Griz met the challenge of T-Birds

As the Southern Utah Thunderbirds’ time of possession grew and the Montana Grizzlies’ lead evaporated, Saturday’s Big Sky Conference football game took on a certain “2003 North Dakota State” feel. 

That 2003 game between the Griz and an FCS newcomer saw UM go up 24-2 at Washington-Grizzly Stadium. ... and lose to those upstarts, 25-24. It was Bobby Hauck’s first home game as Montana’s coach, and NDSU built a 10-minute advantage in time of possession. 

Saturday was Bobby Kennedy’s first game as a head coach, at the same venue, and his No. 2 Grizzlies decided a 10-minute disadvantage in possession wasn’t enough of a challenge: Try 27.  

The Thunderbirds owe some of their 43 minutes of possession to their hosts, of course. There were two third-down personal fouls that extended drives that ended in SUU touchdowns. Passes were underthrown and dropped. A 21-9 lead evaporated. 

In the end, former Texas Tech baseball player Will Burns was running for his life, retreating some 30 yards out of the grasp of first Solo Tuliaupupu, then Tanner Williams before flinging a desperation pass that Brock Beamer picked off to preserve a 28-21 Montana win. 

The play took 12 seconds and seemed to last longer. 

“About gave me a heart attack,” Kennedy, who replaced Hauck as coach in February, said. “I think if we can clean up some of the mistakes we made that were self-inflicted and can continue to get better — you know, you make the most improvement between Game 1 and Game 2. But overall I’m just really happy for these guys.” 

Mistakes? A few

Kennedy could rue the first offensive play, when an open Brooks Davis was underthrown on what was likely a touchdown and Keali’i Ah Yat was intercepted. 

Then with the score 14-3, Landon Ransom-Goelz caught a short pass to set up first-and-goal — and had the ball popped loose when he reached for the goal line. It bounced out of the end zone for a turnover. 

Ransom-Goelz came back to catch the tie-breaking touchdown, a 53-yard catch and run that was dangerously close to another goal-line fumble (look it up).  

Also on the plus side, the Grizzlies blocked a field goal (Cooper Buffington) in the second quarter and the PAT (Jake Mason) after SUU’s Joshua Acord 58-yard TD reception in the fourth. 

“Frankly, we were awful on PAT-field goal tonight,” Southern Utah coach DeLane Fitzgerald, whose club also had a bad PAT snap, said. “We left five points out there. It’s also a different game if the head coach doesn’t go for it on fourth down (twice) and punts the ball away or goes for a field goal.” 

Finally, there was Southern Utah’s possession to break the 21-21 tie: The Thunderbirds had first-and-10 at UM’s 33 but — despite having piled up big yards with its rushing — got cute. Burns, under heavy pressure, drew a grounding call. That and a draw that went nowhere blunted the drive and forced a punt.  

“Back to back bad calls,” Fitzgerald groused. “We’re in field goal range — if we’re any good at kicking field goals.” 

The Thunderbirds still ran 83 offensive plays to 48 for the Griz, and Kennedy things could have been smoother.  

“We’ll make improvement,” he said after improving to 1-0 as a head coach. “I think when we put it all together we’ll have a very solid team. To me it was a really good first step.” 

That onside kick

After drawing to 14-9 in the third quarter on a touchdown run by Floyd Chalk, SUU tried an onside kick that appeared to work but was undone by a penalty. 

The Thunderbirds’ Sean Mays caught the kick about 14 yards downfield, but was ruled to have interfered with a fair catch by UM receiver Weston Adams. 

“It’s 100 percent coaching error,” Fitzgerald said. “It wasn’t quite executed the way it was supposed to be. In college football if there is a receiving player in the vicinity you have to let that player attempt to catch it and Sean didn’t do that. “ 

Local flavor 

Glacier product Isaac Keim and Whitefish’s Ryder Barinowski both saw action. Barinowski handled kickoffs for the Grizzlies, with three touchbacks on five kicks. 

97 degrees in Utah

Down in St. George, Utah, the top-ranked Montana State Bobcats had an easier time in their opener, swamping Utah Tech 54-0 in the first-ever Big Sky game for the Trailblazers. 

MSU sports information director Bill Lamberty noted the temperature at kickoff was 97 degrees; two other Bobcat games kicked off at 98, including MSU’s home game with McNeese in 2022. 

Highlights included Dane Steel’s 55-yard catch and run touchdown to open the scoring. It was reminiscent of his highlight-reel TD against Illinois State in the FCS title game in January; credit goes to fellow receiver Jordan Reed for walling off a pair of defenders. 

“I think people will soon start talking about Dane as one of the best receivers in our league. “If they aren’t already,” MSU coach Brent Vigen said. 

The Cats went up 17-0 on Xavier Ahrens’ 17-yard return of a punt blocked by Colter Petre. Brendon Ross had a 28-yard pick-6 to cap the scoring at 11:50 of the fourth quarter. 

Taco Dowler returned three punts a total of 72 yards. That brings his career total to 1,462, which makes him the Big Sky record holder. Montana’s Levander Segars had 1,441 yards from 2001-04.