Sep. 11—The weekly Montana Grizzly football press conferences aren’t generally a lengthy affair, and Monday’s edition unsurprisingly — given UM’s second-half performance in a 27-24 loss at North Dakota — was tight.
Especially succinct was coach Bobby Hauck.
“We were a dominant team in the first half,” Hauck said. “The first half we looked like a team that could beat anybody on our schedule and the second half we looked like a team that couldn’t win. So this week we need to figure out which team we’re going to be.”
Hauck brought two Grizzlies to the presser that, in the 2022-23 seasons, lined up at running back. Linebacker and captain Isaiah Childs and receiver Xavier Harris.
“I know we’re eager as a group right now, seniors and captains, to get back in and game-plan,” said Childs, who did not have a tackle at UND. “We have to execute when the opportunities come and we’re going to do that this week.”
It was pointed out that early last season the Grizzlies fell 28-14 at Northern Arizona — a jarring loss after a 3-0 start — ahead of a 10-game winning streak that ended in the FCS title game.
Childs didn’t see the silver lining on Monday.
“(Losing) is not our end goal,” he said. “We don’t bang our heads around Dornblaser all summer for nothing.”
The Fighting Hawks, who climbed to No. 10 in both FCS polls this week while Montana fell to Nos. 8 (media) and 9 (coaches), piled up 243 yards of offense the second half while sacking UM quarterback Keali’i Ah Yat four times. That was in 17 offensive snaps, for 18 yards of losses.
Mainly the hosts played keepaway, and played it well.
“We made plays the first half, and the second half they executed better than we did,” Hauck said. “They ran inside zone, they completed a few slants, a couple quarterback scrambles. That’s about what it was, a bunch of 4-yard gains.”
Slide Down Tommy
Late in the first quarter of the Montana State Bobcats’ 41-24 win over Maine Saturday, and with his team already up 21-0, MSU quarterback Tommy Mellott broke out of the pocket with room to run.
It was first-and-10 from the 15, and Mellott might have looked to make a cut toward paydirt. Instead he slid down for a 4-yard gain. The oft-injured junior out of Butte then handed off twice, and Scottre Humphrey scored from 6 yards out to make it 28-0.
“He slid once, which he hasn’t done a lot,” MSU coach Brent Vigen said Monday, at his weekly press conference. “Even the way he was allowed himself to be tackled was less combative than it used to be.”
Now that Sean Chambers, last year’s dynamic No. 2 QB, has graduated and is on the MSU staff, it’s more important to keep Mellott healthy. Meanwhile, the Bobcats got 110 rushing yards from the sophomore Humphrey, 99 from sophomore Jared White, 66 from Mellott and 63 from redshirt freshman Adam Jones.
Humphrey and Jones — Nos. 22 and 23 — combined for 173 yards on just eight carries.
“(Humphrey) had a really good true freshman year but you can see the offseason work certainly paid dividends,” Vigen said. “And with him and Adam in particular, I think we have two different styles. They’re both seeing it well and they’re both tough guys to bring down to bring down in the open field. And fortunately for us they’re getting in the open field.”
Resting Up
The Bobcats have a bye this week before playing host to Mercyhurst on Sept. 21.
“We’ll practice Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday and go out recruiting in full force Thursday and Friday,” Vigen said. “Then be back Monday for Mercyhurst.”
The Lakers of Erie, Pennsylvania play in the Northeast Conference, an FCS league that has a limit of 45 football scholarships (Big Sky Conference schools have 63).
More on Morehead
The Griz don’t get a rest, though they play a team from the non-scholarship Patriot League in Morehead (Kentucky) State Saturday at 1 p.m.
The blue-and-gold Eagles beat Kentucky Christian, an NAIA program located 33 miles away in Grayson, 48-7 in their first-ever meeting Saturday. Safety Matthew McClelland picked off three passes. Morehead is 2-0 under new head coach Jason Woodman, who was hired away from Division II Fairmont (Va.) State. Woodman coached his alma mater to a 60-47 record in 10 seasons, including an 8-3 record last season.
“Teams from their conference are 2-0 against our conference this year,” Hauck noted.
“We know Butler beat a Missouri Valley team (Murray State, 19-17), and St. Thomas almost beat N. Iowa (losing 17-10). We know they’ll come in here expecting to beat us, so we have to be ready to go.”
The two Pioneer League wins came from San Diego, which beat Cal Poly, and Drake, which beat Eastern Washinton 35-32 in overtime late Saturday.
Drake quarterback Luke Bailey threw for 380 yards in that one.
Big Game James-Newby
It’s no surprise that Idaho’s Keyshawn James Newby was honored by the Big Sky Conference Monday. His three sacks were critical in the Vandals’ 17-10 win at Wyoming Saturday.
“He’s a great player,” Idaho coach Jayson Eck said of James-Newby, a Helena High graduate who transferred to Idaho from Montana Tech after leading the Frontier Conference in sacks in 2022. “He’s going to have a chance to go play in the NFL. He’s playing like an FBS player. A lot of belief in him, and I think he’s come a long away and improved since last year.”
James-Newby, who has five sacks and two forced fumbles in two games, shared the defensive award with David Meyer of UC Davis, who had 15 tackles and a 60-yard pick-6 in the Aggies’ win over Texas A&M Commerce.
MSU’s Humphrey shared the offensive honors with Weber State’s Damon Bankston; Bankston ran for 133 yards and two TDs in the Wildcats’ 43-16 win over Portland State,
Idaho State’s Gabe Panikowski, who kicked three field goals, including a 51-yarder, in the Bengals’ 50-10 win over Western Oregon. took special teams honors.
