MISSOULA — The Montana football team swished in touchdown after touchdown as it put up a basketball-like point total against Indiana State, a school perhaps most well known for producing hardwood icon Larry Bird.
The fifth-ranked Grizzlies soared high as they flew to a 63-20 blowout win over the Sycamores (2-2) on Saturday at Washington-Grizzly Stadium. It was their most points scored since a 63-7 win over Eastern Washington in 2022 as they set multiple season highs on offense and defense in improving to 3-0.
It was just the get-right game they needed after they had showed they still had lots of room to improve last week even as they rallied for a 24-23 win over North Dakota in a top-25 matchup. The victory sets up what should be a top-10 game against Idaho in their Big Sky Conference opener Saturday.
“We’re still in September and everybody’s team is trying to kind of figure out exactly who they are and different things they can lean on and how balanced, how versatile they can be in all three phases,” Montana head coach Bobby Hauck said.
“I think for us, the big thing (Saturday), the big emphasis this week was execution and to play better than we did in any of the first two games. I think we did that.”
Here are three takeaways from the game:
Most complete game
Montana looked destined for yet another slow start when it punted on its first two possessions, including a three-and-out to start the game. The Griz altered that trajectory quickly as they scored a touchdown on their next three drives.
Add a defensive score and one more offensive touchdown, and they ballooned their lead to 35-7 by halftime. Four consecutive scores to start the second half helped them build their lead as big at 50 points, 63-13, in the fourth quarter.
It was the Grizzlies’ most complete outing and something they needed after being outscored 33-28 in the first halves of their opening two games. They’ve now outscored teams 61-40 in the first half and 66-20 in the second half.
“I thought we were ready to roll (Saturday),” Hauck said. “I told them before the game I liked their preparation, I liked their temperament, I thought they were ready to go. I told them I thought we were prepared to play our best game so far this season. I think we did.”
Montana’s quick start offensively came behind junior running back Eli Gillman, who ran for 120 yards and three touchdowns on just 13 carries. He now has 400 yards and six scores on 44 carries (9.1 yards per carry) in three games.
He ran for 88 yards and two touchdowns in the first quarter as he surpassed his previous week’s total of 82 yards on 16 carries. He looked more like he did in the opener, when he went for 198 yards and three scores on 15 attempts.
“I think anybody in the country would like to have him,” Indiana State coach Curt Mallory said. “He’s darn good. He’s going to cause a lot of people fits. He can make you miss. He can run over you. He’s got breakaway speed. He’s a really good back.”
The Griz put up 647 yards of offense, gained 33 first downs and went 9 of 15 on third downs — all season bests — even while still rotating Dillon Botner and Cade Klimczak at center and playing backups throughout the second half.
Montana’s fast start was also aided by not turning the ball over. In the first two games, the Griz were intercepted three times in the first half. For the first time this season, they didn’t commit any turnovers in the entire game.
It was also the first time they won the turnover battle after having a negative-one margin in their first two games. They ended at plus-two and converted both of the turnovers they gained into 14 total points, seven in each half.
“We’re just all on the same page,” Montana tight end Josh Gale said of the offense. “There’s still some stuff we could clean up and fix. But once we are all on the same page, you can really see us just move down the field.”
The defense kept gelling and gave up just seven first-half points after allowing 17 and 16 in the opening 30 minutes the previous two weeks. There was not much letdown after the break until ISU scored 13 points in garbage time.
The Griz ended up allowing 387 yards, but they had held ISU to 216 yards through the first third quarters. With some backups in, the Syacmores put up 171 yards and touchdown runs of 55 and 79 yards in the fourth quarter.
Montana also had season lows with three accepted penalties and 18 penalty yards. The Griz were called for one delay of game on offense, one offside on defense and one holding on a punt return.
Finding comfortable middle
Montana quarterback Keali’i Ah Yat has continued to show his growth game after game this season. He ended up posting a career high in passing yards for the fourth game in a row dating back to last year’s finale.
He threw for 313 yards this time, eclipsing his 300-yard outing last week against North Dakota. He could’ve kept inflating that number but was pulled midway through the third quarter with the outcome clearly in hand for UM.
Not only was it a career high in passing yards, but he threw two touchdowns without committing a turnover. That’s compared to having been picked off six times over his previous three outings while throwing six touchdowns.
He showed how efficient he was by completing 81.5 percent of his pass attempts as he finished 22-of-27 passing. That is a career-best completion percentage in a game in which he attempted 12 or more passes.
“I thought that he read the defense better,” Hauck said. “I just see that coming with him. I was pretty fired up with the way he played.”
