Notebook: Two hot Big Sky Conference teams
It was a hot one for the Montana schools of the Big Sky Conference Saturday, or rather a hot two.
The temperature at kickoff in Missoula, for the Montana Grizzlies’ opener against Missouri State, was 87 degrees. In St. George, Utah, where Montana State played Utah Tech, it was 93. And they were both night games.
Both the Bobcats and Grizzlies were triumphant, mind you, though not without some cramping on the part of MSU — most notably on the part of Bobcat quarterback Tommy Mellott, who stayed down after a 1-yard scoring run with 14:02 left in his team’s 31-7 win.
Lest anyone worry that Mellott had another leg injury, MSU coach Brent Vigen confirmed on Monday that it was cramps.
“He was fine yesterday,” Vigen said.
Now No. 3 in the Football Championship Subdivision — switching places with now-No. 4 Montana, which beat Missouri St. 29-24 Saturday — the Cats finally get a home game this week, against Maine.
The Black Bears are 1-0 after beating Colgate 17-14 last week. They’re coming off back-to-back 2-9 seasons under third-year head coach and Maine alum Jordan Stevens.
Familiar foe to one guy
Saturday will mark the first meeting between the Bobcats and Black Bears, but the Bobcats have added a player who suited up for Maine for two seasons: H-back Rohan Jones, who had a game-high 67 receiving yards in the Utah Tech win.
Mellott ran for two touchdowns and threw for one — to Jones, who rumbled 45 yards for the score and a 21-0 Bobcat lead early in the fourth quarter.
It was his eighth collegiate touchdown: The 235-pounder had five TDs with Maine last season, and two the year before that.
“I’m sure playing his old team, there will be some emotions involved, but the thing we need Rohan to do is just continue to get better,” Vigen said Monday. “His ceiling, I think, we’re far from. That’s the exciting thing.”
Stingy Defense
Montana State’s defense forced 3-and-outs on the Trailblazers’ first eight possessions Saturday. They didn’t earn a first down until MSU subbed in its second unit at 14:02 of the fourth quarter.
That bodes well against a Maine squad that, with Mercer graduate transfer Carter Peevy at quarterback, managed 303 yards of offense against Colgate.
Forty-seven of those yards came after the Raiders scored with 4:27 left to cut the gap to 17-14. Maine burned some clock but then Peevy lost a high snap and Colgate recovered with 57 seconds remaining.
The Raiders got to the Maine 34 — not quite in field goal range — before throwing an interception.
Critical was a 33-yard strike from Peevy to receiver Montigo Moss that flipped the field just ahead of that late fumble.
"I got here in January,” Peevy told the Portland Press Herald. “Since I got here, Day 1, all I've heard is Montigo Moss, there's your jump ball guy. He lived up to that tonight.”
Rolling Right
Missouri State went 6-for-14 on third-down conversions Saturday, and if you thought it was more like 11-for-14, you weren’t alone.
Quarterback Jacob Clark was a handful, right up until his final possession which went: 5-yard completion; sack (by Hayden Harris), sack (Andres Lehrman) and scramble for no gain (Vai Kaho).
Rolling right had been Clark’s bread and butter on several third and longs.
“He was able to make some throws and sometimes we didn’t put ourselves in position to make plays on the ball,” safety Ryder Meyer said Monday. “And that’s something we’ll improve on moving forward.”
“It was not something we saw on film in the four games we saw him play at the start of last season,” Montana coach Bobby Hauck said. “So that’s something that will be out there for the next team.
“The last play when he got flushed, he went to his right and there was nobody over there.”
Who goes to Grand Forks
Montana played Missouri State without top defender Riley Wilson at linebacker and top receiver and return man Junior Bergen. Cole Grossman, an All-America tight end in 2022, also didn’t dress.
Hauck is loathe to talk about injuries, or about who starts at quarterback week to week.
Keali’i Ah Yat and Logan Fife split time Saturday, with Ah Yat playing the first half and the first drive of the third quarter.
“They both did a nice job. The administrative stuff, I thought they handled it pretty well,” said Hauck, whose club plays at North Dakota this Saturday. “Obviously we’ll watch the film and critique it harshly and continue to work to get better.”
Eight Grizzlies made their first starts Saturday, not including receiver Xavier Harris, who has started at running back but against Missouri State replaced Bergen.
It was Harris’ 34-yard catch and run to a touchdown that put the Grizzlies up for good, 19-17.
It was a play that stuck with Bears’ coach Beard. “They went tempo,” he noted, “and caught us man short.”
More like two: There were 11 Bears on the field, but just one to take on a triangle of receivers on the left sideline. Their guy was double-teamed and off Harris went, eluding the free safety at the 20.
Not Hospitable
A few things about the North Dakota Fighting Hawks.
They haven’t lost a home opener since the Alerus Center opened in 2001, and in fact they haven’t lost a home opener since 1986.
Their quarterback, Simon Ronfo, is from Calvin, N.D., population 15 (but he went 37-0 at nearby Langdon Area High School, with three State A titles).
They are 110-30 at their indoor venue all time.
They built a 34-0 lead over Montana in 2018 on the way to a 41-14 win. It was Hauck’s first season in his second tenure as coach.
“This morning I watched their blowout of North Dakota from last year. That was eye-opening,” Hauck added Monday.
There was also a 40-34 loss in 2012 in which lefty quarterback Braden Hanson threw for a Big Sky-record 660 yards (yes, the Hawks were in the Big Sky for a while).
They also played pretty well at Iowa State last week in a 21-3 loss. North Dakota outrushed the Big 12 Hawkeyes 174-86, had more first downs and a 15-minute advantage in time of possession.
They also lost four starting offensive linemen from last year’s playoff team, three of them to FBS teams, and their O-line coach, Joe Pawlak, to the Montana Grizzlies.