MISSOULA – Saturday’s game between Montana and UC Davis had all the hype of a classic, with both teams ranked in the top 10 and ESPN2 cameras coming to Washington-Grizzly Stadium.
It was a matchup between a resurgent Griz team, which had won three straight since a bad loss to Weber State, and an Aggies team looking to establish itself firmly as a title contender.
But instead of a heavyweight banger, Saturday’s showdown was defined and ultimately decided by Montana’s mistakes and capitalization by the visitors as UC Davis shut down the Grizzlies’ run game and pulled away in the second half for a 30-14 win.
“It’s a difficult place to come in and win football games,” UC Davis head coach Tim Plough said. “It didn’t go our way early, but I thought our team really rallied. … I look up to (Montana head coach Bobby Hauck) a lot, and what he’s done with his program. I hope we can do something similar at Davis. It was a great night for the Big Sky Conference to get on ESPN and see that atmosphere, and I’m just proud of the team tonight.”
Plough’s team, which moved to 9-1 with its ninth consecutive win, had plenty of help from the Griz.
All-American tight end Cole Grossman, making his return from absence, had a crucial early drop to turn a promising Montana possession into a punt.
Griz quarterbacks Logan Fife and Keali’i Ah Yat threw one interception apiece, including a backbreaking one by Fife, who lasered a throw to Davis’s All-American safety Rex Connors in the back of the end zone in the first half.
“I think we had a guy underneath open,” Montana head coach Bobby Hauck said. “He went for the back-line throw, and they were looking for it. They dropped deep and the back-line throw wasn’t there.”
Looking to put points on the board in the final minute before halftime, Montana failed on a fourth-and-4 try inside UC Davis territory but just outside field-goal range.
The gamble turned into three extra points for the Aggies, who ran six plays for 34 yards in the final 37 seconds of the half to set up a buzzer-beating 41-yard field goal by Hunter Ridley and take a 13-7 lead at the break.
And finally the Griz, who didn’t commit a single penalty in the first half, drew a critical flag at perhaps the worst possible moment.
On perhaps the defining play of the game, the Griz didn’t substitute quickly enough on a fourth-and-2 play by UC Davis early in the fourth quarter, committing a too-many-men-on-the-field penalty and turning what would have been a close review for the spot into a stress-free first down.
Three plays later, the Aggies were in the end zone on a 1-yard touchdown toss from Miles Hastings to Lan Larison, taking a 27-14 lead.
On the first play of Montana’s ensuing drive, Ah Yat tossed an interception to Porter Connors, Rex’s brother and a linebacker for the Aggies.
UC Davis turned the gift into a field goal and a 30-14 lead, and that ended up the final score as Montana couldn’t get anything going over the final 10 minutes.
In fact, outside of a few drives, the Griz struggled to get anything going for most of the night. Fife started at quarterback for the Griz and went 4 for 4 on Montana’s opening drive, capping it with a 23-yard touchdown throw to Junior Bergen. Fife also led a 57-yard drive later in the first half that ended with Rex Connors’ end-zone interception.
Ah Yat led a 55-yard touchdown drive in the second half, capping it with a highlight-reel 17-yard scramble to the 1-yard line before running in a short score a few plays later.
Outside of those three possessions, Montana had 102 total yards on its 10 remaining drives.
Ah Yat, who had 29 yards on seven carries, was Montana’s leading rusher, and the Griz finished the game with just 77 yards on the ground.
“We did not run it well,” Hauck said. “Their front group did a good job. They controlled the line of scrimmage. … We weren’t getting a knockback on them. And they were really successful in terms of shedding blocks and getting to the ball carrier.”
Fife, who started the game 5 of 5 with a 23-yard touchdown pass to Junior Bergen, finished 13 of 23 for 147 yards for Montana. Ah Yat was 7 of 18 for 62 yards.
“I thought our quarterbacks struggled a little seeing coverage,” Hauck said. “They had a couple new things for us, different blends of coverages, and I didn’t think we saw coverage very well, would be my initial impression.”
UC Davis quarterback Hastings finished 28 of 38 for 227 yards and three touchdowns, while star running back Larison had 145 total yards.
After a farcical sequence in the first half when the Aggies had two false starts sandwiched around a delay-of-game penalty, pushing them from first-and-10 at the Montana 13 to third-and-27 at the 30 and forcing a field goal, UC Davis handled the noise and atmosphere of Washington-Grizzly Stadium well the rest of the night.
“Whenever you play in Montana, you know no one’s going to be here in the third quarter,” Plough said with a smirk. “We knew there were going to be false starts. I told the team all week, if you think you’re going to get through the game without doing that, that’s not realistic. Just fix it and move on to the next play.”
Ryder Meyer had a career-high 17 tackles for the Griz, while Jaxon Lee chipped in with 13, also a career-high.
Jackson Cloyd led UC Davis’s defense with three tackles for loss.
Montana hosts Portland State next week, while UC Davis hosts Montana State in a game that will decide the Big Sky title. The winner will finish with no less than a share of the conference crown. Saturday’s result, meanwhile, made it official – the Griz are no longer mathematically able to defend their title from a year ago.
