The Montana Grizzlies return from the bye to face Northern Colorado

GREELEY, Colo. – The Montana football team returns from the bye week still trying to put together a complete performance against a scholarship opponent.

The No. 9 Grizzlies enter the final five games of the regular season with a 5-2 overall record and a 2-1 record in the Big Sky. They face the Northern Colorado Bears (1-6, 1-2) at Nottingham Field on Saturday at 1 p.m.

Montana has won four straight road games against Big Sky teams. That's the longest streak since the Griz won seven road games in the conference during the 2008-09 seasons, Bobby Hauck's final two years of his first head coaching job in Missoula.

UM opened as the betting favorite at 24.5 points. The over/under is 60.5 points.

The Griz will be hoping they made good use of their bye week as they still have three away games and two home games left. UNC also had a bye week.

“It’s a great time to recover,” Montana senior right tackle Brandon Casey said. “It’s a great time to get some school work done, catch up and relax for the second half of the season.”

Here are five things to watch during the game, which will be broadcast on the Montana Television Network and streamed on ESPN+.

Northern Colorado played five quarterbacks due to injuries to Utah/Troy transfer Peter Costelli and Wyoming transfer Hank Gibbs. The Bears appear to have chosen senior Kia'i Keone, a Division II transfer who was seventh on the depth chart on the year and has started the last two games.

He is something of a dual-threat QB who has completed 55 of 91 passes for 500 yards, one touchdown and one interception. He ranks second on the team with 187 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 51 carries.

“I always feel like when teams have a pretty extensive quarterback run game, it's a plus-one run and it forces you to do some things on defense, which takes an extra player into account,” Hauck said.

“They’ve really embraced it. That's always a challenge when a team is good at it. It creates problems for the opponent. We expect they will do just that.”

UNC averages 168.1 rushing yards per game compared to just 126.4 passing yards on average. UM holds teams to 149.4 rushing yards and 224.3 passing yards.

The Bears have rushed for more than 200 yards four times in seven games, including 203 yards against Weber. Montana only ran for 172 yards against Weber.

Running back Darius Stewart paced the Bears with 290 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 59 carries. Running back Caden Meis leads the way with three TD runs and 179 yards on 56 carries. Running back David Afari has 176 yards on 43 carries.

“What catches the eye most are the diverse formations,” said Hauck. “They move a lot in shifts and movements and try to throw you off. Then when you combine that with the quarterback run game, it creates some problems.”

UNC's top receiver is wideout Brayden Munroe with 305 yards and two touchdowns on 23 catches. He has almost the same number of catches as the next two players combined.

Tight end Cash Cheeks has 12 catches for 129 yards and receiver Ryder MacGillivray has 12 catches for 79 yards. Receiver Carver Cheeks is third with 99 receiving yards and a touchdown grab.

“When (the quarterback) is scrambling around and looking down the field, we have to lock on to receivers,” senior safety Ryder Meyer said. “Then once he crosses the line, we need to be able to go down the mountain and attack.”

Montana ran for a season-low 158 yards in the last game despite 39 carries, the third-most in seven games this season. The Griz played without left tackle Cannon Panfiloff in this game for the first time this year.

UNC allows 217.4 rushing yards per game while Montana averages 249.4 rushing yards, ranking fourth in the FCS. Eli Gillman leads the Griz with 710 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns, while Nick Ostmo has 534 yards and three touchdowns.

The Bears have given up 16 rushing touchdowns compared to nine passing scores, while the Griz have run for 26 touchdowns and thrown for 11 scores.

“They’re big in the front,” Hauck said. “They do a good job of staying there and not getting off the ball, so it’s hard to play against them.”

Linebacker Keyvon Lakes leads UNC with 41 tackles and four tackles for a loss. Defensive linemen David Hoage and Michel Jordan Jr. both have three TFLs.

All three have one sack each, while the Bears as a team only have three, or 0.43 per game. Montana is giving up 2.14 sacks per game.

The Griz allow 5.43 tackles for loss per game, but the Bears only concede 3.0 per game.

“I think they’re good up front,” Casey said. “I think they have good size, good speed and a good scheme. We are excited about the opportunity.”

Montana's passing game has been outstanding in recent weeks with Logan Fife taking over at quarterback, but could face a challenge this week.

Northern Colorado allows 220.9 passing yards per game while Montana throws for 232.4 yards per game. The Bears held Weber to 171 yards, one TD and one INT after Weber threw for 364 yards and six TDs against UM.

Fife has thrown for 1,147 yards, nine touchdowns and no interceptions on a 67.1% pass rate. Keelan White leads UM with 389 yards, Junior Bergen has 346, Aaron Fontes has 205 and Sawyer Racanelli is having a career game.

Fife has thrown 76 passes for 907 yards, eight touchdowns and no interceptions in his three starts. In comparison, UNC has seven players who have combined to complete 96 passes for 885 yards, four TDs and four INTs in seven games.

UNC intercepted three passes, two from freshman defensive lineman Cam Chapa and one from junior linebacker Keenan Guthrie. Defensive back Noah Mangham broke up seven passes and defensive back Franky Morales broke up four.

“I think the thing that stuck with me most when I saw them was that they won in man coverage,” Hauck said. “They played a lot of man-marking against Weber and won with the ball. They did really well.”

The Griz could have a chance to score their first special teams touchdown this season.

Northern Colorado is allowing 15.3 yards per punt return, ranking 113th out of 123 FCS teams. Montana averages 8.4 yards per return. Junior Bergen returned three punts for TDs last year and has five punts in his career, tying the Big Sky record.

UNC punter Hunter Green averages 48.3 yards. Of his 47 punts, 17 went for 50 yards. His season passing yardage is 72 yards.

“They are formally very diverse,” Hauck said of the punt. “When a guy hits the ball as far as this kid did, sometimes that’s an opportunity to hit it back.”

Green also handles kickoffs and has sent in 19 of his 22 touchback attempts, so Montana may not have many return opportunities there.

Green is also the field goal kicker. He is 3 of 6 for 53 yards and had a kick blocked. Montana's Ty Morrison is 10 of 14 with a long of 48.

UNC has a long punt return of 14 yards and a long kick return of 23 yards. The Griz are holding teams to 6.9 yards per punt return but 24.96 yards per kick return, ranking 114th in the FCS.

Northern Colorado was able to keep up with Weber State by causing turnovers. The Bears forced six fumbles, recovered four and intercepted one pass.

They finished the game with a 5-0 turnover lead. In the first six games they had only forced a total of five turnovers.

They have now won 10 and lost nine, a margin of plus one. Montana committed six turnovers and had six takeaways with a neutral margin.

When it comes to turnovers on downs, Montana converts fourth downs at a rate of 64.7% (11 of 17), ranking 22nd in the country. Northern Colorado ranks 123rd (last) in the FCS in allowing teams to convert fourth downs at 87.5% (7 of 8).

Before that fourth down, Montana is converting third downs at 43.8%, ranking 26th. The Bears' third-down defense of 37.1% this season ranks 46th nationally. They limited Weber State to 4 of 13 on third downs.