He spoke softly and with little fluctuation. The Montana sixth-year coach couldn't remember any of his football teams ever committing five turnovers - let alone committing that many and winning. The nine penalties for 92 yards and 280 passing yards allowed to NCAA Division II Central Washington weren't highlights either.
The good news for Hauck is his Griz are
The first stop is at Weber State and the second at Eastern Washington. If the Griz play the way they did in Saturday's 38-35 win, their string of 10 straight Big Sky Conference titles is in trouble.
“Going into the week we were the least penalized team in the conference, and that's not how we're coming out of the week,” Hauck said Saturday. “That stuff will cost you, just like turnovers. It's five turnovers, it's nine major penalties, and we've got to fix that.
“That's bad by us and, frankly, bad by me. I'm the head coach. I've got to get those straightened out.”
Six days from now the Griz are going to get a stiff test in Ogden, Utah. Weber State wants to beat Montana so bad it can taste it.
There's bad blood to deal with. You won't hear about it from Weber State players this week because that could be counter-productive. But a high-low block by Montana's J.D. Quinn and Cody Balogh ended Weber defensive lineman Derek Johnson's 2007 season, and no one in Ogden has forgotten.
Johnson tore both his ACL and MCL and underwent multiple surgeries. The Ogden Standard-Examiner called for a suspension and ran a nasty cartoon featuring Balogh - a senior at the time - on its opinion page last October. The paper also ran an editorial citing Johnson's belief “things would be different if Montana hadn't caused the penalty. The Grizzlies football team is the star program in the conference, and ... the Big Sky didn't want to harm the team's top ranking.”
Strong words.
Put yourself in Johnson's shoes and imagine what he's thinking this week. Then consider no current Wildcat has ever beaten Montana, even though Weber has come dangerously close in Ron McBride's three years as coach.
In that time frame, the average margin of victory for the Griz has been 5.3 points. The last time Montana traveled to Ogden, it escaped with a 33-30 win.
So the Griz have ample motivation to work hard this week. They won't come out flat on Saturday, which has been a problem in two of their last three games. They probably won't commit five turnovers or nine penalties either.
But the running game is a concern. More specifically, the running game between the tackles.
Montana finished with 154 yards rushing on 40 carries against Central Washington. Take away contributions from wideout Rob Schulte and quarterback Cole Bergquist and that's 114 yards rushing against a DII team.
Part of the problem is personnel. Former Griz Lex Hilliard is hard to replace, and Montana's most physical running back, Andrew Schmidt, was lost indefinitely with an injury on Sept. 13.
Thomas Brooks-Fletcher, Chase Reynolds and Schulte carried the load behind Bergquist Saturday. Schulte used his cat quickness to rack up 32 yards on two carries in the first half, but it was Reynolds' hard running - Hauck called him the most physical guy on the field with the ball - that bodes well for the future.
The sophomore from Drummond collected a career-high 87 yards rushing and two touchdowns. The yards were hard-earned. The kind Montana needs to keep defenders honest. The kind it needs when the weather is cold.
“I've been getting a few runs here and there and barely making it past the line of scrimmage,” Reynolds said of his first three games. “This week I emphasized getting my feet up and running downhill.
“You get out there and you're a little shaky at first. But you get a couple carries and start going with the flow and I felt really good out there.”
If the running game is clicking, Bergquist doesn't have to pull rabbits out of his hat every week and the Griz defense stays off the field. Maybe Montana could even (Reynolds) wrap one up early in Ogden Saturday.
But don't count on it. After standing toe-to-toe with big-timers like Hawaii and Utah, Weber State is not easily impressed or intimidated.
Montana may need its fourth Houdini escape in five weeks to stay undefeated.
Sports columnist Bill Speltz may be reached at 523-5255 or bill.speltz@lee.net.
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Tom Gallagher wrote on Sep 28, 2008 5:40 AM:
from Mississippi "