Game Recap

Griz prevail over Southern Utah on spooky Saturday in the Zoo

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At the end of October, cultures around the world believe, the souls of the dead return to the world. If that’s true, then it’s clear that the spirits gathering at Washington-Grizzly Stadium on Saturday were mischievous ones.

Their puckish influence was all over the game: in the four turnovers committed by Montana, in the penalties and frustration and review replays that had the Griz on the verge of a staggering loss. And, finally, when their fun had been had, in the hand of Griz linebacker Marcus Welnel, who reached up to block Noah Alejado’s field goal with just over three minutes left, order was restored. Somehow, in the ugliest of Halloween eve games, the Grizzlies escaped with a 20-19 victory over one-win Southern Utah.

“I’ve never been around a game like that,” Bobby Hauck said. “And certainly never been around a game where you have that many things go against you and actually win the game. … We had no control of anything.”

Montana entered as a four-touchdown favorite against the Thunderbirds, who, in their final year in the Big Sky Conference before leaving for the WAC, fell to 0-6 in league play and 1-8 overall with the loss.

The Grizzlies left as one-point winners after a sloppy, undisciplined performance that included two quarterbacks, three lost fumbles and five defensive offsides among their 12 total penalties, which cost them a total of 125 yards. Montana was flagged a total of 18 times with Southern Utah using at least three “free plays” to gain chunks of yardage, including a 60-yard touchdown after an off-sides penalty that helped SUU take a lead to the locker room at halftime.

Attributing the weirdness to supernatural influence, although fun, glosses over the impact of Southern Utah’s game plan. T-Birds’ head coach Demario Warren admitted his team was at a talent disadvantage and specifically schemed to control the clock and minimize the possessions for both teams.

It very nearly worked. Montana had just five offensive drives in the first half and scored on just one (a 21-yard field goal by Kevin Macias). The Griz offense lost fumbles on back-to-back drives, including once when the shotgun snap hit wide receiver Malik Flowers, running through the backfield on a pre-snap jet motion, bouncing right to SUU’s Aubrey Nellems.

“That play probably was us today in a nutshell,” Hauck said. “I mean, that was wild. We’re a little late going  into motion, the snap hits him. I’ve seen it. I don’t think we’ve done it, but I’ve seen it. It was just, it wasn’t very good by us today in some regards and that play epitomizes that.”

A few plays after that miscue, SUU wide receiver Ethan Bolingbroke threw a duck on a wide receiver reverse pass attempt that at least four Griz could’ve intercepted. Instead, collision causes safety Nash Fouch to drop what seemed like a sure pick and helped the Thunderbirds maintain possession on the series right after SUU’s first takeaway. The visitors eventually turned the dropped pick into a field goal, foreshadowing how much Montana would struggle to find a stroke of luck all afternoon.

Montana junior defensive back Justin Ford dives for a touchdown after intercepting his sixth pass of the season/ by UM athletics

The Griz trailed by six points at the break only because Justin Ford picked off a bobbled pass from Southern Utah quarterback Justin Miller in the second quarter and returned it 26 yards down the right sideline for a touchdown, punctuating the play by soaring over the pylon like LeBron throwing down a tomahawk dunk.

It was Ford’s sixth straight game with an interception.

“When I caught it, the quarterback kind of had an angle on it, so I knew I had to tempo him, give him a move or whatever,” said Ford. “And then once I made him miss, the O-lineman (in front of me) was like 6-5 or something like that, so I just assumed I was gonna have to get in front of him to get in the end zone (and) I just jumped to make sure I got it.”

Southern Utah still led 16-10 at halftime after the Thunderbirds took advantage of an onslaught of calamities by Montana. SUU opened the scoring with a field goal late in the first quarter on the drive where two Montana players collided with each other, dropping a sure pick on a wide receiver trick pass, and the Griz jumped offside twice on fourth downs.

The penalties became a theme, as did Montana’s turnovers. On the first play of the second quarter, UM senior quarterback Cam Humphrey — into action for the first time since getting knocked out of the game late in fourth quarter of a 34-28 loss at Eastern Washington on October 2 — was sacked and fumbled, gifting Southern Utah a 47-yard short field that the T-Birds turned into a 2-yard rushing touchdown by Isaiah Williams and a 9-0 lead after Alejado missed the extra point.

Humphrey, Montana’s starting quarterback to begin the season, replaced Kris Brown after two fruitless drives for the Griz, which Hauck said in the postgame press conference was the plan going into the game.

