The Montana and Montana State football teams are on the road Saturday, with Montana taking on Portland State's explosive offense while Montana State and Northern Arizona meet in a contest of teams trying to avoid their third league loss.

No. 5 Montana (8-1, 4-1 Big Sky) and Portland State (3-5, 2-3) kick off at 2 p.m.,while Montana State (5-4, 3-2) and No. 23 Northern Arizona (6-3, 4-2) start at 3 p.m.

Montana coach Bobby Hauck calls Portland State a "dangerous" team.

"They have explosive ability on offense and athletic people on defense," he said. "And what scares you is they haven't lost at home."

Portland State leads the Football Championship Subdivision with an average of 413 yards passing with their run-and-shoot offense, but they're averaging only 26 yards on the ground.

"They have tried to run a little more in recent weeks," Hauck said. "They've got speed-option and trap and now they're using the shovel (pass) as their draw game."

Drew Hubel is the Vikings' leading quarterback, averaging 311 yards passing with 12 touchdowns and nine interceptions. Mario D'Ambrosio and Aaron Woods both average at least 93 yards receiving.

Bobby McClintock is averaging just under 40 yards rushing and has scored six touchdowns.

Montana quarterback Cole Bergquist is averaging 234 yards passing and has 22 touchdowns this season, 13 to Marc Mariani and nine to Mike Ferriter, who combine to average 170 yards receiving.

Chase Reynolds is averaging 63 yards rushing and has nine touchdowns on the season, after a 157-yard, three-touchdown effort in a 45-10 win over Northern Arizona last week.

Hauck says the Grizzlies are steadily improving as the end of the regular season nears.

"Our goal is to play our best football down the stretch here in November," Hauck said. "I think we've got the opportunity to do that. The thing we've got to keep improving on is execution. We're still striving for that perfect game."

Portland State gave the Grizzlies a scare last year, falling 34-31 in Missoula.

"Can we match as hard as we played last year? Well, we're going to have to," said PSU coach Jerry Glanville. "If we don't we aren't going to be in the game."

In Flagstaff, Ariz., Montana State will start backup quarterback Mark Iddins against the Lumberjacks after Cody Kempt was sidelined with an undisclosed medical condition.

Northern Arizona has lost its last two games while Montana State has won its past two.

"We still haven't lost the sense of urgency that we felt when we dug ourselves a hole a couple weeks ago," said MSU coach Rob Ash. "The biggest difference is we're handling the ball better. The turnover ratio has flipped from negative to positive."

Ash said Iddins is ready for his first start as a Bobcat.

"He's a good player. It was a very close decision in the first place about whether he or Cody would start," Ash said.

Iddins, who has passed for 182 yards and two touchdowns this season, looks forward to the opportunity.

"I've gotten a shot to show a little bit, but this is my real shot to show what I can do. I have to take full advantage of it," Iddins said.

Northern Arizona allows about 40 yards rushing per game after Montana ran for 223 yards against them a week ago.

"I'm very, very impressed with what Northern Arizona has done," Ash said. "It's an incredible performance over the season with their defensive effort. I don't care what happened last week, we're very respectful and very wary of what they can do to you defensively."

Demetrius Crawford averages 85 yards rushing and has six touchdowns as does C.J. Palmer. DeSean Thomas leads MSU with 38 yards receiving per game and three touchdowns while tight end Brandon Bostick has six TD catches and averages 32 yards receiving.

NAU quarterback Lance Kriesien averages 152 yards passing and has eight touchdowns spread out among six receivers. Deonte Williams averages 97 yards rushing and has 10 touchdowns while Alex Henderson averages 76 yards rushing.

"It's a challenge to go on the road and play a team that's as balanced and deep and talented as Northern Arizona," Ash said. "Our guys feel they still have something to shoot for. After this week, one of those tams will have two losses in the league and one will have three."

In other Big Sky Conference games, Eastern Washington is at Northern Colorado, Weber State is at Idaho State and Sacramento State plays a nonconference game at UC Davis.