(Montana Sports Information) Montana’s defense stifled Northern Colorado in the frigid temperatures inside Washington-Grizzly Stadium Saturday afternoon, earning two defensive scores and holding the Bears to just 94 total yards in a 40-0 shutout win.

It’s the second straight time that the Griz have shutout the Bears, outscoring them 75-0 in the last two meetings.

The Grizzlies’ two defensive scores were both pick-sixes, one from Jaxon Lee and the other Braxton Hill. It’s the first time the Griz have had multiple pick-sixes in a game since 2010 when they set a Big Sky record with four against Western State.

The offense, meanwhile, had an efficient day to put up 455 yards of total offense as Montana improved to 7-1 overall and 4-1 in Big Sky play. It’s the first 7-1 start for Montana since the 2009 season, which ended in a trip to the National Championship game in the final game of Bobby Hauck‘s first tenure.

Now 14 years later, Hauck picks up the 123rd win of his career. At 123-35, he is now tied with Northern Arizona’s Jerome Sauers for the most wins by a head coach in Big Sky history.

“It’s such a great day by our defense,” Hauck said of the win. “It’s hard to shut people out in modern day college football. To hold them under 100 yards of total offense, it was a really, really good performance – and obviously that’s an understatement – by our defense.”

It’s the first shutout of the season for the Griz, and the third shutout by Montana’s defense since the start of 2022. One of the top rushing defenses in the country was on display as Montana allowed just 18 yards to the Bears on 31 carries.

“The 31 carries for 18 yards, half a yard a carry, and under 100 yards of total offense. That’s a special, special day in terms of the annals of Grizzly defense,” Hauck said. “We play defense here, and we play good defense.”

Game Day Photos