second most flags against the Griz this season after getting 12 called in the Western Carolina game for 101 yards. Take those two games out and UM has averaged just under five penalties per game, which would rank the third fewest in the Big Sky. The one common thread in the two games UM had an unusually high penalty count? The same officiating crew called both.
The Cal Poly game was the fifth time this year the Griz have had more penalties than their opponent, however, but are 4-1 when that is the case.
SHUT 'EM OUT: Montana's defense was a fourth quarter touchdown at Cal Poly away from pitching a second-consecutive shutout after blanking Northern Colorado 24-0 the week previous… A rare feat. How rare? Montana has not shut out consecutive opponents since the 1995 playoff run when UM beat Eastern Kentucky 48-0 followed by a 45-0 win over Georgia Southern. The Griz were close to doing it in 2021 after beating UNC 35-0 and following that up with a 30-3 win at NAU.
DEFENSIVE RESURGANCE: Montana's defense has been resurgent since the Griz fell to Weber State in a 48-55 shootout in early October. Since then, the defense has allowed just two offensive touchdowns against it – one on a trick play at the end of the third quarter against NAU, and the fourth-quarter score at Cal Poly.
That equals a stretch of 130 minutes of football without letting the opponent score.
LIGHT UP THE SCOREBOARD: Coordinator Brent Pease's offense has been nothing short of prolific this season while employing a two-quarterback system. The Griz have scored at least 24 points in every game this year and outscored their opponents 355-219 while scoring 46 touchdowns to opponents' 27.
Led by all-conference Mr. do-everything Lan Larison, UC Davis has been similarly prolific, outscoring opponents 323-195. The difference between the two? Davis has played one FBS opponent, but only one other opponent that has been ranked in the FCS, beating No. 4 Idaho in Davis by two points.
STUDENT PASSING THE TEACHER:Eli Gillman, despite a relatively quiet day at Cal Poly, passed his position coach Justin Green on UM's all-time leading rusher list last week with 1,799 yards to his name. Gillman, who ranks second in the FCS in rush yards per carry this week, needs just one more yard to reach a nice, round 1,800 and 15 more yards to pass Monty Bullerdick ('77-'78) on the all-time list at No. 13.
Every Montana Grizzly To Wear Legacy #37 Jersey
Gallery Credit: Ace Sauerwein
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