MISSOULA — Eastern Washington head coach Aaron Best did not give a magical halftime speech. He did not let forth an epic rallying cry.
EWU’s first-year head coach instead told his Eagles to keep doing exactly what they were doing against Montana’s aggressive yet vulnerable defense.
“There wasn’t a message as much as we knew, we were in a lot of situations where we could’ve scored and didn’t,” EWU junior quarterback Gage Gubrud said following his team’s 48-41 comeback win here on Saturday night. “We missed a couple and also didn’t get into the end-zone a few times. We knew we had stuff there, we just had to execute it better. We knew what was going on, we knew what they were going to run, we just had to execute better and hit them.”
Eastern Washington junior quarterback Gage Gubrud threw for an EWU-record 549 yards against the Griz
On Eastern’s first possession, Gubrud, the reigning Big Sky Conference Offensive Player of the Year, over-threw a wide-open Nic Sblendorio in the middle of the field for what would’ve been a sure touchdown. Before the first half was over, Gubrud had moved the Eagles’ offense inside the Montana 25-yard line five separate times.
EWU settled for a pair of first half field goals, but what the Gubrud had seen on film preparing for the game played out in front of him. If not for the missed shot on the first possession, or two slight overthrows to Sblendorio in which the EWU wide receiver was pushed just out the back of the end-zone or an overthrow on fourth down to a wide open Nsimba Webster that would have been a certain touchdown, Eastern could have scored plenty more than the six points the Eagles took to the Washington-Grizzly Stadium visitors locker room.
“It wasn’t a magical speech at halftime,” first-year head coach Aaron Best said. “(Former head) Coach (Beau) Baldwin never gave magical speeches. That’s just the culture we have provided for our kids. They buy into it, do a good job of anything that comes their way.”
“It was expected,” Gubrud said when asked about Montana’s defense. “They did everything we thought they’d do. It’s exactly what we saw on film. We were ready for it and had a good game plan for it.”
In the second half, the Eagles converted in the red-zone for touchdowns instead of field goals, like on Sam McPherson’s two-yard touchdown catch set up by the sophomore’s 18-yard catch and run. That score helped cut the deficit to 27-13 and quickly erased the memory of Justin Calhoun’s 44-yard touchdown on a Hail Mary on the last play of the first half for the Griz.
Montana’s Josh Buss (42) and Tucker Schye (37) tackle EWU running back Sam McPherson
The opening drive of the second half also sparked a 42-point avalanche that included 35 points in the last 16 minutes to help EWU rally from an 18-point deficit. After halftime, Gubrud hit most of the shots he took down the field, including the 32-yard strike he found Dre Dorton on for a touchdown that cut what once was a 24-6 Montana lead to 27-21.
Eastern still had its hiccups — Gubrud threw an interception to Markell Sanders midway through the third quarter but Montana promptly went 3-and-out and the next EWU drive resulted in a missed 48-yard field goal Roldan Alcobendas — the Eagles’ persistence eventually paid off.
“Those are always important points coming after halftime because we in the past have always been a third quarter, score on the first possession of the second half outfit over the years,” Best said. “No matter what has happened in the second quarter, whether it’s good in your favor or not in your favor, I think those points after halftime truly matter. If you don’t get points, then you are still three scores out, they get the ball back and all of a sudden, you are down four scores. Those first and third quarters are extremely important.”
Following Dotson’s touchdown catch, Josh Lewis snared an interception off of Montana freshman quarterback Gresch Jensen. On the very next play, Gubrud found a stumbling McPherson, who regained his footing and sprinted past a group of gassed Grizzlies for the game-tying touchdown. The momentum belonged to EWU from that point forward.
“Red-zone opportunities ended in seven points instead of three points in the second half, “ Best said. “We had a few big plays, that screen to Sam McPherson got us rolling.
