Griz roll to blowout win over Indiana State

Saturday, September 20

Missoula, Mont.

1 PM

Montana

3-0 , 0-0

Indiana State

2-2 , 0-0

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Indiana St.

Montana

Photo by: Ella Palulis/University of Montana

9/20/2025 6:51:00 PM | Football

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Montana Sports Information

On a hot late-summer day inside Washington-Grizzly stadium, Montana's offense caught fire, the defense was stifling, and the Grizzlies blew out the Indiana State Sycamores of the Missouri Valley Conference 63-20.

There were plenty of big performances to go around on both sides of the ball as Montana outgained Indiana State 647-387 on the day – the seventh-most yards the Griz have racked-up in program history.

After giving up an early score on a deep ball, the defense forced six punts, two turnovers, and four three-and-outs on the next eight possessions as Montana pulled away for a convincing win to improve to 3-0 on the season.

"I liked the preparation. I liked the look in their eye. I liked the way they were ready to go play this game. The guys in the helmets were excited to play this game, and it showed. When we're home, we're playing well, we don't give it away, and we get some of our own, we're probably not going to lose the game. When that started happening, they didn't have enough answers. I thought they played hard but they just didn't have answers for us," said head coach Bobby Hauck.

"Our defense was after 'em. They have coaches on their staff who have been around a long time, and they were gushing about how hard and physical our defense plays. They play in a physical conference. We take that like a badge of honor, and our guys played like that today."

Sophomore QB Keali'i Ah Yat had his second career day this season with 313 passing yards and two touchdowns, which all came in the first two-and-a-half quarters as he exited early with Montana holding a big lead. He also added a rushing touchdown from 14 yards out to tally the eighth on the ground of his career.

Ah Yat's success also meant that plenty of pass-catchers had career days. Tight end Josh Gale and receiver Jordan Dever hauled in their first touchdowns as Grizzlies and Michael Wortham had another great all-around day with 131 all-purpose yards.

"I think our young quarterback took another step forward today just in terms of pre-progression and seeing things more clearly and quickly. So, I thought that was good," said Hauck.

"He's getting more and more confident. I think that's a week-to-week thing for him. When he's getting coached during the week and reviewing his performance, its more minutia than major mistakes. I like what he's got going right now. He's such a young player he's going to keep getting better and better."

Eli Gillman had his third career three-touchdown day while running for 120 yards. The junior is now up to 36 career touchdowns, tied with Grizzly legend Lex Hilliard for the fifth-most in program history.

It's the first time Montana has reached the 60-point mark since a win over Eastern Washington in 2022 while the defense forced two turnovers, once of which led directly to points on a scoop-and-score and another that resulted in a touchdown just two plays later. Solomon Tuliaupupu forced the fumble that TJ Rausch recovered, and Peyton Wing had the interception.

The Grizzlies were an efficient 9-of-15 on third downs on the day and after coming up empty on their first two drives would proceed to score on nine out of 10 for the big win.

It all added up to a dominant day for the Griz, who complete three of their four nonconference games to sit 3-0 with Big Sky play around the corner and old rival Idaho Vandals coming to Missoula next week.

"We're really pleased to be out of nonconference play at 3-0. We can't be any better than that. We're playing a little better each week, and that's what it will take to beat Idaho. It'll be a tough game for sure," said Hauck.

It took a while for both teams to get warmed up into the game as they traded punts on the first four possessions, but once the first blow landed it turned into a shootout.

Gillman delivered the first score of the day, side-stepping his way outside of a crowded backfield and then racing up the far sideline for a 69-yard touchdown. It's the longest rush of the season for Gillman and tied for the second longest of his career.

The big play for Montana was answered quickly by the Sycamores. Keegan Patterson found Rashad Rochelle over the top for a 51-yard touchdown pass to tie the game at seven-all.

Montana faced an early 3^rd-and-long on the following drive. The Sycamore defensive front collapsed the pocket on Ah Yat, but the quarterback spun away from a sack and escaped to his left. He fired on the run to Blake Bohannon for a first down to keep the drive going.

Six plays later, Gillman punched in his second score of the day. After being stopped short initially, the back kept his legs moving and got help from the big boys up front as they pushed him across the line for the touchdown.

The Grizzlies forced a punt on the following drive and really took control of the game with the ensuing drive. Once again, Ah Yat connected on a pass to convert a third-and-long, this time finding Josh Gale over the middle for a 16-yard gain.

In the red zone, Ah Yat called his own number with a QB draw. He had a big hole in the line, raced past one defender and eased into the end zone to make it 21-7.

The defense joined in on the fun with a big play of their own late in the second quarter. Ty Morrison pinned the Sycamores deep in their own territory with a 39-yard punt inside the five. Indiana State eased the pressure slightly with a first down, but on the very next snap Solomon Tuliaupupu flew into the backfield and crushed Patterson from behind to force a fumble.

The ball bounced to the goal line where TJ Rausch scooped it for UM's first defensive touchdown of the season and increase the Grizzly lead by three scores.

The momentum that Montana had already been building overwhelmed the Sycamores after the big defensive play. The Grizzlies had a sack on the next drive as part of another three-and-out.
The Griz got the ball back with 2:44 to go and Ah Yat and company executed the two-minute drill to perfection. He connected with Wortham on back-to-back passes for a total of 36 yards to move into Indiana State territory. He then found Gale for 12 yards and Rocker Jr. for 15 more to get into the red zone.

Ah Yat finished off a perfect drive by stepping up to avoid pressure and flipping a throw to Gale standing wide open in the corner of the end zone. Gale's first touchdown as a Grizzly extended the lead to 35-7 at the halftime break.

The Griz went to the air on all five plays of the drive and Ah Yat didn't miss, going 5-for-5 for 82 yards and the touchdown.

It was a big half offensively for the Grizzlies with 371 total yards in a balanced attack. Ah Yat completed 78 percent of his passes for 223 yards and the score, finding eight different receivers in the opening half. Gillman had 95 yards and two touchdowns as the Grizzlies outgained Indiana State by nearly 200 yards over the first 30 minutes.

The halftime break did nothing to cool Montana off. The Griz defense forced a turnover just three plays into the second half with Peyton Wing dropping into coverage and reading the quarterback to perfection.

It gave the offense the ball at the 25-yard line and they wasted no time extending the lead. Gillman took a second down rush that appeared doomed from the start, waited on it, dropped a Sycamore defender with a juke move, and then waltzed into the end zone for a 23-yard score.

Montana got another stop and score on the next two drives. Ah Yat connected with Jordan Dever on a quick pass and Dever split two defenders for a 62-yard score that made it 49-7 and ended the day of the Grizzlies first-string offense with 10 minutes still to play in the third quarter.

The fourth quarter started with Montana's backups pounding the rock for another touchdown as Malae Fonoti got his first of the season with a 12-yard score to extend the lead to 56-7.
The Sycamores would find the end zone twice in the fourth quarter on long runs from Nick Osho to make the final score more respectable, but the Grizzlies weren't done scoring yet.

Tommy Running Rabbit made his Grizzly debut late in the fourth and toted the ball seven times on a scoring drive, including a 12-yard rushing touchdown that included a broken tackle to push Montana over 60 points for the first time since 2022.

Montana caps its regular season slate of games against teams from the MVFC now 8-2 since the Big Sky/Valley series started in 2018, more wins than every other Big Sky team combined in th series.