Gillman, Griz overrun Aggies

DAVIS, Calif. — Eli Gillman, have another record. Cooper Kupp, watch your 6 o’clock.

Gillman ran for a Montana-record 275 yards and four touchdowns, including a 58-yard burst on the first play of the fourth quarter, and the Grizzlies scored a dominant 62-22 win over UC Davis in Big Sky Conference football Saturday. 

Keali’i Ah Yat ran for two touchdowns and threw for two for the Grizzlies, who ran out to a 31-0 lead and kept the points coming after halftime. Montana (4-1, 2-0 in the Big Sky) piled up 607 yards of offense, convincingly shaking off last week’s 52-17 loss at Oregon State. 

Gillman’s assault on the record books continued: his four touchdowns give him 66 for his career, and now the Big Sky standard of 77, held by Eastern Washington stalwart Kupp, suddenly seems in reach.  

Gillman’s 26th and final carry, which covered 15 yards, gave him 275: That broke the single-game record of 265 set by Yohance Humphery against Weber State in 2001. 

He had a pair of 5-yard scoring runs in the first quarter, broke off a 16-yard score to cap UM’s first drive of the second half — making it 38-7 — and then broke a trio of tackles on his long run to start the fourth period. 

Ah Yat was steady and sometimes spectacular, completing 21 of 31 passes for 241 yards. He hit Landon Ransom-Goelz for 2 yards and a 24-0 UM lead at 4:18 of the second quarter; it was the receiver’s first touchdown as a Griz.  

He found Brooks Davis for a 3-yard TD and a 45-8 lead at 6:43 of the third quarter.  

Davis had nine catches for 121 yards. 

Ah Yah had a 7-yard scoring run in the second quarter and scored on a 12-yard keeper with 1:46 left in the third quarter.  

Jo Silver drilled two field goals for the No. 5 Griz, including a 50-yarder that pushed the gap to 62-15 with 5:39 left in the game. 

The host Aggies (3-2, 1-1 in league), ranked No. 10 in the Stats Perform poll, faltered early and often. After Gillman’s first TD, the team’s traded punts — but UC Davis returner Zach Jones muffed the boot by UM’s Everett O’Donnell. Tanner Huff recovered for the Griz at the Aggies’ 26; two Gillman runs later it was 14-0. 

The Aggies punted on eight straight possessions at one point and turned the ball over on downs twice. Tyler King had two solo sacks for the Grizzlies and shared another with Zekiel Seumalo. Linebacker Nai Mose had nine tackles.  

Sam Gbatu, Jr., had another 100-yard receiving game for UCD — six catches for 103 — but quarterback Treynor Cleeland was held to 194 passing yards, with a 27-yard TD to Jones.  

Jordan Fisher ran for 103 yards, including a 27-yard score. That cut Montana’s lead to 54-15 at 5:56 of the third quarter, but the Griz promptly drove 66 yards in eight plays, ending with Ah Yat's second rushing TD. 

Columbia Falls’ Cody Schweikert saw the field early and finished with three carries for 10 yards. Whitefish’s Fynn Ridgeway got a pair of carries at running back, gaining 5 yards. 

The Grizzlies are back in Missoula for Homecoming Saturday, against Northern Colorado. Kickoff is at 1 p.m. Davis stays home to face Eastern Washington.