The senior missed UM's last game, a 36-7 win over South Dakota State, with a broken pinky on his left (non-throwing) hand suffered at Iowa. Then the Griz had last weekend off.
Some 10 days later Swogger participated in full drills Tuesday. His hand was splinted by then, but it didn't prevent him from taking snaps from under center and firing passes all over the River Bowl. Swogger split time between the Nos. 1 and 2 offenses with sophomore QB Cole Bergquist.
Still, Swogger's dexterity had to be encouraging.
“Yeah,” allowed Hauck, before adding, “I'd just as soon not see him play in a cast. How long he's got to be in that, I don't know.”
Steve Mooshagian, who brings the Sac State Hornets into Washington-Grizzly Stadium this weekend, said Tuesday he expects to see No. 7 in uniform.
“We're anticipating him playing,” Mooshagian said. “We're anticipating everyone. Bobby's the Mike Shanahan of the Big Sky, anyway. He's never going to tip his hand on injuries until after the kickoff.”
Though he didn't play, Swogger enjoyed his first game Saturday at Washington-Grizzly Stadium.
“The atmosphere was unbelievable,” he said. “The fans are intelligent, they know when to get loud on third down. It was great. The atmosphere was electric, and I look forward to playing in front of them this weekend.”
With no injury reports forthcoming, the statuses of punter Tyson Johnson, who injured his right knee at Iowa, and defensive end Mike Murphy, who reportedly had an appendectomy sometime in the past week, remain in question.
Both players were in sweats Tuesday. Murphy, on the Buck Buchanan Watch List, was mum on the subject, as was Hauck, other than to say the 240-pound senior was ill. The news that Murphy had surgery showed up on message boards, and was confirmed independently.
Appendectomies are not the invasive procedure of years past. Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was recently medically cleared to play 10 days after his surgery, for example.
Johnson, a senior out of Stevensville, hasn't kicked since booming a 47-yard punt at Iowa. It was his fifth punt, though Johnson was hurt on his first, Hauck said at the time.
At practice Tuesday, junior linebacker Muckie Foreman, freshman walk-on Mitch Rasmussen and junior safety Torrey Thomas mixed into the punting drills, along with junior place kicker Dan Carpenter.
The forecast calls for 60 degrees with a slight chance of rain on Saturday. Mooshagian will take it.
After three straight November trips to Montana, the fourth-year Sac State coach is ready to hit the Treasure State in September.
“First time for me,” he said. “I haven't been to either place (UM or Montana State) when there hasn't been snow on the ground.”
“I told him we'd try and cook up a September blizzard for him, but it doesn't look like that's going to work out,” Hauck said.
Mooshagian said that since the Hornets' 45-0 loss at Boise State, they haven't practiced or played in temperatures lower than 88 degrees.
“Our kids might have to come out in long sleeves at 60,” said the coach, who thought optimistically that it might reach 80 in Missoula Saturday.
QUICK KICKS: For all the heroics by Tuff Harris two Saturday's ago, the Grizzlies aren't tops in the Big Sky in punt returns. Eastern Washington has returned two punts a total of 59 yards, with one for a touchdown. That averages out to 29.5 yards a pop. Montana is second at 15.1. That ranks 16th in I-AA. Eastern ranks first in the nation. Š UM has allowed the fewest first downs in the Big Sky, and is also first in third-down conversions (.412 percentage), fourth-down conversions (3-for-3), time of possession, opponents' third-down conversions (.320) and net punting (39.0 yards). Š The Griz are lost in penalty yardage lost with an average of 87.5 per game.
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