SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. – The No. 8 Montana Grizzlies are set for their fourth road game of the season as UM heads west to San Luis Obispo to take on Cal Poly on Saturday.

It comes a week after Montana shutout Northern Colorado to improve to 6-2 overall and 3-1 in Big Sky Conference play.

“If we want to win football games, especially on the road in today’s college football, that’s what we have to do,” UM senior safety Jaxon Lee said. “So I have to get better and progress every week.”

Cal Poly enters this match at 2-5 and 1-3 in Big Sky play, with its only win in the league also coming over Northern Colorado.

The Mustangs had a bye last week and the week before that they lost a close road game in Idaho, showing that they are a team that is better than their record showings but is statistically in the bottom half of the Big Sky in most categories.

“They performed well there and came up just short,” said UM head coach Bobby Hauck. “So, you know, they’re extremely well coached, both on offense and defense, and special teams.

“Head coach (Paul Wulff) knows what he is doing. They are always very difficult to plan and beat. Anyway, we have our hands full going there again”

For the Grizzlies — who haven’t been to San Luis Obispo since 2018 — they’ve been tasked with their longest road trips of the season, which presents its own challenges at this point in the season.

“It’s a little easier when you play day games,” Hauck said, with Saturday’s game scheduled for 3 p.m. in the mountains. “You know, just the lack of sleep is hard. Traveling takes its toll, just like it does to everyone else. It’s a business trip. So business travelers will tell you it takes its toll, but daytime games make it a little easier.”

Not to mention some of the benefits Cal Poly can have with the extra week to prepare for Montana during last week’s bye weekend.

“Depending on how they use their open date, but in terms of just the hours they have to study, the number of practices, they have the opportunity to have a slightly more complex game plan in all three phases because they have more practice. time to implement it,” Hauck said.

“I don’t know how they went about it, but you see a lot of new things and a much more comprehensive plan in terms of what you’re going to be dealing with.”

So the Griz hit the road once again, sitting in eighth place in the FCS and looking to win their third straight game before a pair of home games now that November is officially here.

“I think we’re kind of finding ourselves and fitting in where we need to be, and I think we just have to figure out who we are and what we need to do to keep teams from putting big numbers on us,” Lee said.