MISSOULA — The No. 2 Montana Grizzlies (10-0, 6-0 Big Sky) are back on the road this week after winning a thriller over Eastern Washington last Saturday.
The Vikings are 1-9 this season and 1-5 in Big Sky play, with their lone victory coming over Cal Poly. Through injury and a rugged schedule, Portland State is playing for pride when they welcome Montana to town.
Montana has won five straight matchups against PSU and the Vikings were last triumphant against the Griz in 2018.
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"They've kind of settled into what they're doing," UM head coach Bobby Hauck. "Early in the season when they opened up with Tarleton (State), at BYU, at Hawaii ... that's uphill for teams in our league and they didn't fare particularly well. But they've kind of settled in what they're doing and they've played well in a lot of games lately and obviously won that game at Cal Poly."
The game has plenty to be excited for, namely, Portland State's return to downtown at Providence Park.
The longtime home of the Vikings, Portland State hasn't played a game there since 2018, and after a strong push from the school, will return for the lone time this season with Montana slated to be their dance partner.
"It's going to be exciting to see that new stadium," UM safety TJ Rausch said. "I've never been able to play there. I got to play Portland State a few years back in their other stadium, so it should be fun to play them somewhere new."
It's the week before the week, as most Treasure State fans would dub it, with a looming and potentially historic Brawl of the Wild awaiting next Saturday in Missoula at Washington-Grizzly Stadium.
If anything, UM's near-upset at the hands of Eastern Washington was a stark reminder that anyone can beat anyone on any given Saturday, so the task at hand right now for the Griz is the Vikings, and it's about taking care of business first to improve to 11-0 before turning the attention to the Bobcats.
"Our mindset every week is to go 1-0 and we focus on the week at hand and we don't look forward to a game in the future," Rausch said. "So I think that emphasis is really what helps us keep on continuing to win these games."
"When you look weeks ahead or games ahead, that's when they do become trap games," UM left tackle Cannon Panfiloff said. "So you really just got to focus on winning the current week and winning the task at hand."
