Cat-Griz Report: Griz survive scare, Cats crush Utah Tech

Head coach Bobby Hauck said it best himself.

"Enthusiasm is at a record level."

The sell-out crowd in Washington-Grizzly Stadium, dressed to match the Blackout theme under the lights, came in still riding the high of the national championship appearance last season. They were treated to a thriller on Saturday night as Montana defeated Missouri State 29-24 to win their 13th consecutive home game.

The result is what matters in a game that was far from perfect for the hosts. There will be improvements to make in a variety of areas, but at the end of the day Montana finished with more points and leaves the stadium 1-0.

"Anybody can win when they are playing really well," Hauck said. "When you have things going against you, good teams can find ways to win, and this team found a way tonight. I hope that can continue through the season."

It's the 10th straight season opening win and the 21st straight win in home openers for UM. The Grizzlies also improved to 11-0 in night games under Hauck since his return to Montana.

The game was evenly matched with nearly matching total yardage. The Bears actually outgained Montana 356-347 and had the ball for 13 minutes longer than the Griz did. It was the ground attack from Montana that provided the difference maker as they averaged nearly five yards per run, led by an impressive start to the sophomore season for Eli Gillman.

The 2023 FCS Freshman of the Year ran for 89 yards and two scores, averaging nearly six yards per carry. Nick Ostmo also toted it eight times for 36 yards while the two quarterbacks ran for a combined 34 yards.

Hauck delivered on his promise to play both Keali'i Ah Yat and Logan Fife at the quarterback position. Ah Yat started the game and played into the second half, completing 9-of-19 passes for 90 yards and running for 19 more. His numbers could have been better, but there were a handful of drops in the opening half that hampered his completion percentage.

Fife ended the game under center, completing 5-of-7 passes for 90 yards and a score. Fife also carried it three times for 15 yards.

"They did, at times, do a really good job with their reads and running the ball when things broke down. We didn't miss too many throws," Hauck said. "They're both pretty inexperienced so there's a lot to clean up, but they did a nice job. They ran the ball really well, and that's an element that we've got to have, and they showed they can do it."

There were some areas where Montana typically excels that caused problems on Saturday night, most notably on third downs. The Griz finished the night just 2-of-9 on third down and allowed the Bears to convert on several third and longs to extend drives.

"It could have been a little easier if we would have got off the field on third and extra long," Hauck said. "They converted three of those on us tonight and that's a problem. Some of it was missed tackles, some of it was busted coverage by a variety of people, and then some of it was just, you know, we probably didn't get into the right defense. We've got blame to go around on that, starting with me. We will get that squared away."

The defense made some huge plays, however, with Ryder Meyer intercepting a pass in the first half and the defensive line combining for four sacks and 10 tackles for loss. Hayden Harris had 2.5 sacks and three tackles for loss, including a big sack on the final drive of the game for Missouri State.

Missoula product Ryan Tirrell led the Grizzlies with 10 tackles. Transfer linebacker Vai Kaho added seven stops, including 2.5 tackles for loss. Safety Chrishawn Gordon also had seven tackles, five of which were solo.

In the end, Montana did enough in all three phases of the game to come away with a victory of an experienced Missouri State side.

"Nobody wanted to listen when I said, 'Hey, these guys are pretty good.' Their running back is for real, he's a good player, and they were very composed," Hauck said. "They came in and were bleeding the clock out and we helped them by letting them stay on the field in third down and falling behind, dropping the punt in the first quarter," Hauck said.

"They did a good job of playing keep away, we helped them do it, but in the end the Griz fought their way out of some bad situations and found a way to win."

It was a game of symmetry for much of the first half, as the teams drives reflected each other for most of the opening half hour. It started with punts on the first drives for both teams, but there was a momentum shift in favor of the visitors when Montana coughed up the ball on a punt to give it back to the Bears.

The visitors capitalized on the good field position, driving it 53 yards in eight plays, helped along by a pass interference on for the opening score of the game.

Montana didn't waste any time in equalizing. Ah Yat rushed for 17 yards on the first play of the next drive and then a 15-yard penalty on the Bears moved the ball into Missouri State territory.

Eli Gillman found a hole on the left side on the next play and won the foot race to the end zone, scoring from 37 yards out. The extra point for Montana hit the upright, making it 7-6 in favor of the visitors with just over four minutes to play in the first quarter.

The Bears took over late in the first quarter and put together a marathon drive, going just under 60 yards in 16 plays before settling for a field goal to make it 10-6. Once again, Montana matched it.

Nick Ostmo had 28 yards on the ground and also caught a 15-yard pass to help Montana drive into the red zone, but two dropped passes once there forced the Grizzlies to settle for a field goal of their own to cut the lead down to 10-9.

Ryder Meyer picked off a pass on a deep ball from the Bears on the next drive to give Montana's offense another chance, but they went three-and-out to give it back to Missouri State.

The defense came up big again with a three-and-out, giving Montana's two-minute offense a chance before the halftime break. Ah Yat found Fontes for 16 yards and White for 15 more to advance into Bears' territory. He kept it on a designed run for 11 more yards.

