No. 3 Montana set to host Idaho in battle of undefeated Big Sky Conference foes

MISSOULA — The bye week is within the books, and the No. 3 Montana Grizzlies now march ahead into the thick of their schedule, starting with the Idaho Vandals on Saturday in Missoula.

It is a tough gauntlet developing for the Griz (5-0, 2-0 Massive Sky), with three of the six remaining groups on their schedule (Sacramento State, Weber State, Montana State) all at the moment ranked within the FCS, in the meantime the Vandals are 2-0 to start out league play as effectively. Idaho is 3-2 total.

The bye week got here midseason this yr for Montana, and the Griz slot in a few practices final week as they used the time to gear up for the Vandals.

“I by no means know what to consider open dates,” UM coach Bobby Hauck mentioned. “We’re attempting to have our schedule be as regular because it at all times is. If you will get wholesome it will show you how to. I’ve by no means actually preferred breaking apart the routine if you’re on a roll however that is all simply B.S., us sitting right here needing one thing to speak about. It is there, so that you take care of it as greatest you’ll be able to.”

Montana and Idaho have a long-standing rivalry with each other, but it surely’s been a one-sided affair for the Griz, with UM going 11-2 in conferences with the Vandals since 1991, together with when Idaho was within the FBS. That is the 88th assembly between the 2 applications, and Idaho holds a 55-30-2 benefit all-time within the collection.

Bobby Hauck himself is 4-0 in opposition to the Vandals, together with a 3-0 mark in his newest tenure.

However new life has been injected into Idaho’s program with first-year head coach Jason Eck, they usually’re trying to enter Missoula with the purpose of shifting the rivalry into extra of simply that.

“Rivalries aren’t actual rivalries if one crew at all times wins,” Eck mentioned. “So most likely makes it a rivalry once more if we will beat them. There’s 5 groups which might be undefeated in convention and that is the one matchup of two of these groups so clearly the winner of this recreation is in nice place.”

A part of that’s making an attempt to stop Montana from beginning out scorching at dwelling.

With a offered out crowd already set for the sport, Eck mentioned falling down early could possibly be a difficult gap to dig themselves out of.

“Lots of the battle if you’re enjoying an FBS faculty at an FCS faculty otherwise you’re enjoying at a North Dakota State or Montana, there’s plenty of groups who lose these video games within the first 10 minutes simply by making some crucial errors and getting rattled and letting issues snowball quick,” Eck mentioned. “So that you prefer to have some success and settle into the sport and never allow them to get plenty of momentum instantly.”

Hauck mentioned he expects some similarities to Vandal groups from the previous, however he is additionally conscious that they await one in every of their hardest checks as they get set to shoot for 6-0.

“They appear comparable. Everyone’s doing the identical issues on offense except you are enjoying an possibility crew so all people seems comparable,” Hauck mentioned about Idaho in comparison with previous years. “So they are not reinventing the wheel. They’re enjoying laborious, they appear actually bodily which is actually like they have been. They seem like they’re having fun with the sport and having enjoyable enjoying.”