Former Griz All-American Robby Hauck had a surprise for his father as his former team is in pursuit of a Big Sky Conference championship and potentially a national title run.
Hauck, Portland State’s third-year offensive coordinator, pulled the ultimate trick out of his sleeve when he had the Vikings execute a squib kick that resulted in essentially an onside kick to begin PSU’s first game at Providence Park in downtown Portland since 2018.
The Vikings promptly marched down the field and scored a touchdown, giving hope to the ** in attendance, albeit plenty of those were rooting for the visitors from Missoula.
A 7-0 lead for a 1-9 Vikings team against a Montana team coming off a 29-24 home win over Eastern Washington in which the Griz needed a fumbled snap inside the 5-yard line in the waning seconds to secure a 10th straight win certainly gave those around Griz nation pause.
But UM righted the ship almost instantly and turned its knack for interceptions into a runaway.
The Griz intercepted five passes, bringing their total for picks to an FCS-best 18 so far this season. Montana turned all five of those takeaways into touchdowns. Add in five rushing touchdowns by four different players and four receiving touchdowns each by different scorers and its safe to say Montana is primed for its showdown with archrival Montana State next week.
The Grizzlies turned a 7-0 deficit into a 63-17 runaway at Providence Park to move to 11-0 this season and set the state, at least on their end, for a rivalry clash with not only the outright Big Sky title on the line but also homefield advantage throughout the FCS playoffs.
“As always, it’s all about the guys,” Montana 14th-year head coach Bobby Hauck said on the Grizzly Radio Network in his post-game interview. “Love our guys, love how they compete. Like we were talking at halftime, we were battling that opening kickoff. Between that and Portland State’s last touchdown run, it was pretty good football by the Grizzlies.
“Between that opening turnover on the kickoff return and the final run, I think we out-scored them 63-3. That’s pretty good by us.”
The win moved Montana to 11-0 for the fourth time in school history. Hauck won for the 149th time leading his alma mater, including his 86th time in Big Sky Conference play. The four-time Big Sky Coach of the Year surpassed former Northern Arizona head coach Jerome Souers for the Big Sky’s all-time lead in league victories.
“Our guys got after it today. It was good. I’m excited with the way we played. I thought all three phases played well today,” Hauck said. “Tonight was our night, and it was a good. We’re excited to come here, get to 11-0, for the fourth time in school history in all these years of Griz football.”
Although Keali’i Ah Yat threw for 186 yards and three touchdowns and rushed in another score and although Eli Gillman rushed for nearly 100 yards and two more scores, including a 60-yard scamper in the second quarter to put the Griz ahead for good, the Griz defense carried the day.
Montana’s five interceptions is the most in a single game in the FCS this season. UM also had five quarterback hurries while holding PSU under 100 rushing yards until the last five minutes of play.
The Griz entered the game with a Big Sky-best 13 interceptions on the year and having scored 59 points off turnovers so far this season. Both of those numbers ballooned against PSU, with the five picks accounting for 35 combined points.
“It’s the way it’s supposed to work,” Hauck said. “I talked last week about complementary football and the three phases complimenting each other and how that is supposed to look. When you are doing it right and you are succeeding, that’s what it looks like.
“The barrage in the third quarter, the 28-0, they couldn’t hold up. They didn’t have the team to match up to that.”
A barrage with balance — Montana threw for 247 yards and rushed for 208 — helped Montana do its part to set the stage for the 124th showdown against Montana State. MSU has won six of the last eight rivalry games, but UM has won the last two in Missoula. Saturday’s win moved Hauck to 14-0 in games before the rivalry, each win by an average margin of 30 points per contest.
“They have a test tonight,” Hauck said of UM’s game against No. 9 UC Davis. “Davis is very injured and I don’t think Davis will have enough for them tonight with the amount of guys they have hurt. But this is going to be a big game and it will be as big as it is in FCS football and it’s a big game in all of college football. Both teams are very good and it should be a heck of a week, very exciting next weekend.”
