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The Montana Grizzlies and Montana State Bobcats both scored what seemed to be easy homecoming wins last Saturday. But, with an injury report a mile long, the Cats and Griz are having anything but an easy time of it right now.
And things get even more difficult as both teams play their first road games in the Big Sky Conference Saturday. The No. 7 Grizzlies (3-2, 1-0) head out to face the University of North Dakota for A third straight time in Grand Forks, North Dakota, while the No. 13 Bobcats (3-2, 1-0) take the first of three trips to California. MSU is set to battle Sacramento State Saturday night.
That game, in Sacramento, will be a big one for the Bobcats, who are coming off a 28-19 win over UND last Saturday, have played four straight at home and haven’t been on the road since their season-opening loss at Arkansas State. And now come the Hornets (3-2, 1-0), who were shocked by lowly Idaho State last Saturday. It’s likely a trap game for an MSU squad which has won three of its last four games.
And with an MSU defense which has been susceptible to the big play this season, stopping a high-octane offense like the one the angry Hornets have, led by senior quarterback Garrett Safron, an All-American candidate who can run and throw, will be critical if the Cats are to have success Saturday night.
“He’s an outstanding player, and we’ve known that,” Bobcats coach Rob Ash said. “You could see last year that he was emerging as a high-quality player. But it’s not just him having to do all the work by himself.
“They have very good skill on their football team. The receivers, the running backs … they’re tough. They’re really a good team on offense. Safron is the key. That’s where it all starts.”
Saffron is the key, but the Hornets are dangerous. They have an All-American wide receiver in Deandre Carter, and a pair of stellar running backs. The Hornets also run a complex, spread-offense, much like the one Arkansas State ran, and eerily similar to the one the Bobcats are running this season. So, stopping that offense is big, and it falls on the shoulders of Bobcat linebackers like Alex Singleton, Na’ Mokeakola and Cole Moore, as well as a seasoned secondary led by Eryon Barnett, Rob Marshall and Deonte Flowers.
“Their offense looks a lot like ours,” Ash said. So our defense has seen it and seen it and seen it. We know we’ve got to stop the run and then play the pass the best we can.”
Stopping Sac. State isn’t the only key Saturday night. The Cats have had little trouble moving the ball offensively, as they are second in the Big Sky in both rushing and total offense. They also put points on the board, averaging nearly 40 per game, and that spells trouble for the Hornet defense.
But, MSU is reeling with injuries on offense right now, and lost senior wide receiver Brian Floetketter for the season with a shoulder injury. Fellow starter Tanner Roderick is also injured, so the wide receiver group is down to the likes of converted quarterback Mitch Grebeil, red-shirt freshman Justin Paige and true freshmen Mitchell Herbert.
Those three shined in last weekend’s win over UND, while quarterback Dakota Prukop and running back Shawn Johnson have been as explosive as expected.
But Saturday is the first big road test for the Bobcats, and though the Hornets lost a head-scratcher last week, they will certainly give a young MSU offense and an injury-riddled team all they can handle.
Meanwhile, the Grizzlies are more than banged up, too. In a route of Northern Colorado last weekend, the Griz lost junior WR Chase Naccarato for the season, backup running back John Nyguen for at least the foreseeable future and starting strong safety Justin Whitted to a shoulder injury. Montana was already without star WR Ellis Henderson and defensive tackle Tonga Takia, so the injury list is really taking its toll on the Grizzlies.
Still, UM will be favored when it takes on UND Saturday at the Alerus Center. It’s UM’s third straight trip to Grand Forks, and the Griz crushed UND there a year ago. Now, Montana’s top-ranked defense, led by Zack Wagenmann, who is threatening the Grizzlies’ all-time record for career sacks, is licking its chops at the thought of playing a UND squad which only averages 11 points and one touchdown per game in its 2-4 start to the season.
“Really what it comes down to is it’s the next team that we really want to go out there and dominate as a defense,” said Montana DT Zach Peevey. “That’s what we’re looking at, going into their house and start to build that confidence on the road that we can beat any team we face.”
The Griz will need to stop the UND rushing attack, and a mobile pocket quarterback in second-year starter Joe Mollberg. However, it’s the offense that is more a cause for concern for Montana.
UND does have the third-best defense in the Big Sky, and that defense did a good job of slowing down the explosive Bobcats last week in Bozeman. Meanwhile, Montana has struggled at times, and comes into Saturday’s game seventh in the Big Sky in both total offense and rushing, and those numbers are in spite of a 28-point fierst-quarter outburst against UNC last weekend.
But, Griz head coach Mick Delaney is hoping his young offensive line, which features five new starters this season, has turned a corner, and UND’s defense will certainly be a measuring stick. If Jordan Canada and Travon Van can run the ball like they did against UNC last week, and if UM quarterback Jordan Johnson continues to get in better sync with his WRs, like he did in the first half of last week’s game, then the Grizzlies should be too much for even a good UND defense to handle.
But consistency has been lacking in the Griz’ offense this season and Delaney isn’t taking that, the injuries or UND for granted.
“It will be a test for us,” Delaney said. “They’ve played much better at home probably than they have on the road, which is the case for a lot of teams. But, we’ve been a pretty good road team ourselves, although we are 0-2 , we’ve played two really good football teams on the road.
“We expect to go there, and as we do every week, make it about us and what we have done to improve and get better since we came off the field last Saturday against UNC,” he continued. “We’ll work every bit as hard this week as we have every other week. We’ll be prepared and we’ll play hard — I know that.”
Saturday’s game between Montana and UND kicks off at 12:30 p.m. in Grand Forks, North Dakota. The game between Montana and Sacramento State will kick off at 7 p.m. in Sacramento. Both games can been seen statewide on ABC-Fox affiliates.
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