The Montana secondary knows what how stiff a test it’s facing on Saturday with UC Davis coming to town.
The Aggies are leading the Big Sky Conference with over 42 points per game, most of which comes from one of the best passing attacks in the country. That number spikes to nearly 48 points per game against FCS competition.
Quarterback Jake Maier throws the ball more than any signal-caller in the Big Sky, and leads the league in just about every relevant measure.
Wide receiver Keelan Doss is the preseason conference Offensive Player of the Year, the reigning league offensive MVP and a legitimate NFL draft prospect. He’s 6-foot-3, 209 pounds, and has 61 catches and 598 yards through seven games.
Jared Harrell is right behind Doss at 6-foot-2, 200 pounds, and has 31 catches for 490 yards.
Freshman running back Ulonzo Gilliam has been a threat out of the backfield with 29 catches for 240 yards.
Sophomore wideout Khris Vaughn also has over 200 yards, and tight end Wesley Preece is an all-conference talent who has 181 yards and a team-high six touchdowns.
And no matter who gets open, Maier has the smarts and arm talent to find them.
“We’re playing a veteran quarterback again,” Montana head coach Bobby Hauck said. “I don’t know where they’re getting these guys, everybody seems to have a multi-year starter senior at quarterback, and it really starts with those guys. … And then they’re skilled at wide receiver, they have a whole bunch of running backs. There are just certain things that they do that will be hard to get a handle on, and hopefully we’ll get matched up and slow them down a little bit.”
In that sense, Saturday really will be a test for a Montana secondary that has wavered between solid and struggling this year.
Going against an attack like the one the Aggies have will go a long way towards showing their true level, and how much they’ve improved since the beginning of the season.
“I feel like I’ve played well, but I still have work to do, the rest of the team still has work to do. It’s only halfway through the season,” starting cornerback Dareon Nash said. “I think we have our hands full with [UC Davis’s] whole team, not just Keelan Doss. I feel like we have our hands full with everybody. They’re a great team.”
Nash is one half of a cornerback pair, along with Justin Calhoun, that was seen as a question mark coming into the season.
Nash is starting for the first time after moving from wide receiver at mid season last season. Calhoun switched from receiver to corner before fall practice, just over a month before the start of the season.
Despite the uncertainty, the two have played well. Calhoun leads the team with 11 total pass breakups and got his first interception in Montana’s last game, against North Dakota. Nash has eight breakups and two interceptions, including a pick-six against Drake.
Montana has given up just 10 passing touchdowns in seven games, with several of those going to opposing tight ends, which also reflects well on the corners.
“Game speed is a lot different at corner. I had to adjust real fast [in our first game],” Calhoun said. “Honestly, I would say [it took] two, three drives and I really started to get adjusted to it. … I didn’t come in thinking that I wasn’t going to make plays, so just getting used to the game speed is really what I was trying to focus on.”
As Hauck pointed out, the pass rush will also have a big say in slowing down the Aggies’ passing game, but in the secondary, the safeties will join Nash and Calhoun with the responsibility.
The Griz have an experienced group on the back end of their defense, with returner junior Josh Sandry being joined by Division-I transfer safeties Robby Hauck (NAU), Reid Miller (Arkansas) and Gavin Robertson (Arizona)
All four have played at times, with Hauck and Miller the starters at the safety spots and Sandry filling a hybrid nickel/SAM role.
“It is kind of new, but it’s really not,” Sandry said. “I’ve played the position before, and, we’ve got great coaches that have helped me along the process. I love where I’m playing.”
All four, though, are run-stoppers first and coverage players second.
Hauck is second on the team in tackles, Miller fifth and Sandry sixth, but their physicality will be needed in the passing game Saturday. Doss and Harrell are both at least 200 pounds, and Preece tips the scales at 238.
Doss, in particular, has made a living out of feasting on smaller cornerbacks, posting them up whenever he gets the advantage to the tune of over nine catches a game.
It won’t be anything new for Nash (190 pounds) and Calhoun (176) to be facing wideouts bigger than them, but Doss might be too much to handle.
“He has great body control, he’s a big receiver,” Nash said. “He’s definitely one of the best receivers we’ve seen … [but] we’ve seen multiple receivers like that. They might not get as much credit as Doss does, but we’ve definitely seen receivers like that.”
In the end, though, the UC Davis offense is a math problem that few have been able to solve this year.
Shift the coverage to Doss, and Harrell will burn you. Try to bracket both of the star receivers, and Preece will slip over the middle, or Gilliam out of the backfield.
“That’s always the catch-22,” Hauck said. “There are ways to try to limit production by players, but then there’s no way to not weaken yourself other places. We’ll have to try to plan that out as best we can, and mix it up on them a little bit, but they have other weapons, so we can’t just tilt everything one way.”
To be the first FCS team to slow down the Aggies, the Griz secondary will have to quickly forget giving up 41 points last time out and play nearly flawlessly.
They’re not backing down from the challenge.
“Just [have to] be the Montana Grizzlies, just play with that Montana passion,” Sandry said. “They’re a great team, we’re a great team. We’ve got our hands full, for sure, but so do they.”
