Maroon Mauling: Griz 34, Cats 7

MISSOULA — The Montana Grizzlies and Montana State Bobcats are two very good football teams. And usually, when they meet on the gridiron, it’s pretty easy to predict that the game will be a battle to the end.

But, it’s doubtful anyone saw what happened in the 114th edition of the Brawl of the Wild coming ahead of time.

Saturday afternoon, in front of a crowd of 26,304 inside Missoula’s Washington-Grizzly Stadium, the No. 13 Grizzlies shocked the No. 12 Bobcats, 34-7, in a showdown that was never in doubt.

The victory was the second straight in the series by the Grizzlies, who also vaulted to an 8-4 record and locked up a Football Championship Subdivision playoff berth. The win also snapped an unusual trend in the Brawl, where the home team had not won in the series since 2008. Meanwhile, the loss dropped MSU to 8-4, and put the Cats and Griz in a three-way tie for second in the Big Sky Conference. UM, MSU and Idaho State all finished at 6-2, one game behind back-to-back champion Eastern Washington.

And while the game turned out to be a nightmare for the Bobcats, who had a chance to share the Big Sky title with EWU coming into the game, but were without starting quarterback Dakota Prukop and starting senior tailback Shawn Johnson, for the Griz, it was a dream executed to perfection.

“This is unreal — just so many emotions right now running through me,” said Delaney, who announced he will retire at the end of the season. “… Today was probably the most special day of my coaching career because of what these young men and our coaches did. Just total domination from beginning to end.”

The day was unreal in many ways, but the most shocking development was a rabid Grizzly defense forcing a normally high-octane MSU offense, even with junior Jake Bleskin at the controls, into a whopping seven turnovers. And a re-vamped Grizzly offense, with a seemingly healthy Jordan Johnson running the show, turned those turnovers into 31 points.

“Early on I didn't think I was going to be able to play, but it just kept getting better and better,” Johnson said. "I wasn't going to miss this game for anything.”

UM got things rolling with a big Jordan Canada run which eventually set up a Daniel Sullivan 41-yard field goal. And that was the beginning of a 17-point first quarter, and the downward spiral for the Bobcats.

Montana senior free safety Matt Hermanson recorded his first of three interceptions against Bleskin on the Cats’ second possession. The Griz took over at the Montana State 39-yard line and used a 29-yard option run by Johnson to help set up a one-yard dive for a touchdown by Canada with 6:12 left in the first period. Later in the first period the Grizzlies struck again after a Tonga Takai interception thwarted a Cat drive deep into UM territory.. A 43-yard option run by Johnson and a 25-yard pass from Johnson to tight end Mitch Saylor, set up a four-yard TD pass from Johnson to Canada. It marked Canada’s first TD reception in his storied career.

Sullivan added a second field goal from 29 yards away at 9:18 in the second quarter. And just six minutes later Saylor scored on a 4-yard TD pass by Johnson.

MSU did rally, and put together a great drive that reached inside the UM five-yard line just before the end of the first half, but Bleskin fumbled and the Griz strutted into the locker room with a commanding 27-0 lead.

“You can’t underestimate the magnitude of ending drives that way time after time,” said MSU head coach Rob Ash said. “It would have been a much closer and more interesting game if we would have been able to hang on to it and put the ball in the end zone a couple times.”

The second half was no different. Bleskin threw another pick to Hermanson, and the Griz defense forced another Bleskin fumble near the goal line. Montana put up just seven points in the second half, when Johnson drilled a nine-yard TD pass to Josh Janssen with 12:39 left in the game. MSU put together a scoring drive with freshman QB Quinn McQueary on, in relief of Bleskin. The drive was capped by a short Chad Newell TD run, but by that time, it was much too late for an MSU comeback as the Grizzlies simply dominated on both sides of the ball.

“We thought they were going to score points, but our defense played unbelievable,” Jordan Johnson said. “I was just so happy with how we performed on senior day. It couldn’t be a better feeling right now.”

The Griz defense was unbelievable, led by star defensive end Zack Wagenmann, who’s sack of Bleskin early in the third quarter broke the UM all-time record. Wagenmann now has 33.5 career sacks, one ahead of the late Tim Bush. Hermanson finished the game with three picks and eight tackles, while Takai and fellow senior Josh Dennard also had INTs. The Bobcats came into the game averaging 41 points and 504 yards of offense, but the Griz held them to their second-lowest output of the season. MSU finished with 314 total yards, including 153 rushing and 161 passing. Newell led the Bobcats with 67 yards rushing and Gunnar Brekke added 47. Bleskin finished a day he will surely like to forget, going 15-for-28 for 145 yards, five INTs and two fumbles.

