Fresh off a momentum-boosting blowout of Morehead State, Montana football returns home for a second-straight week as the Grizzlies close out the nonconference schedule against an explosive Western Carolina team out of the Southern Conference.
Montana, which enters the week at 2-1 and No. 9 in the FCS poll, will play its second ranked matchup in three weeks as the No. 24 Catamounts (1-2) come to Missoula with one of the most potent offenses in the FCS.
The Grizzlies will be on high alert against WCU and its high-flying attack after leading the nation in 2023 with over 500 yards of total offense – 320 of which came through the air.
But Montana welcomes the visitors from the south as a team on the rise, now third in the nation in first down offense itself and fifth in rushing after grinding out a whopping 410 yards on the ground last week and putting up 59 points to get the mojo working.
The Griz have also been up to the challenge defensively, now second in the Big Sky in total defense, leading the league in pass defense by giving up just 138 yards through the air, and ranked second the in FCS pass efficiency D at 84.4 percent.
Fans will remember UM’s overtime thriller against Furman in last year’s FCS quarterfinal the last time a team from the SoCon came to town. With WCU bringing a similarly veteran squad and a speedy, pass-happy offense to Missoula, the Griz and Grizzly faithful should be ready for more fireworks.
Kickoff from Washington-Grizzly Stadium between the Griz and Catamounts is set for 1 p.m.
WATCH: The Montana vs Western Carolina contest will be the third-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.
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RANKED ON RANKED: No. 9 Montana takes on No. 24 Western Carolina in UM’s second top 25 matchup of the season after falling at then-No. 20 North Dakota. The Griz are 7-2 against ranked teams over the last calendar year but are 9-0 against ranked teams in Washington-Grizzly Stadium since Hauck’s return in 2018.
SCORIGAMI: Montana’s 59-2 win over Morehead State is the rarest of rare results, with that final score believed to have never occurred in the entire history of American Football. Making it even more rare is that MSU’s two points came from a PAT return, not a safety.
HISTORIC RUSHING: Montana dominated the ground game against Morehead State, racking up 410 rushing yards on 55 carries. It goes down as the 10th-most single-game rushing yards in Grizzly history, with the school record 471 yards against Portland State in 1968 topping the list. UM’s wishbone offense in the late ’60s and early ’70s produced eight of the top 10 single-game rushing totals.
However, in modern Grizzly history (1991-present), last Saturday’s game marks the second-most ever for UM, close behind 2022’s total of 412 yards against Cal Poly in the snow. In total, Montana has played 20 games with more than 350 yards rushing, with four occurring under Coach Hauck.
SATURDAY’S STARS – OFFENSE: True freshman running back Malae Fonoti rushed for 176 yards on 24 carries and one touchdown in his first game of college football last week. It was one of the top 25 single-game rushing totals in Grizzly history.
That fact alone is impressive. But when you consider he racked up 176 yards and 24 carries – not only in a single half of football, but in just three offensive drives – that’s downright unbelievable.
With Montana leading 46-0 late in the third quarter, Hauck emptied the bench and started rolling in the reserves. In the first touch of his career, Fonoti picked up 13 yards and a first down. One play later he picked up 13 more on his second touch and kept the foot on the gas for the rest of the game.
He would go on to pick up 53 yards on seven carries on that drive, capped by an easy touchdown run from Keali’i Ah Yat, who took advantage of the fact Morehead State’s entire defense was keyed on Fonoti.
On the ensuing drive early in the fourth quarter he racked up 61 yards on 8 carries and burst up the middle for his first career TD.
After a three-and-out for the Grizzly Defense, Montana went back to Fonoti and the ground game, feeding him on nine-straight carries for 62 more yards before the Griz took a knee to run the clock out.
The Hawaiian’s 176 yards add up to the 23rd-best rushing game of any Grizzly in program history, situated between Justin Green‘s 175 yards against Eastern Washington in 2003 and Chase Reynolds’ 180 yards against Montana State in 2010.
