POCATELLO, Idaho — Holt Arena, five hours drive to the southeast, is the fun house mirror version of Washington-Grizzly Stadium – dark and subterranean, instead of open to the sky. The home of the Idaho State Bengals is just as draped in the trappings of college football as Washington-Grizzly – the fans, the band, the tailgates – but setting everything under the cavernous barrel roof makes things uncanny, twisted and a little weird.
The game is still the same, though, which means it’s played with the same devilish pointed oblong ball, with its same peculiarities – prone to unpredictable bounces, drawn to players who aren’t quite prepared for it, injecting some wildness into even the most seemingly scripted contests.
Like Montana’s trip to Idaho State on Saturday, which opened with the Grizzlies as 36.5-point favorites but ended with them sweating out an onside kick recovery that sealed a 28-20 win that took them to 5-0 – and dropped ISU to 0-5 – in surprisingly close fashion.
“It’s good to be 2-0,” Bobby Hauck said, referencing Montana’s Big Sky Conference record. “It’s good to come down here and get a win.”
The game was framed as a mismatch of near-comical proportions, with Montana rising up to No. 3 in the national polls after opening the season 4-0 with a point differential of plus-136. Idaho State was 0-4 and coming off a 35-14 loss to Northern Colorado, the only team picked behind the Bengals in the Big Sky Conference polls. Not only that, but the Bengals were starting third-string quarterback Sagan Gronauer after starter Tyler Vander Waal was injured in the second game of the season and backup Hunter Hays followed him to the training table in last week’s loss to Northern Colorado.
But in a tense, sloppy three hours on Saturday, the bounces of the ball helped the Bengals open the scoring, take the Griz to the brink of halftime before gaining any separation and become the first team to gain over 300 yards against Montana’s fearsome defense this season.
All four fumbles in the game – two by each team – were recovered by the Bengals. After Lucas Johnson’s interception on Montana’s first drive – just his second of the season, thrown to linebacker Charles Ike as he dropped into coverage on a seam route intended for tight end Erik Barker – ISU drove inside the 10 but settled for a 22-yard field goal by Ian Hershey.
Johnson’s 9-yard touchdown run, his fifth of the year, put Montana on top 7-3 early in the second quarter, but Idaho State converted two fourth downs on its next drive before Hershey banged in a 50-yard field goal to cut the lead to 7-6.
ISU had a chance to take the lead immediately after when defensive end Kale Edwards fumbled while trying to return a pooch kick, but Montana’s defense, which didn’t have its first sack until the middle of the second quarter, stiffened up and forced a punt.
Stuck underground, the Griz seemed cut off from the energy and momentum which drove their blowout winning streak to start the season. Even with a tightly-packed crew of maroon and silver Griz fans clustered in one corner of the stands, it came in fits and starts, moments of excitement instead of a wave of it.
Tyler Flink was the one to finally break through. The former walk-on linebacker from Missoula Big Sky, who’s been involved in his share of big plays for the Griz defense this year, picked off an ill-advised pass from a rolling Gronauer and returned it to the ISU 30.
Four plays later, all runs from Marcus Knight, the Griz were in the end zone with a 14-6 lead and two minutes, 52 seconds left in the half.
Last week, Montana managed to score 22 points in the final five minutes of the first half. This time, they were only good for one more touchdown. After the defense forced a quick three-and-out, a booming punt from Hershey was, after a lengthy review, ruled to just barely not have grazed the fingers of returner Keelan White – the bounces of the ball favoring Montana, this time.
Johnson then led an 86-yard drive, capping it with a 24-yard touchdown to a wide-open White with five seconds left in the half for a 21-6 lead at the break.
A 28-yard strike from Mitch Roberts to Cole Grossman – who made a great catch in the back of the end zone – on a wide receiver pass midway through the third quarter should have sent the game to garbage time. So should Montana’s drive midway through the fourth quarter, when Knight broke free down the left sideline for 48 yards but was chased down at the 5, and Johnson fumbled through the end zone for a touchback on the very next play.
Gronauer then led ISU on an 80-yard touchdown drive, hitting Christian Fredrickson for a 26-yard score on a beautiful rainbow deep ball while being hit.
Backup Griz quarterback Kris Brown couldn’t close the game out either, driving inside the ISU 30 but misfiring on a fourth-down pass, and Gronauer came back again with a 71-yard touchdown drive, sneaking over from the 1-yard line with 56 seconds left to make it 28-20.
Hershey tried to chip the onside kick over the first line of Montana’s coverage team, but little-used receiver Drew Deck – remember we talked about the ball being drawn to players who aren’t prepared for it? – smothered it to end the game.
Idaho State’s 381 total yards – the Bengals had just 196 heading into the final quarter – were by far the most an opponent has had against Montana this season, and Johnson’s 18-for-30, 168-yard performance was his worst of the season.
Knight ran for 109 yards on 14 carries, easily the most this year for the 2019 All-American who’s since had to work his way back from injury.
“Rush for 250, 50 percent on third downs are good things,” Hauck said. “We can’t turn the ball over, particularly on the road. It makes a big difference, so we’re happy to get the win.”
Montana now has a bye before hosting Idaho on October 15.
