(STATS) – The next week is probably the wrong time for the Montana Grizzlies to be having their bye. Coming off two straight losses, their fan base will be reaching for the panic button, and everybody in Missoula will be feeling it.
The No. 22 Grizzlies were routed at North Dakota 41-14 on Saturday, one week after being shocked at home by Portland State. Coach Bobby Hauck, who returned to lead the program last December, never lost two straight games in his first seven-year stint.
In the crowded Big Sky title race, Montana (4-3, 2-2) hardly has the look of a team headed back to the FCS playoffs, which they’ve missed in back-to-back years for the first time since 1991 and ’92.
“We’re a really average football team,” Hauck said. “We’ve been good enough to win four and two of those (losses) we’ve been maybe one play away (from winning), but I don’t think there is any sugarcoating the fact we’re pretty dang average.”
Quarterback Dalton Sneed has lost his early season magic and Montana has turned the ball over four times in each of the last two games. North Dakota (4-2) turned each of its takeaways into first-half touchdowns. In fact, the Fighting Hawks built a 34-0 halftime lead as quarterback Nate Ketteringham threw for three touchdowns and ran for two more.
The Grizzlies can use the bye week to heel some wounds, even the mental ones. With only four games remaining, they will have to win at least three of them to earn a playoff bid.
But a 7-4 record last year wasn’t enough to get the Grizzlies into the playoffs. Will they be on the outside looking in again?
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