MISSOULA— The No. 2 Montana Grizzlies will look to make it 10-0 this weekend when UM welcomes Eastern Washington to town.
The last time the Eagles were in Missoula was 2022, and Montana picked up a thrilling victory on the red turf for the first time ever last fall in Cheney, so the two will clash again on Saturday after many classics over the years.
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"They're a team that's played really well lately, and we're well aware of that," UM head coach Bobby Hauck said. "So they view this as a rivalry game. So we have to anticipate that again this week."
Eastern Washington sits at 4-5 overall and 3-2 in Big Sky play.
The Eagles lost their first three games of the season, but have won three of their last four. However, a loss against Sacramento State a week ago effectively eliminated them from playoff contention.
But given the history between the two programs, you never know what could happen when they line up.
"Joining the Griz is cool because it seems like every other game in the Big Sky Conference, it seems like they're playing for some kind of rivalry or some kind of trophy or whatnot," UM safety Micah Harper said. "Just respect at the end of the day."
Offensively, the Eagles rank nearly last in the Big Sky in scoring and total yards, while defensively, they're in the bottom half.
So for the Griz, it's about not overlooking an old, familiar foe, as they return home after a two-game road trip to try and get their 10th win.
"It's been a really great season thus far," Harper said. "And we got big goals and big aspirations. We're trying to win a championship here, two championships. And we're playing like that right now. And we're just excited to keep rolling and don't let our foot get off the pedal."
"This is my fifth year of playing college football, I kind of prefer not having a bye week," UM tight end Evan Shafer added. "There's no need to stop playing football when you can play it every weekend. And so just going through this whole thing, it's awesome. It's a great place to play here. We got eight home games with the best fans in all of FCS football. And I can't wait to keep it rolling."
