Griz vs St. Francis

[RAshJudgement]

[RAshJudgement]

http://missoulian.com/sports/college/mo ... 2943b.html

Chris Villarrial mentioned earlier this week his anxiety over Montana's quick-strike offense. Bottled up for a drive or a quarter or a half, one missed assignment on defense could end in the Griz racing to the end zone.

He had no idea how right he would be.

A whimper of an offensive first half for the Griz turned fierce in the second as Montana struck fast and struck often in Saturday's 41-31 victory. The Grizzlies (1-0), ranked No. 13 in the preseason polls, scored three touchdowns on three drives of less than 1 minute and 45 seconds each.

The Griz turned a 17-13 deficit into a 34-17 lead in a red hot flash and less than a quarter's time at Washington-Grizzly Stadium. Those touchdown drives moved the clock just 1:42, 1 minute even and 38 seconds, respectively.

"The guys need to stay focused on the game and not try and play above themselves and make foolish mistakes," Saint Francis coach Chris Villarrial prophesied this week. "As a coaching staff, one of our biggest worries is this game can get crazy real quick with as fast as they can score."

The Griz rolled to 368 yards of offense and 35 points in the second half after the first two quarters yielded little more than frustration. UM managed just six first downs before the break and turned the ball over three times.

The Griz trailed 10-6 at that point.

The start of the third quarter acted as a rebirth for Montana. The team covered 73 yards in nine plays and 3:11 to reach the end zone and take their first lead since 3-0, Gustafson picking up the final 13 yards on a scramble on goal-to-go

The Griz had reached the 8 before back-to-back running plays went backwards. Gustafson then tucked a third-down snap and went head over heels into the end zone, the first of five total touchdowns for the senior.

That wasn't the momentum swinger the Griz thought it would be, though.

Saint Francis's preseason All-American kick returner Lorenzo Jerome took the ensuing kickoff back 86 yards to inside the Griz 10-yard line. Three plays later quarterback Zack Drayer barrelled in for the touchdown to regain the 17-13 lead.

***

Jerome had perhaps the best game on either side of the ball. That included another kickoff return of 79 yards that went all the way to the house, but his special teams antics only complemented his defensive play. No defensive player on either team had more than the 10 tackles from his safety position and he intercepted two passes.

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But Jerome was only one man against a den of raging Grizzlies.

Gustafson threw second-half touchdown passes of 13 yards to redshirt freshman Justin Calhoun, 16 yards to senior Lane Hovey and 75 yards to sophomore Keenan Curran.

For each receiver, Saturday marked his first time in the end zone at Montana. It was also the first games as Grizzlies for Calhoun and Hovey, a graduate transfer from Nebraska.

After completing 13 of 21 passes for 111 yards with a pick in the first half, Gustafson got loose in the second. He finished with 353 yards through the air on 28 of 43 passing.

The 6-foot-7 passer from Billings also rushed for touchdowns of 12 and 1 yards and busted off a 20-yarder for a first down.

All of that came in the second half after a salty Red Flash (0-1) defense kept Montana out of sorts early. The Griz managed just two field goals, from 46 and 22 yards by redshirt freshman kicker Tim Semenza, before taking a breather in the locker room.

Semenza's first field goal out-distanced any by a Griz kicker in 2015, but wasn't the most notable boot of the night.

That belonged to Flash kicker Lance Geesey. His 25-yarder in the second quarter, a kick that tied a tight ballgame 3-3 at the time, also put him in a tie atop the Northeast Conference's all-time list with 46 for his career.

Saint Francis (0-1), which traveled 2,100 miles to Missoula for the game, proved no pushover after its long road trip.

SFU quarterback Zack Drayer had two touchdown passes and also ran for one, though he had a costly interception thrown to UM's Ryan McKinley. The rest of the Flash offense went through power back Marcus Bagley, who carried the ball 28 times to get to his 95 bruising yards.

The team's defense was even more filthy despite the 41 points allowed. It had three sacks of Gustafson, two that created fumbles, and four turnovers forced overall.

