MISSOULA — The magic finally ran out for the Bison. And in the process, the Montana Grizzlies shocked the college football world.
The Griz went blow for blow with the four-time reigning FCS national champs from North Dakota State. A touchdown run on fourth down and goal from the two-yard line by burly running back Joey Counts proved to be the knockout punch, helping Montana emerge as the victor in a battle between the two of the FCS’ most storied programs.
The No. 13 Grizzlies entered Saturday’s matchup here as a two-score underdog against a team that has won 58 of its last 61 games. Montana has a new head coach, a first-time starter at quarterback and an offensive line many thought would be a weak point.
Caleb Kidder and Jeremiah Kose
None of the outside noise mattered as the Grizzlies emerged with a signature victory in front of a record-setting crowd and a national television audience. Montana ran 92 plays against NDSU’s vaunted defense, including three plays from the 2-yard line with less than 15 seconds left. With defensive tackle Jamal Wilson, middle linebacker Jeremiah Kose and defensive tackle Caleb Kidder in as lead blockers, Counts bounced off tackle for a touchdown to boost Montana to a 38-35 win as bedlam ensued amongst the 26,472 fans in attendance.
“Brent Musbuger (ESPN broadcaster who called the game) had us as underdogs, pretty much everyone had us as underdogs losing this game at home so to be able to come out and beat the No. 1 team who has also won four national championships is huge,” senior captain wide receiver Jamaal Jones said. “We’ve been wanting to get Montana back to the top and we are headed that way right now.”
In Bob Stitt’s Grizzly head coaching debut, the man hailed as an offensive mastermind proved the notion, at least for a day. Montana piled up 544 yards out of its spread attack, operating at a breakneck tempo for the duration. The offense notched 27 first downs, converted 4-of-6 fourth downs and hit eight pass plays of 17 yards or more, including five of more than 31.
Ben Roberts
“This is what our kids came to play for,” said Stitt, who spent the last 15 seasons as the head coach at Division II Colorado School of Mines. “This is what they came to Montana for. They came here to be first. We didn’t come to play today to be second. We came here to win the ball game. We were going to be aggressive. I couldn’t be prouder of our players. I’m so happy for them.”
In his first college start, Montana junior quarterback Brady Gustafson completed 30-of-55 passes for 434 yards and three touchdowns. He hit senior Jones eight times for 119 yards, including a seven-yard touchdown in the first quarter to answer NDSU’s game-opening touchdown drive. Gustafson hit senior Ben Roberts with a perfect back-shoulder ball for a leaping 38-yard touchdown to tie the game 21-21 in the second quarter. The 6-foot-7 gunslinger hit junior Ellis Henderson seven times for 133 yards, including a 62-yard catch-and-run TD in the third quarter to knot the score at 28. And the Billings West product guided the Grizzlies on a game-winning drive to secure his first career victory.
“That will be our goal every game: to run as many plays as we can,” Gustafson said. “Coach Stitt always tells us to give ourselves an opportunity to truly win in the fourth quarter. We ran a bunch of plays, a bunch of plays and at the end of the game, we have to trust it that they are going to be weary and we will be able to move the ball on them. We did.”
Brady Gustafson
North Dakota State has made a habit of emerging from close games with victories almost without fail. The Bison have found a way to win in almost every contest for more than four years, a run of success unequaled by anyone in FCS history. At Washington-Grizzly Stadium, the Griz found a way to topple Goliath.
“This definitely hurts,” NDSU junior running back King Frazier said after rushing for 91 yards and gaining 145 yards from scrimmage in his team’s first loss since November 8 of last year Northern Iowa. “I wish I could’ve done more. It is what it is, you can’t take things back.”
In the first half, the Bison again looked unstoppable with senior NFL prospect Carson Wentz guiding the offense. With at least nine NFL scouts in attendance, Wentz threw two touchdowns and rushed for two more as NDSU built a 28-21 halftime lead. Montana earned just one stop before intermission.
Wentz
After halftime, Montana defensive coordinator Ty Gregorak made key adjustments in order to keep Wentz in the pocket. A pass rush led by UM senior Tyrone Holmes Grizzlies hit the 6-foot-6 senior relentlessly and the NDSU offense sputtered. Before halftime, Wentz was 10-of-15 for 118 yards and rushed nine times for 75 yards. In the second half, Wentz completed 6-of-13 passes for 80 yards and totaled -5 yards rushing as Montana recorded a pair of sacks, including a hit by UM junior defensive tackle Zach Peevey that slowed Wentz for the rest of the game.
“They didn’t do anything off the charts that we weren’t expecting, they just showed up and I’ve said it all week: they have a very good, sound defense,” Wentz said. “They played well and we ran out of plays in the second half. I was disappointed we didn’t stay on the field enough. Credit Montana.”
NDSU managed just six first downs and 134 total yards after halftime. Wentz’s fumble with 6:17 left and his team leading 35-28 led to Daniel Sullivan’s third field goal of the afternoon to draw the Griz within four with 2:47 left.
“They made some really good adjustments to some of the things we were doing to them in the first half and it’s not an excuse, but I don’t think it helped that Carson wasn’t 100 percent after that hit and took away our quarterback run game,” NDSU head coach Chris Klieman said.
Nate Harris (11)
Following Sullivan’s third field goal, NDSU took over with 2:40 remaining. Up to that point, the Bison had run the ball at will — North Dakota State finished with 229 yards rushing. But Wilson and Kidder stuffed Frazier for a two-yard gain on first down, Wentz threw an incompletion on a naked bootleg thanks to perfect coverage by Kose on second down and threw incomplete again on third down with Holmes in his face, forcing an NDSU punt.
On the final possession, Montana drove 80 yards thanks to a pass interference call, a 15-yard dart on fourth down from Gustafson to Jones and a 31-yard completion to freshman Reece Carlson that got UM in the red-zone. Gustafson then hit Henderson on a slant route down to the two and Montana got two Counts chances to punch it in.
The first resulted in a dive that kept Counts on top of a swarm of both Grizzlies and Bison for four or five seconds. The second and final try, NDSU ran an all-out blitz. Counts saw the wreckage in the middle and bounced it outside for the game-winner with two seconds left.
“As soon as Joey crossed the end-zone, my eyes started tearing up because those are the type of things you dream of, especially as a senior, especially that being my last first game,” Jones said. “That was picture perfect.”
Bob Stitt
Stitt assumed control of a Montana program that has spent most of the decade failing to live up to the measure of success it established for itself the 20 years prior. Between 1993 and 2009, Montana won 15 Big Sky titles, advanced to the FCS playoffs 18 straight times, played for seven national championship games and won two national titles. Since 2010, the Griz have not won the league and have missed the playoffs twice. Off the field, the program has been awash in controversy that resulted in NCAA violations.
Stitt took over for former head coach Mick Delaney, an interim coach after the abrupt firing of Robin Pflugrad who led the Griz for three seasons all told. Stitt promised to revamp the offense and return the Grizzlies to glory. But many wondered how someone who’d never coached on the big stage would handle the lofty expectations at Montana. After Saturday’s instant classic, the Stitt era seems to be off to a screaming start.
“This is getting us on the way to where we want to be and we want to get it back,” Stitt said. “We are here to get the swagger back. We don’t lose in our own stadium. Our kids fought today. We did not win the national championship today. We won a ball game today. We are 1-0. We are going to keep working. I told the kids, ‘Where do we want to be Week 11?’ This is a piece of that whole journey. We are going to keep chipping away until we are a championship football team and this was a great start.”
Photos by Brooks Nuanez. All Rights Reserved.
