Written By
Written By
Written By
Written By
Montana has the FCS leader in receiving yards, the FCS leader in total touchdowns and the Big Sky's career rushing touchdown record holder. This week, it takes the Big Sky's only unbeaten conference record to Flagstaff.
The No. 2 Grizzlies (5-1, 3-0 Big Sky) visit No. 12 Northern Arizona (4-2, 2-1) at 3 p.m. MT / 2 p.m. MST Saturday at the Walkup Skydome, on ESPN+. Montana leads the all-time series 38-15, including 21-5 in Missoula and 17-10 in Flagstaff. The Skydome has been tougher lately: NAU has won three of the last four meetings there, and Montana's lone win in that stretch was a 30-3 rout in 2021.
Since a 52-17 loss at Oregon State on Sept. 19, Montana has beaten UC Davis 62-22 on the road and Northern Colorado 36-14, a combined 98-36.
Brooks Davis leads the FCS with 772 receiving yards and has five straight 100-yard games, tying Joe Douglass for the most in Montana's modern era. Against Northern Colorado he had 205 receiving yards and three touchdowns. Eli Gillman leads the FCS with 14 total touchdowns, has 783 rushing yards, and already holds Montana's career records for rushing yards (4,460) and rushing touchdowns (60). He needs two more touchdowns to pass kicker Dan Carpenter (413 points) as UM's career scoring leader.
Quarterback Keali'i Ah Yat threw an interception on his first pass of the season. He has since completed 138 of 203 attempts for 1,595 yards and 14 touchdowns without another one.
That streak runs into a defense built to end it. NAU has 16 takeaways, most in the FCS and second in Division I behind New Mexico. The Lumberjacks lead the Big Sky with nine interceptions and nine forced fumbles, and they've had multiple takeaways in five of six games.
NAU jumped six spots in the Stats Perform poll after a 38-31 win at then-unbeaten Idaho State, its first road win over a ranked team in nearly three years. Quarterback Ty Pennington moved into sixth in program history in passing yards (6,703) and touchdown passes (41), and he ranks second in career completion percentage (.651). The 'Jacks put up a season-best 506 yards. Kenveon Stone ran for 103 yards and two touchdowns, and tight end Jeter Purdy caught six passes for 146 yards. Purdy leads the team with 345 receiving yards at 18.2 yards per catch. All six of Stone's rushing touchdowns have come in the last four games, and he's averaging 7.2 yards per carry.
NAU is 11-2 in the Skydome since 2024, and this is its first home game since Sept. 12.
"I don't look at this as make or break," NAU coach Brian Wright said this week. "There's one team in the league right now ... that doesn't have any Big Sky losses and that's the team coming here that we're about to play."
The last time Montana played in Flagstaff, in 2023, NAU sacked the Griz quarterback five times and won 28-14. The Griz then won 10 straight. Montana won the most recent meeting, 31-20 in Missoula in 2024.
Montana sits alone atop the Big Sky at 3-0, the first time this season it has led the standings. Five teams, NAU among them, are one game back at 2-1. A Griz win would leave them as the league's only unbeaten team in conference play with half the season left. An NAU win would leave the Big Sky without an unbeaten team in league play.
The rivalry has been closer than the all-time record suggests. The teams have split their last eight meetings since 2012, with the home team usually winning. This is only the fifth game in the Skydome in the last decade with both teams ranked, and NAU is 1-3 in the first four.
Montana, an FCS semifinalist last season, also has individual history in play. Davis has six touchdown catches through six games. Gillman needs 227 all-purpose yards to break Marc Mariani's school record of 5,441. For NAU, a home win over the No. 2 team would be its second straight ranked win and would pull it even with Montana in the league's loss column.
