Griz open season with S. Utah

By The Associated Press - 09/01/2007

MISSOULA (AP) — Running back Lex Hilliard is back, Cole Bergquist has regained his starting spot at quarterback and Montana is ready to start its 2007 season nearly nine months after falling 19-17 to Massachusetts in the NCAA Division I-AA semifinals last December.

Montana, ranked second in what is now called the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision, hosts Southern Utah in the season-opener for both teams Saturday. Kickoff is at 1:05 p.m.

Hilliard, who missed last season after rupturing his Achilles tendon, will start, coach Bobby Hauck said.

‘‘We’ll keep a close pitch count on Lex. We’ll monitor his carries, but it depends on how the game is going,’’ Hauck said.

Hilliard rushed for 1,322 yards in 2005 with six 100-yard games, the same season Bergquist started eight games as a redshirt freshman. Bergquist started just one game last season behind transfer Josh Swogger, but won the starting role this fall.

‘‘Offensively, I think (Montana’s) strength is in the running game but they definitely have good receivers and are good at throwing it down the field,’’ said Southern Utah coach Wes Meier.

‘‘They’re balanced with good personnel everywhere but I think they’re excited to have a guy like Lex Hilliard back and look forward to using him a lot.’’

Bergquist said Southern Utah has ‘‘shown their ability to run almost every coverage in the book. That’s kind of scary as a quarterback because it makes your reads more difficult than if they just ran one or two.’’

Southern Utah was 3-8 during 2007, but returns 19 starters. Montana, which was 12-2 a year ago, beat Southern Utah 68-45 in 2002 and lost 45-38 in 1998.

‘‘The last two times they’ve been in our stadium they’ve hung 45 points on us,’’ Hauck said, Linebacker Kyle Ryan said that fact is ‘‘written all over the locker room. (The coaches) remind us of it as much as they can. But they also remind us that as long as we take care of our job on defense and don’t try to make too much happen, we’ll be fine.’’

Southern Utah quarterback Wes Marshall, a senior, passed for just under 2,000 yards and 16 touchdowns and ran for 366 yards and three more scores last season.

‘‘I think he’s kind of perfect for our type of offense — a tough, tough kid who’s very effective running the ball,’’ Meier said. ‘‘He has great reads on the field on the option, knows who to give it to. And he’s very good at the passing game.’’

Hauck added that Marshall is ‘‘a real veteran player. He’s experienced. We’re not going to show him a bunch of things he’s not seen before. He won’t be fooled. He won’t be intimidated coming in here.’’

But coach Meier knows his team is in for a challenge.

‘‘Montana has one of the top programs in the NCAA, year in and year out,’’ Meier said. ‘‘Coach Hauck is another coach in a long line at Montana who does an exceptional job with his team. He starts with exceptional talent and then goes on to get the most out of that talent.

‘‘We have to be realistic,’’ he said. ‘‘We’re talking about a great team in Montana. I’m very impressed, not only by their players, but by their coaching staff and their fan base. It’s obvious their tradition runs so deep.’’

The Montana game is the first of nine the Thunderbirds are playing against teams ranked in the Top 25 in the FCS preseason poll. They take on four Top 10 teams.

‘‘When I got here (four years ago) I told our (athletics director) we want to play the best teams we can play,’’ Meier said. ‘‘People think I’m crazy, but I don’t want to play weak teams.’’