Ah Yat and the Griz offense had an explosion in the passing game over the middle of the field. He completed all six of his pass attempts over the middle for a total of 150 yards as he spread those completions to four players.
Last week against MVFC foe North Dakota, he was 7-of-10 passing over the middle for 66 yards. In that mix was a 24-yard touchdown pass to Brooks Davis and one interception on a pass that went off his receiver’s hands.
In the opener against NCAA Division II Central Washington, he was 2-of-6 passing over the middle for 11 yards, two interceptions, an incompletion that was nearly a pick-6 and one pass batted down at the line of scrimmage.
Against Indiana State, he found receiver Michael Wortham over the middle for a 26-yard gain on third-and-11 and for 26 yards on a catch-and-run on a first down. He hit tight end Josh Gale for 16 yards on third-and-11 and 12 yards on a first down.
“Just stuff we were working on all week,” Gale said. “A lot of the stuff we said is if they ever decide to vacate the middle, just turn and he’ll find me. I talked to him a couple times before the drive that ‘hey if they vacate again, I’ll have my eyes around, I’ll be right there.’ We had communicated every single drive and that’s how it ended up.”
In the second half, Ah Yat connected with receiver Drew Deck for 8 yards over the middle on third-and-5. On the next play, he hit receiver Jordan Dever for a 62-yard score that included 43 yards after the catch, the first career score for Dever.
For the first time this season, Ah Yat wasn’t sacked. He had only one carry, which came on a quarterback keeper for a 14-yard touchdown, but he did escape the pocket on occasion and made plays with his arm on the move.
“Really thought he made really good decisions,” Mallory said, adding: “He’s got great mobility. He’s got great patience. … I think that’s where he’s as dangerous as anything is when he gets out of the pocket. He’s not necessarily going to run it. He’s still looking down the field to throw it. And he made some plays doing that (Saturday).”
Montana’s offense is showing it has weapons all over the place at the offensive skill positions even though it took a hit in the game. Receiver Blake Bohannon went down with an injury in the second quarter and didn’t return to the game.
Defense discovers disruptiveness
The Griz went into Saturday having recorded one sack and eight tackles for loss through their first two games. They then piled up seven TFLs and three sacks against ISU as they discovered their defensive disruptiveness.
Linebacker Solomon Tuliaupupu had the highlight with his first career forced fumble on a strip sack of quarterback Keegan Patterson. The ball rolled toward the end zone and safety TJ Rausch pounced on it for his first career score.
Tuliapupu had that one sack while linebackers Peyton Wing and Elijawah Tolbert as well as defensive ends Hunter Peck and Hayden Schwartz each had half a sack. Tuliaupupu’s big day also included the team’s lone pass breakup.
“They bring pressure from a lot of different ways,” Mallory said. “We knew that going in that our protection was going to have to hold up, not only with our offensive line but our backfield. There were some one-on-one blocks and they beat us, plain and simple.”
Tuliaupupu’s 1.5 tackles for loss also led the team. Linebacker Cy Stevenson and nose tackle Braydon Bailey both had one TFL. The following players each had half a TFL: Tolbert, Wing, Peck, Schwartz, defensive end Kellen Detrick, cornerback Kenzel Lawler and safety Micah Harper.
Wing came up with an interception for the second straight week as he dropped into coverage and picked off Patterson on an intermediate pass to the left. Last week, he snagged the ball after Kade Boyd hit the quarterback’s arm.
“He’s a fun guy to play with,” Tuliaupupu said. “He’s on top of everything. He’s always there to push you when you need to be pushed. He’s always the type to want you to push him back. It’s awesome to play next to someone like that who really has his love for the game but is also a good guy.”
The Griz held Patterson to 15-of-27 passing for 189 yards with one touchdown and one interception. He was making his second start after Jerry Rice Award finalist Elijah Owens, a true dual-threat QB, got injured two weeks ago.
Patterson’s “courage” to hold onto the ball helped Montana get to him more often than it did the previous week against North Dakota, Hauck said. He ran only three times, not counting the sacks, and two were designed QB keepers.
Next week, it’s back to facing a dual-threat quarterback for the third time in four weeks in Idaho’s Joshua Wood. It’ll be the conference opener for the Griz, and it might not be as easy of a layup as the victory over Indiana State.
“We didn’t all of a sudden get experienced,” Hauck said of his new-look team. “This is an inexperienced football team and we’ve got to continue to improve. If we do that, we’ll be a hard team to beat. That doesn’t mean we can’t be beat, but we’ll be a hard team to beat.”
Frank Gogola is the Senior Sports Reporter at the Missoulian and 406 MT Sports. Follow him on X @FrankGogola or email him at frank.gogola@406mtsports.com.
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