MOSCOW, Idaho — The Montana Grizzlies went from perceived underdogs to certain front-runners in the span of a single quarter on Saturday night.
And by the time Bobby Hauck and his players were celebrating on the University of Idaho logo in the center of a sold-out Kibbie Dome with boos reigning down, Vandals players slamming their helmets on the turf in frustration, the ghosts of Montana’s uncharacteristically putrid loss in its last appearance in a dome seemed like a thing of the distant past.
Idaho entered Saturday’s “Battle for the Little Brown Stein” with a No. 3 national ranking, an FBS win to go along with three straight league victories and a bravado entering homecoming that the Vandals were back among the best in the Big Sky Conference.
And many pundits had pinned the Griz as overrated, inflated and just really not all that good despite a 5-1 record that included winning at then-No. 20 UC Davis last weekend. Much of the criticism around Montana centered upon an offense that lacked any semblance of identity the first four games of the season due in large part because of Hauck and his staff’s inability (or refusal) to identity a starting quarterback.
If you didn’t know any of that on Saturday night and just happened to be tuning into ESPN2 to watch the second-oldest rivalry in the Big Sky, you would’ve thought that Montana, not Idaho, was the double-digit favorite and the team expected to win the tilt between storied enemies as the Griz came to the Palouse and made sure it would leave with the Little Brown Stein with a 23-21 win.
The Grizzlies jumped out to a 17-0 lead thanks in large part to the savvy play of senior quarterback Clifton McDowell and a defensive front that re-found its high-pressure identity. McDowell looked smooth and composed for the duration of the first half, gliding in and out of the pocket and finding Montana’s play-makers in space with throws on the run.
And the Griz defense — a unit that had one sack ins its first three Big Sky games – got after Idaho star quarterback Gevani McCoy from start to finish, sacking the elusive gunslinger six times and putting him in a constant state of duress.
That pressure plus the fact that Montana erased Idaho’s run game helped the Grizzlies play from ahead from the opening kickoff to the final whistle. A Griz defense that forced three turnovers, including the game-winning sack-strip by Kale Edwards that senior Levi Janacaro recovered with less than a minute on the clock, looked like it recaptured the edge that made it one of the best units in the country in 2021 and 2022.
“Our defense has balls, man,” Janacaro said. “They gave us a couple of shots but we bowed up, we bent but we didn’t break and we did what we needed to win the game.
“Ruining their homecoming, there’s not much better than that.”
Before Montana took its final knee to completely deflate a homecoming crowd armed with thunderstix noise makers and secure a signature win despite Idaho’s fevered comeback attempt, Hauck was almost already near mid-field as the last seconds ticked off the Kibbie Dome clock.
Hauck knew his team didn’t have to run another play and he knew he wanted to celebrate, because had a win over the No. 3 team in America….because his team had the Little Brown Stein back in its possession after giving it up last year for the first time since 1999… and because anyone that thought Montana had taken a step back after the disappointments of last season’s season-altering three-game losing streak and this season’s sluggish start now had no ammo.
No, Hauck and the evil empire that he loves personifying as the head coach at his alma mater is not going anywhere. Instead, Montana gutted out a two-point victory in front of more than 14,500 fans to halt Idaho’s coronation as a revived Big Sky power, instead vaulting the Griz to 3-1 in Big Sky play, 6-1 overall going into their bye week, a familiar position under Hauck, one of the league’s most successful and dominating coaches and personalities.
“Everybody in this organization, there’s a standard to play and everyone is supposed to uphold that standard,” Hauck said. ‘Everyone here is competitive and everybody loves to win. So if you love to win, you probably act like you love it when you do win a game like that.”
Montana will almost certainly have a Top 10 ranking this upcoming week after many national pollsters had voted the Griz outside the Top 25 in recent weeks. Hauck suggested No. 16 Montana and No. 3 Idaho should just trade places in the polls. The critics sighted less than decisive victories over non-scholarship Butler, Division II Ferris State and ISU, all at Washington-Grizzly Stadium, along with the loss at NAU.
What can the critics site now? And how much have Montana’s external expectations and narratives changed by securing a clutch win that was sealed by stopping an Idaho two-point conversion try after Hayden Hatten scored his second touchdown?
A win fully stamped when Edwards snared his first sack of the season, punching the ball loose for Janacaro to recover also stamped what Hauck has said about this team since the beginning of fall camp in August: this Griz team might not have star power like Robby Hauck, Patrick O’Connell and Justin Ford on defense. They needed a month to find an offensive identity to lean in to.
And, as Janacaro frequently says, it might not always look pretty. But Hauck has touted the 2023 Grizzlies’ mental toughness for months now and he’s remained steadfast that this version of UM will improve throughout the season.
“It feels so good, it’s so exciting and I don’t want to brag, but I’ve played at the Kibbie Dome three times and 3-0,” Janacaro said. “I have the best teammates in the world and we are surrounded by great coaches and this is awesome.
“We kind of played into (the underdogs) a little bit but I don’t think anybody in our locker room that we ever considered ourselves an underdog. We portrayed it to the media and whoever thought we were. But within our own roles, we never thought that.”
