GRAND FORKS, N.D. — After grinding out a win in their first game of the season, the road gets tougher for the Montana Grizzlies (1-0) in Week 2, as No. 4 UM hits the road for the first time this year to take on No. 23 North Dakota in what will be a matchup between top-25 FCS teams on Saturday evening at the Alerus Center.
With one game down, Week 2 is about seeing where they can adjust and improve.
"Just kind of building with each other and kind of building that connection with each other and knowing how, like, for me, like the O-line is going to block people, and how they're going to get up to double teams and how fast, and like the timing and how that's going to work out," senior running back Nick Ostmo said. "And I think that throughout the season that kind of builds, and you kind of get that understanding."
The Fighting Hawks are led by 11th-year head coach Bubba Schweigert, and UND is coming off of a 7-5 season where they once again made the first round of the FCS playoffs.
Last year was also highlighted by a win over rival North Dakota State, and the Fighting Hawks went 6-1 at home at the Alerus Center a year ago.
"Some familiarity with them, just because they beat my brother (Tucker) last year when he was at NDSU," Griz senior safety Ryder Meyer said. "I know they're a good team. They got good skill, and I think it's a great opportunity for us to be able to go and face another quality opponent, another Missouri Valley team, and see where we match up with the rest of the country."
Long led by quarterback Tommy Schuster, who has since moved on to Michigan State, the Fighting Hawks are led by dual-threat Simon Romfo under center, as well as standout wide receiver Bo Belquist who is a preseason All-American.
In the opener against Iowa State, North Dakota (0-1) doubled the Cyclones rushing yards, 174-86, behind multiple contributors, and won the time of possession battle by over 15 minutes. ISU won the game, 21-3.
"They have good running backs. They are persistent with the run game. They've got a pretty expansive scheme in terms of different run plays they can get to, their offensive lines good," UM head coach Bobby Hauck said. "It was kind of fun watching them play against Iowa State, because they they held up really well physically."
Defensively, the Fighting Hawks return more experience from last season and mix things up, and they're led by linebacker Wyatt Pedigo. North Dakota was picked to finish fifth in the Missouri Valley this season, and had five players named preseason all-conference.
They're also an old Big Sky foe for Montana. These teams last met in 2018 in Grand Forks, where the Fighting Hawks blew the Grizzlies out, 41-14.
New Montana offensive line coach Joe Pawlak was the O-line coach for UND the last five seasons too before joining the staff in Missoula.
So it's Montana looking to get one back to improve to 2-0, while UND hopes to make a statement against a top-5 team for its first win of the season.
"They look pretty good," Ostmo said. "They kind of fly around, and they got big dudes up front, so we're excited for another challenge."
