Griz dominate Cats for 19th Big Sky title

Saturday, November 18

Missoula, Mont.

Noon

Montana

10-1 , 7-1

Montana State

8-3 , 6-2

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Montana St.

Montana

11/18/2023 4:36:00 PM | Football

Box Score

By: Montana Sports Information

There has never been a bigger Brawl of the Wild. The stage has never been grander, the lights brighter, the stakes higher. And on Saturday afternoon in Washington-Grizzly Stadium, the Montana Grizzlies have never been better.

The No. 3 Griz won the first-ever Brawl that featured both teams ranked inside the top five nationally 37-7 to win the outright Big Sky Conference Championship and a likely top-two seed and home field advantage throughout the playoffs.

It's the first Big Sky title for Montana since 2009 and 19^th overall in the program's history, the most of any team in the league. It's the ninth conference title for the Big Sky's winningest head coach of all-time Bobby Hauck.

"That was something," Hauck said. "It was an ass-kicking, let's call it what it is. I'm proud of our football team, I'm proud of our assistant coaches. Brent Pease did an unbelievable job calling it today. I'm proud of our football team. I love this team, like I do most of our teams, but this team is special."

They accomplished the goal in dominating fashion, scoring the first 20 points of the game and leaving absolutely no doubt. They also did it in front of a Washington-Grizzly Stadium record crowd of 27,178 fans.

Gallery: (11-18-2023) FB: Montana vs Montana State

It's the biggest win in the series for Montana since a 35-3 win in the famous Copper and Gold game of 2008, and the second win in the last three years against the Bobcats.

A Bobcat offense that led the country coming into the game by averaging 43.8 points per game was held completely in check, scoring just a single time while going 1-for-10 on third down and being stopped on all four of their fourth down attempts.

The Grizzly defense held them nearly 100 yards under their season average for rushing, and the secondary held the pair of Bobcat quarterbacks to just 4-of-16 through the air for 67 yards.

The offense, meanwhile, continued the balanced attack that has been so key to the Grizzlies seven-game winning streak. Montana passed for 228 yards and ran for another 202 to outgain Montana State 430-280 in the game.

"We were good in the critical situations," Hauck said. "We were good in the red zone, we were good on third and fourth down. We were good running it. We were solid in the rush defense. They just didn't get a ton of plays. They aren't built for that."

Montana's offense went 5-for-5 in the red zone. The Grizzlies also didn't turn the ball over all day, controlling the clock to a 34:44-to-25:16 advantage.

Clifton McDowell made big-play after big-play, passing for 200 yards and a score on 77 percent passing while also running for 69 yards and another score. His decision making was great on the day as he helped Montana convert 7-of-14 third downs, keeping several drives alive with his legs while also passing for a few conversions.

"(McDowell) from a complete game management, making plays, throwing the ball. This was, in my opinion, his best game of the year and I don't think second-place is close," Hauck said. "This is the right time to do it. Big-time players, big-time games, and this was the biggest game in the country possibly at any level."

His favorite target on the day was Junior Bergen, who caught six passes for 91 yards and a touchdown. Bergen also had a big kick return and one punt return to finish the game with 144 total yards.

Nick Ostmo ran for 85 yards and a score on seven attempts while Eli Gillman also found the end zone. The Grizzlies runners were breaking tackles all day long,a nd the receivers made plays after completions. The Grizzlies had 111 yards after the catch on offense.

Trevin Gradney has battle injuries over the past couple of weeks but returned and made a huge play defensively, picking of Mellott in the fourth. It's the fifth interception of the season for the Billings native. Braxton Hill and Tyler Flink shared the team-lead with eight tackles. Kale Edwards had the lone sack of the day for Montana, coming on a crucial fourth down and leading directly to three points for Montana. They had five tackles for loss in the game.

Montana finishes the regular season a perfect 6-0 at home and have won nine straight inside Washington-Grizzly Stadium as they head to the playoffs with home field through until Frisco if they are able to win.

It's the third 10-win season in the last four full seasons for Montana, but the first time they have reached double-digits during the regular season. The last time they did that was in 2013, when Montana finished 10-2. It's the best regular season winning percentage since the 2009 team went 11-0.

