Big Sky Notes: Little Brown (low-calorie) Stein

Oct. 11—The Little Brown Stein is at stake this weekend, and if you wondered how the traveling trophy for which the Montana Grizzlies and Idaho Vandals battle came about, well, Libby's own Jerek Wolcott is here to help.

"The Little Brown Stein has been around since 1938," Wolcott, a University of Montana alum who is now an assistant athletic director at Idaho, posted on the social media platform X on Monday. "Did you know it was created and proposed by ASUM and accepted by ASUI?"

We do now: Student governments can sometimes do amazing things.

"The acceptance came with some trash talk by ASUI president Max Kenworthy and the Vandals backed it up with a 19-6 win at Missoula," Wolcott continued.

Saturday's kickoff will be at 8:30 p.m. Mountain at the Kibbie Dome in Moscow, Idaho. The Vandals own the series, building a 56-30-2 lead. Their 4-6 record at Washington-Grizzly Stadium stacks up favorably with any Griz opponent, and includes a 30-23 win last season.

Got Your Number

Griz coach Bobby Hauck has taken to not referring to opposing players by name, saying in response to a question about the Vandals' Hayden Hatten on Monday:

"I think they have really good receivers, their numbers are 0 (Jordan Dwyer), 80 (Hatten) and 1 (Jermaine Jackson). And they're all really good players."

Gone are the days of comparing Eastern Washington's Taiwan Jones to East Carolina's Chris Johnson, we guess, but the Grizzlies could have their hands full with those receivers, plus running backs Nick Romano and Anthony Woods and quarterback Gevani McCoy.

McCoy and Hatten hooked up on two game-changing plays last year, and during his weekly radio show Hauck summed up the loss thusly (helpfully posted to social media by @VandalRadioRyan):

"They made a total of two plays on offense. They hit us with the sucker play after we roughed the passer, at the end of the first half (a 24-yard touchdown), Hauck said. "They took a shot and beat us, we had bad eyes in coverage.

"Then in the second half they hit us on a chuck-it-up play (for 43 yards) to the wide field after we got a 15-yarder. And as you know, if you're going to control the game you have to run the ball. Passing yards are empty calories."

Lost in these Cliffs Notes is how Montana had trouble getting the ball and keeping it last year Aside from a pick he threw to Patrick O'Connell, McCoy was really good, passing for 266 of Idaho's 344 yards; the Vandals held the ball for 42 minutes and change, leaving the Griz less than 18 minutes to do their damage.

What it will boil down to, Hauck said, was being good on third down. The Griz went 7-for-13 in their 31-23 win at UC Davis last week.

"I think that's kind of how we have to do things," Hauck said. "I think that's our M.O. right now."

Dwyer Is Good

Saturday Hatten threw a reverse pass to Dwyer that did not catch Cal Poly off-guard, and didn't matter: Dwyer made a shoe-top touchdown catch despite pass interference on the Mustangs.

"This week I'd been telling Hayden, just give me a chance," Dwyer said post-game. "Even if I'm covered just throw it up there and give me a chance."

Dwyer is a redshirt freshman who was getting serious reps a year ago before a high ankle sprain shelved him.

"Remember last year he had a touchdown the first two games," Idaho coach Jason Eck said.

Dwyer turned a screen pass into a 25-yard touchdown late against Cal Poly as well.

Big Audience

Eck, meanwhile, is jacked about this ESPN2-produced home game, reportedly in a sold-out Kibbie Dome.

"I can't wait, man," he said Saturday. "When I was an assistant here in 2006, I was here for the Boise State game and that was an electric environment. I'm hoping the environment here Saturday night is even more electric.

"Everybody sports bar in America is going to have that game showing on TV that night. More eyes on that game than any Vandal football game in like 10 years. Usually I don't think about the next game for a few hours, but I was thinking about that one as soon as this game ended."

Who is the QB?

Cal Poly is still in the three-steps-back of their rebuild, if a spate of four dropped passes — one was picked by Idaho — in the first half against Idaho is any sign.

The Mustangs again played without quarterback Sam Huard, and Bo Kelly ended up with three interceptions.

"Kelly gives them a little more mobility," MSU coach Brent Vigen, whose Bobcats play host to Cal Poly Saturday, said this week, "But I'd expect them to go back to Huard if he's available."

It looks like Bobcat QB Tommy Mellott is working back into action following a bye week. The Butte product has missed three games, though Sean Chambers has played admirably again in Mellott's absence.

"He has made considerable progress moving around," Vigen said. "Tommy Mellott is a highly tuned athlete when he's healthy."