UND had more total yards, way out-rushed Montana, shut down Eli Gillman, won the turnover battle, had better TOP, and was better on 3rd down. They should have won this game. There's a few things I can point to but clearly UND not taking the option to try for points on two possessions when on the Montana 15 and Montana 15 has to haunt them. Hit one of those and the Griz have to try for 2 late to tie it up, hit both - and the end of this game doesn't matter. It was wild that I thought for a while the Griz were being out played and out coached... to see that two bad decisions by UND would come back to haunt them.
The Grizzlies probably should've lost this game, but having a team still finding it's way figure out how to win a game shows some great signs of growth.
I see two growing worries:
1. This O-line didn't play well in the face of a fairly good team, especially the right side. Ah Yat was under pressure and sacked A LOT, plus Gillman had little room to run in an offense that is built around him. Could some shuffling be needed on the OL or did UND just have a great day? We'll see.
2. Corners not named Kyon Loud had a tough day. Explains itself, the defense put these corners on an island and it lead to some good and some really bad results.
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Here's my big takeaway though, I told the guys on the GFP - can Ah Yat win a game when the Griz can't run and Wortham is neutralized? Today, he showed us that yes he can. It wasn't good for quite a while but his 4th quarter was awesome and Brooks Davis showed Griz Nation a good example of how great of a fall camp he had. Davis is a kid that this offense needs to help balance the passing game and man oh man, did he have a day.
I'm not really mad at the defense at all today, the offense left them out to dry for a long time tonight. Fooled a few times on deep shots but otherwise fought their asses off. Some of the expected usual guys starting to really show up, Tolbert, Harper, Wing, Wilkinson, Rausch, Loud. Wing's late pick helped spark something and get the Griz going which was clutch.
A few other thoughts:
- Money Morrison had a clutch kick and thank goodness he did there
- Rausch had a decent day but slipped at least once giving up a deep shot, let's find better cleats maybe?
- Far too many penalties on special teams, for a coaching staff that prides themselves on solid ST play they have a ways to go here.
- 2 weeks with teams putting up 200+ on the ground, that's not a good sign
- 5 of 18 on 3rd down for Montana is super bad, glad it didn't cost them the game, much to improve on here
- Not sure the use of Wortham at QB in mid-field that usually put Montana behind the sticks
- A few thousand fans didn't come back at half and those who did showed we didn't need them. It took some time but the last few UND possessions the fans were LOUD - loved hearing it / seeing it. Bummed a chunk of fans focused on the ride home or socializing when the team needed them.
- Even though they opted not to kick 2 shorter field goals UND also missed a PAT and that was the difference, incredible how close of a margin this win was.
- I'm sure the 1995 guys were biting their nails like all of us, glad the Griz could steal a W in front of guys like Dave Dickenson this year where they couldn't last year.
- The Griz defense forced the UND QB to 42.5% completion and outside of a single 82 yard shot he would've had 176. Obviously he got that deep pass and it really helps his numbers but they're close to showing some real good stuff. Need to improve that over the top coverage especially if these corners and a few safeties are going to be on an island.
- I'm so glad we have Brooks Davis
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Not sure how they pulled it off but they did. This team has a ways to go, lets hope some things can be cleaned up fast! 2-0! Keep at it!
