Montana falls 34-11 in Brawl of the Wild

Saturday, November 23

Bozeman, Mont.

Noon

Montana

8-4 , 5-3

Montana State

12-0 , 8-0

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Montana

Montana St.

11/23/2024 3:36:00 PM | Football

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Montana Sports Information

Montana fell on the road in the final game of the regular season against No. 2 Montana State in the 123^rd Brawl of the Wild. Big plays and third down conversions helped the hosts to a 34-11 victory in Bozeman.

The second-best rushing offense in the country carried the day as the Cats ran for 326 yards. Montana totaled 234 yards in the game, struggling on third down in particular as they finished just 2-for-12.

Montana (8-4, 5-3 Big Sky) held the Bobcats (12-0, 8-0 Big Sky) nearly 100 yards and a full touchdown under their season averages. Outside of an 88-yard rush, they did a decent job holding the big-play offense in check.

But the Grizzly offense just never got things going as it took until the fourth quarter for Montana to finally find the end zone. The Griz were converting 45.8 percent of their third downs entering the game, a top-20 mark in the country. They converted their first attempt, but went just 1-of-11 the rest of the way.

It's the fifth straight time that the home team has won the rivalry.

"We've got to be better on third down, specifically on the offensive side of the ball," head coach Bobby Hauck said. "Defensively, we were pretty good outside of that first drive and then that rushing total has got to be about 100 yards less than that. It needs to be in the 225 range rather than the 325 range. They can't throw it very well. We said going into it that if they chucked it a couple of times and caught it we had to live with it, and they did that in the first half."

Ryan Tirrell led Montana with 10 tackles. Jaxon Lee (8), Ryder Meyer (6), and Riley Wilson (6) had good days defensively as well. Montana's defense kept them in it for much of the game, and with Montana getting the ball back to start the second half they still had a chance.

Logan Fife started for Montana and went the whole way, completing 18-of-34 passes for 117 yards. He also kept it seven times on the ground for 18 more yards. Eli Gillman was the top runner with 10 carries for 35 yards and a touchdown.

Montana State had an extended drive to start the game, going 75 yards in nearly nine minutes, converting a pair of third downs to take the 7-0 lead.

The Griz didn't get points on their first drive, but were able to flip the field and pin the Cats on their own 12-yard line. The defense forced a three-and-out, and Montana was in Bobcat territory on the next drive after just one offensive play.

Ostmo and Xavier Harris each picked up big gains on the ground on the drive, but 20 yards of penalties offset any Griz momentum. Ty Morrison, who flipped the field with the nice punt, drilled a 47-yard field goal to cut the lead to 7-3.

There was a big break for the Bobcats on the next drive. Riley Wilson read a slant play perfectly and jumped the route, but just couldn't hang on to the ball as he had what could have been a pick six on his fingertips. On the next play, Mellott floated a ball over the top of the defense to make it 14-3 with 10 minutes left in the half.

The Bobcats added a field goal inside the two-minute mark, giving the Griz one last chance to score in the opening half with the ball coming their way to start the second. Montana made it into MSU territory, but failed a fourth-down attempt and the Bobcats drove quickly for another field goal to take the 20-3 halftime lead.

"I liked the plan," Hauck said. "I still do, I told the players and coaches in the locker room that I liked the preparation and the plan, I don't think we executed it cleanly enough and didn't seize opportunity as well as we needed to whether it was the defense having them in longer yardage and giving one up or the offense not staying on the field on third down."

The difference in the first half was third down success as MSU converted five while the Grizzlies went just 1-of-6. It led to Montana State controlling possession for over 18 of the first 30 minutes, outgaining Montana 223-116.

The defenses forced punts going both directions to start the second half. Montana State's second drive made it into Griz territory, but was stuffed on fourth down. Mellott kept it on a read and bounced outside, but Ryder Meyer reached him first and Trevin Gradney helped finish the play to force the turnover on downs.

Montana couldn't take advantage, punting again to pin MSU deep but a big play swung the momentum and the Cats went ahead 27-3 with 1:55 to go in the third quarter after an 88-yard run flipped the field.

"The 80-yard run, we had them pinned in their own end and it was still a game right there. Then they get the 80-yard run and that's where it kind of got away. It's too bad because we were fighting away and we still had plenty of possessions to get back into it, and that's the play that it got away."

As the weather turned bad with wind and snow flurries moving in, Montana started to get something rolling on offense. Fife led a 13-play scoring drive, converting a huge fourth down pass to Aaron Fontes to set up Eli Gillman for his 13^th rushing score of the season.

Fife hit White for a two-point conversion to cut the MSU lead to 27-11

The Bobcats answered, going ahead 34-11 inside of five minutes to play. Montana would punt on the next drive, and the rushing attack of Montana State ran out the clock. In the second half, all 197 of Montana State's yards came on the ground as they didn't attempt a single pass in the final 30 minutes.

Montana will now reset for a likely first-round playoff game on Nov. 30. The full playoff field will be announced on Sunday morning with Montana's 8-4 record likely good enough for a home game in the first round.

"Tomorrow we will have a team meeting, we will know who we are playing, and then we will figure out what we've got to do next," Hauck said.