MISSOULA — The Montana Grizzlies bounced back with a big win over Eastern Washington on Saturday. Now they're turning their attention to their final game outside the state of Montana for the regular season.
The Grizzlies will take on Portland State this Saturday. The Vikings are coming off of a 31-29 loss to Northern Arizona over the weekend.
Bobby Hauck addressed the media Monday, where he mentioned starting quarterback Dalton Sneed will practice on either Wednesday or Thursday, and they will evaluate his status going forward. Cam Humphrey, who started for the Griz against the Eagles, was 20-of-29 passing for 176 yards and one touchdown. Humphrey also ran the ball nine times for 35 yards.
Against EWU without Sneed, Montana totaled up 430 yards of total offense and ran the ball 55 times for 254 yards. Running back Marcus Knight had 131 of those yards on 26 attempts, including three touchdowns, while true freshman Nick Ostmo added 79 yards on 18 attempts.
As for the Vikings, Hauck praised Portland State head coach Bruce Barnum for the work they've done over there and noted that Portland State played Arkansas to a close game earlier in the year to open the season. Last year the Vikings upset the Griz, 22-20, in Missoula.
"Obviously they beat us here last year. They’re well-coached, they’re athletic," Hauck said. "They’re undefeated at home this year. We know they went to Arkansas of the SEC, for those that are uninformed, and gave them everything they could handle and lost 20-13. They’re scoring 35 points a game.
"(Barnum's) a great dude, good friend and he does a great job. They make a lot out of a little and after our game last year I told him I was proud of them for coming in here and getting us so we know we have our hands full and they do a nice job."
Montana (6-2, 3-1) rose to No. 8 in the latest STATS FCS football polls on Monday. Kickoff against the Vikings (5-4, 3-2) is scheduled for 3 p.m. (MDT) on Saturday. Both teams have one common opponent in Idaho State. The Griz beat the Bengals 59-20 back on Oct. 5 while Portland State fell to Idaho State 51-24 on Sept. 28.
