Perfect 'Sky season for Griz

One of best defenses in UM history holds Bobcats to 53 yards rushing, 143 passing

The Daily Inter Lake

MISSOULA - The 2006 University of Montana football team is the undisputed champion of the Big Sky Conference.

The Grizzlies wrapped up an undefeated conference schedule Saturday by beating who else? The Montana State Bobcats, 13-7, in Washington-Grizzly Stadium.

"I can't explain how much this means to us and our team," UM defensive end Mike Murphy said. "It just means a lot for the whole state of Montana, all the Griz fans - Griz Nation. Man, we are on such a high right now. We feel great."

The second-ranked Griz capped the regular season with 10-straight victories after a season-opening loss to I-A's then 16th-ranked Iowa and should get three home playoff games, if they keep winning. The 15th-ranked Bobcats fell to 7-4 overall and clinched a share of the conference runners-up spot with a 6-2 record. It's all up to the I-AA playoff selection committee today at 11:30 a.m. to determine if the Bobcats' season will continue.

AS EXPECTED, the highly-touted Grizzlies' and Bobcats' defenses ruled the game with big hits. Helmets jarred loose and flew in the air as wide receivers tried to make catches over the middle. Balls popped loose and flew in the air for fumble recoveries that were more like interceptions. Quarterbacks were horse collared for big losses and creamed for sack-fumble combinations. All told, the teams combined for eight turnovers.

"The turnovers for both teams made this thing feel, not like a championship game, but like there were a couple of haymakers being thrown - so it was fun," MSU coach Mike Kramer said.

In the second quarter alone, seven of nine possessions ended in fairly crazy fashion. Three ended in fumbles that were the result of big hits. One ended with a blocked 53-yard field goal

attempt. Another was thwarted by an interception and 38-yard return. Another ended in a shanked 14-yard punt. And the biggest one had Griz fans wondering if it would haunt them and turn out to be the play of the game. It was a Grizzly fourth-and-2 on the Bobcats' 3-yard line with 14 seconds left in the half when MSU's Bryant Matthews and Andre Fuller pounded UM running back Brady Green for a loss of 1 yard.

But even with all the early excitement, the game came down to the Bobcats' final possession, which they marched down inside the Grizzlies' 20-yard line with 1:38 left in the game.

"You could have come to this game the last 3 1/2 minutes and seen the entire game," Kramer said. "The Grizzlies' defense on the field against our offense inside the 30-yard line and we had to have a touchdown to win. Come on, man, that's awesome."

It started when Fuller intercepted Josh Swogger and returned it 19 yards to the UM 40-yard line with 4:40 left in the game.

"It was a mistake," Swogger said. "I didn't even see the guy. I think he came off the sideline to pick it off."

Seven plays later, after MSU quarterback Cory Carpenter found Donell Wheaton over the middle for a 15-yard gain on third-and-5 to the UM 20-yard line, Carpenter and Co. faced a fourth-and-9 from the 19 with 1:52 left in the game.

"It sure felt like we were going to be able to do it because we've got a lot of confidence in our receiving corps and Cory (Carpenter) has been there before," Kramer said.

The play never materialized.

The Grizzlies' defensive tackles Kerry Mullan, a senior from Stevensville, and sophomore Kelly Kain of Great Falls combined to collapse the pocket and sack Carpenter 6 yards behind the line of scrimmage.

"I'm glad to see them getting some credit because they have been playing well all year," Murphy said. "The tackles are the unsung heroes of the football field and those guys are warriors. It was right that they got the sack to end it right there."

The Grizzlies weren't able to run the clock completely out on offense, but forced the Bobcats to spend all their timeouts before trying to punt with 15 seconds left in the game. During the punt, though, the 'Cats were called for roughing the punter to give the Griz an automatic first down, which ended the game.

"You take away all the detritus from the first two-thirds, three-quarters, heck, seven-eighths of this game and at the end of the game, we're standing on the doorstep," Kramer said. "It was us against them. And it was them. Congratulations to the Grizzlies. Great job by the defense, with their backs severely against the wall."

