The Cat Triple

MISSOULA - The same record, the same playoff aspirations, and two young teams with coaches who dearly love the Brawl of the Wild. So why wouldn't the 118th edition of the Cat-Griz rivalry come down the last play?

And indeed it did as Montana's Adam Eastwood fumbled near the goal line as he was trying to score the game-winning touchdown for the Grizzlies with just :09 left Saturday in front of a record crowd at Washington-Grizzly Stadium.

But instead of lifting the Griz to their first win in the Brawl since 2015, Eastwood's gut-wrenching turnover helped preserve a historic comeback by the No. 25 Montana State Bobcats, as they won their third straight in the series, 29-25.

"Processing all this is probably not going to hit me for a while," MSU head coach Jeff Choate, who is a perfect 3-0 in the rivalry, said. "There was a lot that happened in that fourth quarter, and some of it seems like a little bit of a blur right now. We talked all week, last night in particular, that if you really want to be remembered, you make a play in this game."

A lot did indeed happen, but most of all, what happened was, the Cats overcome a 22-0 deficit.

"I've got a pretty sour taste," Montana head coach Bobby Hauck, who was previously 7-2 against the Bobcats, said. "There's a lot of ways to find a way not to win, and this one's particularly gut-wrenching."

No question considering how well his young Grizzlies played for the first 30 minutes.

Gabe Sulser found the end zone on a 1-yard pass from Dalton Sneed to open the scoring on the first drive of the day. Eastwood followed with another 1-yard scoring run early in the second quarter. It was 22-0 with 8:15 before halftime when Sneed hit wideout Sammy Akem over the top with a 37-yard touchdown pass and a subsequent two-point conversion.

The Griz were on fire, and the Wash-Griz faithful were roaring, as it looked like Montana was going to turn a highly-anticipated Cat-Griz game into a boring blowout.

The Cats had other ideas. At one point in the second quarter the Bobcats had 50 yards in penalties to just 60 yards of total offense, but MSU ended the first half with a 72-yard touchdown drive, capped by a 3-yard run by Troy Andersen, trimming the Griz' lead to 22-7.

MSU also got the ball to start the second half, and while the Cats didn't score again until the fourth quarter, the MSU defense had already adjusted and held the Griz in check with only a Tim Semenza field goal in the fourth.

Conversely, Andersen had two fourth-quarter touchdown runs (and a two-point conversion) and led a 22-point surge in the final 15 minutes. One key play was a 45-yard pass to receiver Travis Jonsen that set up Andersen's second TD run. Then, Logan Jones' 13-yard scoring dash with 2:19 left on an option pitch from Andersen eventually served as the winning touchdown. But not before one last bit of Cat-Griz drama.

With the Bobcats up by four points, Malik Flowers returned MSU's kickoff 47 yards to midfield, and the Griz were in the red zone just three plays later. Finally down to the one-yard-line with 14 seconds left and MSU clinging to a four-point lead, Sneed handed off to Eastwood, who was immediately met by Yates at the line of scrimmage. The ball popped free, however, and MSU recovered. Eastwood scored on a similar short run one snap earlier, but Choate had called time out just before the snap to kill the play. It's the most prosperous timeout he's ever used.

"I just had so much faith in our defense," Andersen said. "They played so hard. Guys like Bryce (Sterk) and Tucker and Grant (Collins), you just trust them and you know they're going to make the play. They fight so hard and for them to make that play, it was awesome.

"When you think you're in and you've got the game won, that's probably something that we had to do," Hauck said of the timeout after Eastwood appeared to score the game-winner. "We had plenty of time to get reset. Just run it again. We were in the end zone and apparently they got the timeout called. We had two downs to get it.

"I thought there were a couple big plays that we didn't make," Hauck added. "I thought their touchdown at the end of the first half was big. Real big. I thought our missed field goal was a big play that skews the thing a little bit.

"I think us getting beat on the fade ball (to Jonsen) there in the fourth quarter was really big when we were up 10. Those three plays are probably deal breakers a little bit, along with the turnovers."

The final play highlighted what had become a trend for the Griz this season - great quarters, great starts, but rough fourth quarters, and the turnover battle. A Sneed fumble early in the fourth set up one of Andersen's scores, and the Griz lost the turnover battle 2-0. Sneed was brilliant, though, going 22-34 for 354 yards, with 21 more on the ground. Akem caught a touchdown for the fifth straight game and leads the Big Sky with 13. Montana also out-gained the Bobcats 454-387, and the UM (6-5, 4-4) defense held MSU under 300 yards rushing for the first time in three years.

