GREELEY, Colo. – The Montana football team returns from its bye week still trying to put together a full performance against a purse foe.

The No. 9 Grizzlies enter the final five games of the regular season with a 5-2 overall record and a 2-1 mark in the Big Sky. They face the Northern Colorado Bears (1-6, 1-2) on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Nottingham Field.

Montana has won four straight road games against Big Sky teams. That’s the longest streak since the Griz won seven straight conference games in the 2008-09 seasons, the last two years of Bobby Hauck’s first stint as head coach in Missoula.

UM opened as betting favorite with 24.5 points. The over/under is 60.5 points.

The Griz hope they made the most of their bye week as they have three road games and two home games remaining. UNC is also coming off its bye week.

“It’s a good time to heal,” Montana senior right tackle Brandon Casey said. “It’s a good time to get some school work done, catch up and just get your strength back for the second half of the season.”

Here are five things to watch in the game, which will air on the Montana Television Network and stream on ESPN+.

Northern Colorado has started five quarterbacks due to injuries to Utah/Troje transfer Peter Costelli and Wyoming transfer Hank Gibbs. The Bears appear to have settled on senior Kia’i Keone, a Division II transfer who entered the year seventh on the depth chart and has started the past two games.

He’s a bit of a dual-threat QB who has completed 55 of 91 passes for 500 yards, one touchdown and one interception. He ranks second on the team with 187 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 51 carries.

“I always feel like when teams have a pretty extensive quarterback run game, that’s a plus-one run game and it forces you to do some things on defense that make you have to account for an extra player,” Hauck said.

“They have really set themselves up for that. That is always a challenge when a team is good at that. It causes problems for the opposition. We actually expect them to do that.”

UNC is averaging 168.1 rushing yards per game, compared to an average of just 126.4 passing yards. UM is holding teams to 149.4 rushing yards and 224.3 passing yards.

The Bears have run for more than 200 yards four times in seven games, including 203 yards against Weber. Montana only ran for 172 yards against Weber.

Running back Darius Stewart paces the Bears with 290 rushing yards and two TDs on 59 carries. Running back Caden Meis leads with three touchdown runs and 179 yards on 56 rushes. Running back David Afari has 176 yards on 43 runs.

“What stands out the most is the multiple formations,” Hauck said. “They move a lot in shifts and motions, trying to get you out of trouble. Then you couple that with the quarterback run game, which causes some problems.”

UNC’s top receiver is Brayden Munroe with 305 yards and two touchdowns on 23 catches. He has almost the same number of catches as the next two players combined.

Tight end Cash Cheeks has 12 receptions for 129 yards and receiver Ryder MacGillivray has 12 catches for 79 yards. Receiver Carver Cheeks is third with 99 receiving yards and one touchdown grab.

“If (the quarterback) is milling around with his eyes downfield, we have to lock in on receivers,” senior safety Ryder Meyer said. “Once he crosses the line of scrimmage, we should be able to come down the hill and tackle.”

Montana averaged a career-low 158 yards in the previous game despite 39 carries, the third-highest mark in seven games this season. The Griz played without left tackle Cannon Panfiloff for the first time all year in that game.

UNC is allowing 217.4 rushing yards per game, while Montana is averaging 249.4 rushing to rank fourth in the FCS. Eli Gillman leads the Griz with 710 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns, while Nick Ostmo has 534 yards and three touchdowns.

The Bears have given up 16 rushing touchdowns, compared to nine passing scores, while the Griz have racked up 26 touchdowns and thrown for 11 scores.

“They’re big up front,” Hauck said. “They do a good job of hanging in there and not letting themselves move off the ball, so it’s hard to run the ball against them.”

Linebacker Keyvon Lakes leads UNC with 41 tackles and four tackles for loss. Defensive linemen David Hoage and Michel Jordan Jr. both have three TFLs.

All three have one sack each, while the Bears as a team have just three, or 0.43 per game. Montana is giving up 2.14 sacks per game.

The Griz are allowing 5.43 tackles for loss per game, but the Bears are allowing just 3.0 per game.

“I think they’re in a good position up front,” Casey said. “I think they have good size, good speed and a good scheme. We’re excited about this opportunity.”

Montana’s passing game has excelled in recent weeks when Logan Fife took over at quarterback, but a challenge could arise this week.

Northern Colorado allows 220.9 yards per game, while Montana throws for 232.4 yards per game. The Bears held Weber to 171 yards, one TD and one INT after Weber threw for 364 yards and six TDs against UM.

Fife has thrown for 1,147 yards, nine touchdowns and no interceptions on 67.1% passing. Keelan White leads UM with 389 yards, Junior Bergen has 346, Aaron Fontes has 205 and Sawyer Racanelli is coming off a career game.

Fife has thrown 76 passes for 907 yards, eight touchdowns and no interceptions in his three starts. By comparison, UNC has seven players who have combined to complete 96 passes for 885 yards, four TDs and four INTs in seven games.

UNC picked up three passes, two from freshman defensive back Cam Chapa and one from junior linebacker Keenan Guthrie. Defensive back Noah Mangham has broken up seven passes and defensive back Franky Morales has four.

“I think what stood out to me the most when I watched them was that they won in men’s coverage,” Hauck said. “They played a lot of man coverage against Weber and won with the ball. They did that very well.”

The Griz may have a chance to score their first special teams touchdown this season.

Northern Colorado allows 15.3 yards per punt return to rank 113th out of 123 FCS teams. Montana is averaging 8.4 yards per return. Junior Bergen returned three punts for TDs last year and has five in his career, tying the Big Sky record.

UNC punter Hunter Green averages 48.3 yards kicking. Of his 47 kicks, 17 have gone for more than 50 yards. His season long is 72 yards.

“They are very versatile in terms of formation,” Hauck said of the punt. “Sometimes when a guy hits the ball as far as this kid does, that’s an opportunity to give it back.”

Green also handles kickoffs and has sent 19 of his 22 attempts for touchbacks, so Montana may not have many return options there.

Green is also the field goal kicker. He is 3 of 6 for 53 yards with one punt blocked. Montana’s Ty Morrison is 10 of 14 with a long of 48.

UNC has a long punt return of 14 yards and a long kick return of 23 yards. The Griz are holding teams to 6.9 yards per punt return, but 24.96 yards per punt return, which ranks them 114th in the FCS.

Northern Colorado was able to hang on to Weber State by causing turnovers. The Bears forced six fumbles, recovered four and intercepted one pass.

They finished with a 5-0 turnover margin in the game. They had forced just five total turnovers in their first six games.

They have now won ten and lost nine, with a margin of plus one. Montana recorded six turnovers and collected six takeaways for a neutral margin.

In terms of turnovers on downs, Montana converts fourth downs at 64.7% (11 of 17) to rank 22nd in the country. Northern Colorado ranks 123rd (last) in the FCS in allowing teams to convert fourth downs at 87.5% (7 of 8).

Before that fourth down, Montana converts third downs at 43.8% on 26th. The Bears’ third-down defense of 37.1% this season ranks 46th in the nation. They limited Weber State to 4 of 13 on third downs.