Missoula, MT – The University of Montana Grizzlies (9-0) aim for a perfect 10-0 record this Saturday as they host the Eastern Washington Eagles at Washington-Grizzly Stadium. this marks the return game after Montana secured a victory in Cheney,Washington,in 2022 – their first win on Eastern Washington’s red turf.
The Grizzlies, currently ranked No. 2, are coming off a two-game road trip and eager to play before their home crowd. Eastern Washington enters the contest with a 4-5 overall record and a 3-2 mark in Big Sky Conference play. While the Eagles stumbled to a 0-3 start, they’ve rebounded with three wins in their last four games, though a recent loss to Sacramento State dashed their playoff hopes.
“They’re a team that’s played really well lately,and we’re well aware of that,” said UM head coach Bobby Hauck. “So they view this as a rivalry game. So we have to anticipate that again this week.”
Despite Eastern Washington’s offensive struggles – ranking near the bottom of the Big Sky in both scoring and total yards - and a defence in the conference’s lower half,the Grizzlies are focused on avoiding an upset against their long-time foe.
“joining the Griz is cool because it seems like every other game in the Big Sky Conference it seems like they’re playing for some kind of rivalry or some kind of trophy or whatnot,” UM safety Micah Harper said. “Just respect at the end of the day.”
Montana players express a desire to maintain their momentum as they pursue championship aspirations.
“It’s been a really great season thus far,” Harper added. “And we got big goals and big aspirations. We’re trying to win a championship here, two championships. And we’re playing like that right now. and we’re just excited to keep rolling and don’t let our foot get off the pedal.”
UM tight end Evan Shafer echoed the sentiment, stating, “This is my fifth year of playing college football, I kind of prefer not having a bye week. There’s no need to stop playing football when you can play it every weekend.And so just going through this whole thing, it’s awesome. It’s a great place to play here. We got eight home games with the best fans in all of FCS football. And I can’t wait to keep it rolling.”
