MISSOULA – Like the snow that turned Washington-Grizzly’s green turf white over the course of about an hour on Saturday evening, the Montana Grizzlies arrived at their 49-19 rout of Delaware in the second round of the FCS Playoffs quietly.
A quick look at the stat sheet wouldn’t support a 30-point margin that could have been more, had Montana not shut things down in the fourth quarter.
The Griz outgained Delaware by just 42, 389 to 347 (although, in fairness to a point made by Bobby Hauck in the postgame, the Blue Hens averaged just about two yards per carry if you take out one play, a 50-yard tote by Marcus Yarns in the first half). Clifton McDowell threw an interception on the second play of the game, and presumptive Jerry Rice Award winner Eli Gillman ran for just 42 yards on 13 carries. The visitors successfully nullified many of the Grizzlies’ usual trademarks – Delaware had a higher time of possession, averaged more yards on both kick and punt returns, and gave up just two sacks for a combined loss of 12 yards.
Griz fans might disagree, but the story of Montana’s win wasn’t unquestioned dominance. Instead, it was a story of small advantages – individual snowflakes falling – that magnified and built on each other until they became an avalanche, wiping away the Blue Hens.
It’s why Delaware head coach Ryan Carty was so defiant in the press conference.
“Is that team 30 points better than us? I don’t think so,” Carty said. “I think that’s us not playing great and not necessarily handling some of the situations and adversity that was thrown our way today.”
Unlike some other teams that have visited Washington-Grizzly Stadium this season, Delaware wasn’t helpless. Carty could see his offense gaining yards. He could see his defense putting Montana in third-down situations. He could feel that his team wasn’t that much worse than the Griz, just a slim margin from being right there with Montana.
He also couldn’t do anything about the way the Grizzlies took that slim margin and, in concert with the weather and the fans, turned it into a 30-point blowout, taking Delaware’s every mistake and misfortune and using it to crack that margin wider and wider until small advantages became overwhelming.
With Montana up 3-0 midway through the first quarter on Nico Ramos’ 43-yard field goal, one of those small errors turned fatal for the visitors.
A high snap on a Delaware punt – not wild, just enough for the punter to have to jump to catch it – turned into a blocked punt when Sawyer Racanelli broke through the line to send the ball skewing crazily out of bounds at the Blue Hens’ 27. That turned into a Montana touchdown one play later when Xavier Harris broke to the right edge, sent a Delaware safety careening past him with a nasty spin move at the 10 and sauntered into the end zone for a 10-0 lead.
A few drives later, with Montana leading 19-6 and Delaware perhaps still holding on to hope, another cascade of misfortune started out small and turned into catastrophe for the visitors.
Blue Hens quarterback Ryan O’Connor received tough spots on back-to-back runs on third and fourth down – maybe a footnote, except McDowell then hit Keelan White for a 55-yard touchdown two plays later.
“Well, you always want to score, doesn’t matter how you get it, but when you create favorable field position, you’ve already done the work to get into the red zone with whatever that play might have been,” Hauck said. “Whether it’s a blocked punt or an interception, you want to stick it in there, you want to be good in that area of the field.”
On Delaware’s next drive, a dropped third-down pass turned into a safety when – things starting to snowball now, mistakes getting bigger and bigger – a wild punt snap went through the end zone. That turned into another Griz touchdown after the free kick, with McDowell running untouched up the middle for a 20-yard touchdown to make it 35-6.
Altogether, Montana scored on all six of its offensive possessions in the first half after McDowell’s interception, as the quarterback from Houston, playing in snow for the first time, bounced back exceptionally from his one mistake.
“It was a fun experience. It was kind of hard seeing out there with all the snow,” McDowell said, adding later, “(I was) keeping my head up, not falling into, ‘Ah, I threw a pick on the second play.’ Shoutout to my guys, keeping me going, keeping my confidence up.”
McDowell finished 10 of 19 for 186 yards, two touchdowns and one interception, while also running five times for 51 yards and a score.
Montana was 5 of 8 on third downs in the first half, while Delaware was 1 of 9 combined on third and fourth downs despite adding a late touchdown to make it 35-12 at the break.
By that point, the blowout was happening no matter what Carty or anyone else thought about it, and the Griz closed things out in explosive style.
First, Nash Fouch jarred the ball loose from a Blue Hen receiver after a short gain. Jaxon Lee plucked the ball off the turf and returned it 56 yards for a touchdown, the Missoula Sentinel alum’s second defensive touchdown of the season after a pick-six against Northern Colorado.
On Montana’s next possession, McDowell extended a play and hit tight end Evan Shafer crossing from right to left. The 6-5, 278-pounder crashed through a defensive back at the 10-yard line and dragged another defender into the end zone for a 25-yard score.
“It was like a dual read, man side to zone side,” McDowell said. “I chose the wrong side, but ended up working out for a touchdown. That was a big shoutout to Evan just staying with me and working with me to get open.”
O’Connor added a short running touchdown for Delaware late in the third quarter to provide the final margin.
Ostmo, who had a career day in similar snowy conditions against Cal Poly last year, led the Griz rushing attack with 64 yards on 10 carries. White had four catches for 88 yards, and could have had another long touchdown but dropped a deep ball from McDowell.
Hayden Harris led the Griz defense with eight tackles.
No. 2 Montana hosts No. 7 Furman next week in the quarterfinals, with kickoff set for 7 p.m. Friday.
It will be the first matchup between the two since the 2001 national championship game, won by the Griz 13-6.