Humphrey went on to play the rest of the first half before getting hurt on Montana’s final offensive play of the second quarter. He was visibly limping as he left the field. He didn’t return because of what Hauck said were “health reasons”, with Brown playing the entire second half.

Ford’s pick-six gave Montana a 10-9 lead late in the second quarter, but Southern Utah answered on the very next drive when another Montana defensive lineman jumped offside. With a free play, Miller hung the ball up the left sideline to Brandon Schenks, who made the catch and stayed inbounds by a whisker for a 60-yard touchdown that was confirmed only after a lengthy replay review.

By that point, a spotty but still rambunctious crowd at Washington-Grizzly Stadium of 22,587 was hurling invective at the refs, the Southern Utah sideline, the Montana offense and anything else that caught its eye, and things didn’t get any less frustrating in the second half.

Montana freshman tight end Cole Grossman finished with four catches for 66 yards on Saturday/ by UM Athletics

A hold and an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Griz senior Conlan Beaver on the same play midway through the third quarter backed Montana into a second and 27, causing the preseason all-conference left tackle to be yanked from the game in favor of freshman Brandon Casey for a few plays.

Brown converted the yardage on the next play with a 30-yard strike on a seam route to tight end fellow redshirt freshman Cole Grossman, and capped that drive with a 24-scoring toss to Grossman on a similar pattern over the middle of the field for Grossman’s second touchdown this season.

The Grizzlies committed another double penalty on Southern Utah’s next drive when a defensive holding call on Ford was compounded by an after-the-play unsportsmanlike conduct on Robby Hauck. Alejado capped the 13-play, 70-yard drive with a 23-yard chip shot field goal to put SUU back ahead 19-17 with 7:18 to go in the third quarter.

The Griz then grinded out a 13-play drive of their own that ended with a 30-yard field goal by Macias and a 20-19 lead with 11:38 to go. Neither team would score again, but there was plenty of drama left.

Two plays after an SUU punt, freshman T-Birds defensive back Kobe Singleton dove in front of Mitch Roberts to pick off an ill-advised slant pass by Brown and set up the visitors at the Montana 47. Brown took a big shot from a pass rusher on the throw.

The Griz defense forced a turnover on downs, but was called into action again five plays later when freshman Griz running back Junior Bergen — the Billings Senior product finished with 84 yards on 24 carries — fumbled at the Southern Utah 18, the Thunderbirds recovered, and the play was upheld by another excruciating replay review.

This time, Southern Utah took advantage. Or maybe the hobgoblins, at this point gathering invisibly in the thousands on the eaves of the stadium, drawn from miles around by the sheer concentrated devilry, decided to have a little bit more fun. Or maybe the Griz are struggling to try to live up to the expectations set by a 13-7 win over Washington in its season-opener.

Montana committed four penalties in six plays, including another offside that yielded a 21-yard completion to Lance Lawson on a free play and a pass interference on Omar Hicks Onu that moved the Thunderbirds to the UM 19.

Montana freshman running back Junior Bergen rushed for 84 yards on 24 carries against Southern Utah/ by UM Athletics.

Three plays later, Alejado was lining up for a field goal that would have given SUU a two-point lead and Montana just three minutes to answer.

On the snap, Hicks Onu crashed around the edge of the line and may have gotten a piece of the ball himself. Welnel, in the middle of the line, definitely did.

“I just said, go hard,” Welnel said. “I looked at Jace (Lewis) too, and we all just went. Jace actually pushed me in the back into the ball, so I’ve got to give Jace some credit too. It was pretty nice.”

Quaid Murray made the futile recovery for Southern Utah, but the spell was snapped.

The Griz picked up two easy first downs and knelt the clock out. The horn sounded. The spirits dispersed. Montana, looking shakier and shakier every week, marched on.

“We kind of know this already, but winning’s hard,” Ford said. “So at the end of the day, if that’s the end goal … if we get that done by one point, two points, seven points, 50 — as long as we win the game, I feel like the job is done.”

Photos courtesy of Griz athletics. All Rights Reserved.

About Andrew Houghton

Andrew Houghton grew up in Washington, DC. He graduated from the University of Montana journalism school in December 2015 and spent time working on the sports desk at the Daily Tribune News in Cartersville, Georgia, before moving back to Missoula and becoming a part of Skyline Sports in early 2018.

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