Griz hold off UC Davis, 31-23
DAVIS, Calif. — Clifton McDowell had the hot hand in the first half for Montana, before the Grizzlies got that one, big run.
Eli Gillman’s 85-yard touchdown burst in the third quarter let the No. 17 Grizzlies open up a 28-20 lead, and Montana held off No. 20 UC Davis 31-23 in a Big Sky Conference football game Saturday.
McDowell threw for 243 yards with three first-half touchdowns — including a 41-yard catch and run by Aaron Fontes just 63 seconds after the Aggies took a 20-14 lead on Miles Hastings 14 yard TD pass to Samuel Gbatu.
With 2:15 remaining in the half, but Montana’s Junior Bergen returned the ensuing kickoff 34 yards before McDowell hit Keelan White for 19 yards on third-and-4, then got a short pass to Fontes that the receiver turned into the go-ahead touchdown at the 1:12 mark.
The Aggies (3-3 overall, 1-2 in the Big Sky), who missed the PAT kick after the second score, trailed for good, 21-20.
In the third quarter Gillman took a toss around the right side and, with a couple moves, burst into the open and outran everyone. It is telling that on his other seven carries he gained a total of one yard.
“We were spinning it,” Montana coach Bobby Hauck said in a post-game radio interview. “They were really heavy in the box, and that created some problems in the running game. I told our team we’re probably not aesthetically pleasing with how we play, but we have a winning attitude.”
The game was far from over. Looking to go up two scores in the fourth quarter, the Grizzlies (5-1, 2-1 in the Big Sky) lost the ball inside the UC Davis 15 on Xavier Harris’ fumble with 10:08 left.
Montana forced a punt, and Bergen’s 39-yard return set up a 38-yard field goal by Grant Glasglow for a 31-20 lead with 7:03 remaining.
But that fumble, along with McDowell getting stripped at the end of a 15-yard run inside the Aggie 10 on UM’s first possession, helped keep the outcome in doubt until the Aggies gave it away with 1:18 left in the game.
“We’ll go to the negative first, because that’s easy,” Hauck said. “Fumbling the ball twice going in, inside the 15, was not good.”
Davis also had two fumbles, with the second sealing the outcome: The Aggies hit a field goal to draw to 31-23 with 3:58 left, got the ball back and drove to Montana’s 12.
There, Andre Crump Jr., took a short pass, was spun around and lost the ball — and Griz safety Ryder Meyer recovered at Montana’s 10.
Hastings threw for 359 yards for Davis, over 200 in the first half.
McDowell was 18 of 32 passing, with a 21-yard TD to Keelan White for a 7-0 Griz lead, and a 11-yard dart to Fontes that had Montana up 14-13.
The Griz, ahead 7-0 early, lost some momentum when a third-down stop of Davis was negated by an unsportsmanlike penalty on linebacker Braxton Hill. Soon the Griz had two, this one on Hauck, with the Aggies marching to a tying touchdown.
Garrett Graves drew another one in the second quarter.
“That was a fired up Griz team,” said Hauck, who moved past Nevada’s Chris Ault into third in Big Sky coaching wins, with 69. “And that’s the first 15-yarder of my career.”
Fontes and White each had over 90 receiving yards and McDowell had a critical 20-yard run on a third-and-17. Bergen averaged 23 yards on four punt returns. Hill had 10 tackles and broke up a pass. The Griz, who play at No. 3 Idaho next Saturday, got a big road win.
“I did just tell them exactly that,” Hauck said. “That was a huge win for our team. A big, big-ass win.”
Montana 7 14 7 3 - 31
UC Davis 7 13 0 3 - 23
First Quarter
UM—White 21 pass from McDowell (Glasgow kick), 5:51
UCD—Hutton 4 run (Ridley kick), 1:53
Second Quarter
UCD—Davis 1 pass from Hastings (kick failed)
UM—Fontes 11 pass from McDowell (Glasgow kick), 5:21
UCD—Gbatu 14 pass from Hastings (Ridley kick), 2:15
UM—Fontes 41 pass from McDowell (Glasgow kick), 1:12
Third Quarter
UM—Gilman 85 run (Glasgow kick), 2:32
Fourth Quarter
UM—Glasgow 38 FG, 7:03
UCD—Ridley 42 FG, 3:58
UM UCD
First downs 15 20
Total Net Yards 424 435
Rushes-yards 19-181 25-76
Passing 243 359
Punt Returns 4-92 1-minus 6
Kickoff Returns 1-34 1-26
Interceptions Ret. 0-0 0-0
Comp-Att-Int 10-26-0 33-42-1
Sacked-Yards Lost 1-9 0-0
Punts 5-43.4 6-47.7
Fumbles-Lost 2-2 2-2
Penalties-Yards 7-70 4-25
Time of Possession 30:14 29:46
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING—Montana, Gillman 8-86, McDowell 10-49, Ostmo 11-41, Harris 58, Fontes 1-4, Bergen 1-0. UC Davis, Fisher 17-57, Hutton 2-6, Leon-Guerrero 3-6, Tompkins 2-5, Tattersall 1-2.
PASSING—Montana, McDowell 18-32-0-243. UD Davis, Hastings 31-46-0-359.
RECEIVING—Montana, Fontes 5-99, White 5-93, Bergen 3-17, Gillman 2-12, Racandellia 1-10, Shafer 1-10, Barker 1-2. UC Davis, Fisher 6-23, Davis 5-74, Gale 4-71, Hutton 4-545, Gbatu 4-43, Sikmpson 3-8, Babb II 2-65, Crump Jr. 2-18, Tompkins 1-4.
MISSED FIELD GOALS—Montana, Glasgow 35 (blocked).