The Griz will need to play much better to find victory in Week 2 of the season. Montana visits preseason No. 5 Northern Iowa next Saturday; the Panthers upset FBS Iowa State 25-20 in their game this week.

BOTTOM LINE

No. 13 Montana 41, Saint Francis 31

Crowd: 26,002

Elapsed time of game: 3:16

Weather: Sunny, 70 degrees

Records: Montana improves to 1-0. Saint Francis falls to 0-1.

Key stat: The Griz out-gained the Red Flash 368 yards to 135 in the second half while scoring 35 points.

Key moment: Brady Gustafson capped a five-play, 43-yard drive with an 11-yard touchdown pass to Jeremy Calhoun with 2 minutes let in the third quarter. With the score 20-17, the Griz never trailed again.

[AlphaGriz1]

Gustafson has 10 turnovers in the last 2 games................................

[Mosey cue]

I don't think Gustafson walks off the field against UNI.

The amount of points that will given up by the Griz in the first three games will be a record for a three game span.

After this and the next two losses I expect for sale signs in Stitts yard


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[TomCat88]

What am I missing here? UM looked good. St. Francis isn't bad. It was a statistical blowout, but UM gave them a short field too often.

[wbtfg]

UM came out flat offensively. They figured it out and turned it on. Stfu had a stud who single handedly kept them in the game. UNI game will be a good barometer of where um is.


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[Bobcat Steve]

Who cares [emoji849]


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[onceacat]

What am I missing here? UM looked good. St. Francis isn't bad. It was a statistical blowout, but UM gave them a short field too often.

Statistically speaking, UM looked really bad on offense. 500 yards per game isn;t very good if it takes you 86 plays to do it. SFU is about as good as Idaho St or Davis. But UM has a long and storied history of getting outplayed by lower tier teams (remember Idaho St last year) then having God himself bail them out. Then they come back and beat a top shelf team like SDSU the next week.

Its all part of the Griz mystique. I'm not taking any more out of this game than I am out of our game against Idaho.

[91catAlum]

What am I missing here? UM looked good. St. Francis isn't bad. It was a statistical blowout, but UM gave them a short field too often.

Statistics are for losers!

The griz looked terrible in the first half, at least offensively. They were actually behind on the scoreboard at halftime. Imagine if MSU was losing at the half in their home opener a few years ago against Monmouth.

[luckyirishguy25]

What am I missing here? UM looked good. St. Francis isn't bad. It was a statistical blowout, but UM gave them a short field too often.

Statistics are for losers!

The griz looked terrible in the first half, at least offensively. They were actually behind on the scoreboard at halftime. Imagine if MSU was losing at the half in their home opener a few years ago against Monmouth.

They had nothing going for them until SFU gassed out.

[Pecos24]

They had nothing going for them until SFU gassed out.

2nd half the Griz stuffed the SFU running game and it looked like to me SFU's defense ran out of gas. Their guys were cramping up and just plain tired out.


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[AlphaGriz1]

What am I missing here? UM looked good. St. Francis isn't bad. It was a statistical blowout, but UM gave them a short field too often.

YOU are not missing anything, you just have to remember where you are posting. BN

Anyone that thought the Griz would score 80 on St Francis is an idiot, we had a 55% chance of beating that team they are a very solid group that was 7-4 last year and lost 2 other games by a total of 5 points. They are extremely physical and #22 Lorenzo Jerome is the single best opposing player I have ever watched play in WGS 1 INT, 197yds and 1 TD on KO returns and he flat lais out 2 or 3 of our guys on crossing routes. Had at least 2 more breakups. Legit NFL talent.

Griz defense gave up one big play towards the end of the game on that 73 yard pass to Ajayi for a TD other than that they shut down a very good rushing attack, St Francis had 33 rushes for 69 yards. (2.1 avg) Can anyone show me a better defensive effort against the rush this weekend? Our defense is legit in scheme and didnt make near the tactical mistakes as we have in years past. Griz dominated the game yesterday even turning the ball over 4 times,

I feel better about the UNI game next week than I did yesterday. UNI lost a ton on defense from last year and if we can find a real QB we can carve up their secondary. If Gustufson stops his barrage of turnovers we have a very good chance of beating UNI next week.