And yet, it was the Cats who left Missoula with the Divide Trophy on their shoulders. Andersen finished an incredible day with 107 yards on 23 carries, as well as 158 yards through the air. Isaiah Ifanse added 63 yards on the ground, while Jonsen had a career-high 11 catches for 101 yards.

It was a fitting end to the great senior careers of many Bobcats, including Collins, who had a big day. But with MSU sitting at 7-4 and 5-3 in the Big Sky, those seniors will have at least one more game to play.

"Some of us senior leaders on the team, we really got a lot more vocal and really started talking to the guys and said, 'We need to lock in or this game's going to get out of hand. We need to do something. Are we going to be the ones to let it get out of hand or are we going to be the ones to keep us in this game and give us an opportunity?'"

Saturday's second straight win in Missoula also erased any doubt as to whether the Cats were a playoff team either. On Sunday, MSU found out it was in the FCS field of 24, and will host Incarnate Word this Saturday at 1 p.m. in Bobcat Stadium.

Montana State 0 7 0 22 -29

Montana 7 15 0 3 -25

First Quarter

MONT-Sulser 1 pass from Sneed (Semenza kick), 12:31.

Second Quarter

MONT-Eastwood 1 run (Semenza kick), 13:30.

MONT-Akem 37 pass from Sneed (Miller run), 8:15.

MTST-Andersen 3 run (Bailey kick), 0:23.

Fourth Quarter

MTST-Andersen 1 run (Andersen run), 14:24.

MONT-FG Semenza 34, 7:46.

MTST-Andersen 1 run (Bailey kick), 6:01.

MTST-Jones 13 run (Bailey kick), 2:19.

MSU UM

First downs 20 22

Rushes-yards 48-229 39-100

Passing 158 354

Comp-Att-Int 15-24-0 22-34-0

Return Yards 71 96

Punts-Avg. 7-42.9 5-48.8

Fumbles-Lost 0-0 4-2

Penalty-Yards 7-60 3-30

Time of Possession 29:14 30:46

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING-Montana St., T. Andersen 23-107, I. Ifanse 15-63, L. Jones 8-47, K. Tucker II 1-11, T. Jonsen 1-1. Montana, J. Louie-McGee 4-43, A. Eastwood 10-23, D. Sneed 19-21, A. Lee 4-10, G. Graves 2-3.

PASSING-Montana St., T. Andersen 15-24-0-158. Montana, D. Sneed 22-34-0-354.

RECEIVING-Montana St., T. Jonsen 11-101, K. Kassis 2-24, L. Jones 1-23, L. McCutcheon 1-10. Montana, S. Akem 6-147, K. Curran 8-111, B. Deming 2-30, G. Sulser 2-27, J. Louie-McGee 2-16, A. Eastwood 1-15, S. Toure 1-8.

TACKLES - Montana St., Grant Collins 12, Michael Jobman 8, Brayden Konkol 7, Bryce Sterk 7, Tucker Yates 7; Montana, Dante Olson 18, Reid Miller 11, Robby Hauck 10, Josh Buss 10, Justin Calhoun 9, Josh Sandry 7.

Attendance: 26, 508

Weather: 30 and sunny at kickoff

Big Sky Standings

Final

Conf. All

W-L W-L

Eastern Washington 7-1 9-2

Weber State 7-1 9-2

UC Davis 7-1 9-2

Montana State 5-3 7-4

Idaho State 5-3 6-5

Montana 4-4 6-5

Cal Poly 4-4 5-6

Northern Arizona 3-4 4-6

Idaho 3-5 4-7

Portland State 3-5 4-7

Northern Colorado 2-6 2-9

Southern Utah 1-7 1-10

Sacramento State 0-7 2-8

Friday

Eastern Washington 74, Portland State 23

Saturday

Montana State 29, Montana 25

UC Davis 56, Sacramento State 13

Florida 63, Idaho 10

Weber State 26, Idaho State 13

Cal Poly 38, Southern Utah 24

Northern Arizona 31, North Dakota 16

Saturday, Nov. 24

Montana State vs Incarnate Word

Weber State BYE

Eastern Washington BYE

UC Davis BYE