SHREDDED: Cats 55, Griz 21

BOZEMAN - This one wasn't even close. In fact, for the Montana State Bobcats, it was record-setting.

With ESPN College Gameday in town, and a record crowd of more than 22,000 on hand, the No. 3 Montana State Bobcats demolished the No. 13 Montana Grizzlies in the 121st Brawl of the Wild Saturday inside a wild Bobcat Stadium, 55-21.

The Cats torched the Grizzlies for a school record 439 yards rushing, including 141 yards from Tommy Mellott and another 126 from Elijah Elliott, in what was Montana State's most lopsided win in Cat-Griz history.

"It just felt we had the right mindset this week," said MSU head coach Brent Vigen, adding, "(That's) the way we've approached every week, no matter who we've played, and that carries over into a game of this magnitude. You don't have to all of the sudden become something different. You don't have to have this out-of-body experience. You can just go out and execute. I think our guys really have bought into that philosophy, and it showed today."

On the game's very first play, Mellott ripped off a 12-yard gain to set the tone of the whole day. Mellott went on to score two touchdowns as the Bobcats (10-1, 8-0) reached the end zone five times on the ground while rushing for 439 of their 561 total yards. The Grizzlies entered the game yielding just 97.3 yards on the ground per game, a mere 2.6 yards per carry. The Bobcats pounded the ball for 6.7 yards per carry. In addition, Mellott completed six of eight passes for 104 yards.

"That first punch is important in a rivalry game like this," Mellott said. "We took the first punch last year. That set the tone. It's a very unique game, and I think it's very difficult to overcome things like that."

The Griz struck back early on a Lucas Johnson touchdown pass to Malik Flowers, which actually dotted the game at 7-7. From there, however, the Cats reeled off 34 unanswered points, including another Mellott TD run, a fumble recovery for a touchdown on a bad Montana punt snap and a Sean Chambers one-yard run on a fourth-and-goal from the one. Montana State's defense also forced a Johnson fumble on the goal line just as the Griz were about to close the gap to 28-14 late in the first half. Instead, the Cats quickly went down and got a Jake Glessner field goal, and went into halftime with a 31-7 lead.

"They whipped us and whipped us good," said UM head coach Bobby Hauck. "I like our team, they're great guys to coach, fired up about them. But the best team won today."

No question.

The Cats opened the second half with a 27-yard touchdown run by Marqui Johnson, while Gleaner added another field goal to put MSU ahead 41-7 after three quarters. During that same stretch, Montana lost Johnson to a leg injury, and while sophomore Daniel Britt did lead the Griz on two fourth-quarter scoring drives, UM's defense could do nothing to slow MSU's incredible run game down, as the Cats attempted just nine passes the entire day.

"We've got some electric guys running the football for us, a good variety of runs, an offensive line that continues to execute at a high rate," Vigen said. "We're pretty difficult to defend right now.

"We knew we were going to be able to run the ball on these guys, and we kept rolling with it," Mellott added.

MSU capped off the scoring with an R.J. Fitzgerald run, as the Cats also got 86 yards on 19 carries by Chambers, as well as 74 yards from Johnson. On the other side of the ball, Missoula native Rylan Ortt had an interception, while Jory Choate, the son of former MSU head coach Jeff Choate scored a touchdown on the recovery.

Offensively, Montana got 64 yards from Britt, while Nick Ostmo had 36 yards and Johnson threw for 137 yards, as the Griz fell to 7-4 and finished in sixth place in the Big Sky, but still qualified for the FCS playoffs. Montana will host Southeast Missouri State Saturday night in Missoula.

"Offensively, we did some good things at times, but not enough," Hauck said. "Obviously, we didn't coach well enough, we didn't play well enough to get it done today, and they did so good on them."

The Cats were good enough rolling up 561 total yards, rushing 65 times and not being forced to punt a single time. They also controlled time of possession and were plus-three in the turnover department.

"It wasn't a deal like we were out for revenge or anything like that. We just needed to come out and perform on this stage," Vigen said.

"I remember around Thanksgiving every single year going to sit down with my family and get to watch this game," Mellott said. "It's extremely special for me to have an opportunity to play in this game and contribute and help the team that I dreamed to play for and get a win."

The Bobcats also shared the Big Sky championship with Sacramento State and received a No. 4 seed in the upcoming playoffs. They will host either North Dakota or Weber State Dec. 3 in Bozeman.

Montana State 55, Montana 21

Montana 7 0 0 14 - 21

Montana St 21 10 10 14 - 55

First quarter

MSU: Mellott 1 run (Glessner kick), 12:21

UM: Flowers 30 pass from Johnson (Ramos kick), 8:20

MSU: Mellott 12 run (Glessner kick), 4:21

MSU: Choate fumble recovery in end zone (Glessner kick), 3:13

Second quarter

MSU: Chambers 1 run (Glessner kick), 7:52

MSU: Glessner 34 FG, 0:00

Third quarter

MSU: Johnson 27 run (Glessner kick), 11:54

MSU: Glessner 28 FG, 6:10

Fourth quarter

MSU: Pickering 18 pass from Snell (Glessner kick), 12:50

UM: Childs 1 run (Ramos kick), 8:20

MSU: Fitzgerald 3 run (Glessner kick), 3:13

UM: Grossman 32 pass from Britt (Ramos kick)

Individual statistics

RUSHING: UM, Daniel Britt 9-64, Nick Ostmo 10-36, Lucas Johnson 3-9, Malik Flowers 1-9, Xavier Harris 3-8, Isiah Childs 1-1, Team 1-(-31). MSU, Tommy Mellott 15-141, Elijah Elliott 18-126, Sean Chambers 19-86, Marqui Johnson 6-74, Garrett Coon 4-7, R.J. Fitzgerald 2-5.

PASSING: UM, Lucas Johnson 14-23-1, 137; Daniel Britt 4-6-0, 82. MSU: Tommy Mellott 6-8-0, 104; Derryk Snell 1-1-0, 18, Team 0-1-0.

RECEIVING: UM, Mitch Roberts 9-54, Malik Flowers 6-62, Nick Ostmo 3-21, Cole Grossman 2-46, Ryan Simpson 3-24, Aaron Fontes 1-14, Keelan White 2-(-2). MSU, Treyton Pickering 4-61, Derryk Snell 2-50, Willie Patterson 2-11, Elijah Elliott 1-0

TACKLES: UM, Nash Fouch 9, Patrick O'Connell 8, Robby Hauck 8, Levi Janacaro 7. MSU, Rylan Ortt 6, Nolan Askelson 4, Danny Uliulakepa 4, Callahan O'Reilly 4.

INTERCEPTIONS: MSU, Ortt.

SACKS: MSU, Blake Schmidt.