Oct. 30, 2012

Griz-Wildcat Notes

THE GAME: The University of Montana Grizzlies (4-5/2-4 BSC) play the Weber State Wildcats (1-7/1-4 BSC) in a Big Sky Conference game in WSU's Stewart Stadium (17,500) on a game which will be televised on ROOT Sports, Saturday, Nov. 3, with kickoff at 1:38 p.m. (Mountain).

GRIZ RADIO: Veteran Mick Holien, who has been chosen "Montana Sportscaster of the Year" an unprecedented 12 times in his career, is now in his 20th season as the "Voice" of Grizzly football. Former Griz (1991-94) wide receiver Scott Gurnsey and Greg Sundberg provide color commentary. UM's flagship station is KGVO Radio, 1290 AM/KVWE 101.5 FM. (The entire 2012 Grizzly Football Radio Network is listed on add 6-6-6 of the weekly release).

TV: The Grizzly-Wildcat game will be televised by ROOT SPORTS. For DIRECTV customers it is available on ROOT SPORTS Channel 687 in the Northwest region and Channel 683 in the Rocky Mountain Region. The game will be available on Audience Network Channel 239-1. For Dish Network customers it airs on Channel 426 in the Northwest Region and Channel 414 in the Rocky Mountain Region.

ROOT SPORTS ANNOUNCERS -- UM at WSU: Tom Glasgow (play-by-play), Sherdric Bonner (analyst), and Jenny Cavnar (sideline reporter).

AUDIO STREAMING: gogriz.com/all-access.

LIVE STATS: gogriz.com.

STREAMING: The Grizzly-Wildcat contest will NOT be video streamed.

MONTANA-WSU SERIES HISTORY: Montana leads the series 38-13. The Grizzlies have won 17 of the last 20 games. The Wildcats have been victorious the last two times in Ogden, winning 30-21 in 2010 and 45-28 in 2008, although UM is 17-7 all-time there. (WSU quick facts and Grizzly-Wildcat series game-by game scores on add 3-3-3 of the weekly release).

GRIZ LAST WEEK: At Montana 70, Idaho State 24: The Griz displayed a potent running game and scored on six of their first eight possessions and carried that momentum on their way to a convincing victory. Montana rushed 61 times for 379 yards and 6 touchdowns, and racked up 605 total yards and narrowly missed a school record by picking up 33 (the record of 34 was set in UM's 2012 opener against South Dakota) first downs.

GRIZ OFFENSIVE LEADERS VERSUS ISU: Senior halfback Peter Nguyen had 11 carries for 107 yards and a touchdown, while sophomore running back Jordan Canada had 16 rushes for 83 yards and a score. Joey Counts had 6 carries for 58 yards, while Brett Kirschner had 13 totes for 54 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Quarterback Shay Smithwick-Hann was 14-of-21-2 for 205 yards and 3 touchdowns in his first career start. Counts, a true freshman., caught a team-high 4 passes for 36 yards and scored twice. Nine different Griz players had at least one reception and one rush in the game.

UM DEFENSIVE LEADERS VS. ISU: End Tyrone Holmes, a true freshman, had 9 tackles and tied the school record with 4 sacks. Junior linebacker Jordan Tripp had 6 tackles, 2.5 stops for losses, and a forced the fumble that led to his 80-yard touchdown run on a fumble return.

NGUYEN MOVES UP ON CAREER LIST: Nguyen now has 1,770 career rushing yards, which moved him up to ninth on the career list.

MONTANA'S WEEKLY POW NOMINEES: Nguyen, from Seattle, Wash., was UM's nominee, while Holmes, from Eagle Point, Ore., was nominated from the defense. The Griz did not have a special teams nominee.