MISSOULA — The question all week for Griz football was who's going to be the team's starting quarterback this week? Cam Humphrey, or redshirt freshman Kris Brown?
We got our answer Saturday as Brown received the go.
"It was great. First time I played and started a game since high school and just to be able to walk out on that field again, it was awesome," Brown said. "I love playing the game of football and, you know, it's been a long time. This team fought, and we came away with a (win) in the win-loss column sheet."
Brown received the nod after Humphrey was injured last weekend at Eastern Washington. Montana went on to win Saturday's contest against Dixie State 31-14.
But with this being Brown's first time starting for the Grizzlies, as well as multiple UM players still out with undisclosed injures, it took some time for the Bozeman High graduate and the offense to find their momentum. The Grizzlies had some trouble turning the ball over, losing the ball three times throughout the game.
"It was an interesting week, to say the least," UM coach Bobby Hauck said. "In terms of, you know, figuring out who is going to plug in where and how much guys are going to be available to play."
Brown completed 20 of 30 passes for 241 yards and ran for two 1-yard touchdowns, and passed for an 8-yard score to tight end Cole Grossman. Brown also threw one interception and fumbled the ball three times, losing it twice. But as for what this young quarterback took away from his first start that is more valuable than the stat sheet, was figuring out the pace of the game. The Grizzlies led just 3-0 at halftime before opening the game up in the third quarter.
"I would say as the game went on, the game just kind of, sorted itself out and it started to slow down and I was able to notice things that the defense was doing," said Brown.
Hauck did not say if it will be Humphrey or Brown who will be under center next week, but there were some lessons taken away from this game that the team will carry over into next week's game against Sacramento State.
"Like all our guys, we want to go play their best game the next week. As soon as we leave (the press conference) here (Saturday) we're gonna go start working on the next one and correct mistakes, learn from them and play better," said Hauck. "And that's lends itself to me and the quarterback position, there's a lot of moving parts so it's managing the game, it's making the throws is getting the checks I mean, all those things."