Both St Francis and Montana would have absolutely destroyed Idaho. Idaho is just horrible

[91catAlum]

What am I missing here? UM looked good. St. Francis isn't bad. It was a statistical blowout, but UM gave them a short field too often.

YOU are not missing anything, you just have to remember where you are posting. BN

Anyone that thought the Griz would score 80 on St Francis is an idiot, we had a 55% chance of beating that team they are a very solid group that was 7-4 last year and lost 2 other games by a total of 5 points. They are extremely physical and #22 Lorenzo Jerome is the single best opposing player I have ever watched play in WGS 1 INT, 197yds and 1 TD on KO returns and he flat lais out 2 or 3 of our guys on crossing routes. Had at least 2 more breakups. Legit NFL talent.

Griz defense gave up one big play towards the end of the game on that 73 yard pass to Ajayi for a TD other than that they shut down a very good rushing attack, St Francis had 33 rushes for 69 yards. (2.1 avg) Can anyone show me a better defensive effort against the rush this weekend? Our defense is legit in scheme and didnt make near the tactical mistakes as we have in years past. Griz dominated the game yesterday even turning the ball over 4 times,

I feel better about the UNI game next week than I did yesterday. UNI lost a ton on defense from last year and if we can find a real QB we can carve up their secondary. If Gustufson stops his barrage of turnovers we have a very good chance of beating UNI next week.

Both St Francis and Montana would have absolutely destroyed Idaho. Idaho is just horrible

It's getting deep...

[91catAlum]

The griz fan mentality is amazing to me. The Cats go on the road and play an FBS team tough, but it's because that FBS team is the worst team that college football has ever seen... then the griz get played tough at home by what amounts to a D2 team, but it's because said team could compete at the FBS level and probably give Alabama all they could handle.

[TomCat88]

What am I missing here? UM looked good. St. Francis isn't bad. It was a statistical blowout, but UM gave them a short field too often.

YOU are not missing anything, you just have to remember where you are posting. BN

Anyone that thought the Griz would score 80 on St Francis is an idiot, we had a 55% chance of beating that team they are a very solid group that was 7-4 last year and lost 2 other games by a total of 5 points. They are extremely physical and #22 Lorenzo Jerome is the single best opposing player I have ever watched play in WGS 1 INT, 197yds and 1 TD on KO returns and he flat lais out 2 or 3 of our guys on crossing routes. Had at least 2 more breakups. Legit NFL talent.

Griz defense gave up one big play towards the end of the game on that 73 yard pass to Ajayi for a TD other than that they shut down a very good rushing attack, St Francis had 33 rushes for 69 yards. (2.1 avg) Can anyone show me a better defensive effort against the rush this weekend? Our defense is legit in scheme and didnt make near the tactical mistakes as we have in years past. Griz dominated the game yesterday even turning the ball over 4 times,

I feel better about the UNI game next week than I did yesterday. UNI lost a ton on defense from last year and if we can find a real QB we can carve up their secondary. If Gustufson stops his barrage of turnovers we have a very good chance of beating UNI next week.

Both St Francis and Montana would have absolutely destroyed Idaho. Idaho is just horrible

It's getting deep...

He must have St. Francis confused with some other team. St. Francis lost to Bryant by two, but lost to all others by ten or more. YSU, which went 5-6, beat them 48-3. The NEC is a glorified D2 conference. D2 teams sometimes win or hang around against FCS teams, which is probably all that happened here.

[TomCat88]

Or maybe he's just trying to be funny

[bobcat92]

What am I missing here? UM looked good. St. Francis isn't bad. It was a statistical blowout, but UM gave them a short field too often.

YOU are not missing anything, you just have to remember where you are posting. BN

Anyone that thought the Griz would score 80 on St Francis is an idiot, we had a 55% chance of beating that team they are a very solid group that was 7-4 last year and lost 2 other games by a total of 5 points. They are extremely physical and #22 Lorenzo Jerome is the single best opposing player I have ever watched play in WGS 1 INT, 197yds and 1 TD on KO returns and he flat lais out 2 or 3 of our guys on crossing routes. Had at least 2 more breakups. Legit NFL talent.

