Weber State hands Grizzlies their third straight loss

OGDEN, Utah — An undermanned Montana Grizzly football team dropped its third-straight Big Sky Conference matchup on Saturday, falling to the No. 5 Weber State Wildcats 21-24 in a physical, defense-centric battle.

Without the use of starting quarterback Lucas Johnson and the loss of All-America linebacker Patrick O'Connell in the first quarter, among other injuries, the No. 10/11 Grizzlies couldn't muster the offense necessary to overcome some big plays from WSU.

Montana falls to 5-3 overall and 2-3 in conference play, dropping three-straight games for the first time since 2018 and just the second time since 1992. The loss is the third-straight for the Grizzlies in Ogden, with UM's last road win at WSU coming in 2012. The Griz are also now 1-4 against the Wildcats under head coach Jay Hill.

"We're in a rough spot right now. We've lost three games in a row. We're down a bunch of guys and it's just been it's been rough. Our guys competed their tails off for us, and for Montana, and we're just coming up short," said head coach Bobby Hauck. "I want to lose my marbles and just be upset, but the dose of reality is we've just played two of the top five teams in the country on the road back-to-back. We lost one in overtime in a game that we controlled the whole way and got some things really go against us. Then today again, down a bunch of guys and we lost by three."

For a second-straight week, the Grizzly offense was held at bay, limited to just 114 yards of total offense and 42 net rushing yards as the Wildcat defense racked up four sacks and 11 tackles for loss to stifle the run.

Backup QB Kris Brown was held to just 10 completions for 72 yards in the air as well, while Junior Bergen, who played through an injury to his left hand, was held to just 21 rushing yards while operating the wildcat offense.

Montana's defense and special teams performed admirably, however, with the D putting in four sacks and Justin Ford taking his 11th career interception.

Malik Flowers also sparked a near-comeback for UM with five minutes left in the fourth quarter, breaking loose for a 100-yard kickoff return to make it a one-score game after a double pass gave the Griz a two-point conversion. Flowers is now tied for second all-time among FCS kickoff returns with six career touchdowns. The senior is knotted in second with Hampton's Jerome Mathis and needs one more kickoff return for a score to tie the FCS record, set in 2021 by Weber's Rashid Shaheed. Flowers had three returns on the day for a total of 147 yards, an average of 49 per attempt. And he could have had more.

Marcus Welnel posted a game-high 14 tackles while Levi Janacaro added 12 more, but the Griz had a hard time stopping the big play. The Wildcats posted an evenly-balanced 345 yards of total offense on 192 rushing yards and 153 passing fueled by a 47-yard rush for a score in the first half and a 69-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter.

The Griz and Wildcats traded blows on the opening three drives of the first quarter without much progress allowed from either defense. Cole Grossman picked up the opening first down of the game on Montana's second drive, hauling in a pass across the middle from Brown for a gain of 20 into WSU territory in what would be UM's longest play of the day. The Griz were unable to capitalize, however, losing momentum and punting away three plays later.

Montana put a stop on Weber's next drive when O'Connell and Janacaro combined to sack Bronson Barron to force a Wildcat punt. The Griz put the first points of the game on the board on the ensuing drive with Brown and Bergen leading a nine-play, 24-yard drive with their feet. Nico Ramos capped the drive with a 41-yard field goal to put UM up 3-0.

Weber answered soon after on their first trip into Montana's territory of the day.

Montana picked up its second sack of the first quarter when Braxton Hill broke through and brought down Barron for a loss of seven. WSU responded, however, when Damon Bankston broke free for a 47-yard score up the middle of the field five plays later to put the home team up 7-3 at the end of the first quarter.

The Griz would then step up with a response of their own. Bergen and Nick Ostmo did some hard running to push UM's way into Weber territory. Brown then found Mitch Roberts across the middle to put the Griz in scoring position at the Weber 15 with an 18-yard completion following a facemask penalty. Brown then went for Roberts again in the end zone and once again the Griz came up with a penalty, this time a pass interference to move UM inside the Weber two. Three plays later Brown used his leg on the RPO to dive into the end zone for the Grizzlies' first touchdown of the afternoon and his first rushing score for UM since the 2021 game at Idaho. Ramos' PAT put Montana up 10-7 with just under seven minutes left in the half.

Montana's defense bent, but didn't break on Weber's final drive of the half, with the Wildcats moving the ball 50 yards on 13 plays over nearly four minutes, but only coming away with a field goal. Kyle Thompson connected for WSU from 28 out to tie the game at 10 heading into the break. The Montana defense went back to work on the first drive of the second half, with Justin Ford stretching out to pick off a highlight reel interception that he returned to the Weber State 25. The timely pick would set up another Montana score, with Ramos connecting on a partially blocked field goal from 32 yards out to put the Grizzlies up 13-10 halfway through the third.

The lead wouldn't last long, however.

On the ensuing WSU possession, Barron rolled out and found a wide-open Ty McPherson along the left sideline who took it 69 yards untouched to the end zone. The Weber State score on the blown coverage would put the home team back in front 17-13 heading into the fourth quarter, with Montana driving at the end of the period.

The Wildcats extended the lead on their next drive. Montana's defense had forced a third and short situation deep in its own territory and was looking like UM might escape with a field goal. Instead, Barron found Hayden Meacham for a 12-yard touchdown strike to make it a 24-13 WSU lead.

Flowers broke loose on the ensuing kickoff to make it a one-possession game and all of a sudden it was anyone's contest to win. But Weber was able to convert a fourth and one to move the chains and take victory formation.

Following a brutal two-game road stretch against Top-5 ranked opponents, Montana now returns home looking to wright the ship when Cal Poly visits Missoula Saturday night.