It’s the most single-game rushing yards of any player in the Big Sky Conference so far this season on the second-most attempts in the league. It’s even the fifth-most all-purpose yards (the sum of all rushing, receiving, AND return yards) in the conference this season. Nationally, 176 yards is the sixth-most of any player in the FCS this year and are the most yards and carries for any freshman in all Division-I college football.
Fonoti led the Grizzlies on a 410-yard rushing day, with two players over the 100-yard mark (reining Freshman of the Year Eli Gillman the other) and seven total rushing touchdowns spread between five different players.
For his effort, he was given a tip of the hat as an honorable mention for FCS Freshman of the Week and was Montana’s nomination for Big Sky Offensive Player of the Week.
OVATION FOR OSTMO: Senior running back Nick Ostmo made history on Saturday as one of just eight Grizzlies to ever rush for more than 2,000 yards in a career. He passed Peter Nguyen’s career total of 1,985 yards with 76 against the Eagles to move into eighth. He needs 21 more yards to climb to seventh ahead of Steve Caputo (1969-71) and 54 more yards to climb to sixth ahead of John Nguyen (2013-16). With just 215 more yards he’ll move into an exclusive list of UM’s top-five rushers ever.
Among those eight players in the 2,000-yard club, three have played under Hauck: Chase Reynolds, Lex Hilliard, and Ostmo. If Ostmo makes it to the top five, Hauck will have coached three of them.
Ostmo also got into the endzone on Saturday for his 22nd career rushing TD to move into No. 8 all-time in that category as well, tying his position coach Justin Green‘s career total and Jody Farmer’s career total as well. It was also his 25th overall touchdown, moving him into a tie at No. 14 for most touchdowns ever as a Grizzly.
Those six points scored moves him to 150 points all-time, passing Jabin Sambrano, Josh Branen, and Jon Talmage’s career records, and putting him eight points behind Tony Rice and Mike Erhardt among UM’s top 30 all-time overall scorers.
ENDZONE ELI: “Endzone” Eli Gillman hit paydirt twice against Morehead State and was UM’s second running back to hit 100 yards, a first for the Griz in over a decade. The last time two Griz rushed for 100+ was in 2013 when Travon Van and Jordan Canada did it against Portland State.
It was the fourth 100+ yard game of his young career, and his fifth 97+ yard game. He now has 1,314 rushing yards in his career and needs just nine more to crack Montana’s top 25 rushers of all-time list.
His two rushing TD’s also give him 18 in his career and move him into No. 13 all time for the Griz behind Dave Dickenson and Josh Branen, who had 20 each.
Gillman enters the Western Carolina game ranked fifth in the Big Sky in rushing yards and average yards this season with 273 and 93.7 per game. His five touchdowns this season put him first in the league in rushing TDs and scoring this week, averaging 10 points per game.
Nationally, he’s third in the FCS in rushing TDs and fourth in points per game. He’s also No. 3 in the FCS in rushing yards per carry, averaging an astounding 9.06 – nearly a first down every time he touches the ball.
BERGEN’S BACK: Welcome back to Junior Bergen, who made his first appearance for the Griz this season last week. The All-American was quiet by his standard, catching two passes for 18 yards and returning two punts for 15 yards.
He now needs two more all-purpose yards to pass Renard Coleman and move to No. 9 on UM’s all-time AP yards list. He continues to have the best punt return average in school history at 15.18 yards per attempt this week, nearly two yards more than Marc Mariani.
Of course, he also holds the school record for most punt return TDs in his career with five, a mark that ties the Big Sky Record and is three shy of the FCS record of eight set by LeRoy Van of Florida A&M between 2006-08. His average punt return yardage is also currently among the top five league history.
DOLA: Montana’s offensive line helped pave the way for the Grizzlies 410 rushing yards last week, one of the 10 highest ground game totals in program history and second-most since 1991.
Junior Liam Brown and senior Cade Klimczak swapped positions up front in the leadup to last week’s game, with Brown returning to his more natural position of guard and Klimczak moving to center. The Grizzly front has seen a consistent five starters in each game this season with a combined 84 career starts among them.
SATURDAY’S STARS – DEFENSE: Montana’s defense was lights out against Morehead State, forcing the Eagles into a three-and-out (or less) on 11 of their 13 drives with zero second-half first downs, leaving the Griz with not a lot of defensive numbers.
