So much of what escaped the Montana Grizzlies over the first two weekends of Big Sky Conference play reemerged on Saturday in Davis, California.
The Griz showed rhythm within simplicity offensively as quarterback Clifton McDowell had a career day. Montana’s offense utilized its elite offensive talent as McDowell hooked up with Aaron Fontes for a pair of scores and Keelan White for another long touchdown strike, all set up by a creative adjustment to implement more screen passes in the offensive attack. Those quick strikes also set up Eli Gilman’s game-sealing touchdown run late.
And the Griz defense tackled exceptionally in space, lowering the boom in one on one situations on multiple occasions and broke up eight of Miles Hastings’ 46 pass attempts.
All of it culminated in a crucial 31-23 win at No. 20 UC Davis that Montana had to have. The Griz went on the road and beat a ranked opponent with a winning record for the first time since beating No. 20 Washington to open the 2021 season.
It remains to be seen if Davis finishes with a winning record — the Griz haven’t beaten a team that finished with a winning record on the road since defeating Montana State in Bozeman in 2013 — but the UM victory was a crucial one nonetheless. It also moved Montana to 2-1 in Big Sky play and solidified UM’s place in the Top 15 in the FCS.
“Any time you can go on the road against a really good team and get a win, it’s huge,” Montana senior linebacker Braxton Hill said after continuing to add to his all-conference campaign with a 10-tackle effort to pace the Griz defense. “Going on the road, it’s just the team and you and we took that to heart tonight and played for one another.”
Although Montana entered the game with a 4-1 record and a No. 17 national ranking, many question marks swirled around the Griz. UM’s two-quarterback system hadn’t allowed McDowell or sophomore Sam Vidlak to establish any rhythm or harmony with the rest of the offense. The offensive line has struggled, particularly protecting the passer. The offense looked mediocre in a 28-20 win over Idaho State and haplessly over-matched in a 28-14 loss at Northern Arizona the week before.
But last week, Hauck and his staff decided to go exclusively with its senior, naming McDowell the starter and leaning into the offensive elements in new offensive coordinator Brent Pease’s that best suit McDowell’s abilities.
“To get 31 points was good and certainly good enough to win tonight,” Hauck said. “I thought we had some good drives and I thought we threw the ball well. I thought our receivers were getting open and winning in the man coverage, which is the best its been this year.”
This week, the accentuation of McDowell’s skills within the Griz offense took a big step. McDowell threw a 21-yard touchdown strike to a wide-open Keelan White to give UM an early 7-0 lead 10 minutes into the game. McDowell’s first touchdown strike to Fontes came after breaking multiple tackles, emerging from the scrum, rolling to his right and throwing a dart that Fontes dove to catch. Fontes’ extra effort also included tipping the ball up before it landed in his hands for a 14-yard score that put Montana up 14-13 with 5:41 left in the first half.
Then right before halftime, McDowell rifled a fast ball in between two Davis defensive backs and hit a streaking Fontes in stride for a 41-yard yard catch and run touchdown to give UM a 21-20 lead with 1:12 before halftime.
“NAU was a rough one so winning this one means a lot to this team,” Fontes said after finishing with five catches for 99 yards. “If we just believe in ourselves and the process we do every week, we can score, we can get drives going, we can play defense.”
“When the ball is in the air, you have to attack it whether you are on offense or defense,” Hauck said. “I think our receivers have been playing quite well. Aaron had a really nice game. He’s a great kid and he’s all Montana. It’s great seeing him make those plays.”
McDowell entered Saturday with 22-of-34 for 262 yards and one touchdown. He finished Saturday 18-of-32 for 243 yards and three touchdowns, basically nearly matching his full season’s statistics in a single game.
“The protection was pretty good for the most part tonight and (McDowell) looked comfortable because of that,” Hauck said. “I think Coach Pease had some good stuff for him that he liked. It was a combination of those two things.”
While McDowell and the Griz offense defined the first half, the Griz defense locked down Hastings and the Aggie offense in the second half. Montana adjusted to not bring as much pressure with its usually hyper-aggressive front six, instead electing to put its linebackers and safeties in one on one positions to make plays on the ball and on ball carriers.
Linebacker Braxton Hill, safety Nash Fouch and cornerback Jace Klucewich all had highlight reel one-on-one tackles with plenty of authority as the Griz defense clamped down in the second half. Montana allowed the Aggies into their red zone once after halftime and held the hosts to just three points after the break.
“When we were in man, we covered better and when we were in different zone looks, he (Hastings) didn’t handle it. Sometimes, he did, sometimes he didn’t but we gave him some different looks pre-snap, which was advantageous for us,” Hauck said. “And then, we are a really, really, really good tackling football team. We only missed a few in the first half and we tackled really well.”
With the Griz defense flying around and flustering the Aggie offense, the Griz needed a big play to pull away. It came when Gilman, a talented freshman from Minneapolis, ripped off an 85-yard touchdown run with 7:03 left to put UM up 31-20.
“They were ganging up, playing nine in (the box) on us,” Hauck said. “You can stop the run but if we get a crease, then it’s out the gate for a long one and we experienced that ourselves in the fourth quarter against North Dakota State last year. They were banking on getting it down and we were persistent with it and good by our guys getting that long run.”
The lone second half red-zone trip for Hastings and the Aggies came on the final possession of the game for Davis. Hastings, who finished 31-of-46 for 359 yards, looked confident and in rhythm on the final possession, completing 4-of-6 passes for 48 yards to get the Aggies down to the Griz 12-yard line.
Hastings hit Andrew Crump Jr., on an outside screen but Ryder Meyer ended the Aggie threat by popping the ball out, then recovering the fumble to help Montana seal its second Big Sky Conference victory.
“We are excited and this is a really big win for us,” Hauck said. “That’s a good Davis football team. They are a balanced, good team that are well coached. For us to go take that win is awesome. What a fabulous effort offense, defense and in the kicking game by our team.”