“We had our hands full, and I thought as a group we responded beautifully,” Wagenmann said. “We were able to get in Bleskin’s face, make him uncomfortable. That’s kind of our job as a defensive line. We were able to do that successfully early and that opened up opportunities.

“(Bleskin) is really down,” Ash said. “But we’ll go console him and get him back up. Thankfully we have another opportunity to play next week, I imagine. Guys have to get up off the mat when they get knocked down, and Jake will do that.”

The Griz’ offense needed no consoling. They shocked the Cats by coming out in a spread offense more like what they ran in the Robin Pflugrad era. With Johnson running the zone-read to perfection, things opened up dramatically for Canada and the Grizzly receivers. Canada finished with 119 yards on the ground and racked up his second straight 1,000-yard season. Johnson added 80 yards rushing, while he lit MSU’s secondary up for 303 yards passing and three scores. Travon Van had caught seven balls for 109 yards and Saylor nabbed a career-high six catches for 103 yards.

And that was that.

The Griz were absolutely dominant and MSU left Washington-Grizzly Stadium shell-shocked, but still in the FCS playoffs. On Sunday morning, the Cats found out they’ll host South Dakota State in the first round of the playoffs this Saturday in Bozeman.

Montana, too, is in the playoffs for the second straight season, meaning the Griz will give Delaney at least one more game. Saturday’s dominant performance ensured the Griz will be at home again, as they’ll host the University of San Diego this Saturday.

“I can’t even explain it,” said Saylor. “It was so much fun. Everyone is fired up. It was an awesome experience, awesome atmosphere. I couldn’t ask for a better outcome, or a better day, honestly.

“Tonight reminded me of that run we had in 2011 when we were just rolling people,” said Johnson of the time when he led the Griz to the 2011 semifinals. “It just felt like we could do no wrong. Hopefully we can take that and make another run through the playoffs.”

Griz 34, Cats 7

Montana State 0 0 0 7 – 7

Montana 17 10 0 7 – 34

Scoring Summary

1st 12:04 UM - Daniel Sullivan 42 yd field goal, 8-60 2:56

06:12 UM - Jordan Canada 1 yd run (Daniel Sullivan kick), 5-39 1:29

00:50 UM - Jordan Canada 4 yd pass from Jordan Johnson (Daniel Sullivan kick), 7-88 2:11

2nd 09:18 UM - Daniel Sullivan 29 yd field goal, 9-58 3:29

03:05 UM - Mitch Saylor 4 yd pass from Jordan Johnson (Daniel Sullivan kick), 8-60 3:09

4th 12:53 UM - Josh Janssen 9 yd pass from Jordan Johnson (Daniel Sullivan kick), 9-92 3:41

05:59 MSU - Chad Newell 1 yd run (Luke Daly kick), 15-70 6:46

MSU UM

FIRST DOWNS 20 21

RUSHES-YARDS (NET) 39-153 36-198

PASSING YDS (NET) 161 313

Passes Att-Comp-Int 31-17-5 37-22-0

TOTAL OFFENSE 70-314 73-511

Punt Returns-Yards 2-3 3-38

Kickoff Returns-Yards 5-122 1-16

Punts (Number-Avg) 3-44.7 3-39.7

Fumbles-Lost 3-2 1-1

Penalties-Yards 5-60 6-49

Possession Time 29:08 30:52

INDIVIDUAL

RUSHING: Montana State-Chad Newell 17-67; Gunnar Brekke 7-47; Jake Bleskin 8-13; Quinn McQueary 4-13; Jayshawn Gates 1-10; Anthony Knight 2-3. Montana-Jordan Canada 27-119; Jordan Johnson 6-80; John Nguyen 1-1; TEAM 1-minus 1; Smithwick-Hann 1-minus 1.

PASSING: Montana State-Jake Bleskin 15-28-5-145; Quinn McQueary 2-3-0-16. Montana-Jordan Johnson 22-36-0-313; Ryan Burke 0-1-0-0.

RECEIVING: Montana State-Mitch Griebel 5-41; Tiai Salanoa 4-34; Tanner Roderick 3-27; M. Herbert 3-15; Chad Newell 2-44. Montana-Travon Van 7-109; Mitch Saylor 6-103; Jamaal Jones 5-67; Josh Janssen 3-30; Jordan Canada 1-4.