Montana has certainly already gotten better. The passing game is night and day different, with McDowell looking both composed and accurate, while utilizing his elite weapons. Junior Bergen caught five passes for 118 yards, including an early dagger: a 76-yard catch and run for a touchdown to put UM up 10-0 late in the first quarter.
“We led the entire game and they had not been behind to start the game,” Hauck said. “It was a point of emphasis for us this week. We talked about it a lot. We talked about how we were going to play the early game.”
“The fast start was good and it ended up getting us the win,” McDowell added. “I wish we could’ve kicked it in a little more in the second half. I’m proud of the defense, man. That was a very good team we played against. They were No. 3 in the country and it felt great to get the win.”
Bergen’s 100-yard outing is his second in the last three weeks after Montana had no receivers reach the century mark in a single regular-season game since 2019. Last week, wide receiver Keelan White had 92 yards receiving while fellow wideout Aaron Fontes had 99 yards and two touchdowns on the way to earning Big Sky Offensive Player of the Week honors.
“Our goal has been to improve from week to week and I think we have been doing a good job of that and this last couple of games have indicated that,” Janacaro said. “It’s never going to be pretty but we have been able to get wins when we need to. The NAU game was ugly but we have bounced back and we are making the most of it.”
McDowell threw for 243 yards and three scores last week. Saturday in Moscow, he threw for 176 yards and a TD while rushing for 38 yards and another score.
“When the offense is clicking, we feel like we are invincible,” Janacaro said. “When the offense is scoring points, we feel like it’s really tough to beat us.”
McDowell’s ability to lead scoring drives was accentuated by kicker Grant Glasgow, a strong-legged freshman who drilled field goals of 44, 46 and 44 yards.
“Grant is good and I’ve been saying it all along,” Hauck said. “None of those are gimmies.”
The decision to go with McDowell at quarterback following an embarrassing 28-14 loss at Northern Arizona in which sophomore Sam Vidlak was sacked eight times and threw two interceptions. The loss in Flagstaff at the Walkup Skydome was not only Hauck’s first ever to NAU but also seemed like a potential harbinger of darker days to come.
How would the Griz fair in October with consecutive road games against ranked teams? Montana hadn’t won two straight road games against ranked teams since 2000.
How would Montana overcome a stagnant offense that had a hard time pass blocking, particularly when the defense was still trying to figure out how to replace the star power that trademarked the unit the last several seasons?
In a gritty, yet grinding 28-20 win over Idaho State on homecoming in Missoula to end September, Hauck and offensive coordinator Brent Pease decided to go almost exclusively with the 6-foot-4, 233-pound senior who’s on his fourth school in his college career.
A fake punt in the fourth quarter that extended a drive might’ve been the turning point of the Grizzlies season. That was part of what amounted to the game-sealing possession.
After the game, Hauck acknowledged, “Sometimes, you just need to have some guts.”
Since that moment, the Griz have certainly shown they have guts.
And the Griz defense had adjusted to learn how to mix in more coverage schemes on the back end. The return of edge linebacker Riley Wilson from an injury paid dividends Saturday as the former Hawaii transfer had a hand in 1.5 sacks. Wilson also tipped a pass that was intercepted by Jaxon Lee, marking the safety from Phillipsburg’s first career pick.
Tyler Flink, a former walk-on from Missoula Big Sky, played out of his mind on Saturday, making two of the biggest special teams hits of the evening while also rolling up a pair of sacks. Janacaro and senior defensive end Hayden Harris each had a sack while safety Trajon Cotton shared a sack with Wilson and defensive end Garrett Hustedt shared another sack with Flink.
“That quarterback is slick and he has great speed and every time they wanted to move the chains, he moved them with his feet,” Hauck said. “He really played his tail off. On every scoring drive they had, a big part of it was him scrambling. He slipped out of tackles and he’s a good player. He’s a really, really good player. He kept his team in the game all night
The sum of all those parts now has Montana fully back in the playoff picture. Idaho enters its bye week licking its wounds and preparing for No. 2 Montana State to come to town on October 28 for yet another big-time showdown, one that head coach Jason Eck said he must get his team “better prepared to handle” give MSU’s unwavering performance since Brent Vigen took over as head coach.
For the Griz, they also enter a bye week with all the momentum in the world. It seems like a foregone conclusion that UM will drill Northern Colorado to finish October with seven wins before hosting No. 4 Sacramento State (a 21-13 winner over UNC Saturday) and the Bobcats (a 59-19 winner over Cal Poly Saturday) with a trip to Portland State (a 42-21 winner over NAU on Saturday) sandwiched in between.
Although Hauck celebrated voraciously after the game, when he addressed the media, he was calm, soft-spoken and almost subdued. But make no mistake: he likes these Griz. And Saturday’s wire-to-wire win was yet another reason why.
“What a good game,” Hauck said. “It was a great game to be a part of. Idaho fought their tails off. They are a good football team. The crowd was awesome and I hope they keep showing up. It was such a cool atmosphere to play in and I thought our guys really embraced and enjoyed the night.
“Good on our team. I like our team.”
