So far this year, Montana’s opponents are 12-32. Other than the Eastern Washington game, which it took a miracle catch to win, the Grizzlies have yet to face a decent team – at least not if you define “decent” as competing for a playoff spot. (I do think Eastern is going to run the table and make the playoffs at 8-3.)

But, clearly, this has been one of the weakest schedules in recent memory. While that’s not really an issue, it is a big reason why a lot of Griz fans — fairly or unfairly — have their doubts about this team despite its 7-0 record.

Which brings me to the topic of the day.

I think it’s OK for fans to doubt or grumble. It’s part of being a fan. This is a debate that goes back to the dawn of games, but I have never felt that it was the job of fans to be walking PR firms for the teams they follow.

None of this is life and death, but if you don’t like something about your team, you have every right to say it, regardless of whether it’s college or pro. I absolutely think it needs to remain within bounds and not get nasty or personal. And it’s fine for fans who believe you should never criticize your team to criticize those who do. If you’re willing to give it out, you better be willing to take it, too.

But the discussions over dinner tables, in restaurants and bars, and now on blogs across the Internet, are a great part of sports. And I have always been irritated when people seek to silence criticism. If you have confidence in what you are doing, you don’t need to justify yourself to anyone. Or, more importantly, be offended when people criticize you. And all of us should be open to differences of opinion anyway.

As a sportswriter for close to a decade, I was always struck at the way different coaches handled criticism — real or imagined. For instance, after a game it’s only natural for a reporter to ask, “Why did you go for it on fourth down (and not make it)?” It’s the same question many, many fans are going to be asking, and it’s the responsibility of a reporter to ask the same questions the reporter thinks his/her readers might want to know.

Some coaches perceive this as a some sort of threat, and react as such. Bob Knight is a perfect example — with the red face, profanities and name-calling of reporters and even fans. Other coaches simply refuse to communicate in any meaningful way, and begin to engage in a somewhat bizarre silent warfare.

I have always had such a great respect for coaches, on the other hand, with whom you can have a real conversation, regardless of the topic. And it’s these coaches who, I believe, end up with the lasting respect and admiration of the athletes, schools, organizations and fans they interact with.

You can ask them a question about some alleged failure or mistake in a game, and they will give you a straight response. They might tell you that it’s not fair in that instance to be critical, and explain why, but they don’t start throwing chairs, cursing or giving one-word responses. And even when reporters ask idiotic questions (and there are plenty of those), they deal with it in a graceful manner.

Coaching is such a difficult profession. So much happens on the field of play that is not their fault, and yet they shoulder much of the blame most of the time. Most coaches are dedicated individuals who give hours upon hours to what they do. And then to have some yo-yo who might never have strapped on a helmet in his life question what you do could certainly be irritating. Plus, no one likes to have someone ask critical questions about players you have nurtured and fellow coaches you consider close friends.

But what coaches need to understand is that it’s all part of the job. Journalists, for instance, deal with personal criticism on an almost daily basis. And those who have too thin a skin end up washing out fairly quickly. Which is probably why media types get so frustrated with coaches who launch into diatribes when they don’t like something they’ve read or heard.

If a reporter reports something incorrectly or writes something that is downright rude, a reader has every right to call them on it. But when a reporter is expressing an opinion — hopefully a well-thought-out one — or reporting on an area where a team has struggled, it really isn’t fair to get angry over this.

So … what’s the point of all this? Well, it’s probably too late for the relationship between UM coach Bobby Hauck and the media of Missoula to be mended, but I would urge him to take a more open approach with reporters at any future positions he may have.

Bobby is a top-notch coaching talent, and by all accounts, a very good human being. He clearly communicates extremely well with his players, and has their utmost respect. He is a tremendous recruiter, and he runs a solid college football team.

When it comes to X’s and O’s, the building of the defense and special teams at Montana is beyond reproach. The offense has sometimes left a little to be desired (at least in the eyes of many fans), but it’s usually not terrible, and every team has it occasional weaknesses.

The measure of a man, however, is not in how well he deals with applause, but how well he responds to the negative in life. Hauck has been upset with various articles in the Missoulian over his years at the school — particularly our coverage of the legal trouble of a few former UM players. While he has never entirely shut down communication with our reporters, he has threatened to. And he has been sullen to prickly many times, which is what I find most troubling.