EWU junior Brandon Montgomery (31) and senior Jake Hoffman defend Montana’s Keenan Curran
“But it wasn’t just one play. We felt like we were about four explosive plays on defense away from having a pretty good half on defense in the first half. We just gave up too many big plays. If you take away those explosives, it would’ve been a tighter ball game in the first half. But our guys kept chopping wood, believed in the system, got it to within two scores, then played lights out on defense in the second half.”
Jensen hit Keenan Curran over the top of a busted coverage for a 66-yard gain to set up UM’s first touchdown. Montana’s second TD came after Schye forced a Gubrud fumble. UM’s first half field goal came after a 47-yard bomb to Calhoun and the final score of the first half came on the Hail Mary.
After the third quarter interception, Jensen engineered a 10-play scoring drive to begin the fourth quarter but the final frame belonged to the Eagles. Gubrud executed drives of 78 and 53 yards sandwiched around another Montana 3-and-out to give EWU a 41-34 lead. Two straight Montana drives stalled out in Griz territory on failed fourth down tries.
After the second failed fourth down — one came as Nzuzi Webster, Nsimba’s twin brother, sniffed out a backside running back screen and tackled Alijah Lee for a loss, the other that came by four straight incompletions on Jensen shots down the field — EWU assumed control at the Montana 20.
Antoine Custer moved the pile with authority on the first 10-yard run, then stiff armed UM senior safety Justin Strong to the ground on the second and final carry of the drive, a 10-yard touchdown run that gave EWU a 48-34 lead and essentially sealed the 48-41 with two minutes to play.
EWU senior Andre Lino celebrates after making a fourth down stop
In the first half, Montana’s defensive line, namely senior Tucker Schye, manhandled EWU’s offensive line, a unit that had redshirt freshman Brett Thompson making his first start in front of nearly 26,000 people. In the second half, to alleviate the pressure Montana put on Gubrud, the junior quarterback threw to Sblendorio and Webster over and over again in the flats, exploiting UM’s corners playing as far as 12 yards off the wide receivers.
“I wasn’t surprised that was open,” Gubrud said. “Our receivers are exceptionally good blockers on the edge and they do a great job of making people miss. You get three against three over there, you theoretically only have to make one guy miss if everyone blocks it. It’s a numbers game for us. If they are going to overload the box, we are going to put it outside and make you run.”
Thompson is the third player to start at left tackle for EWU in four games this season. The 6-foot-4, 290-pound redshirt freshman took over for Tristen Taylor, who started at left guard instead. Sophomore Chris Schlichting started at left tackle against Fordham before moving to right tackle against Montana.
“The environment here is incredible and when you start a redshirt freshman left tackle, that’s not easy to do,” Best said. “When you are using a verbal cadence…when you start a redshirt freshman offensive tackle, as a former offensive line coach, there’s some nerves that go on.”
EWU senior wide receiver Nic Sblendorio caught 18 passes at Montana
Sblendorio and Webster both had career nights in Missoula. Sblendorio caught 18 passes for 189 yards and a touchdown. His reception total shattered his career high and served as the second-highest total in program history, behind only the 20 catches instant legend and 2016 senior Cooper Kupp had against Northern Coloado in 2015. Webster finished with a career high 13 catches for 146 yards and Gubrud threw for a school-record 549 yards and four touchdowns.
“Eighteen catches, that’s phenomenal and his name is not Cooper and he doesn’t wear No. 10,” Best said. “I’m extremely proud of these guys, 1-0 in the Big Sky Conference is, especially when the first win comes in Missoula, that’s huge and I’m proud of these guys.
“You couldn’t have drawn it up any better,” Best continued about his first career league victory. “I always look forward to this trip. It’s the best venue in FCS. I look at it as an opportunity. The Griz have ‘it’. Going 1-0 in the Big Sky no matter where it’s at is pretty tough to do and we are proud of the way this unfolded tonight.”
Photos by Jason Bacaj. All Rights Reserved.