With limited opportunity, defensive end Hayden Harris helped make the biggest impact for the Griz and was efficient with his production. The senior totaled just three tackles in the game, but two of those tackles were sacks, resulting in a loss of 30 yards for Morehead State. He also forced a fumble and intercepted a tipped pass to fill out the stat line.
It’s the second time in three games Harris has posted two or more sacks and TFLs after a career day against Missouri State. He’s helped Montana total 11 sacks on the season, tied for the most in the Big Sky Conference this week, with a personal haul of 4.5 (second-most in the league) and 5 TFLs (third in the league).
Three different players enter the week tied for the lead in tackles on the team with corner Ronald Jackson, linebacker Vai Kaho, and fellow linebacker Ryan Tirrell all with 19 stops on the season to date, tying them for seventh in the Big Sky. In total, 24 players made a tackle for the Griz last week, showcasing the depth of the squad with nearly every player seeing the field, some for the first time.
The Griz enter the Western Carolina game with the best total defense in the Big Sky (No. 8 in the FCS), allowing teams to average just 247 yards of offence over their first three games.
SPECIAL TEAMS: Isiah Childs set the tone for Montana early in the game against MSU. On UM’s second kickoff of the day, Childs de-cleated Eagle returner Chance Harris for the biggest hit of the day in Washington-Grizzly Stadium and Childs’ only tackle.
Kicker Grant Glasgow and the UM coverage team have been rock solid in the kickoff game, leading the Big Sky in net kickoff yards at 48.0 this week, a full six yards more than the second place team.
Punter Ty Morrison and the Grizzly punt cover team have also been solid with the third-best net-punt average in the Big Sky this week at just under 41 yards per attempt
HOME SWEET HOME: Montana’s win over Morehead State was its 14th-straight at Washington-Grizzly Stadium, a streak dating back to the midway point of the 2022 season. The Griz have a 232-35 (.868) overall record and have played 14 undefeated seasons inside “The Mecca of FCS Football.”
It’s the third-longest active home winning streak in the FCS this week, with only South Dakota State (23) and Florida A&M (21) having more.
With UM capping the nonconference portion of this year’s schedule against Western Carolina this week, you’ll have to go all the way back to 2015 to find the last time Montana lost a nonconference regular-season game at home. UM’s last loss 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.
HAUCK AT HOME: No individual has been more successful in Washington-Grizzly Stadium than head coach Bobby Hauck, who earned his 90th-career home win as Montana’s head coach on Saturday against Morehead State. He’s now 90-11 in his career in Missoula since taking over the program in 2003.
• With conference play around the corner, Hauck will begin working on another milestone next week as he looks to become the all-time leader in league wins, currently sitting at 74. He’s already the winningest overall coach in Big Sky history but trails former NAU head coach (and longtime UM assistant) Jerome Souers’ career total of 85 wins in conference play by 11.
SOLD OUT: Montana set a new program record against Morehead State with its 12th-straight regular season sell out of Washington-Grizzly Stadium. It was also the 14th sellout in the last 16 games in Missoula after the program’s first playoff sellout against North Dakota State in the semifinal.
This week the Montana faithful will be looking for lucky 13 as the Griz cap the nonconference season against an electric Western Carolina squad. Montana had previously hit 11-straight sellouts twice before in 2000-2001 and 2008-2008.
Since Washington-Grizzly Stadium expanded to its current capacity of 25,217 in 2008, Montana has sold-out more than half of its home games, exceeding capacity 58 times in 109 games, including playoff contests.
Montana set another program record in the leadup to the season with a total of 18,881 season ticket packages sold and distributed for 2024. Add it all up and it’s clear: demand for Griz football is at an all-time high.
RARE RETURN: Richard Sweeney III’s PAT return for a two-point conversion for Morehead State against Montana last week is a first for a Grizzly opponent in modern program history.
The Griz have picked up those rare two points with a PAT return in recent history, however. Former UM linebacker Connor Strahm picked off a Portland State two-point conversion pass attempt in 2017 and returned it 100 yards for a score in a 45-33 win for the Griz in Oregon.