It’s OK to be a private person. It’s OK to be a man of few words. But the animosity and hostility is not good, and it will not serve Hauck well at future jobs, particularly if those jobs are at bigger schools, where the media and fan obligations can be much greater.

Hauck must get used to the fact, whether he agrees with it or not, that college athletes are public figures. Their positive exploits on the field are recorded numerous, numerous times in the newspaper. When one of those athletes gets in trouble with the law, however, particularly when that sport is the most high-profile one in the state, it is also going to end up in print.

It is not unusual for media and fans, along with celebrating all the good, to nitpick and try to find holes — even in their own beloved teams. It happens everywhere, with every team of any consequence. The important part is not to take it personally.

Coaches who deal with this potential conflict honestly and openly often find the media and fans more willing to cut them a break when things don’t go well.

Clearly, coaches don’t have to be sweet guys to win games. Knight is proof of that. But unlike Knight, whose lasting tribute will be that “his critics can kiss his (rear),” men like John Wooden or our own Don Read have left a legacy of professionalism and kindness that extends far beyond what they did in the arena of sports.

Griz 52, Bears 7:

Rocking good time today in the house that Read built.

Defense played great again, and Bergquist seemed to click for the first time in a few weeks. Going to the shorter passes seemed to help, and the running game got rolling.

Considering Northern Colorado hasn’t won in 16 game now, it’s not like you can call this a breakout performance, but 52 points has to be something of a comfort. At least Montana did what it should do to an inferior opponent, and if you’re going to call yourself a top 4 team in the nation, that’s something you have to do.

It’s also pretty clear that Sacramento State, which held Montana to one offensive touchdown last week, is a pretty solid defensive team, certainly better than what they were getting credit for going into the season. The Hornets fell to the Cats in Bozeman Saturday, but it was tough sledding for MSU.

Here’s my take heading into the NAU game. Montana is a good football team, still not great, but pretty darn good. Their defense is the best Griz D I’ve ever seen, and they’re just starting to click. The special teams are great; it’s clearly something Hauck takes a lot of pride in.

The offense? Well, who knows. I’ll probably catch some guff for any criticism after a 52-point effort, but as far as I’m concerned you just don’t know what you’re going to get from this O. Against even average defenses, we’ve seen no consistency and long lapses with virtually no movement. Going into the Northern Colorado game, Montana had a total of eight touchdown drives in six games that went for longer than 60 yards. Six of those drives came in blowout wins over Albany and Fort Lewis. In other words, against Southern Utah, Weber State, Eastern Washington and Sac State, the Griz had a grand total of two touchdown drives that went for more than 60 yards. All that points to is a lack of consistency. It doesn’t mean they aren’t going to get better, but they will have to. I suppose what is frustrating people so much this year is that this is such a GREAT defensive team. People don’t trust the offensive coaches or the quarterback right now, which doesn’t seem fair for a 7-0 team, but in Griz country, with the high expectations, that’s the way it is.

The real test is going to be starting next week at NAU. With road games at NAU, ISU and Montana State, and a home game with Portland State, UM is obviously heading into the most difficult stretch of the season. In my view, the defense on this team will keep the Griz in any game they play the rest of the way. But I do think Montana’s offense will keep the other teams in the game, too.

 Traditionally, Montana has played well at NAU and ISU. And regardless of where they’ve played, the Cats have given the Griz fits. I can’t see Portland State coming in here and beating Montana, even with the Man in Black, Jerry Glanville, roaming the sidelines.

So what do I think is going to happen? Not that what I think matters, but I just can’t see Montana’s offense holding up through all four of these games. I think the Griz are going to beat Northern Arizona and PSU, but I have a feeling they’re going down at Idaho State and at MSU. That would probably mean a No. 7 or No. 8 seed and one home playoff game.

Of course, I could be dead wrong. But part of a blog is making predictions, so there you go. Probably won’t inspire a lot of agreement from Griz fans, but somebody has to start the conversation.

