It is generally a game you see played between children trying to solve trivial matters, but if the Mark Twain quote “humor is the good natured side of truth” is to be believed, you might catch Montana quarterbacks Chad Chalich and Brady Gustafson playing rock-paper-scissors prior to Saturday’s game to determine which will start.
“The plan is get them both ready to go and probably rock, paper, scissors right before the game,” Montana head coach Bob Stitt joked during Monday’s weekly news conference.
That hyperbolic response comes on the heels of Chalich’s school record-setting performance during the Grizzlies’ 62-44 win over Idaho State on Saturday night. Chalich set records with seven passing touchdowns and eight total touchdowns as he added a 1-yard rushing score in the third quarter of the win. Chalich earned Big Sky Conference Offensive Player of the Week honors Monday for the effort.
Chalich was given the starting nod in favor of Gustafson after the latter was roughed up during Montana’s loss at Eastern Washington. Leading up to the game against the Bengals, Stitt said Chalich was given the No. 1 reps on Tuesday and Wednesday before the staff gave Gustafson a chance to throw on Thursday. Gustafson was still feeling enough discomfort that the decision was made to go with Chalich.
Chalich guided the Grizzlies to their third game of at least 60 points this season, leading them on nine touchdown drives in the 13 he helmed. Chalich completed 21 of his 27 passes for 388 yards and rushed for another 52. The transfer from Idaho routinely scrambled out of pressure to either keep plays or drives alive.
“Really proud of the way Chad came out and ran the offense,” Stitt said Monday two days after he vowed that there was no quarterback controversy. “He’s a guy who prepares like he’s the starter every single week and it showed when he got his opportunity.”
No injury update was given on Gustafson, though multiple sources confirmed that he has a contusion on his chest and throwing shoulder. Despite the injury and Chalich’s performance, Stitt maintained that Gustafson would be Montana’s starting quarterback when he was ready to play.
“We got to get Brady back healthy. When he is then he’ll be back in there,” Stitt said Saturday night.
Among those losses are defeats at Northern Arizona and Eastern Washington that dropped Montana down the national polls and put them on the brink of playoff elimination. That’s a reality that hasn’t been lost on the team.
“We all understand we’ve dropped some games and we can’t drop another one or our season is likely over,” senior defensive end Ryan Johnson said Monday.
Johnson is among the senior block that Stitt is calling upon to help energize the team away from the friendly confines of Washington-Grizzly Stadium, where the Griz have not lost a game since October 2015.
Earlier this year that Stitt was critical of his team’s energy on the road where crowds are much smaller than the ones that show up at WSG. Saturday’s crowd at Northern Colorado’s Nottingham Field is not likely to offer much reprieve. The Bears have averaged just 4,837 fans and total just 19,349, which is 5,000 less than the smallest single-game turnout in Missoula this season.
“We need this game and we need to keep things going to get some confidence going into the next week,” Stitt said. “It’s just a huge challenge for our team and for our upper classmen to get us ready to go.”
Despite the defeat in Cheney, Stitt said there was noticeable improvement in focus and energy. And for the second straight week Montana corrected an issue by making numerous plays that either continued drives or added points to the scoreboard in the win over Idaho State.
Montana first got on the board following a fumble recovery moments into the game that set up a 9-yard touchdown from Chalich to Keenan Curran. Curran was on the receiving end of three other touchdowns, tying a school record, and was on the field as freshman receivers Justin Calhoun and Jerry Louie-McGee added scores of at least 16 yards.
“I think the Eastern Washington game and this last game were exactly the same. The difference is you go make plays,” Stitt said. “There were some phenomenal, phenomenal catches and Chad did a great job of when we had situations to go after ’em he got us into good plays and he put the ball up in a way that the kids could make plays.”
Montana’s second touchdown was a long pass down the home team’s sideline that Calhoun went up for up, snared and then kept his feet for a 61-yard score. Calhoun got another in the second quarter when somehow kept a foot in for a 16-yard touchdown and Louie-McGee ran uncovered down the seam for a 52-yard score later in the quarter that put Montana back in the lead.
“It was awesome to see and we want them to keep moving forward,” Stitt said. “You saw some guys make plays. Now, will they make them on the road. It’s awesome to make them in front of our crowd, but can you make it in front of a crowd on the road?”
[/restrict]
Photos by Jason Bacaj. All Right Reserved.