They faced a third and long from the edge of field goal range, and Ah Yat dropped a ball in between two defenders and Xavier Harris made a fantastic catch to put the ball on the two-yard line with 13 seconds left in the half. Montana went for it twice but couldn't punch it in and settled for a field goal at the buzzer to take a 12-10 lead into halftime.

Montana outgained Missouri State 204-168 in the opening half, averaging over a yard more per play as they ran nearly the identical number of plays.

The Bears received the ball to start the second half, and Montana looked poised to force an early punt after a Hayden Harris sack pushed Missouri State back into a 3rd-and-19. They would connect on a 26-yard pass to extend the drive, and then run 32 yards for a score on the next play to make it 17-12.

Montana inserted Fife into the game at quarterback after coming up empty on a drive, but couldn't generate any momentum offensively even with the change and punted for a second straight time.

The defense and special teams continued to make big plays to keep the Griz in it. Harris and Caleb Otlewski combined for a big third down sack that forced Missouri State to punt. On that kick, Drew Deck hauled it in and stepped straight through two would-be tacklers, using the burst of speed to set up a 19-yard return.

Gillman quickly moved the Griz into enemy territory with a couple strong rushes. Once there, Montana faced a fourth and short and elected to keep the offense on the field. Fife hit Harris on a screen pass, and the former running back sprinted up the sideline and carried his would-be tackler across the goal line for a score.

"It's a pretty simple play, it's just a swing off a read and then we were blocking the edge for him. They were late getting out there so it was one on two and we at least were going to get the first down. Then we got a good block on the perimeter and off he went."

The Griz took the extra point, and the resulting 19-17 lead, into the fourth quarter.

Missouri State were just 4-of-10 on third down entering the drive but seemed to come up with big plays when needed all night. That was true again on a 3rd-and-16 play that quarterback Jacob Clark escaped the pocket on, delivering a 21-yard strike for a first down.

The Griz defense held them up again, and forced them into a 4th-and-7 from just inside Grizzly territory. This time, they didn't allow a conversion. Clark looked deep, but the legacy No. 37 made a play in the secondary, knocking the pass away to give the ball back to Montana with 10:41 left to play.

They went for the big play right away and got it with Fife connecting with Fontes for a 33-yard gain. Ostmo ran for six yards, and then a pass interference penalty on Missouri State set Montana up on the doorstep. Gillman punched in his second score of the day, diving over the goal line in a pile of bodies to make it 26-17 Montana inside of 10 minutes.

The Bears wouldn't go away. They marched down the field, and again picked up a long third down conversion on a screen pass to move inside Montana's 10. They scored on a seven-yard rush to make it 26-24 with 4:43 to play.

Montana leaned on the reigning Freshman of the Year to try to put the game away. He rushed for 30 yards on a drive that ate up over three minutes of game time and ended with a Grizzly field goal.

The Griz kicked it back to Missouri State with a 29-24 lead and just 1:38 on the clock. The Bears, operating with no timeouts, were sacked on three straight plays, giving the ball and the win to Montana.

Hayden Harris had the first, Andrew Lehrmann the second, and Vai Kaho the final sack, allowing Montana to take a nee inside the red zone and move to 1-0 on the season.

The Grizzlies improved to 6-1 against Missouri Valley competition in the last seven games, faring well against the other top league in the FCS.

It was the second straight Blackout game at Montana that came down to the wire, but for the second straight time the crowd of well over 26,000 fans went home happy.

"Everybody was excited and happy tonight, and I was one of them," Hauck said. "It's an interesting thing for me here at Montana at this juncture because I'm starting my 13th season as head coach here. We travel the state, and meet a lot of Montanan's that love the Grizzlies, and I'm one of them."

Cats crush Utah Tech

SAINT GEORGE, Utah - Montana State's defense stifled Utah Tech for three quarters, leading the Bobcats to a 31-7 win over the Trailblazers in St. George on Saturday.

The Cats held Utah Tech to just 41 yards of offense through the first three quarters, with the Trailblazers only able to move the ball once the game was already out of reach. Montana State's defense did not allow a first down until the fourth quarter.

One week after putting up 362 rushing yards on FBS New Mexico, Montana State rushed for 335 more on Friday.

Montana State took a 14-0 lead into the locker room at halftime, but the stats reflected an entirely different level of dominance. The Bobcats out-gained Utah Tech 272 yards to 38, rushing for 230 yards to UTU's 29, and held Tech without a first down while reaching the line-to-gain 15 times on offense.

Scottre Humphrey gained 91 rushing yards in the first half, Tommy Mellott, 70, and Adam Jones 43 before the intermission. Mellott threw for 42 yards on 7-for-13 passing.

The game, though, remained in doubt after 30 minutes of play. After the teams exchanged punts twice, Taco Dowler returned one 53 yards to the UTU eight. Three plays later, with 2:35 to play in the opening quarter, Adam Jones plunged in from one yard out to open the scoring.

On Montana State's next drive, Mellott scampered 47 yards for a touchdown to push the lead to 14-0. The Bobcats staged two more long drives in the first half, but the first resulted in a blocked field goal and the second in a missed field goal. Those were hardly the only mistakes in the first two periods, though. The Cats were penalized five times for 40 yards.

The Bobcats raised their record to 2-0 on the season, both on the road. Montana State hosts Maine for Gold Rush on Saturday at 6 pm in Bobcat Stadium.