On one other note, I watched the North Dakota State-Minnesota game today, which NDSU basically dominated and won fairly easily. Montana and the rest of the teams in this division are really lucky the Bison aren’t eligible for the playoffs again this year. (NDSU will be eligible next season.) It’s really too bad, though. The Bison are such a good team, and it would be fun to see what they could do. Short of the Griz going to the title game, I’d LOVE to see the Bison take on a healthy App State.

Six down, five to go and the faithful are restless.

Bobby Hauck is upset because the media doesn’t appreciate how hard it is to coach at UM with the high expectations and unfair crticism of his team. And when you think about it, coaching at UM is a lot like coaching at any big-name school around the country where football is king. LSU has one loss, but they’re ready to slit their wrists in Baton Rouge if the Tigers go down again. Same is true at USC, Cal, Florida – anywhere that hopes were high in August.

Here in Missoula you’ve got a 6-0 team, playing its guts out, and the natives are getting antsy. Hauck is one of the first to admit that these Griz are struggling a bit on offense, but, for crying out loud, give his boys a break.

So let’s do that. And Northern Colorado is a good place to start. Pretty much everyone is taking the approach that if you stop Montana’s running game, you stop Montana’s offense. During the three Big Sky games, that’s certainly been the case. But maybe the Griz can get rolling against the Bears, figure out their woes, and become a much more dangerous team.

Well, here we go. Game 3 on the conference schedule. Sac State isn’t exactly your traditional Big Sky power, but they’ve shown they can beat good teams – NAU- and lose to mediocre ones – Weber State. Of course, the Griz seem to be showing the same tendencies.

Lots of folks get real upset with any negativity around here, but there are also some pretty upset Griz fans. It’s quite the deal. We’ve got a team that’s 5-0, but some people aren’t happy. And it’s hard to fault either side. If you’re a rah-rah type, 5-0 is cause for celebration. If you’re the cynic,  you see all the ways this team could do better and the potential there is for disaster against better teams.

Just for discussion’s sake, what could this team do better? (And don’t say fire Hauck – it isn’t going to happen.) If you know football, it’s fairly clear the Griz offense is pretty straight-forward stuff. I’ve gone to both of the post-game press conferences in the first two Big Sky games, and both opposing coaches hinted that if you stop Montana’s running game, they don’t really have much success. That certainly seems to be the theme so far. Last week, Montana converted something like three of its 14 third-down tries. That’s abysmal by any standards.

So if you had the headphones, what would you do?

More crossing routes?

More screens?

Throw to the backs more?

Option?

 It will be interesting to see if Montana improves at all today. Maybe getting out of WGS will help – they did seem to play better on the road last year. We’ll see.

 By the way, thanks for all the posts so far … even the one that said this blog is terrible. We’ll try to make it better as we go along, but all your input helps.

Well, it doesn’t get much more exciting than Saturday’s win over Eastern Washington. Too exciting, you say? Maybe, but isn’t that why we love sports in the first place?

And there was a lot to love about Saturday’s 24-23 scrap. A clutch field goal by a gutsy kicker, some critical drives and big defensive stands. Best of all, a win against a very good Big Sky Conference team.

Of course, there was that part about being outgained almost 2-to-1. An offense that went into long funks with virtually no movement, and a defense that allowed 565 yards of total Eagle offense.

So what to make of this odd little contest? Eastern Washington coach Paul Wulff was as confused as anyone. After the game, as he perused the stat sheet, he shook his head at some of the numbers. After all, when a team rolls up and down the field, and holds the other team to just two of 14 third-down conversions, it usually equals a win, Wulff said. But it didn’t this time, thanks in large part to two big turnovers, including one deep in Montana territory.

Here’s what I think you can take from this game:

On the positive side, this kind of win is going to mean a lot down the road when the Griz get in another tight one. It means they can beat a good team despite some struggles on both sides of the ball. It means this team has heart and a lot of confidence.

On the negative side, Montana continues to show an alarming lack when it comes to adjusting to what the other team is doing. Once again we saw the Griz march down the field on their opening drive, only to be stuffed much of the rest of the game as Eastern did their own adjusting. And while EWU receiver Aaron Boyce hauled in a mind-boggling, record-setting 17 catches for 232 yards, the Griz defense looked helpless to slow him or anyone down.

