GREELEY, Colo. – The No. 9 Montana Grizzlies are back in action this week when they travel to Greeley to take on Northern Colorado.

Montana (5-2, 2-1 Big Sky) is back in the top 10 of the FCS, coming off a bye week that saw the team catch its breath after its first seven games.

“I think we used the bye week really well,” senior safety Ryder Meyer said. “We’ve gotten the calluses and bruises and we’re ready to get back at it. We’re 5-2 and I don’t think we’ve played our best football yet. I think that’s still to come, and we are excited to be going to Greeley this weekend.”

Now it’s time for Montana’s longest regular-season road trips in consecutive weeks, starting with the Bears, a team that is 1-6 but posted an 18-game losing streak over Weber State two weekends ago. streak and give head coach Ed Lamb his first win with the program. This came the week after the Wildcats upset the Griz in Missoula.

“I think they’re playing really hard,” UM head coach Bobby Hauck said. “They’re doing well and they’ve had two weeks to prepare for us. So this will be a good test this weekend there. They’re coming off a big win over Weber, who just beat us here, and that certainly our attention.”

Statistically, Northern Colorado ranks near the bottom of the Big Sky Conference in most categories and recently settled on a quarterback after that position was shuffled for most of the season.

“You know, what stands out the most is the multiple formations,” Hauck said. “You know, they’re moving a lot, shifts, moves trying to get you out of trouble. And when you couple that with the quarterback run game, they create some problems.”

Hauck added about their defense: “We see them doing some similar things this year (as they did last year). They played a lot of man coverage against Weber and won with the ball, did that very well, and then we did that too.” they don’t get rid of the ball very well (last year).

“They are big up front, they can hold on well and don’t let themselves move off the ball, so it’s difficult to run the ball against them.”

The Bears lost a lot of close games during that period, so it’s all about how they keep the momentum going after this win and also last week’s bye.

When these two teams met last year, Montana defeated Northern Colorado 40-0 in Missoula, and Bobby Hauck has never lost to the Bears as head coach of the Griz going 7-0 against them.

On the Grizzlies side, UM is well on its way to the playoffs, and after a rough schedule to start the season, Montana is ready to start the second half with a bang.

“I just don’t think we’ve played our best yet, and I think we’re willing to work on improving. If you do that, you have a chance to play well,” Hauck said. “I think we have a team that likes to compete, competes hard, plays physical and is willing to put in the work week in and week out. So we’re just a very competitive group.”