The Grizzlies have outscored their previous four opponents 145-24 as they head into the playoffs about as hot as you can get. They held their opponent under 300 yards for the fourth consecutive game and are outgaining opponents by an average of 480.25-224.25 yards per game over the last four.

In addition to the Great Divide Trophy, Montana also lifted the Big Sky Trophy following the game. It's the first in the Hauck 2.0 era after the head coach won a championship every single season his first time at Montana from 2002-09.

"I told the team that back last time around we used to use these things as door stops around here," Hauck said. "It's been a while and we're going to relish having this, but that's the habit that we're going to be in. I'm excited about it and I can't wait to start working on our 20^th Big Sky Championship."

Now for the details of the dominance.

The Grizzlies scored on the first drive of the game, as McDowell converted a clutch third down with a pass to Fontes. Montana kept it in the air often on the opening possession as had four passes in the first five plays.

His legs picked up the biggest third-down conversion of the drive as he broke a tackle to escape the pocked and pick up a seven-yard gain when Montana needed six. He scrambled for another first down inside the red zone, but a forced fumble nearly ended the momentum of the drive. Ostmo was able to dive on top of the ball to maintain Montana's possession.

The Grizzlies went to Eli Gillman on back-to-back runs and he pounded it in from four yards out to put Montana. It's the 10^th rushing score of the year for Gillman.

Montana ran off over six minutes of the clock on a 14-play, 75-yard scoring drive. The visitors, meanwhile, went three-and-out on their opening drive.

The offensive momentum continued to roll for Montana, who found plenty of openings in the Bobcat secondary. He threw two early completions for 20 yards before finding Bergen wide open for a 38-yard gain to move into the red zone again.

Ostmo ran for six yards, and McDowell did the rest with a six-yard touchdown score that put Montana ahead 14-0 with five minutes to play in the opening quarter.

The Bobcats had a 46-yard run on the next drive to get into the Grizzly red zone, but Montana forced then into a 4^th-and-21 from there with a penalty followed by a huge tackle for a loss by Riley Wilson. The Bobcats attempted a 42-yard field goal into the rowdy North Endzone, and missed wide left.

Fontes had a miraculous one-footed grab on the sideline on the first play following the missed kick to once again bring Montana near midfield. Gillman hauled in a wheel route pass from McDowell to move Montana into Bobcat territory, and then the Grizzlies got tricky with it.

Ostmo took a snap and handed off to McDowell, who pitched to Sawyer Racanelli on the reverse. The receiver then found Bergen for a 24-yard completion that brought them down to the 15 of the Bobcats. Penalties backed the Grizzlies up, but they would end it with a 40-yard field goal by Nico Ramos.

It's the longest of the year for Ramos, who moves to 3-for-3 on the season after taking over place kicking duties last week.

The running game for Montana State generated another big play, going 30 yards to get in to Montana territory for the second-straight drive. But once again, Montana stepped up when it mattered most. Gubner broke through the line and delivered a massive hit to force a three-yard loss. Then Levi Janacaro had a tackle for loss that forced a Bobcat fourth down.

They elected to go for it, trying to hit a big play into the end zone. Mellott couldn't find his receiver and the Bobcats turned it over on downs. Montana State was 0-2 passing at the time, while Montana had completed 11-of-13 passes for 153 yards.

Montana had its first scoreless possession of the game on the next drive, but still were able to force the Bobcats deep into their own territory with a 37-yard punt from Travis Benham that pinned them on their own six.

The teams traded punts, and the Bobcats got what seemed to be the final possession of the half. They went for it on fourth down with just five seconds on the clock. Seasn Chambers entered and was sacked for a loss of 14 yards by Kale Edwards with stopped the clock with one second left.

The loss put Montana in field goal range. Grant Glasgow came in to attempt a 48-yard field goal and was roughed on the attempt, moving Montana 15 yards closer. Ramos then came in, knocking it home from 33 yards to give the Grizzlies a 20-0 halftime lead.

The Griz D was dominant, holding Montana State scoreless and without a single completion through the air.

