Montana, quite literally, got in the zone for the second week in a row.
On Saturday at Northern Colorado, the Griz defense put a priority on playing zone coverage and letting their veteran secondary roam. The defensive adjustments made two weeks ago in a 31-20 win over Northern Arizona carried through UM’s bye week last week and allowed the Griz defense to take another step forward.
For the third game in a row against the Bears, Montana did not allow a point as the Grizzlies closed out October with their second straight win. The UM defense snared three interceptions and Keali’i Ah Yat got his first significant snaps since September as Montana shut out Northern Colorado for a 24-0 victory at Nottingham Field in Greeley on Saturday afternoon.
The win moves Montana to 3-1 in conference play and 6-2 overall entering November. Northern Colorado, which snapped an 18-game losing streak two weeks ago by beating Weber State 21-17 before sharing a bye week with the Griz, is now 1-3 in league, 1-7 overall.
Saturday also marked Bobby Hauck’s 150th career win, including his 135th at Montana.
“Shutting people out in modern-day college football is kind of a monumental accomplishment, and I was really pleased that we were able to do that,” Hauck said following the game. “I think our guys kind of embraced that in the fourth quarter. We played a lot of guys that hadn’t played a bunch the last couple of drives. They took it upon themselves to shut it off and I was happy for that.”
Montana closed September and opened October by giving up points in bushels. The Griz found a way to win in Cheney, Washington, for the first time since 2008 despite giving up seven touchdowns in a 52-49 win over Eastern Washington. The following week, Weber State scored 55 in Missoula — the most the Grizzlies have ever given up at Washington-Grizzly Stadium — and Montana lost at home for just the 12th time ever under Hauck, 55-48, in overtime.
The 104 points allowed in the first two games of Big Sky Conference play were particularly startling because last season, UM gave up a total of 116 points during league play on the way to its first league title in more than a decade.
After Weber State quarterback Richie Munoz shredded the Grizzlies to the tune of 346 yards passing and six passing touchdowns, Montana played less man coverage and blitzed less the week after against Northern Arizona. UM took advantage of NAU rolling into Washington-Grizzly Stadium for homecoming with its third-string quarterback P.J. Jordan, who struggled to adjust to the new zone concepts. Against the Lumberjacks, UM’s defense — outside a play Hauck deemed a “daffy duck trick play” — gave up just a pair of field goals to help boost the Griz to a bounce-back win.
That momentum continued Saturday as the Grizzlies shut out the Bears. Montana has now pitched shutouts against UNC three matchups in a row, beating the Bears by a total score of 99-0.
The last time Northern Colorado scored against Montana was in 2017.
“Just saying that you shut a team out in conference three straight times, that’s spectacular on defense. I thought our guys did a really nice job in the red zone in particular,” Hauck said. “We had some inefficiencies on offense, but we did a lot of good stuff too and could have stuck another one in there late. I was proud of our team, I thought we won in all three phases, and a good effort by the Grizzlies on the road.”
Coming off a bye and leading up to the final game of October, Griz seniors RyanTirrell, a linebacker, and Trevin Gradney, a cornerback, touched on the adjustments that boosted the confidence of UM’s defense after the rocky start.
“I thought we played very well against Northern Arizona,” Gradney said on Nuanez Now and the Big Sky Breakdown podcast earlier this week. “We were giving up points and other things we don’t characteristically do, giving up things out of our defensive identity. I’m not sure what clicked other than us continuing to play together and continuing to get to know each other and knowing what’s going to happen when things do happen.
“We also owed the offense a couple of drives because we put them in some tough spots earlier in the season, so we owed them.”
After giving up at least 35 points three weeks in a row, the front-line Griz defense has essentially allowed six points in two games. One of NAU’s touchdowns came on a fumble recovery that the Lumberjacks returned for the first touchdown of the game.
“NAU was great for our defense, certainly helped us pick up some motivation for future games and ensured to us what we knew we could do, but we just needed to do it,” Tirrell said on Nuanez Now and the Big Sky Breakdown podcast earlier this week. “We stick to our training and we don’t really change up a whole lot in most scenarios, but we did make some tweaks. Going up to NAU, we had a good week of practice, everyone was tuned in and then we executed well.”
Alex Gubner, the 2023 Big Sky Conference Defensive Player of the Year, anchored Montana’s defense for the four years prior to this one. His loss, along with the graduation of All-Big Sky linebackers Braxton Hill and Levi Janacaro (plus high-motor backup Tyler Flink) and of lockdown first-team all-conference cornerback Corbin Walker loomed large entering this off-season.
The Griz also had to replace all-conference safety Nash Fouch, along with multi-year contributors in nickelback Trajon Cotton and strong safety Garrett Graves.
That led to the acquisition of a slew of transfers, most from the FBS ranks — and most of whom were expected to start right away. That has come with its fair share of headaches, and the challenges were certainly not eased when defensive coordinator Ronnie Bradford left after last season for a position with the Miami Dolphins, giving way to Roger Cooper as the primary play-caller with Tim Hauck as his co-DC.
“Sadly, in this defense, there are some growing pains,” Tirrell quipped with a good-hearted chuckle. “Adding new guys is always a challenge. When you have new guys, there are growing pains and there are mistakes to be made, as there are for all of us. I make plenty of mistakes myself. It’s a hard defense. All the guys are stepping up and the guys who haven’t played a bunch are doing a good job. I’m super proud of them.”
On Saturday, a few veteran safeties plus a newcomer with high-level potential helped spearhead a turnover barrage for the Griz.
Jace Klucewich, a Frenchtown native who finished his high school career at Missoula Sentinel, is back from an ankle injury and snared his second interception of the season to get it started.
Caleb Otlewski, a 6-foot-4, 245-pound transfer from San Diego State who has clear potential as a redshirt freshman, notched his first takeaway as a Griz with a crucial interception inside the UM 10-yard line.
Montana turned neither turnover into points, but Otlewski’s pick helped preserve Montana’s shutout streak.
UM took a 14-0 lead to halftime with junior Logan Fife and Ah Yat, a redshirt freshman, splitting reps. After halftime, Montana turned a nice kick return by Xavier Harris into a field goal, then Jaxon Lee looked like the 8-man ballhawk that made him a Class C legend and a two-time state champion during his days roaming for Flint Creek when he chased down an overthrown ball by Kia’i Keone for UM’s third interception of the day.
“Generally speaking, our coverage was pretty good and the takeaways were awesome,” Hauck said. “The last one by Jaxon Lee, that was a heck of a play and I can’t wait to see the video on that.”
Montana then slammed the door on the Bears. The Griz turned that interception into a 16-play, 87-yard drive that ate up almost the entire rest of the third quarter, a total of 8:57 of game clock, for the final score by either side.
Ah Yat finished 14-of-22 for for 149 yards and two scores, including a touchdown pass to Ian Finch, a Missoula Hellgate product who found the end-zone for the first time in his career. Nick Ostmo rushed for 107 yards as UM ran for 198 and threw for 197 to keep Hauck undefeated (8-0) in his career against UNC.
“We just have to keep getting better every day, stay locked in and keep getting better day by day,” Ah Yat told Kyle Hansen of Scripps Sports.
The Grizzlies now prepare for another road trip as they head to San Luis Obispo, California, to face off against Cal Poly on Saturday, Nov. 2, at 3 p.m. MT.
“One of the major points of emphasis this week and even as late as this morning and last night was to play our best game in all three phases, and I think we did that,” Hauck said. “We will continue to improve and we want to be playing our best football in November, and I hope that’s the case.”
