Griz won't alter game preparation

With the hype machine in full swing this week for the 'Cat-Griz game, the main goal for both schools is getting players to ignore the hoopla and focus on the game at hand.

For No. 7 Montana, the trick is in treating this week like any other week.

"We get the other team's best shot every week," UM coach Bobby Hauck said. "We prepare for every game the same. We're preparing for this just like every game."

That's all good and well, but with a roster dominated by players from Montana, who grew up with the rivalry dominating the fall sporting scene, isn't that easier said than done?

Not really, Hauck said. As with any part of a football team, it boils down to one essential element.

"You have to be disciplined in that regard, just like everything else you do," he said.

The same is true on the field. Asked each week what the Griz needed to do to be successful against that week's opponent, Hauck has faithfully responded with some variation of "We just have to do what we do."

And such a philosophy would be considered stubborn if the team were losing, it's called good coaching when its winning. Conversely, making radical changes in response to a defeat could be considered panicking.

Staying the course and not making radical changes allows any team to get better at what they do through repetition.

"We add a little bit and change a bit every week," Hauck. "It's important on all facets of what you do (to be consistent).

"We'll be balanced just like every week. We'll be who we are. Wholesale changes every week is not the way to do that."

For the Griz, the results have been obvious. An extremely young defense has, for the most part, improved each week, with its most complete effort of the season coming last week against Sacramento State.

Offensively, everything has come together in the last few weeks to the point where it seems like everything Montana tries turns into points.

That combination of defensive improvement and offensive efficiency has the Griz right where they want to be.

"We're in good shape," Hauck said. "You want to be in November playing for a championship."

- HILLIARD QUESTIONABLE: The status of former Flathead running back Lex Hilliard for Saturday's game is up in the air. Hilliard was in for only a handful of plays against Sac State after missing practice all of last week with an infection in his leg.

"He couldn't go last week," Hauck said. "He tried and couldn't do it. I would hope we'll have him on Saturday, but he won't be 100 percent."

And while Hilliard had been getting more and more carries in the previous weeks, the Griz running game hardly suffered a let down against the Hornets. Justin Green and J.R. Waller combined for 114 yards and fourth-stringer Brady Green played well in mop-up duty.

- CORRECTION: The crowd of 21,097 for the Sac State game was the smallest regular season crowd since Washington Grizzly Stadium re-opened after its latest expansion two years ago, and not the smallest in four years as had been reported Sunday.

The Daily Inter Lake was given erroneous information.