Montana nearly died a death by 1,000 quick slants. But instead, Michael Wortham put on his Superman cape and the Grizzlies remain undefeated.
Despite the valiant effort from Idaho State junior gunslinger Jordan Cooke, the Griz are 5-0 and will stay in the Top 4 of the national rankings after Wortham’s virtuoso performance lifted Montana to a 42-38 win at the ICCU Dome on Saturday night in Pocatello.
Wortham, Montana’s do-everything slash, caught six passes for 124 yards. He rushed for 51 yards and two touchdowns. And he completed a pair of passes for 49 yards, including a 16-yard touchdown throw to Josh Gale. He had 214 yards of total offense and 247 all-purpose yards (passing yards don’t count toward AP) and should almost certainly win Big Sky Conference Offensive Player of the Week honors.
His version of the “Philly special” set up the go-ahead touchdown that he ran in out of the Wildcat to help the Griz remain unscathed.
“We are ready for it all,” Wortham said following the game. “We just have to keep doing what we do, doing what we do best and all we can do is worry about us. At the end of the day, we are going to get the job done.”
Wortham’s heroics helped Montana overcome the offensive onslaught orchestrated by Cooke and the Bengals’ high-flying offense. The junior from Santa Rose, California completed 33 of his 54 pass attempts for 421 yards and two touchdowns as ISU rolled up 28 first downs.
Cooke’s ability to get the ball out of his hands quickly combined with his wicked strong arm and the fact that Idaho State basically plays four wide receivers on every offensive snap caused headaches for the Griz defense all evening, particularly in the first half.
With stud sophomore corner Keon Loud on the shelf with an injury and stud junior linebacker Peyton Wing, Montana’s best coverage LB, suspended for the first half of the game because a questionable targeting call that led to his ejection between the third and fourth quarters of last week’s 41-30 UM win over Idaho, the Griz defense could not find its footing the first 30 minutes of action.
Midway through the second quarter, Wortham found Gale in the back of the end zone for a wide-open touchdown on a designed WR pass that gave Montana an 18-17 lead. But ISU answered with a commanding, efficient 75-yard drive capped by Julian Mason burning Prince Ford’s man coverage and scoring a 30-yard touchdown to give the hosts a 24-18 lead at halftime.
Cooke engineered another 75-yard drive out of the halftime locker room, a march sealed with Dasin Brooks’ three-yard touchdown plunged to put the Bengals up 31-18. But with Wing in the game, after halftime, the Griz defense shored up a bit even though Cooke stayed red-hot.
UM needed its offense to carry the evening, and it did. Montana responded as Wortham hauled in a 54-yard bomb from Keali’i Ah Yat, one of many big plays as the sophomore quarterback threw for a career-best 350 yards. That long bomb set up a pair of Eli Gillman receptions, including one he scored on from four yards out to cut the lead to 31-25.
Back and forth then went over the next 25 game minutes as Cooke kept dealing and Montana couldn’t get home. Despite Cooke’s 54 passing attempts, Montana had no sacks on Saturday, although freshman DeAnte Gentry did have his first career interception.
Cooke hit Tsion Nunnally for a 22-yard touchdown with 52 seconds left in the third quarter to give Idaho State a 38-28 lead. The Bengals did not score again.
Gillman entered the game as one of the leading rushers in the country. But Idaho State dedicated plenty of men to the box and also won at the point of attack most of the evening in bottling up the All-American. Gillman finished with 48 yards on 16 carries, but his 33-yard burst on the final play of the third quarter helped spark Montana’s final comeback charge.
Gillman scored from four yards out two plays later early in the 4th quarter to cut the ISU lead to 38-35.
After a few traded possessions, Montana took over near midfield trailing by three with 5:17 left. On the third play of the drive, UM ran a version of the Philly Special, which resulted in Wortham throwing a dart on the run to a streaking Ah Yat for a 33-yard gain.
UM ran the hurry-up right after the trickery and Wortham rushed the ball in out of the Wildcat from 9 yards out to give Montana its first lead since 10-7 late in the first quarter.
“The coaches gave me a great opportunity,” Wortham told Scripps Sports following the game. “Super thankful for them. I wanted to do anything I could to help my teammates get to their end goal and everybody’s end goal and at the end of the day, that’s a national championship.”
Montana brings a head of steam into its homecoming contest against Cal Poly next weekend after the comeback win. The Griz have won in comeback fashion twice in the last month thanks in large part to the meshing of an almost completely new roster featuring nearly 60 players who had never suited up for UM until this year.
That gelling plus Ah Yat’s continued emergence as one of the top quarterbacks in the league has helped mask a talented yet raw defensive unit that’s still finding its footing.
Montana’s next test comes in the form of upstart Cal Poly. The Mustangs drilled Sac State last week before taking UC Davis down to the wire in a 34-27 loss. Bo Kelly threw for 251 yards and two touchdowns for the Mustangs.
