Montana turned up the heat on “The Inferno” to earn one of the most pivotal victories of Bobby Kennedy’s young career leading the Griz.

For the first time since 2022, Montana lost consecutive games. And the 49-44 loss at Northern Arizona followed by the 42-35 home loss to Idaho not only pushed UM’s season to the brink. It also made history.

Never had the Grizzlies scored 35 or more points in consecutive games and lost both contests. So with that looming narrative hanging in the balance entering last week’s bye week, Montana had to find a different way to operate.

Kennedy, Montana’s unlikely yet affable head coach, talked for two straight weeks about “being angry” and also that his defense would make the changes to right the ship for a proud program that’s in the midst of a pivotal transition in its history.

Kennedy took over for Bobby Hauck, a Darth Vader-like figure who prioritized defensive ferocity, a one-for-all attitude and won more games than anyone in Big Sky Conference history. But Hauck’s system also had flaws.

So when the offensive-minded Kennedy took over, maintaining his offensive staff and his Holy Trinity of offensive stars — quarterback Keali’i Ah Yat, running back Eli Gillman and wide receiver Brooks Davis — expectations were high.

And when the Griz scored points in bunches but still couldn’t find victories, the noise became deafening.

Out of the bye, Montana looked reinvented. A high-pressure defense that rolled up a school-record 11 sacks was the perfect pairing for an offense that rolled up 489 yards, including 327 yards in the air.

Gillman broke a hallowed record, Davis set a career-high, Ah Yat continued to deal and Montana got its second win ever at “The Inferno” to keep its hopes for a playoff seed alive with a 42-33 win on Saturday afternoon.

“I’m just so proud of this team and this coaching staff because, when you look at the way we started, we were getting sacks and doing all these different things, playing with freshman corners and our sixth- and seventh-string safeties at times in the game,” Kennedy said. “I’m just proud of these guys because they love Montana and they believe in each other. I’m just so happy for these guys.”

Ah Yat threw for 327 yards and four touchdowns, extending his streak of 300-yard passing games to four straight. He’s the first Grizzly to do that since Drew Miller in 1999.

Gillman’s 68-yard touchdown run to open the fourth quarter helped the Griz get some breathing room, staking UM to an eight-point lead after EWU had cut the deficit to 28-27 entering the final frame.

And Davis continued to etch his name in Griz legend history. He took the first play of the game — a screen pass to the flats where he juked EWU All-American safety Jaylon Jenkins out of his shoes — for a 75-yard touchdown. Just before halftime, Ah Yat heaved a prayer to the end zone and somehow, Davis came up with the ball for a 51-yard TD to put the Griz up 21-13.

But his 61-yard catch-and-run with 1:54 left to give the Griz the final margin proved to be the nail in the coffin on a Halloween Saturday contest played on blood-red turf in Cheney.

“I’ll tell you what, I’ve not said this yet about Brooks Davis, and I mean it sincerely: I’ve had a lot of great receivers in my career, but he is going on my Mount Rushmore of receivers,” Kennedy said.

After Davis opened the high-scoring affair with the explosive TD, the much-maligned Griz defense also showed its explosive abilities with a sack by Nai Mose on EWU’s first offensive play of the game and four sacks on Eastern’s first possession, alone.

Eastern quarterback Nate Bell was able to help the Eagles’ offense convert three third and 15+ on the first drive, including a 3rd & 31, as Eastern still managed three points on the first possession.

But the Griz kept bringing the heat. Montana had four sacks in the first quarter, two in the second, three in the third and two in the fourth quarter to break the school record of 9.5 sacks set against Cal Poly in 2000.

Clay Oven, Tyler King and Peyton Wing all had two sacks as the Griz brought the heat in a performance reminiscent of when Kent Baer was the defensive coordinator for UM. Baer is a defensive analyst currently and Kennedy said he would have a bigger influence on Montana’s defensive attack.

The Griz also picked off Bell three times. Kade Boyd and Tanner Williams each had an interception, and Zekiel Seumalo’s pick on Eastern’s final possession sealed the win.

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“We decided that we were going to go all in, put all our chips in the middle of the table. Like I said, we didn’t talk about unforeseen circumstances on this defense. I have great belief in this defensive staff, and I knew that there were going to be some growing pains,” Kennedy said. “If I didn’t believe we were coaching the right way, if I thought that our schemes were flawed, then I would have had to get more involved. But I believe in these guys.”

The defensive adjustments certainly led the headlines, but so did the outstanding days by Gillman and Davis.

Gillman did the unthinkable and he did it in thrilling fashion, scoring three total touchdowns to give him 74 offensive TDs in his illustrious career. That helped him break the incomparable Cooper Kupp’s record for offensive touchdowns in a career. Kupp, who’s played more than a decade in the NFL and been a Super Bowl MVP after his record-annihilating career at EWU, scored 77 total touchdowns thanks to four kick/punt return TDs.

Gillman finished Saturday with 145 yards rushing, continuing to add to his Montana career record. His 21st career 100-yard game pushed him to 4,838 career rushing yards, passing Portland State’s Ryan Fuqua for fifth on the Big Sky Conference’s all-time rushing list. He also caught a TD.

Davis, who was a Freshman All-American last season, caught nine passes for 231 yards — the fifth-most receiving yards in a game in Grizzly history — including the three gash touchdowns. He went over 1,000 yards during his second big season for the Griz and his final touchdown helped Kennedy earn one of the biggest wins of his career.

Statistics aside, the win was one Montana needed desperately. Not only had the Inferno been a house of horrors for the Griz; but the last two weeks had been a nightmare.

But with a revamped defense and a customarily explosive offense, the Griz look like a contender again.

“Our expectations are really high at the University of Montana, and I will never back away from that, and neither will our team,” Kennedy said. “When we hold ourselves to a high standard and know that we’re in it together and we’re fighting together, then hopefully we come out with a win.”

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