Personally, it doesn’t appear to me that Montana is fooling anyone. Fortunately, when you have superior overall talent, you don’t necessarily have to fool people. But come December, Montana is going to find itself in games with teams that have as much or more talent. And when that happens, you better be able to surprise people, at least a little.

All that said, the Griz won Saturday. They hold on to their top spot in the country, the playoff position that goes with it, and the satisfaction of going on the road still on a high. And this team, by its own admission, can still play better and adjust better.  And that, Griz fans, would be bad news for the rest of the country.

Welcome to the first installment of the Missoulian’s new blog for Grizzly football fans. This is a site for you to discuss your excitement, insights, frustrations and anything else you might want to talk about when it comes to Griz football. It’s also an opportunity for you to ask questions or post comments for Missoulian editors and sports reporters, including Grizzly beat writer Fritz Neighbor.

When it comes to western Montana sports, nothing is bigger than Griz Nation, and this is your chance to take an interactive part. As often as possible, we’ll open up the discussion with a blog entry, and then let you great Griz fans have at it from there. As always, let’s keep it clean and civil, but most of all, have fun and let your voice be heard.

- John Smithers, Missoulian city editor

 Homecoming nail-biter – Montana 18, Weber State 10:

It wasn’t pretty, but as they often do, the top-ranked Griz found a way to get it done in their Big Sky Conference opener. Four field goals and a touchdown that was set up by a big interception were enough to beat winless Weber State.

Ever since Montana arrived at the top of the I-AA heap in 1995, winning has become expected. This is a program, that like some of its bigger brethren in FBS (or whatever it’s called now), has arrived at a point where losing is no longer an option. Even winning ugly causes grumbling. But as long as this team keeps winning, it’s hard to point too many fingers.

It was refreshing, however, to hear Montana’s junior quarterback Cole Bergquist stand up and not make any excuses for UM’s poor offensive performance Saturday. It was even better to hear him call himself and his offensive teammates out, and demand that the team start to improve as the league schedule gets under way.

That’s something you will rarely hear Montana’s coaches do. That’s not to say it doesn’t happen in private, but at least from the head man, Bobbie Hauck, public criticism – from anyone – is frowned upon. In fact, any question that might remotely be construed as criticism of Griz players or coaches usually draws a short answer and cold stare from Hauck in the post-game interview room. After the game, I asked Hauck about Weber’s strong defensive effort, particularly against UM’s running game. “They’re a good team,” and a shrug was the extent of the response. Not very fulfilling if you’re trying to understand what happened Saturday, but it will have to do. Hauck isn’t paid by the word, and he probably felt like he was sticking up for his team, which most coaches do on a regular basis. And for all his prickly exterior with the media, Hauck has more than kept the ship afloat in Missoula. For that he deserves plenty of kudos.

But it was nice to hear someone from the inner circle acknowledge that things have to improve. And it was especially nice to hear it from Bergquist, who has shown flashes of brilliance with both his arm and his legs, but will certainly have to be more consistent to get the Griz in the endzone on a regular basis. And, as Bergquist pointed out, it’s not all his fault. There were obvious drops, poor blocking and bad penalties that helped a Weber team that will probably struggle to win two or three games stay in it to the very end.

Let’s move on to a sunnier subject. The Griz improved to 4-0 and now face a tough Eastern Washington team (3-1), despite the Eagles’ surprising collapse against Portland State in Cheney last Saturday.

It will be interesting to see how UM’s offense attacks, especially if running back Lex Hilliard remains on the sidelines, apparently nursing an injured shoulder. Under the current regime, this is a team that seems to be content to win with great defense, great special teams and just enough offense. It’s certainly a formula that’s been successful at a lot of levels in football, even if it doesn’t please point-hungry faithful.

 As we march through this season, it will be interesting to see where this defense stacks up historically with some of the better Montana Ds, particularly the 2001 version that dominated the playoffs and championship game that year. The overall quality in FCS is as good this year as it’s been since the days when Nevada, Boise State, Marshall, Georgia Southern and Idaho were running the show, which certainly elevates Montana’s defensive statistics – if they continue their fine play – even more.

Let’s just hope the offense can figure things out before the heavy hitters in the Big Sky and, especially, potential pounders come calling in the playoffs.

Given Bergquist’s determined comments after Saturday’s game, here’s betting they will.

 - John Smithers