The sequel played out like many anticipated the first showdown would. Montana put a chink in the Bison’s aura of invincibility back in August. After suffocating the Grizzlies, North Dakota State once again looks like the team to beat.
NDSU cornerback CJ Smith takes down UM wide receiver Jamaal Jones after a catch/by Russ Hons
In front of a sellout crowd at the Fargodome, the four-time defending national champions returned two of their four interceptions for touchdowns, added a 100-yard kickoff return for a score and played dominant defense from wire to wire in ending Montana’s season with a 37-6 win in the second round of the FCS playoffs.
“Well, that was a great dominating performance,” NDSU head coach Chris Klieman said during the postgame press conference in Fargo, North Dakota. “That was as focused a group yesterday and this morning that I’ve seen in a while. Those guys weren’t losing in the Fargodome today.”
North Dakota State, the tournament’s No. 2 seed, moved to 10-2 and advanced to the quarterfinals with its 17th straight playoff win, including a stretch of 14-0 at home. Montana’s season began with a 38-35 win over NDSU in Missoula during a nationally televised event in August. UM’s season ended with its least successful offensive performance during head coach Bob Stitt’s first season. The Grizzlies end 2015 with an 8-5 record after making its third straight playoff appearance and 21st postseason since 1993.
“Definitely a disappointing performance by our football program but we went up against a very good football team,” Stitt said. “You can’t make the mistakes we made in the game and expect to be able to come out on top. It snowballed once we got down and made the errors we did. We had to take some chances to get back into the thing and it snowballed.”
UM quarterback Brady Gustafson lets loose on a pass/by Russ Hons
North Dakota State put constant pressure on Montana starting quarterback Brady Gustafson. The 6-foot-7 junior from Billings threw for 434 yards and three touchdowns in his first career start in August. On Saturday, he found himself under endless duress as he threw for a season-low 229 yards despite throwing the ball 48 times. Gustafson threw three interceptions in the first half, including one Jalen Allison returned 30 yards for a touchdown midway through the second quarter to give NDSU a 14-0 lead.
“I just didn’t play to the level I needed to for us to win the game,” Gustafson said.
North Dakota State forced Montana into a three-and-out on its first possession. On the Bison’s third offensive play of the game, redshirt freshman Easton Stick kept the ball on a zone read option play and sprinted 49 yards for a touchdown. Stick started in the place of injured senior Carson Wentz, a future NFL Draft pick. Stick threw the ball just 13 times on Saturday. NDSU possessed the ball for nearly 41 minutes as the Bison rushed for 250 yards on 56 bruising carries, including 87 yards on 20 carries by junior running back King Frazier.
“They do what they do,” said UM senior defensive end Tyrone Holmes, who notched his 18th sack this season, one shy of Montana’s single-season record. “It’s been a recipe for success here and it’s not going to change. They didn’t do anything different. They just out-played us.”
UM running back John Nguyen gets bottled up by NDSU defense/by Russ Hons
Montana rushed for just six yards on 19 carries. Junior John Nguyen managed 19 yards on 11 carries and freshman Jeremy Calhoun had four yards on four carries. Gustafson incurred 17 yards of loss on four sacks. Montana ran 67 offensive plays compared to 92 in the season-opening win.
“It was hard to win our offense because we couldn’t win the line of scrimmage offensively,” Stitt said. “Their defensive front did an outstanding job of stopping the run. We got in too many third and longs and we couldn’t handle their front.
“If you can’t run the ball, it’s difficult to run our offense. We just got into a drop back passing game and continued to throw it. They got pressure on us every single throw.”
Jamaal Jones caught six passes for 90 yards and Montana’s lone touchdown, a 20-yard scoring grab on UM’s first possession of the second half. Bruce Anderson returned the ensuing kickoff 100 yards for a score to give NDSU a 31-6 lead with 8:58 left in the third quarter. C.J. Smith intercepted Gustafson and returned the pick 32 yards for a touchdown early in the fourth quarter to cap the scoring.
Jones finished his career with 3,011 career receiving yards, the second-most in program history. Marc Mariani had 3,018 in a career that ended in 2009.
NDSU cornerback Tre Dempsey breaks up a pass to UM wide receiver Josh Horner/by Russ Hons
Jones and Holmes are the biggest record-setters in a group of 16 Montana seniors who played for the final time collegiately on Saturday. Other standouts include defensive end Derek Crittenden, middle linebacker Jeremiah Kose, outside linebacker Kendrick Van Ackeren, outside linebacker Herbert Gamboa, cornerback Nate Harris, safety Yamen Sanders, left tackle John Schmaing and wide receiver Ben Roberts.
“I’m very proud of our players and where we came from this year,” said Stitt , whose team won four straight games to get to Saturday. “We started off with a bang and we struggled a lot at times during the season. To finish this thing we way we did, I’m proud to be a part of this thing. We have some great seniors we are going to miss.”
Photos by Russ Hons for Skyline Sports. Russ Hons is a freelance photographer based in Grand Forks, North Dakota. His work can be found at russellhonsphotograpghy.com – All Rights Reserved.
