It was a story of two halves for Montana because the Grizzlies rebounded from a scoring drought within the first half-hour to dominate the second and beat Cal Poly 28-9 in a come-from-behind vogue on a sunny and funky Saturday afternoon in Missoula.
Now on the midway level of the season, the win places the fourth-ranked Griz at 3-0 in Big Sky Conference play and 6-0 general for the primary time since 2009 because the Montana remained unbeaten.
After being shut out within the first half for the primary time since a 2019 loss at Oregon and trailing Cal Poly 9-0 on the break, Montana’s protection clamped down.
The Griz have been outgained 276 yards 146 within the first half however turned it round to pressure three second half turnovers and restricted the Mustangs to simply 60 whole yards, two full passes, and one first down within the second.
Montana had its possibilities to vary the projection of the sport within the first half, however an uncharacteristic turnover on downs in Mustang territory within the first quarter, an interception ultimately zone within the second and 4 punts stored the Griz off the scoreboard.
The second half was a special story. A 21-yard pick-six from cornerback
Kenzel Lawler early within the third quarter opened the flood gates for the Griz, with the defensive rating making it a two-point ballgame (9-7) and permitting the offense to get cooking.
Mr. all-purpose
Michael Wortham hauled in a deep fade from
Keali’i Ah Yat from 24 yards out for a vital landing that gave Montana its first lead of the day early within the fourth quarter at 14-9. Ah Yat completed the day with 257 yards passing and 18 extra speeding with a TD over the air and 121.7 QB score.
But nobody sparked the comeback extra for the Griz than
Eli Gillman. The junior operating again totaled 165 speeding and receiving yards and wore the Mustang protection down with a pair of speeding TDs within the fourth quarter to place the Griz up for good 28-9.
Meanwhile the protection picked of 4 whole passes – essentially the most within the Big Sky this season – and allowed lower than three yards per play within the second half because the Griz outscored the Mustangs 28-0 to run away with the win after the break.
“I told them in the locker room after the game, that’s what good football teams do. They find different ways to win,” mentioned head coach
Bobby Hauck.
“They win when they aren’t playing their best. All three phases contribute and we lean on each other, so if one side’s struggling, the other side will carry the load, and that’s what good teams do. So, we have a good team.”
With two of the most efficient offenses within the convention going at it, the primary quarter was a stunning defensive twin, with neither crew getting on the scoreboard and the Grizzlies scoreless within the interval for the primary time this season.
Following a defensive three-and-out to start out the sport, Montana acquired the ball rolling offensively with a ten play, 49-yard drive, however Gillman was stuffed on a fourth-and-short deep in Cal Poly territory and the Griz would flip it over on downs.
The Mustangs then mustered some offense however a sack from
Diezel Wilkinson adopted by the second profession interception for
Caleb Otlewski put the Griz again in enterprise at their very own 32 with simply over 5 minutes left within the interval. It would stay a stalemate the remainder of the way in which, nonetheless, with three consecutive punts.
Cal Poly opened the scoring early within the second interval when the Mustangs marched into Grizzly territory on a 33-yard connection between QB Ty Dieffenbach and all-league receiver Michael Briscoe to the UM 40. One play later Brooks Wheatley shook off a sort out from
Kade Boyd and rumbled 26 yards on the reception from Dieffenbach for the rating. The two level conversion try would fail for the Mustangs, nonetheless, protecting the scoreline 6-0 in favor of the guests.
Montana was then pressured to punt once more, however
Ty Morrison boomed a 49-yard punt to the three-yard line to pin the Mustangs deep in their very own territory organising a three-and-out. Montana’s subsequent drive began promising however once more resulted in a turnover with Ah Yat going deep for
Josh Gale ultimately zone however throwing off track for an interception for Mason Rivera.
Cal Poly would cap the half with a 27-yard discipline purpose from Noah Serna to taka 9-0 lead into the locker room at half time. That’s the place the Grizzly turnaround began.
“You’d be shocked at how calm, how academic, it was in the locker room at halftime. It was nothing. It was like, all right, here’s the yardage goals. Here’s what they got. Here’s what we’ve got. Here’s where we’ve got to fix things,” mentioned Hauck.
“We’ve got to make some plays. We’ve got to quit goofing things up and looking like we are not tuned in to what’s going on. So, we got all that shored up, and it was great.”
Montana lastly had the breakthrough it was searching for early within the third quarter when Lawler picked off his first profession move as a Grizzly, leaping a Dieffenbach move on the Cal Poly 20 and returning it for UM’s first rating of the day to make a 7-9 ballgame.
After one other defensive cease the Grizzly offense once more picked up some momentum however once more a turnover halted their progress. Freshman receiver
Lekeldrick Bridges fumbled a pitch from Ah Yat on a reverse, and it was recovered by Cal Poly in UM territory.
Montana acquired again to work on the next drive. Ah Yat transformed a 3rd and lengthy with a 44-yard connection to
Stevie Rocker Jr. throughout the center to place the Griz throughout the 50.
UM took it is first lead of the sport not lengthy after when Ah Yat related with Wortham for a 24-yard strike that put the Griz up 14-9 early within the fourth quarter and it was all Grizzlies from then on after UM imposed its will with a 14-play, 96 yard drive – the longes to of the season.
Gillman paced the Griz to 103 fourth quarter speeding yards and a pair of touchdowns that put the nail within the Cal Poly coffin.
With Montana main withy 11 minutes left to play the Griz acquired the ball on the 50-yard line after a shanked punt. Three carries later by Gillman Motana was on the board once more, speeding in from 17 yards out to place UM up 21-9.
Another lengthy drive of 14 performs and 75 yards sealed the win as Gillman punched it in from 13 yards out to make it 28-9 with underneath two minutes to play.
“College football is just wild. Last week we’re going, okay, we gave up 24 points in the first half at Idaho State, and people think the defense is broken. What are we going to do? And then today it was the exact other side of the coin. The offense is broken. The defense is holding these guys down, they can’t score, then it’s 28-0 in the second half. The Griz win, and we’re 6-0.”
Montana returns house for the ultimate nonconference recreation of the season subsequent week, taking up a Sacred Heart crew out of Connecticut that involves Missoula for the primary time ever at 5-2 on the season. Kickoff is about for 1 p.m. at Washington-Grizzly Stadium.