Griz drop ranked matchup to UC Davis

Saturday, November 9

Missoula, Mont.

8:15 PM

Montana

7-3 , 4-2

UC Davis

9-1 , 6-0

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

UC Davis

Montana

11/10/2024 12:41:00 AM | Football

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Montana Sports Information

In a top seven matchup under the lights at Washington-Grizzly Stadium, the No. 4 UC Davis Aggie defense buckled down to defeat No. 7 Montana 30-14 on Saturday night.

Montana took the lead midway through the third quarter, but 17 unanswered points to end the game from the Aggies led the visitors to the win to remain unbeaten against FCS competition this year.

The Davis defense held Montana in check, limiting the Griz to a season-low 286 total yards. Montana had 209 yards through the air, but the rushing attack was held in check with just 77 yards on the ground.

Montana held Walter Payton Award contender Lan Larison under 100 yards and his season average but gave up 256 yards and three UC Davis passing touchdowns. The Aggies finished the night with 100 more yards than Montana on the dot.

"We played well at times and when we took the lead at 14-13 we felt pretty good about it and that's when they went and got the score to go up 20-14," head coach Bobby Hauck said. "We were really good out of the gate, I thought we played extremely well in the first quarter. I do think that Davis played their best game of the year. They came in here and took the win from us, and it's disappointing not to get the win tonight. We were excited to play this game, and it didn't go our way."

Gallery: (11-9-2024) FB: Montana vs UC Davis (11.09.24)

Ryder Meyer had a fantastic night leading the Grizzly defense, registering a career-high 17 total tackles. He had eight solo tackles and added one tackle for loss in an impressive night. It's the most tackles in the game by a Grizzly since Dante Olson had 19 on Nov. 2, 2019.

Jaxon Lee also had a career night with 13 tackles. Montana held the Aggies in check for the most part, but they pieced together nine passing plays of at least 15 yards, which was a difference maker.

"The defense was really solid throughout," Hauck said. "We had a couple of guys get loose on us in man coverage where we lost them in man, and it happened on the two touchdowns and on a couple of third downs. We just didn't hold up in man coverage well enough."

The Griz weren't able to turn UC Davis over, while they gave up the ball twice to lose the turnover battle by two. Montana also went for it on fourth down three times and couldn't reach the line to gain.

Montana's quarterbacks combined for 20-of-41 passing for 209 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions. Fife had 147 yards passing and a touchdown to Junior Bergen. Keali'i Ah Yat had 62 yards through the air but was Montana's leading rusher with 29 yards and a touchdown.

Bergen had a good day, catching six balls for 92 yards and the score.

Montana just couldn't sustain enough drives to get the win. UM had two scoring drives but went three-and-out five times on the night and gave it away on the first set of downs on two other occasions.

They only had one other drive on the night, outside of the scoring drives, that lasted longer than 2:01, and it was the interception in the back of the end zone. The limited the running game as Eli Gillman and Nick Ostmo combined for just 29 yards on 14 carries.

"They really controlled it up front, and we didn't handle them very well," Hauck said. "They were playing some heavy boxes, and we just didn't handle them up front very well. When we decided that we weren't having much success doing that, I thought our quarterbacks struggled to see coverage. I didn't think either of our young fellas saw coverage very well and had some confusion on what they were getting in the back end."

It started well for Montana. The Griz forced a punt on UC Davis' opening drive and then quickly moved down the field to take an early lead. Fife hit Sawyer Racanelli for a 22-yard gain to get into UC Davis territory.

Fife scrambled for another first down, to get the Griz near the red zone. Then the Griz dialed up a vertical route to Bergen, and the stud receiver shook his man and walked into the end zone for a 23-yard score across the middle.

The fast-paced Aggies answered the score, driving 75 yards in just over three minutes on the following drive to tie the game up at 7-all.

The defenses controlled the game for the bulk of the first quarter and into the second from that point. There were five straight three-and-outs from both teams as Montana totaled 13 yards and held UC Davis to negative three yards.

The Aggies finally broke through, putting together a 14-play drive that resulted in a field goal that gave the visitors a 10-7 lead.

Just as UC Davis had the immediate answer in the opening minutes, it looked like Montana would get the response on the following drive. They moved it up the field well thanks to a big run from Gillman.

They made it to the UC Davis 11 and had a first and near goal, but were backed up on the first two plays. Fife then looked for Keelan White in the back of the end zone, but the pass was intercepted.

"That was kind of a heartbreaker," Hauck said. "That makes things a little different in the game, certainly."

Montana forced a quick punt on defense, and a shanked punt by UC Davis gave the Griz the ball back on their own 40-yard line. Fife connected on several passes to get into Davis territory, but the Griz were stalled and turned it over on downs.

The Aggies got the ball back with 37 seconds left and were able to get into field goal range, hitting from 41 yards out to head into halftime with a 13-7 lead.

UC Davis had the 211-160 advantage in total yards in the first half, running eight more plays than Montana in the opening 30 minutes. The teams were remarkably similar statistically speaking as both teams went 3-for-8 on third downs in the opening half. The turnover was the major differential between the sides.

The second half started with punts by both sides. Montana had a big kickoff return to start the half and Ty Morrison pinned UC Davis on their own three-yard line. After a UC Davis three-and-out, Montana started with good field position yet again.

Ah Yat opened the drive with a 12-yard rush into Aggie territory. The Griz converted a third down with a screen to Ostmo that went for 12 yards. They faced another third down, and this time Ah Yat connected with Fontes on the outside to move the chains again.

The young QB then kept it on a draw and barreled his way through several Davis defenders on his way to the goal line, being brought down by several players right at the goal line. It was initially ruled a scored but was overturned by video review.

The Griz were stopped twice and faced third down. Once again, the quarterback showed his courage, scrambling to the right and diving for the goal line. He was flipped by a defender but came down on maroon turf to give Montana a 14-13 lead.

It was the seventh rushing touchdown of the season for the redshirt-freshman.

The lead didn't last long, as UC Davis pieced together several medium gains and combined it with a facemask penalty on the Griz defense to go down the field quickly. They scored from 22-yards out on a pass against the flow of action, retaking the lead at 20-14.

Montana went three-and-out and UC Davis drove for another score to start the fourth quarter, taking a 27-14 lead with 12:35 to play.

Ah Yat was picked off on the first play of the following drive, giving it right back to the Aggies in Montana territory. The defense held up, forcing another Aggies field goal that made it 30-14 inside 10 minutes.

Montana was able to get a drive into UC Davis territory but came up short on fourth down for the second time on the night to give it back to the Aggies. They were able to run out the clock to seal their ninth straight win overall.

The Griz return home next week for Senior Day against Portland State. The game will kickoff at 1:00 p.m. The Vikings lost a close game to Idaho on Saturday and will come to Missoula with a 2-7 overall record and a 2-4 mark in Big Sky play.

"That was a big game. It's going to take a few days to get over that one," Hauck said. "We put a lot into it, the guys were excited to go play them and when you come up short, if you care, it's hard on you. It's hard on these guys because they care about winning and losing. It will take us a couple of days, but it turns into a really big game for us next weekend here against Portland State."