Griz roll to upset road win over #4 Aggies

Saturday, September 28

Davis, Calif.

2 PM (MT)

Montana

4-1 , 1-0

UC Davis

2-3 , 0-1

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Montana

UC Davis

9/28/2019 6:17:00 PM | Football

Box Score PDF Stats

By: Montana Sports Information

This game had been on the radar since the schedule was released. The Montana Grizzlies rolled through the FCS non-conference slate, but they knew what awaited them at the start of the Big Sky schedule. UC Davis, the No. 4 team in the FCS, on the road. On top of that, when the two teams met in 2018, Montana lost an 18-point halftime lead at home as the Aggies outscored them 46-0 in the second half.

Just like the 2018 version of this match-up, Montana put together an impressive first half to take the lead into the break. You would forgive the Grizzlies for wanting to add a little insurance in the third quarter. Montana erased some bad memories and made a statement to the rest of the league, as well as the entire FCS. The Griz scored three times in the first six minutes of the third quarter, taking a huge lead on the way to a 45-20 road win against No. 4 UC Davis.

The Grizzlies used a balanced offense, led by dual-threat quarterback Dalton Sneed, and a big-play defense to outgain UC Davis 529 yards to 351 and completely control the game against one of the best teams in the country.

"We have tremendous confidence in our ability. I don't think we're there yet, but this is a good win for us obviously against the fourth-ranked team in the country, and it wasn't close," Head Coach Bobby Hauck said following the game. "I'm pretty happy. That's a nice win for our team."

Sneed threw for 268 yards and five touchdowns in the dominant win, connecting with nine different receivers. He also found four different players on scoring plays and is now up to 35 career touchdown passes, the 10th most in Montana history. He passed Assistant Head Coach Brent Pease on the all-time list with his performance.

He made big play after big play on the ground as well, rushing for 81 yards on just 10 carries. In a battle between two of the best quarterbacks in the FCS, Sneed certainly had the edge on Saturday.

"They are proud of their quarterback Jake Maier. He's a fine player, he's the Big Sky Preseason Player of the Year, and he's on some watch lists, but we have the best quarterback in the league in Dalton Sneed," Hauck said.

Marcus Knight added on to a huge rushing day for the Montana, totaling 91 yards with a touchdown. The Grizzlies had big plays from Nick Ostmo (four carries for 28 yards) and Drew Turner (four carries for 53 yards). All told, Montana's offense ran for 260 yards.

The defense put together a gem of a performance in its own right, limiting last year's Big Sky Offensive Player of the Year Jake Maier and the Aggie offense to 351 yards and three scores. Montana's defense also forced three turnovers, and the offense turned two of those into touchdowns in four plays or less to completely swing the momentum of the game and silence the home crowd.

Dante Olson and the defense had another great performance, recording eight tackles while picking off his first pass of the season. Jace Lewis proved to be a difference-maker as well, recording 13 tackles - nine of which were solo - and hurrying Maier multiple times. Robby Hauck also entered double-digit tackles with 10. The defensive front didn't allow UC Davis to be comfortable all game long, holding the Aggies to just 60 rushing yards.

"We didn't blitz them a ton. We covered them probably a higher percentage of the time than we normally do in any given game," Hauck said of the gameplan. "We've got some good speed on the defensive line, they are just all freshmen. We played a whole bunch of freshmen on that line today, but they can go. For the first time this year, they were probably better in terms of being assignment conscious. Barry Sacks had them ready to go, and they got after them."

Montana also played a very clean game with just three penalties for 40 total yards. They also converted 7-of-13 third downs that they faced. The third-best team in the country in first downs per game improved upon their season average, moving the chains 28 times on Saturday.

Adam Wilson continued a fantastic season punting the ball, punting three times for 126 yards. He pinned the Aggies inside their own 20-yard line on all three punts as the Grizzlies won the field position battle all day long.

This is the third time since 2015 that the Grizzlies have defeated a top-four team in the country and the first since a road win against No. 3 Northern Iowa in 2016.

"It was a good team effort," Hauck said of the win. "We did a good job controlling the field position, we didn't get greedy. We had the one turnover which was negative and flipped the field on us and they got their first touchdown, but we were comfortable. We felt like we were controlling the game because we were controlling the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, we controlled field position without kicking game and it was a great, dominating team effort. Initial impression is those guys played their tails off."

