Things to watch: Former EWU utility man Michael Wortham taking off with No. 2 Montana

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Nov. 7—MISSOULA — If there is one Big Sky football team outside of Montana that knows Michael Wortham well, it is the Eastern Washington Eagles.

Once a star quarterback in the California junior college ranks, Wortham grew into an All-America returner during his two seasons in Cheney. He holds Eastern's single-season record for kickoff return yards (1,093 in 2024) and amassed 582 rushing yards and 266 receiving yards in his 23 games wearing an Eagles jersey.

But granted something of a surprise extra year by the NCAA, Wortham decided to use it and transfer to Montana, where he's added another position to his repertoire: wide receiver.

"Wide receiver is something we toyed with, but we didn't lean into it as much as Montana has," EWU head coach Aaron Best said on Tuesday. "It's awesome to see Mike have success."

Saturday at Washington-Grizzly Stadium in Missoula, the Eagles' task — one of them, anyway — is to slow their former teammate, who is having a standout season for the Grizzlies: 49 receptions for 698 yards and six touchdowns, 38 rushes for 237 yards and five scores and 16 kickoff returns for an average of 27.8 yards, third-most in the Big Sky.

It adds up to a conference-leading 1,460 all-purpose yards, nearly 200 more than the next man, Sacramento State's Rodney Hammond Jr., who has 1,288.

Montana head coach Bobby Hauck and Wortham himself declined interview requests this week; Best emphasized that he roots for Wortham as an individual, even if he won't be rooting for him in this week's game.

"They're getting the most out of him, he's staying healthy, and he's proving what he proved here: to be a playmaker," Best said. "He's difficult to tackle and I'm sure he's a hell of a teammate just like he was here."

Slowing down Wortham will be one thing, but the second-ranked Grizzlies (9-0, 5-0 Big Sky) have plenty of other offensive threats the Eagles (4-5, 3-2) will need to account for.

Here, then, are three other things to keep an eye on when these teams kick off at noon Pacific:

1. How well the Eagles contain Eli Gillman: Gillman, a redshirt junior, needs 35 more rushing yards to reach 1,000 on the season, and should he do so it would be the second time in his career that he's crossed that threshold. No one in the league has more than his 13 rushing touchdowns, and he is collecting yards at a clip of 6.3 per carry.

Montana is averaging 41 points per game, at least five more than every other Big Sky team, and Gillman is a big reason for that. And while he's not their only offensive threat — see Wortham, as well as Keali'i Ah Yat, the FCS leader in passing yards with 2,534 — stopping him would at least take some fuel out of the Grizzlies' high-powered attack.

2. How effectively Eastern can throw the ball downfield: This has been an issue all season for the Eagles, who have yet to see a receiver in a single game gain more than 100 yards. But it's possible that with redshirt freshman Jake Schakel at quarterback, that could change. The Eagles will not ask Schakel to run the way they asked Nate Bell and Jared Taylor to do so; more than those two, Schakel fits the part of a pocket passer.

And, if Schakel can complete a couple of deep passes, it could open up space for Eastern's running backs, who have had their own trouble breaking loose. Redshirt junior Marceese Yetts has 192 rushing yards this season, the most among the team's running backs.

3. How much of a difference the turnovers make: If the Eagles did one thing well the last time they played in Missoula, it was hang on to the football. Not that it mattered much, but in that 63-7 loss in 2022, the Eagles didn't turn the ball over even once.

But if the Eagles are going to hang with the Grizzlies, it will likely take an effort like the one its defense produced last week when they pried three first-half turnovers from the Sacramento State Hornets (and didn't give away any themselves). Had the Eagles capitalized on those last week, the game would have looked very different.

Force turnovers and capitalize on them on Saturday, and the Eagles might be able to keep the Grizzlies at bay long enough to do what Best said they need to do to be successful: swing first, and swing last.

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