The Montana Grizzlies are 4-1 after their difficult 31-14 win over 0-5 Dixie State Saturday, and if Bobby Hauck had a hard time getting a squad on the field, especially along the defensive front, so be it.

Asked how he felt about the depth of his team Monday — this after Glacier High product Henry Nuce was among four freshman starters Saturday — Hauck was succinct.

“We won,” he said. “I guess that means it’s good. Any time you have attrition, somebody has to step up. Whoever’s in there is in there. They have to perform.”

Nuce was in for starter Justin Belknap at defensive end; sophomore RJ Nelson was the third starter used at the other end, after both senior Joe Babros and junior transfer Deari Todd went down with injuries/illness.

The nose tackle snaps have been split between junior Eli Alford and sophomore Alex Gubner; Alford came to Monday’s press conference.

Montana could certainly be healthier ahead of Saturday’s game against Sacramento State, which coincides with the 20th anniversary celebration of the Grizzlies’ 2001 FCS title.

“We’ve got first-place Sacramento coming in,” said Hauck. “So we need a great week of preparation. We need everybody here this weekend and fired up.”

Sacramento State is notable for playing two quarterbacks, being 2-0 in Big Sky Conference play and owning a 49-22 win in the teams’ last meeting, in California in 2019.

“I think they had a good team in 2017-18 as well,” Hauck said. “The team we beat out here in 2018 was a really good team that I didn’t think got their just due. In 2019 they had a lot of good players and rode a hot quarterback (Kevin Thomson) to a playoff performance.”

That was then: Now the Hornets have freshman Asher O’Hara rushing for 289 yards as one-half of their two-headed QB. Jake Dunniway has thrown 99 passes, coming 59 for 862 yards; O’Hara has thrown 95, for 588 yards.

“It’s kind of the same offense,” Hauck said. “They just have different guys doing it. With their two quarterbacks it looks like they try to highlight their strengths, where before they had just one guy doing it all.”

It’s a dangerous team that beat Idaho State and Southern Utah in league games (and also won 19-7 at Dixie State to open the season). Maybe not as dangerous as 2019, which Alford remembers well.

“P----s me off, frankly,” said the nose tackle. “Nobody likes to lose. I think it will motivate all of us this week.”

Oh, that guy

Thomson, you might remember, was the Big Sky offensive player of the year in 2019, after missing two seasons with Tommy John surgery. Then he transferred to Washington just in time for Covid-19. He then was injured and didn’t play in 2020.

Now 26, Thomson opted to try the NFL rather than play in what would’ve been his eighth year of college. He drew a minicamp tryout from the Carolina Panthers.

Meanwhile, Hauck’s Griz beat the Huskies 13-7 in September. All this after Thomson redshirted his first season of college at UNLV, which coincided with Hauck’s last season as the Rebels’ coach (2014).

Plus-Minus

The No. 9 Montana State Bobcats got another four takeaways last week in their 45-17 home win over Cal Poly, and their plus-10 turnover margin ranks third in the Football Championship Subdivision.

Junior quarterback Matthew McKay is first in the FCS in passing efficiency, completing 68 percent of his passes for 1,344 yards and 13 touchdowns. He has one interception and his 224 yards per game rank third in the Big Sky, behind Eastern’s Eric Barriere (411.2) and Portland State’s Davis Alexander (304.8).

“We’re six games in offensively and I think we’ve turned it over twice,” MSU coach Brent Vigen said this week. “You’re going to win games when you do that, and we’ve got to continue to play that way.”

The schedule gets tougher this week with a trip to No. 19 Weber State. It’s the Wildcats’ homecoming, and kickoff is at 8 p.m. Mountain Friday in Ogden, Utah. They’ve won the last four Big Sky Conference titles under head coach Jay Hill.

With all due respect to league-leading rusher Isaiah Ifanse, the Cats’ fortunes could rest with McKay.

“We really need him to play well for us to accomplish the things we want to,” Vigen said. “The last five games he hasn’t really been out there in the fourth quarter needing to make plays. I’m certain that time is going to come.”

Shocker of the Week

The Idaho State Bengals scored the upset of the weekend with a 27-17 win over then-No. 10 UC Davis, in Pocatello.

Hunter Hays threw touchdown passes covering 71 and 18 yards and the Bengals (1-4) made two end-zone interceptions to knock the Aggies from the unbeaten ranks.

Rob Phenicie, the Bengals’ head coach, was asked about a team meeting the previous Monday (senior receiver Tanner Conner voiced his frustration publicly).

“There were some things we needed to do to rock the boat a little bit,” Phenicie told the Idaho State Journal. “We did it and it verifies that they have a good pulse of what’s going on.

“Short of the inmates running the asylum, you have to come to agreement on things. I explained to them what we’re doing and why we’re doing it. They explained to me what they want and what they think we’ll do and we meet in between.”

Tyevin Ford ran for 107 yards and a touchdown for the Bengals — and Conner had five catches for 150 yards, including that 71-yard score.