The two teams traded punts in what was a slow start to the game, but Montana's offense finally started clicking late in the first quarter. The Griz used a balanced attack to move into UC Davis territory, but it was the legs of Sneed that extended the drive multiple times. He then went to the air to open the scoring, connecting with Samori Toure on a diving grab in the endzone to make it 7-0 Montana early.

Montana got the ball back right at the end of the quarter, and Knight quickly moved them back into Aggie territory again with a long run. Sneed then kept it himself, gaining 18 yards on the first play of the second quarter on a designed quarterback counter. Toure brought the Griz into the red zone with a 23-yard reception, setting Montana up for its second score.

Last week, the tight ends earned the trust of Sneed with four receiving touchdowns in the win against Monmouth. The offense went with the hot hand on this drive as well, as Sneed found Bryson Deming on the edge to make it 14-0. The touchdown was Deming's third in the past two weeks.

The UC Davis offense finally seemed to generate some momentum, picking up the pace and moving into Montana territory. But when the Griz started to feel the pressure, the Big Sky's preseason defensive MVP delivered. Dante Olson dropped deep into coverage, making a leaping interception to give the ball back to the Grizzlies.

Montana picked up some big yards early, but a fumble reversed the possession again in favor of the hosts. The Aggies, who lead the nation in fourth-down conversions, went for it from just inside Montana territory and converted, but the Grizzly defense stepped up big again. On third and long, freshman Jacob McGournin sacked Maier to set up an Aggie punt. The Grizzlies roughed the punter on the ensuing play, giving the ball back to UC Davis and setting up their first score.

The drive - which cut the lead to 14-7 - took up over six minutes and over 14 plays, keeping the Grizzly sideline for a large portion of the quarter. But the rest didn't slow down Montana's offense. Nick Ostmo had a big play on a catch out of the backfield to take the Griz into Davis territory for the fifth time in six first-half drives.

Facing a third down, Sneed kept it on a zone read play and picked up a huge first down as the clock ticked toward halftime. Sneed roped a pass over the middle to Toure then to put Montana just four yards away from another score. But the Aggies defense held and forced Brandon Purdy onto the field for a field goal for the final play of the half, sending the Griz into the break with a 10-point lead.

But they had been here before the last time these two teams met. This time, Montana would be the team that blitzed its opponent in the second half.

The Grizzlies got the ball out of the half, and quickly added to the lead. Sneed drew the Aggie defense offside, giving him a free play to work with. He lobbed a pass to Samuel Akem, and the receiver made a massive play, out jumping two defenders and breaking a tackle. He turned to find nothing but green grass ahead of him on his way to a 62-yard score that made it 24-7 Montana.

Not to be outdone, Montana's defense came up with a huge play of its own, forcing a UC Davis fumble on their own 14-yard line as they pressured Maier and Ryder Rice recovered. The offense took a shot right away, and Sneed and Louie-McGee linked up on a touchdown connection on the first offensive play to make it 31-7 Grizzlies.

The Aggies drove to midfield on its next possession, but again Montana's defense came up with a turnover, as Josh Sandry recovered the second Davis fumble of the game to give it back to the Griz yet again. Knight took the first play of the drive for 24 yards as the Grizzlies immediately threatened again.

Montana may have already filled the highlight reel past capacity, but it didn't stop Mr. Electricity from making another incredible play. Sneed fired one into the endzone and Louie-McGee went to the ground with a defender right on top of him, but the ball tucked safely in his hands. The score made it 38-7 in favor of Montana with nine minutes still remaining in the third quarter.

The 21-0 run coming out of the halftime break gave the Grizzlies an insurmountable lead, and sent a message about this team's attitude.

"We believe and we're trained in a manner that develops both physical and mental toughness," Hauck said. "We challenged our guys at halftime to come out and show that and they did."

UC Davis scored on the next drive to make it 38-14 heading into the fourth quarter. The Aggies scored again and went for two, failing on the conversion to cut the lead to 38-20 with 12 minutes left. After a failed onside kick attempt, the Grizzlies got the ball with great field position. They took full advantage, driving down to set Knight up for his fifth rushing touchdown of the season.

The backups for both sides then entered, as Montana rolled to the 45-20 victory.

The win will likely vault Montana up in the national polls, where they entered at No. 18. It should set up a fun atmosphere in Washington-Grizzly Stadium next weekend as well, as the Griz will celebrate Homecoming against the Idaho State Bengals. But despite the dominance, Bobby Hauck and his team are still taking this one game a time as they look to return to dominance.

"We're excited to be 1-0 this week, 1-0 in the conference and have the No. 4 ranked team in the country in our rearview mirror with a loss for them," Hauck said.