A variety of Grizzlies saw elevated opportunities during Montana’s 2024 opener in Missoula on Saturday night.
That was partly because UM has 38 new players on its roster since last season’s Big Sky Conference title run, including 20 transfers who joined the team at varying times this off-season. And partially because, for the third season in a row, Montana has a new starting quarterback. In the case of Saturday night, a quarterback platoon, even though freshman Keali’i Ah Yat took almost all the snaps in the first half.
In addition, a handful of veterans who are familiar names and faces had the most visible elevated roles during Montana’s 29-24 win over Missouri State at home on Saturday night in front of the 7th-largest crowd (26,4820) to ever to watch a game at Washington-Grizzly Stadium.
With All-American superstar wide receiver and punt returner Junior Bergen on the shelf, senior Drew Deck slid into Bergen’s coveted punt return role. And with Bergen nursing a soft tissue lower body injury, it also allowed extra opportunities in the passing game for wide receivers Aaron Fontes and Xavier Harris.
With All-American linebacker Riley Wilson out with an undisclosed injury that kept him off the sidelines Saturday night, San Diego State transfer Vai Kaho and converted safety Cooper Barnum saw more snaps flanking stalwart inside linebacker Ryan Tirrell.
And with former All-American tight end Cole Grossman back on the team but still on the sideline, plus a QB platoon and a revamped offensive line, Montana’s offensive flow was sporadic in its home opener. The tight ends, however, have been operating without Grossman for more than a season. Evan Shafer, Erik Barker and Jake Olson all played roles in helping the Griz rush for 167 yards and average 4.8 yards per carry against a Bears squad that entered the game with a reputation of having one of the stouter defensive fronts in the Missouri Valley Football Conference.
“We had a bunch of guys in the kicking game and otherwise that had never played in a college football game,” Hauck said. “We had to do some adjusting on the fly and I thought our guys did a really good job of doing that. I thought it was hit and miss a little bit on offense and defense, but I felt for the most part, guys held up.”
Deck, a Kalispell Glacier product who’s had to wait his turn while Bergen’s star has turned into a supernova, got his shot to be a part of the Washington-Griz pandemonium less than six minutes into the game on Saturday night.
Montana’s first offensive possession stalled out in seven plays. Ty Morrison’s first punt as a Griz pinned Missouri State at its own 6, backed up against the south end zone.
MSU quarterback Jacob Clark and the Bears’ offense went 3-and-out, forcing a punt from the end zone. That exact scenario has been a feast for the Griz and famine for UM’s opponents under special teams maestro Bobby Hauck, Montana’s 13th-year head coach.
Bergen in particular has gorged opponents on short-field sideline returns over the last three years. And that’s the exact scenario the Griz manufactured to set up their first punt return in 2024.
Unfortunately for the usually sure-handed and always speedy Deck, he bobbled and eventually fumbled the punt, allowing Missouri State to take over near midfield.
“Drew fumbling that first punt, he went for it because he might have been out the gate if he fielded it cleanly,” Hauck said. “He should’ve caught it. He didn’t.
“But that was really an enormous play in the game because before our clock drive at the end of the first half … we only had 22 plays before that (drive). Part of that was them keeping the ball away from us and part of it was us fumbling that punt.”
Following Deck’s muff, Clark led a 10-play, 53-yard drive against one of the best defenses in the FCS. The march was capped by impressively talented MSU running back Jacardia Wright’s 7-yard touchdown burst.
Missouri State led for the rest of the first half because, in part, of Morrison doinking his first PAT attempt after Eli Gilman’s 37-yard touchdown run.
Morrison, a junior college transfer from College of the Canyons who beat out Grant Glasgow in fall camp for the starting kicker job and Jo Silver for the starting punter job, rebounded by nailing a 35-yard field goal with 7:07 left in the first half to cut the lead to 10-9 before banging a 22-yard field goal to give UM a 12-10 lead at the halftime break.
Morrison also came up big in crunch time after Missouri State mounted a 10-play, 75-yard drive capped by Jmariyae Robinson’s 7-yard score with 4:43 left to cut the Griz lead to 26-24. On his biggest kick of the game, Morrison nailed a 38-yarder with 1:38 left to help seal Hauck’s 89th win in his 100th home game at Washington-Griz during his illustrious tenure at Montana.
“This was Ty’s first game here and he had never kicked in the stadium,” Hauck said. The Grizzlies, after fall camp at Dornblaser Field, haven’t been able to use Washington-Grizzly Stadium the last two weeks because of concerts featuring Pearl Jam, Tyler Childers and P!NK. “I was concerned about our field goal kicking. But after he missed the first PAT, he was awfully good.
“Missouri State’s punter is an All-American and Ty out-punted him by more than three yards per punt. That field goal at the end was huge and he was just money. I’m proud of him. That’s not an easy thing to do – miss one and then come back. All three of his field goals were critical, too. He did a great job.”
With Bergen unavailable, Missouri State devoted plenty of extra attention to Keelan White, the Canadian burner who was the breakout star of last season’s playoff run for the Griz. He managed two catches for 20 yards.
That meant the Griz quarterback platoon of Ah Yat and Fresno State transfer Logan Fife often targeted Fontes, a talented yet sometimes inconsistent senior from Oxnard, California. Harris, who also is a senior from Oxnard, had a breakout evening Saturday in his first game playing receiver full-time. He snared three catches for 69 yards, including a 34-yard touchdown late in the third quarter to give Montana its biggest lead at 26-17.
Fontes, meanwhile, ended up with five catches for 68 yards despite three straight drops in the first half.
“He’s a really competitive dude and he’s a really good player, so him bouncing back was certainly good to see,” Hauck said about Fontes.
Harris’ 34-yard touchdown was set up by Deck’s 19-yard punt return. Deck also had a 16-yard return in the second half, although the Griz punted on the ensuing drive.
“Catching punts is not an easy thing either,” Hauck said. “Drew had the competitiveness and fortitude to go back and do that again and he had two great returns, including one that set up a big drive for a score.”
Kaho, a thumper whose physicality is apparent, finished with seven tackles, including 2.5 tackles for loss, in his Griz debut. Barnum, the son of Portland State head coach Bruce Barnum and a former Washington State pitcher turned walk-on safety at UM, notched three tackles in his first college start and his first game getting significant snaps at linebacker.
Tirrell, who is Montana’s second-leading returning tackler, finished with a team-best 10 tackles.
UM certainly had some tackling issues Saturday. But without the best edge linebacker in the conference (Wilson), Montana was able to corral Wright and company, holding the Bears to 2.9 yards per carry.
Hauck mentioned the Griz “doing a lot of dumb stuff” during the game Saturday and the strict, demanding head coach will certainly have plenty of corrections for UM this week leading up to Montana’s trip to Grand Forks to take on the University of North Dakota.
But Saturday, Hauck wanted to focus on his team’s ability to bounce back.
“Sometimes the ball doesn’t bounce your way and sometimes, it’s self-imposed, sometimes it’s the other team,” Hauck said. “But I was proud of our team for fighting our tails off tonight to get to 1-0, even when it wasn’t always going our way.”
