FCS Daily Dose: 3 All-American-Level Montana Players Were Sidelined In Week 1, Statuses Unknown This Week

The FCS Daily Dose is a blog-style article series featuring an assortment of news, rumblings, quick hitters, and commentary on various topics.

A new Daily Dose will be published multiple times a week.

3 All-American-Level Montana Players Were Sidelined In Week 1, Statuses Unknown This Week

The Montana Grizzlies, ranked No. 4 this week, were without three All-American-level players in their season-opener vs. Missouri State: wide receiver/returner Junior Bergen, linebacker Riley Wilson, and tight end Cole Grossman.

Their specific injuries and status for Saturday’s game at No. 23 North Dakota are not publically known.

Bergen and Wilson are listed on this week’s 2-deep, although they were also listed on last week’s depth chart.

Bergen is the best playmaker in the FCS as an All-American wide receiver and returner. Last year, he had 59 catches for 791 yards and five touchdowns, 434 kick return yards (28.9 yards per return) with a score, and 429 punt return yards (15.3 avg.) and three TDs.

Wilson transferred to Montana from Hawaii last season. The outside linebacker ranked inside the Top 25 of FCS edge defenders on PFF, tallying 53 tackles, 15 TFLs, 8.5 sacks, and six quarterback hurries.

Grossman missed last season, but in the two years prior he combined for 65 catches for 873 yards and 10 touchdowns as a freshman and sophomore All-American.

The Griz squeaked by unranked Missouri State in Week 1, winning at home 29-24. It was more of a “Mo State actually looked pretty good” rather than a “Montana was not impressive at all” type of game.

On the one hand, we saw the Griz plateau throughout last year’s non-conference as it gelled before getting incrementally better in October, November, and December to build into being an FCS title contender. So we don’t need to wave a red flag at their Week 1 performance. Clean up a couple of red-zone mishaps, and it’s maybe a 14-point win. The spread was Montana -13.5 on BetMGM.

However … on the other hand … this year’s non-conference is much tougher than last year’s, which featured non-scholarship Butler, a struggling Utah Tech program, and D2 power Ferris State. The 2024 non-conference has FBS-transitioning Missouri State, a road trip to No. 23 UND (who has won 25 of its last 28 games inside the Alerus Center and is 10-3 at home against ranked opponents since 2019), a home game vs. non-scholarship Morehead State, and another home game against No. 17 Western Carolina.

Montana has all the talent to be a national title contender again. But we all know how important home-field advantage is in the playoffs, especially in the semifinals. NDSU-Montana in 2023, UIW-NDSU in 2022, JMU-NDSU in 2021, SDSU-Montana State in 2021 … those games may have had different results if you flip the home team.

In a championship race that seems to have SDSU, NDSU, Montana, and Montana State ahead of everyone else, who the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds are out of those four may determine who meets in Frisco.

And if Montana wants a Top 2 seed, those week-to-week improvements need to start happening now instead of in October, because this non-conference slate is nothing to ho-hum your way through. An early loss could mean having to run through the Big Sky with an 8-0 record to earn playoff home-field advantage.

For an offense breaking in a new starting quarterback via a two-QB system, and for a defense that relies on disruption and negative-yardage plays, getting Bergen, Grossman, and Wilson back on the field (whenever that may be) will be a major boost.

Past Daily Doses

Sun Belt Admits Officiating Error In UCA-Arkansas State Game-Winning TD + 1-Score FCS-FBS Losses … READ MORE

Idaho QB Jack Layne Out Several Weeks With Broken Collarbone + SEMO QB Paxton DeLaurent Returns From Shoulder Injury … READ MORE

FCS Teams Bringing In The Most 2024 Division 1 Transfers … READ MORE