Griz, Cats return home

For the Montana State Bobcats, Saturday will hopefully be another day to keep the train rolling. For the Montana Grizzlies, it's time to start fresh. And both will look to do it in the friendly confines of their home stadiums.

The No. 9 Bobcats (3-0, 5-2) will look to keep their high-octane offensive assault going when they host Weber State Saturday at Bobcat Stadium. Meanwhile, the No. 7 Grizzlies (2-0, 4-2) will emerge from a much-needed bye week to host struggling UC Davis Saturday at Washington-Grizzly Stadium in Missoula.

The Griz limped into the bye week banged up and barely surviving a road trip to North Dakota. However, it looks as though Montana is getting healthy again, including starting quarterback Jordan Johnson, who missed the second half of the UND game with an ankle injury. Johnson's return, plus the return of senior receiver Sean Haynes, offensive lineman Jackson Thiebes and tight end Mike Ralston, should help a sputtering Griz' offense against a UC Davis (0-3, 1-5) squad which game just gave up 77 points at home to MSU last Saturday night.

On defense, the Griz will also get back safety Justin Whitted, and that should bolster a Montana defense that's tops in the Big Sky Conference in points allowed, total defense and rushing defense. Of course, the Aggies' offense will test the Grizzly defense, especially UCD running back Gabe Manzaneres. However, if Montana can get its offense jumpstarted, an offense that is in the bottom half of the Big Sky in most statistical categories, than the Griz should be able to get the second half of the season off to a good start.

Meanwhile, MSU just wants to keep doing what it has been, at least on offense. The Cats, and star sophomore QB Dakota Prukop have exploded in recent weeks, including last week's win at Davis, where Prukop accounted for nearly 600 yards of offense, and the Cats scored a whopping 10 offensive touchdowns. Prukop is now in the Top 5 in the FCS in total offense, and he has shown the ability to hurt teams with his legs, but also the deep ball to a bevy of speedy MSU receivers. In the running game, MSU is led by Shawn Johnson, but young backs like Chad Newell, Gunnar Brekke and Nick LeSane have also started to emerge, and they are working together to make MSU one of the most unstoppable offenses in the Big Sky.

MSU is second behind powerful Eastern Washington in scoring, total offense, and second behind Cal Poly in rushing offense, and it doesn't look like struggling Weber State has any chance to slow the Cats down this Saturday.

However, as good as MSU's offense has been, the Cats' defense has been equally as bad, and that's something head coach Rob Ash would like to see change, and change in hurry. Weber State (0-2, 0-6) has a talented passing offense, and it will certainly challenge an MSU offense that ranks near the bottom of the FCS in total defense, passing defense and rushing defense. However, if the MSU can start to show some improvement on that side of the ball, starting with Saturday's game against WSU, the Cats won't just be a legitimate threat to win the Big Sky title, but they'll be a team that could make a run all the way through the FCS playoffs, and into January's national championship game.

Saturday's game between Montana State and Weber State kicks off at 3:35 p.m. in Bozeman. Montana and UC Davis will start at 12:05 p.m. Saturday in Missoula. Both games will be televised statewide on Montana's ABC-Fox affiliates.