Louie-McGee named Player of the Week – Griz bye week notes
9/12/2016 2:32:00 PM | Football
At some point early in Saturday's TV broadcast of the Montana Grizzlies' upset win over No. 3 Northern Iowa, just after Jerry Louie-McGee danced for plus-yardage on his first punt return of the day, one of the broadcast's color commentators dubbed him "Mr. Electricity."
Turns out "Mr. Electricity" was about the best description you could have come up with.
Louie-McGee would go on to rack up a game-high 162 all-purpose yards and thrill Griz fans with one of the most electric punt returns for a touchdown in Montana history to give UM the edge in a tense 20-14 win.
With a freshman breakout performance for the ages, Louie-McGee has been awarded the ROOT Sports Big Sky Conference Special Teams Player of the Week the league announced on Monday.
The Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, native led the Grizzlies in pass receptions, hauling in five for a total of 33 yards. His biggest impact, however, came in the punt return game, where he ran back three punts for 118 yards, highlighted by an 81-yard touchdown.
"I'm so glad we gave him a shot to return punts. He basically gave us a chance to win the ballgame because of his punt return," said head coach Bob Stitt.
"We knew he could do it, you just had to get him the ball in the open. People don't realize how hard he is to tackle. Most punt returns will be one where they get through and they make one guy miss. He made like 11 people miss. It was crazy. That was one of the best punt returns, if not the best punt returns I've ever seen."
Louie-McGee's 118 punt return yards against UNI is the third-highest single game performance in the nation so far this season. Two players sit in front of him on the national list, with the national leader only tallying eight more yards.
With the addition of the 81-yard punt return on Saturday, he leads the nation in punt return yards, averaging 39.9 yards per game this season.
"Mr. Electricity" was just one member of a standout special teams unit on Saturday. Redshirt freshman kicker Tim Semenza was once again perfect with the boot this week, going two-for-two on field goals and two-for-two on PATs for a personal haul of eight points.
Eric Williams was productive in the punting game as well. The sophomore from Missoula averaged 38.9 yards-per-kick with a long of 48 yards over 10 punts.
"Jerry basically gave us the chance to win the game with his punt return. But then you go back to how solid Tim Semenza is, to come out and kick a 47-yarder, and a 46-yarder last week in his first time out. We saw Eric Williams – you don't think about the punter at the end of the game because he was so solid and so consistent. To have two freshmen play that well in the kicking game is great. Aaron Held was solid as a rock in the snaps too," said Stitt.
"Jerry stands out, but those guys gave us a chance to win it also. The coverage units were very solid on Saturday too."
Louie-McGee was also given an honorable mention nod for the STATS FCS national Special Teams Player of the Week.
MORE GRIZ ACCOLADES: Louie-McGee wasn't the only Grizzly to earn accolades after Saturday's upset on the road. Montana linebacker Josh Buss was named the Big Sky Defensive Player of the Week by national sports blog College Sports Madness.
The redshirt sophomore from Boise one of the defenses shining stars in a unit that held UNI's vaunted rushing attack in check. Buss seemed to be in on every play, totaling eight tackles, a tackle for loss, a forced fumble, a pass breakup and a quarterback hurry.
After two games Buss is the second-leading tackler on the Montana defense, with 16 takedowns to his name. Oregon State transfer Justin Strong leads the "D" in tackles with 18.
"He's tenacious in the way he plays. He's very smart and doesn't make a lot of mental errors and he's a fantastic athlete," said Stitt.
"Because of his athleticism and his toughness, he can rush a passer and he can drop like a DB and cover some people. So he fits that hybrid outside linebacker position very well."
BIG ROAD WIN: In modern Griz football history, Montana has not beaten a higher ranked nonconference team on the road, than No. 3 Northern Iowa on Saturday.
The Griz are now 6-0 all-time against Northern Iowa. Saturday's game was the first in a home-and-home series with UNI. The Panthers will come to Missoula to play the return leg of the series on September 1, 2018.
GRIZ MOVE UP THE POLLS: The Grizzlies moved back into the top-10 of both the STATS FCS media poll and the FCS Coaches' poll this week for the first time since week three of the 2015 season.
The FCS Coaches placed the 2-0 Griz at No. 9 this week, up six spots from No. 15. with 409 points.
In the FCS STATS media poll, the Griz climbed from No. 14 to No. 7 and are the highest-ranked Big Sky Conference school with 3,103 total votes. Eastern Washington sits right behind the Griz at No. 8, while Portland State slides to No. 19, and Northern Arizona slides to No. 24.
GRIZ LEAD ATTENDANCE AGAIN: Montana's home attendance of 26,002 against Saint Francis to open the season is the most attended game in all of FCS football so far in 2016. James Madison is second on the list with a home attendance of 23,626.
BYE WEEK: After two physical wins, the Grizzlies will enjoy a bye week to rest up bodies. With the Griz taking a break, so will the "Voice of the Griz", as the weekly Bob Stitt Radio Show on the Montana Grizzlies Radio Network takes a hiatus during the bye as well.
The Griz are back in action on September 24, on the road to face Cal Poly in San Louis Obispo, Calif.
HALL OF FAME BANQUET: Start making plans to attend the 2016 Grizzly Sports Hall of Fame banquet, scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at the DoubleTree hotel in Missoula on Friday, Oct., 7.
Tickets are $40 and available for purchase at the Adams Center Box office from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday and at griztix.com. Tickets will not be available the night of the function.
The "Class of 2016" is comprised of three former University of Montana athletic standouts, including football players Rocky Klever and Larry Miller, and Lady Griz basketball player Greta (Koss) Buehler.
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