MISSOULA — Streaks cannot start and stop until they are started and stopped.
It seems like a simple notion. But the Montana Grizzlies have been fixating on certain streaks for much of the Bob Stitt era. In Pocatello on Saturday, the dialogue turned into action as UM seemed to turn another corner.
The Griz rallied from a halftime deficit on the road for the first time in Stitt’s three seasons at the helm. Overcoming a 21-13 halftime deficit for a 39-31 win at Idaho State snapped Montana’s eight-game road losing streak when trailing at intermission under Stitt’s direction.
The victory over the improved Bengals gave Montana its second win in as many weeks on the road. UM’s 45-33 win at Portland State snapped Montana’s four-game Big Sky losing streak that dated back to last season. The ISU win solidified UM’s first two-game road winning streak since November of 2015 when the Griz beat Idaho State and Montana State in the same month.
Montana head coach Bob Stitt shaking Koby Eaton’s hand before a game earlier this season /by Brooks Nuanez
“The Idaho State win was something new for us,” Stitt said before his team’s practice on Tuesday. “You are chipping away at all these things and you are talking about them with your program but at some point, you have to have success, you have to see what you are talking about happen. We got the road game at Portland, then getting behind and getting the back-to-back, that was another piece in this process.”
The win at Holt Arena boosts Montana to 4-2 this season, including 2-1 in Big Sky Conference play. The victory also helped the Griz continue building the foundation of what Stitt and his staff constantly preach will be a return to greatness.
“I felt as good or better about that win as I did about the North Dakota State win,” Stitt said, eluding to his memorable debut at Montana in which UM toppled four-time defending national champion North Dakota State 38-35 on national TV in 2015. “That was really a quality win by a team that dealt with a lot of adversity in the game and then just came out and took it to them in the second half.”
“That was a big, big win for us as a team,” added UM sophomore H receiver Colin Bingham, a Missoula native. “On the road, coming from behind, we have been in every situation. Now we have the confidence that we can win any game no matter the situation.”
In Holt last Saturday, redshirt freshman quarterback Gresch Jensen settled in early, something that he’d struggled with in his first two starts according to Stitt and quarterbacks coach Andrew Selle. His winding, weaving seven-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter staked the visitors to a 13-7 lead.
Montana sophomore wide receiver Colin Bingham /by Brooks Nuanez
Then all too familiar Griz demons reared their heads. On ISU’s next possession after Jensen’s rushing touchdown, junior Tanner Gueller found his brother, Mitch, for an 80-yard touchdown in which Mitch ran the last 50 yards with no Griz defender even close to him. The score gave the Bengals a 14-13 lead.
The teams traded punts. Then UM’s next possession, pinned inside its own 10 because of a booming punt by Sean Cheney and an illegal block by UM’s Josh Egbo, began and ended when steady junior running back Jeremy Calhoun had the ball punched out by Idaho State star senior linebacker Mario Jenkins. ISU recovered and Tanner Gueller wasted no time, finding Mitch for a 13-yard touchdown strike to put Idaho State up 21-13.
Montana’s offense stalled out twice to end the first half. To start the second half, Jensen got the Griz in field goal range but Brandon Purdy missed the field goal attempt wide right. At that moment, it looked it might all unravel for the Griz.
“Even before that, even in the first half, we knew we had a lot of game left to play,” UM running back Alijah Lee said “We tried to not focus on the scoreboard. We knew we had a bunch of time left.
“We knew what was at stake and we understood we had to come out strong and get that victory.”
Unlike in eight previous road losses when trailing at halftime under Stitt, Montana showed resolve and the ability to finish. After Purdy’s missed field goal, the Griz defense forced a Tanner Gueller fumble. Jensen threw a 35-yard touchdown strike on a dime to Justin Calhoun to cut the lead to 21-19.
ISU answered with a touchdown before Montana locked in. The final 23 minutes of the game belonged to the Griz.
Montana junior Alijah Lee scores one of his first two touchdowns as a Griz in Montana’s 56-3 win over Savannah State
Trailing 28-19, Jensen hit classmate Samori Toure with a 71-yard rope to set up Samuel Akem’s four-yard touchdown catch. Montana forced a turnover on downs and Jensen promptly hit Justin Calhoun for a 4-yard gain. Five plays later, Lee scored his fifth rushing touchdown of the year to give Montana the lead for good.
“You have to be able to get those explosive plays,’ Stitt said. “Coach Selle and I talked about that earlier in the year, that we needed to get explosive plays, we needed to be more aggressive. But you can be aggressive and if it’s just a long foul ball, it doesn’t help you. You want to be aggressive and give your guys a chance.”
To start the fourth quarter, reserve linebacker Shayne Cochran came on a blitz to blast Gueller from behind, forcing a fumble that ISU recovered but brought out the Bengals’ punt team.
“After halftime, we came out firing on all cylinders and we shut them down,” UM junior defensive end Chris Favoroso, who finished with one of Montana’s six sacks, said on Monday. “That shows the potential of what we are trying to do.”
Jensen put together a signature drive that included a first-down run and a 41-yard bomb to Akem. The rookie starter capped the 10-play, 80-yard march with a six-yard touchdown pass to senior Josh Horner.
“We got our best effort of the year,” Stitt said. “We have had six straight weeks of great effort and this was the best of them all, 60 minutes of it.”
“After we forced that first fumble, it turned. We scored on the next four drives, touchdowns. You are talking about five really good drives. That’s how you go out and win a game and take it from them.”
Montana junior defensive end Chris Favoroso/by Jason Bacaj
The win earned Montana a spot back inside the FCS Top 25 rankings for the first time since last sesaon’s freefall. The Griz once spent 195 straight weeks in the poll between 1998 and 2012, the level Montana is fighting to reattain.
On Saturday, North Dakota comes to Missoula for homecoming, The defending Big Sky champions have been ravaged by injuries and enter Washington-Grizzly Stadium with a 2-4 record. But UND beat upstart Northern Colorado 48-38 a week ago. The Fighting Hawks are led by senior quarterback Keaton Studsrud and bolstered by juniors Brady Oliveira and John Santiago, two of the best running backs in the FCS. Defensively, the unit is missing All-Americans cornerback Deion Harris and safety Cole Reyes but still employs an aggressive style built to give opponents fits up front.
Stitt and the Griz hope to start a new streak Saturday, one that culminates in a return to the playoffs after missing the post season for just the third time since 1993 last fall.
“You feel good your program is improving,” Stitt said. “The rankings don’t matter. We are worried about winning every game and that’s what we gotta do. In the end, the rankings get you nothing. But the fact that we are in the rankings shows that we are a much better football team than people thought. And we are a much better football team than we were Week 1. We have to make sure that continues.”
Photos by Brooks Nuanez and Jason Bacaj. All Rights Reserved.