The Griz defense held the Bobcats to just 196 yards of total offense, forced four turnovers, recorded four sacks and stopped the 'Cats on 14 of 18 third-down plays. Sophomore strong safety Colt Anderson of Butte, junior strongside linebacker Loren Utterback of Fort Benton and junior middle linebacker Kyle Ryan of Billings each had seven tackles to lead the team in holding the 'Cats to 53 yards rushing on 28 attempts. That's 1.9 yards per rush.

THE GRIZ OFFENSE, on the other hand, found a way to accumulate 344 yards of total offense even though it succeeded on only three of 17 third downs.

Swogger completed 17 of 41 passes (41.5 percent) for 231 yards and a touchdown. Redshirt freshman running back Thomas Brooks-Fletcher followed his 100-yard performance last week with a team-high 58 yards rushing on 11 attempts. Senior running back Brady Green added 49 yards on 14 attempts.

All of Swogger's passes were completed to wide receivers. Craig Chambers had a team-high six catches for 60 yards. But it was Eric Allen's five catches for 103 yards and the game-winning touchdown in the third quarter that stole the show.

Trailing 7-3 with 7:12 left in the third quarter, Swogger found Allen wide open for a 54-yard touchdown into the south end zone.

"He (Allen) told me on the sideline, 'Hey, I'm going to run right at them and then I'm going to run right by them,'" Swogger said.

It was the first play of the Grizzlies' third possession of the second half.

"We talked about it on the sideline and I told (Swogger) the cornerback keeps going inside of me," Allen said. "Ryan Bagely kept getting them to bite on his inside move. So I just wanted to go straight up the field and if he (Swogger) got enough time to look out there for me. And sure enough, he bit inside of me and we hit it."

MSU cornerback Kory Austin was lost in coverage.

"We were bringing pressure so I was pressing, playing inside leverage and he went deep," Austin said.

The play nearly became a blooper as Allen had to turn around and run backwards to catch the ball. He caught it around the 5-yard line and stumbled as he turned around.

"I was like, 'Oh, man, I gotta catch this first,'" Allen said. "It's weird when you're running backwards and trying to turn around real quick. I almost fumbled it. I looked up and saw the end zone and said I don't want to be at the 2-yard line and fall down."

THE BOBCATS' offense was paced by redshirt freshman running back Aaron Mason. He had 44 yards rushing on 19 attempts after Evin Groves reinjured his knee on the first play of the game, and caught four passes for 22 yards.

Mason put the 'Cats ahead 7-3 in the first quarter with a 5-yard touchdown run one play after wide receiver Josh Lewis hauled in a 43-yard reception.

Starting quarterback Jack Rolovich was 14-for-28 for 125 yards with two interceptions before leaving the game with an abdomen injury. Carpenter came in and completed just two of six passes for 18 yards and threw another interception.

Senior middle linebacker Bobby Daly had nine tackles, including a sack. Fuller registered seven tackles with a fumble recovery, an interception and three pass breakups.

Montana 13,

Montana St. 7

Montana St. 7 0 0 0 - 7

Montana 3 0 7 3 - 13

First Quarter

Mont-FG Carpenter 37, 11:01.

MtSt-Mason 5 run (Hastings kick), 5:07.

Third Quarter

Mont-Allen 54 pass from Swogger (Carpenter kick), 7:12.

Fourth Quarter

Mont-FG Carpenter 42, 6:53.

A-24,018.

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MtSt Mont

First downs 9 18

Rushes-yards 28-53 35-113

Passing 143 231

Comp-Att-Int 16-34-3 17-41-2

Return Yards 19 51

Punts-Avg. 8-35.8 6-42.7

Fumbles-Lost 2-1 2-2

Penalties-Yards 9-100 6-74

Time of Possession 29:38 30:22

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INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING-Montana St., Mason 19-44, Rolovich 5-11, Groves 1-3, Taito 2-1, Carpenter 1-(minus 6). Montana, Brooks-Fletcher 11-58, Green 14-48, Bradshaw 4-17, Swogger 6-(minus 10).

PASSING-Montana St., Rolovich 14-28-2-125, Carpenter 2-6-1-18. Montana, Swogger 17-41-2-231.

RECEIVING-Montana St., Mason 4-22, Lewis 3-57, Wheaton 3-30, Jefferson 3-20, Bostick 2-11, Taito 1-3. Montana, Chambers 6-60, Allen 5-103, Bagley 4-51, Ferriter 2-17.