No. 9 Montana returns from the bye and heads on the road to face Northern Colorado

GREELEY, Colo. – The No. 9 Montana Grizzlies are back in action this week when they travel to Greeley to take on Northern Colorado.

Montana (5-2, 2-1 Big Sky) is back in the top 10 of the FCS and is coming off a bye week in which the team took a breather after the first seven games.

“I think we made very good use of the bye week,” said Ryder Meyer, senior safety officer. “We have healed the bumps and bruises and are ready to try again. We're 5-2 and I don't think we've played our best football yet. I think that’s coming and we’re excited about the opportunity to go to Greeley this weekend.”

Now it's on to Montana's longest regular-season road trips in consecutive weeks, starting with the Bears, a team that is 1-6 but earned a ranked win over Weber State two weekends ago, snapping an 18-game losing streak and giving head coach Ed Lamb his first win with the program. This came a week after the Wildcats upset the Griz in Missoula.

“I think they play really hard,” UM head coach Bobby Hauck said. “They are doing a good job and had two weeks to prepare for us. So it will be a good test down there this weekend. They got a big win against Weber, who had just beaten us here, and that definitely gets our attention.”

Statistically, Northern Colorado ranks near the bottom of the Big Sky Conference in most categories and recently decided on a quarterback after rotating that position for most of the season.

“You know, the thing that stands out most is the diverse formations,” Hauck said. “You know, they move around a lot, shifting and shifting to throw you off. And then when you combine that with the quarterback run game, they create some problems.”

Hauck added of their defense: “We see them doing some similar things this year (to last year). They played a lot of man-marking against Weber and won with the ball, did a really good job with that, and then we did it. “I couldn't move them off the ball very well up front (last year).

“They’re strong up front, they stay on well and don’t let themselves get off the ball, so it’s difficult to pass the ball against them.”

The Bears have lost a lot of close games during that time, so it's a matter of how they keep the momentum going after this win and last week's bye.

When these two teams met last year, Montana defeated Northern Colorado 40-0 in Missoula, and Bobby Hauck has never lost to the Bears as head coach of the Griz, going 7-0 against them.

On the Grizzlies' side, UM is well on its way to advancing to the playoffs, and after a tough schedule to start the season, Montana is ready to start the second half with a bang.

“I just don't think we haven't played our best yet and I think we're willing to work to improve and if you do that, you have a chance to play well,” Hauck said. “I think we have a team that likes to fight, competes hard, plays physical and is willing to work at it week in and week out. So we’re just a really competitive group.”