MISSOULA — The scenarios mirror each other in striking fashion.
Last season, Montana jolted out to a 5-1 start before a poor first-half performance on the road sparked a second-half tumble that left the Grizzlies outside of the playoff picture. UM’s 45-34 loss at Northern Arizona was the first of four losses in the final five games as a team once ranked in the Top 10 of the FCS experienced a free fall unfamiliar for a program draped in tradition.
In 2016, the Griz posted a 62-44 win at Idaho State to move to 6-3 before taking on Northern Colorado with the rivalry showdown against Montana State looming two weeks later. UM lost 28-25 at UNC before stamping the disappointing ending with a 24-17 loss to MSU at home to finish 6-5.
This season’s version of the Griz jolted to a 5-2 start, the losses at FBS No. 9 Washington and at home in their Big Sky Conference home opener against No. 11 Eastern Washington, 48-41. UM won three straight to move to 5-2 before a dismal first half doomed the Grizzlies in a 41-27 loss at No. 22 Weber State two weeks ago.
Like last season, the Griz rallied for a big win at home, this time toppling No. 9 Northern Arizona 17-15 despite using senior Makena Simis, UM’s starting H receiver and essentially its fourth-string quarterback, under center. Montana again faces a two-game stretch identical to last season aside from the locations of the games. The Griz host Northern Colorado for their home finale on Saturday before going to Bozeman for the rivalry game on November 18.
[restrict paid=”true”]“The whole team, everyone thinks about last year and how the season ended,” UM sophomore wide receiver Jerry Louie-McGee said during Montana’s weekly press conference on Monday. “We are going to go into this game like any other game, full speed and we are not going to overlook them. We are going to go into it our best and prepare. We are going to play with a little chip on our shoulder because we know what happened last year. We are ready to go.”
Montana’s players have not shied away from talking about the discontentment with the ending of last season. Coming out of the Weber State loss — a game that saw the visitors turn the ball over five times and dig themselves a 31-0 hole midway through the second quarter — UM senior right tackle Mike Ralston gave an unsolicited monologue about last season’s collapse and the parallels with this season.
“The Weber State game reminded me a lot of the game last year when we traveled down to NAU,” Ralston said at UM’s press conference two weeks ago. “We had a lot of momentum going into that game. I think we were 5-1 going down to NAU. Same sort of setup this year, we got off to a good start, our only FCS loss being to Eastern. We go to Weber State and we stink it up in the first half and end up losing the game.
“The seniors after the game, we got together and essentially said this game right here is our NAU game from last year. You know what happened on the tail end of last year after that NAU game. Our backs are against the wall in a sense where we have to handle what happened last year and apply it to this year, come out strong against NAU and keep that good momentum going from the first half of the season and continuing on through.”
Players and coaches alike customarily deflect the notion of categorizing contests as trap games. But the home finale against Northern Colorado would fit the definition considering the Bobcats loom on the horizon. Yet Montana third-year head coach Bob Stitt said his team is well aware of what the next two weeks hold.
“No. 1, I’ve been looking ahead since November of last year for that one next week,” Stitt said in reference to his third rivalry showdown, a game in which he is 1-1 thus far in his short career. “That’s never out of our minds. We talk about it every single day. We aren’t going to get trapped because we talk about it every single day. I remind them every day when the game against the ‘Cats is. We have a little payback for this game from last year. Last week, we got some and we plan to get it this week with this team.”
Saturday in Missoula marks the second of what will be three straight weeks in which Montana can earn revenge for one of its losses last season. In UM’s game in Greeley in 2016, Hakeem Deggs scored a 58-yard touchdown on the fourth play of the game to stake the Bears to an early 7-0 lead.
Less than two minutes later, Mikail Dubose blocked a Eric Williams punt, scooped it up and cruised 13 yards for a touchdown. Montana trailed by two scores before the game was three minutes old.
Montana cut the lead to 14-12 at halftime but Darius Graham’s 38-yard touchdown gave UNC a nine-point lead entering the final frame. UM’s first fourth-quarter drive ended in Joey Counts’ second touchdown run and cut the advantage to 21-19. Chad Chalich’s touchdown run with 7:18 left gave Montana its first lead, 25-21.
Three straight chunk plays of at least 14 yards helped spark UNC’s 75-yard touchdown drive. Kyle Sloter, now a backup quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings, found Theron Verna from five yards out for what proved to be the game-winning score with 3:35 left. Northern Colorado held on from there, the 28-25 victory UNC’s first since 1978 over the Griz.
“Last year, this was a very difficult game to go through,” Stitt said “Last year, our players went through some disappointment with this game. We are going to play great football on Saturday because No. 1, our team loves playing the game of football and they love doing it together. We will play our tails off then we will get to that one next week because we are really looking forward to that.”
The Griz will be bolstered Saturday by the return of senior safety Justin Strong and redshirt freshman quarterback Gresch Jensen. Strong has missed the last two games via suspension after a run in with the law during Montana’s bye week. Jensen missed last weekend’s game against NAU due to a concussion suffered late in the Weber State game.
Two wins down the stretch will put Montana at 8-3 and presumably hard to leave out of the FCS playoffs. But the Big Sky will likely only get three teams into the 24-team playoff field. And Montana is likely behind Weber State and Southern Utah for those berths. UM will have an advantage if it and NAU both finished 8-3 because of the head-to-head but NAU’s non-conference win over then-No. 7 Illnois State could outweigh Montana’s mediocre non-conference schedule.
Regardless of any potential tiebreakers or playoff scenarios, Montana knows it must avoid the collapse of last season to play beyond Cat-Griz into Thanksgiving weekend.
“We have to earn some respect nationally with the way we perform,” UM defensive coordinator Jason Semore said before Wednesday’s practice. “Consistency has been an issue with this football team. That’s not a surprise to anybody. At times, we have looked like a really, really good football team. Other times, you go to Weber State and you look like crap. That’s the biggest thing as a football team.
“We want to be a good football team but we have to show everybody that we are a consistently a good football team to get into the playoffs. There’s a lot of guys on this team that felt horrible last year after losing to Northern Colorado. UNC can beat you just like anybody in the Big Sky. They have good players. I don’t think that’s going to be an issue for our guys. They know they have a challenge ahead of them and we know we are still playing for something.”
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