Griz defense gave up one big play towards the end of the game on that 73 yard pass to Ajayi for a TD other than that they shut down a very good rushing attack, St Francis had 33 rushes for 69 yards. (2.1 avg) Can anyone show me a better defensive effort against the rush this weekend? Our defense is legit in scheme and didnt make near the tactical mistakes as we have in years past. Griz dominated the game yesterday even turning the ball over 4 times,

I feel better about the UNI game next week than I did yesterday. UNI lost a ton on defense from last year and if we can find a real QB we can carve up their secondary. If Gustufson stops his barrage of turnovers we have a very good chance of beating UNI next week.

Both St Francis and Montana would have absolutely destroyed Idaho. Idaho is just horrible

It's getting deep...

He must have St. Francis confused with some other team. St. Francis lost to Bryant by two, but lost to all others by ten or more. YSU, which went 5-6, beat them 48-3. The NEC is a glorified D2 conference. D2 teams sometimes win or hang around against FCS teams, which is probably all that happened here.

My understanding is they only offer 44 full scholarships. So better than D2 but not not by much. If they play like this against UNI it will be a long plane ride back to Missoula.

[AlphaGriz1]

The griz fan mentality is amazing to me. The Cats go on the road and play an FBS team tough, but it's because that FBS team is the worst team that college football has ever seen... then the griz get played tough at home by what amounts to a D2 team, but it's because said team could compete at the FBS level and probably give Alabama all they could handle.

Except St Francis is an FCS school that was 7-4 last year. That means they won more games last year than Idaho has in 4 seasons. Red Flash have an OLYMPIC with depth that goes over 310lbs on average and they have depth 9 players on OL over 300lbs. Big deep team with a great RB and Safety.

The fact you are ****** clueless about that team isn't the question here.

It's getting thick in here.........

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[AlphaGriz1]

What am I missing here? UM looked good. St. Francis isn't bad. It was a statistical blowout, but UM gave them a short field too often.

YOU are not missing anything, you just have to remember where you are posting. BN

Anyone that thought the Griz would score 80 on St Francis is an idiot, we had a 55% chance of beating that team they are a very solid group that was 7-4 last year and lost 2 other games by a total of 5 points. They are extremely physical and #22 Lorenzo Jerome is the single best opposing player I have ever watched play in WGS 1 INT, 197yds and 1 TD on KO returns and he flat lais out 2 or 3 of our guys on crossing routes. Had at least 2 more breakups. Legit NFL talent.

Griz defense gave up one big play towards the end of the game on that 73 yard pass to Ajayi for a TD other than that they shut down a very good rushing attack, St Francis had 33 rushes for 69 yards. (2.1 avg) Can anyone show me a better defensive effort against the rush this weekend? Our defense is legit in scheme and didnt make near the tactical mistakes as we have in years past. Griz dominated the game yesterday even turning the ball over 4 times,

I feel better about the UNI game next week than I did yesterday. UNI lost a ton on defense from last year and if we can find a real QB we can carve up their secondary. If Gustufson stops his barrage of turnovers we have a very good chance of beating UNI next week.

Both St Francis and Montana would have absolutely destroyed Idaho. Idaho is just horrible

It's getting deep...

He must have St. Francis confused with some other team. St. Francis lost to Bryant by two, but lost to all others by ten or more. YSU, which went 5-6, beat them 48-3. The NEC is a glorified D2 conference. D2 teams sometimes win or hang around against FCS teams, which is probably all that happened here.

My understanding is they only offer 44 full scholarships. So better than D2 but not not by much. If they play like this against UNI it will be a long plane ride back to Missoula.

I really hope and pray our defense plays like this against UNI.

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[CatBlitz]

Drayer is a terrible QB. On par with Linehan.

If you feel better about UNI after yesterday Alpha, you'll be fun next weekend.