Montana State came out of the halftime break and put together a five-play scoring drive to cut the lead to 20-7. It was all that the top scoring offense in the country would get all day.

"They broke a couple of big runs which bothered me but they had a little over 100 yards at halftime and we had 250 and a 20-0 lead," Hauck said. "We didn't want to let them go down and score on the first drive of the second half but we did, but then our guys shut it off. That's been the way. Our guys don't panic or cave-in when something goes bad, they just go play."

Bergen nearly brought the house down on the next play, finding a gap and beating 10 Bobcats on the ensuing kick return. He took it 49 yards to set the Grizzlies up at midfield. Any possible momentum shift in favor of the visitors was quickly quelled, as Montana scored in six plays to go ahead 27-7.

McDowell delivered a strike after stepping out of the pocket, finding Bergen for a 20-yard score. It's the fourth receiving touchdown for Bergen this year, and the ninth passing score for McDowell.

The Bobcats sensed the flow of the game going against them and needed an answer. They had it at midfield and elected to go for it on fourth down. Mellott couldn't find his receiver as the secondary held up, forcing an incompletion to give the ball back to Montana.

The Grizzlies swung a screen pass to Ostmo for a 17-yard gain to get back into Bobcat territory yet again. They would once again get backed up with penalties, but Ramos hit a 28-yarder to put the Grizzlies ahead 30-7 at the end of the third quarter.

It was déjà vu for a Bobcat offense on the next drive. They once again made it into Grizzly territory on a single big play only to be stopped on the big plays. The Bobcats went for it on fourth down and picked up five yards but needed six, turning it over on downs for the fourth time. The Grizzly defense also had given up just a single third-down conversion at the time, forcing MSU into 1-for-8 on the crucial play.

Montana State came into the game tied for second in the country with a .778 conversion rate on fourth down. They were 7-for-9 entering, but leave Missoula 7-for-13.

The Grizzlies forced another turnover on the next Bobcat drive. Mellott broke the pocket and scrambled away from heavy pressure forced by the Grizzly defensive front. He looked to find a deep connection, but Trevin Gradney jumped the pass for his fifth pick of the season.

Two plays later, the Griz were back in the end zone. Nick Ostmo had a huge hole up the middle and raced past the MSU defense for the score. He eclipsed 500 yards for the season, joining McDowell and Gillman at the milestone. It's the first time since 2011 that Montana has had three 500-yard rushers in the same season.

The touchdown made it 37-7, a fitting number for the final score as Montana improves to 74-42-5 all-time against the rivals.

It completes a fantastic finish to the regular season for Montana. The Grizzlies were counted out by many after a loss to Northern Arizona on Sept. 23. Since then, all Montana has done is win seven straight games, the longest streak of victories since winning 14 straight in 2009. They've picked up three of those seven wins against top-10 teams in the country.

"Two months ago at the end of September nobody thought we were any good, and I'm not sure that we did either, but we kept working and we're pretty dang good now," Hauck said.

The Grizzlies likely locked up the No. 2 seed in the FCS Playoffs with the win, combined with a loss by previous No. 2 Furman on Saturday. It would give Montana a first-round bye and guarantee home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.

"The best part of this is the way the playoff format is now is we don't have to play next week so we can celebrate this one," Hauck said. "It's going to be awesome, we get to relish this and marinate in it for a week until we find out who we play and then it's on."

Montana have won five straight home playoff games and haven't lost at home in the postseason since 2013. They are 32-7 all-time in playoff games contested inside Washington-Grizzly Stadium.

"This place that we're all sitting in right now is not only scenic and beautiful and the greatest setting in college football," Hauck said. "It's also a hard place to come in and beat the Montana Grizzlies."

Forgetting the rest of the implications, beating Montana State is always a priority for Montana. Consider that box checked. Hauck's teams also have the expectation of Big Sky Championships. Check again.

Hauck, and Montana, have done both of those things plenty of times. The box that remains unchecked in Hauck's tenure is a national title. They will begin the hunt for that on Dec. 2.

"That's the goal," Hauck said of defeating the rivals. "Goal one is to win the in-state game and goal two is to win the Big Sky Championship. Now we get to go to work on goal three."