LONG “LAST TIME IT HAPPENED”: As mentioned, Fonoti and Gillman were a 1-2 punch for the Griz in the running back room last week, each rushing for 100+ yards to become the first for UM to do it since Van and Canada in 2013. That resets the third-longest standing “Last Time a Grizzly…” category in the UM weekly notebook behind Brian Ah Yat recording 500 yards of total offense against NAU in 1996 and Jimmy Wilson returned a blocked field goal for a TD in 2005.
GRIZ VS THE VALLEY: Montana close out the nonconference season with the Big Sky’s only win over a team from the Missouri Valley Conference in the annual Big Sky/MVFC Challenge Series.
A week after pulling-out a come-from-behind win over Montana, North Dakota boat raced Idaho State at home on Saturday 52-28 in Grand Forks with ISU scoring twice in the fourth quarter.
What was to be the last game of the year in the series was canceled after Portland State players came down with a case of Pertussis in the locker room, forcing them to cancel the scheduled game against South Dakota in Portland.
Montana’s win over Missouri State to open the year remains the only win for the Big Sky, with the Valley winning 2-1 – its fifth win in the series in six seasons.
HEADS OR TAILS: Montana won the pregame coin toss for the first time this season ahead of the blowout win over Morehead State, electing to put the defense out on the field first – the preferred M.O. for the Griz under Hauck. Let the visitors deal with all that north endzone noise.
UM is 1-1 when winning the toss and putting the offense out first this season. It bucked the trend from last season when the Griz went 9-0 losing the coin flip and lost nine of the last ten.
CROSS COUNTRY ROAD TRIP: Western Carolina makes the 2,213-mile trip from Cullowhee, North Carolina, to Missoula this weekend, making the Catamounts the furthest team traveled on this year’s Grizzly schedule by 210 miles over Morehead State.
SEND ‘EM BACK EAST: Montana enters the week at 39-7 against teams from east of the Mississippi River inside Washington-Grizzly Stadium following last week’s win over the Eagles since the facility opened in 1986. UM’s last loss against a team from the east was over a decade ago and was also a team from the Carolinas, with the now-FBS Costal Carolina Chanticleers upsetting the Griz 42-35 in the 2013 playoffs.
SCOUTING THE CATAMOUNTS: Western Carolina – picked to finish third in the SoCon behind Furman and Chattanooga – is led by fourth-year head coach Kerwin Bell who comes to Montana at 18-18 on his career and has helped the Catamounts produced one of the top offenses in the FCS.
WCU returns 14 starters and 42 letter winners from a 2023 team that went 7-4 and led the nation in total offense with a blistering 504 yards per game average.
Under center, the Catamounts are guided by one of the most prolific QBs in the FCS in preseason All-American, Payton Award Watch List member, and SoCon Preseason Offensive Player of the Year Cole Gonzales, the son of Florida Gator assistant coach Billy Gonzales.
Gonzales, a junior, was fourth in the nation in passing touchdowns as a sophomore with 28 and had the third-best passing efficiency in the FCS at 166.4 in 2023.
Western Carolina put a scare in FBS No. 22 NC State to open the 2024 season, leading the Wolfpack (coached by former Grizzly assistant Dave Doeren) 21-17 to start the fourth quarter in front of over 56,000 nervous fans. The Pack would go on to score three TDs in the final frame, however, to beat WCU 38-21. Gonzales finished 22-of-35 for 211 yards and a pair of TDs against NC State while leading his team to 361 total offensive yards.
The Catamounts then returned home for their first home game of the season and dropped a tough one to the unranked Campbell Camels in Cullowhee 16-24 on week two, but rebounded on week beat No. 22 Elon 24-17 on week three.
Along with Gonzales, three other WCU players earned a place on the first-team All-SoCon list, with senior offensive lineman Blake Whitmore and junior receiver AJ Colombo representing the offense, and long snapper Colby Cross on special teams. Four WCU defenders – DL Curtis Fann, and DBs Samaurie Dukes, Ed Jones IV, and CJ Williams – were second team All-SoCon defense.