Big Sky Conference

Behind Jensen’s career day, Griz roll UND on homecoming

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Back in early August when the smoke hung thick in the Missoula Valley and the Montana Griz were scanning their 2017 schedule, their October 14 meeting with Big Sky favorite North Dakota appeared to be one of the more daunting games on the docket.

Turns out, the Fighting Hawks were the kind of sacrificial lamb a Homecoming game beckons for.

Montana overcame three first-quarter turnovers to post a dominating 41-17 win over injury riddled North Dakota. The Griz, who brimmed with confidence in the days leading up to Saturday’s contest, used their third straight conference win to cap a festive weekend that included the grand opening of their new $14 million Champions Center.

Montana junior wide receiver Keenan Curran catches a fourth quarter touchdown pass against UND

Against North Dakota, a squad that better represents a MASH unit than a football team, Montana (5-2, 3-1) dominated both lines of scrimmage. While they moved the ball at will during an erratic opening 15 minutes, the Griz clamped down on UND backs John Santiago and Brady Oliveira, eliminating any chance the once formidable Hawks (2-5, 1-3) had of springing an upset in their last visit to Washington-Grizzly Stadium as a member of the Big Sky Conference.

“Our kids came out and really gave us great effort for the seventh straight week,” said Bob Stitt, who improved to 19-12 as Montana’s head coach. “… I thought that we dealt with all the things that the game had in it, especially offensively. We didn’t play very well in the first half with a lot of things that they did gave us a little bit of a problem early.

“We had some turnovers but it never fazed us and the defense gave us a chance to have a lead at halftime.”

The game, which was attended by Herschel Walker, a College Football Hall of Fame running back who spoke at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for Montana’s new facility and then acted as the team’s honorary captain, was never in question.

Despite two interceptions and a lost fumble, all attributed to UM redshirt freshman quarterback Gresch Jensen, the short handed Fighting Hawks couldn’t keep Montana from gashing them for big plays. By the time the Griz built a 17-3 lead with 6:22 left in the opening half, they had already struck for nine plays of 10 yards or more, four of which stretched further than 20.

Montana quarterback Gresch Jensen and head coach Bob Stitt

It was Jensen and his stable of receivers exploiting UND’s weakened secondary, or it was the freshman scrambling into gaping voids, or it was Montana’s two-headed backfield consistently gouging UND’s defensive line. Whichever the combination it worked to near perfection: Montana racked up a season high in yards (604) as Jensen put the finishing touches on his first 400-yard passing outing with a 29-yard scoring strike to junior Keenan Curran that put the Griz up 41-10 and sent a good portion of the maroon-clad faithful streaming for exits.

“It’s just those guys making plays,” Jensen said of his receivers, who combined for 23 catches, 441 yards and three scores. “I mean a lot of that is just dumping it off to receivers. I mean, Jerry (Louie-McGee) had that long one. The receivers were just making plays for me. That was awesome to see.”

Montana got onto the board first as a vanilla play that has become a staple in Stitt’s playbook showed its explosive capability. After completing two bubble-screens to fellow freshman Samori Toure that went for no more than 5 yards, Jensen sent another laser to his freshman receiver who did the rest, dodging a tackle along the sideline and then sprinting into the north end zone for a 31-yard score.

It appeared the points were going to come in a windfall from there, but even as Montana moved up and down the field, it found a way to create its own adversity. Jensen, who was intercepted on the Grizzlies’ first drive, was sacked and stripped of the ball midway through the first and then tossed another pick on the Grizzlies’ subsequent drive.

Montana redshirt freshman quarterback Gresch Jensen throws over the UND defense

“That was a little rough. I gotta do better protecting the ball,” said Jensen, who finished 22 of 35 for 423 yards and three touchdowns to go along with the early miscues. “Fourth down was just giving our guy a chance. But I have to protect the ball better.”

The turnovers temporarily stopped Montana, but North Dakota couldn’t do anything with the takeaways; all three drives ended in punts. Those results were indicative of UND’s struggles to do anything with the ball: By half, the Hawks had just three points on the board and were moving the ball at less than three yards per play.

The combination of junior running backs John Santiago and Brady Oliveria, both of whom entered Washington-Grizzly averaging better than 6 yards per rush, was held in check throughout. Only once did Santiago display the attributes that have shredded opposing defenses, but the 31-yard run was negated by a holding penalty. The two backs finished with a combined 24 carries that went for 67 yards. UND’s offense struggled to do much of anything with senior quarterback Keaton Studsrud out, one of 15 potential starters missing from North Dakota’s lineup.

“It was definitely a great week to be in the front seven,” Montana junior linebacker Josh Buss said at the end of a 14-tackle day. “It’s what you play football for here. … It was a fun day to be a defensive player, and more specifically a linebacker or D-lineman.”

Added Stitt, “I never really felt when I saw our defense play in the first series that there was no question we were going to win the ballgame. It was never in question. I’m very proud of how our defense came out. They were bound and determined to run the ball and they had a tough time doing that today.”

Montana junior running back Jeremy Calhoun flies through the air after a carry against UND

Though it protected a comfortable 20-3 halftime lead, Montana put the game out of reach with back-to-back drives in the third quarter that pushed its lead to 34-3.

Struggling to get a read on the various looks North Dakota was showing, Stitt and company made a halftime adjustment to simplify the playcalling and let Jensen decipher what was happening. He responded by hitting 9 of his 12 third-quarter attempts for 171 yards. Jensen completed three passes of at least 20 yards during the two possessions including a connection with Louie-McGee that started as a screen pass and ended 64 yards later.

Jensen capped that drive with a 15-yard touchdown run that put Montana ahead by 31.

Winners of its last three games, Montana now faces a week off before a trip to Utah to play Weber State.

“That was one of the goals I put forth for myself,” Jensen said. “Me personally I was like let’s go win this, let’s go 3-0, break it up into short increments going into the bye week. Let’s win the next two road games coming back home and finish it off strong.

Montana running back Alijah Lee looks for space against UND’s defense

“We have four more games after that and then the playoffs and that’s what we want.”

Photos by Brooks Nuanez. All Rights Reserved. 

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