It’s good to be back on the winning side of things, to put Idaho in their place, and to retain the Little Brown Stein. I was worried that this could be an ugly game for Montana but they shook off some of the cobwebs from the Sac loss and got going as the game went on. By no means a perfect win, it was a solid one where once Montana gained a 2 score lead it really felt that Idaho was already out of reach. This was the first of many “must win” games for Montana moving forward and we saw a lot of steady improvements in many aspects of the game.
While usually a footnote it’s worth an early mention at how incredibly atrocious the officiating was tonight. Colter mentioned it in our GFP last week that there were at least 7 missed major calls in the Sac game (4 favoring Sac, 3 favoring Montana) and tonight seemed just as bad. I snapped some rough video of a few of the missed calls and I’ll share those here. There was no false start on the fake fieldgoal and Montana had an easy TD either running or passing there. Gubner was most certainly not late and wasn’t targeting (Big Sky will overrule that suspension) which wiped out an interception. That cost UM a TD vs a field goal and the wiped out INT lead to an Idaho TD. Additionally, I think Kris Brown was sacked in the endzone, that’s 2 points off the board for Idaho + a possession too. Beyond that, you had out of position refs flagging late hits and defenseless targets where the in-position refs opted to call nothing. I didn’t see Ford’s hold on the Hicks-Onu pick either. It was a total mess out there and this officiating was terrible tonight. Add in the replay machine was broken and unable to be fixed… what a joke.
https://twitter.com/Bwahlberg/status/1452102076264112135
https://twitter.com/Bwahlberg/status/1452077975403253762
Moving beyond that main gripe of mine it was great to see the offense attack Idaho’s defense vertically once the game got going. It opened up things and it allowed Brown to have his best game to date. He looked far more poised thowing the ball and getting it down field, rather than to just his easy check-down options. Akem and Roberts got far more involved in the game, and a few tough Keelan White drops (not totally faulting him, both were really tough grabs) could have made Brown’s night even better.
The defense also got back to what we expect. Giving up an opening drive TD in their base set seems to be their MO now, it happened against Washington, EWU, Sac, and Idaho. After that, they locked it in until the game was out of hand for Idaho. The defense snagged 2 picks (should have been 3 but that BS call wiped Robby’s out) and if the stats are correct had Idaho put the ball on the ground 5 times, mostly on errant snaps I think. The defense tallied 6 sacks against a team that’s mostly a run-option team, and had 12 TFLs in the game.
Some additional thoughts:
- Happy birthday to would be PPR stat monster Junior Bergen, getting his first career start, rushing for 77 yards and having 2 great TDs. This true freshman was supposed to be redshirting and in line to work his way into a slot WR job, now he’s our main running back and kicking ass at it.
- Seemed to me with Mallory at center the running game opened up quite a bit more. Pass protection with blitzes in the middle was still an issue.
- Lots of injuries tonight, seemed to me that Forbes was the only one who didn’t return though. I saw Belknap running to the fans with the Stein at the end.
- Holy cow Bobby must’ve been pissed at Petrino for the on-sides kick. Passing with a 20 point lead and almost cashing in late for a TD would’ve been quite the scene, I almost wonder if a brawl would’ve broken out. I don’t blame him entirely, to be honest, I really wish they would’ve cashed in on that last drive.
- Justin Ford with another pick, incredible read on a pass play and cutting across the field to steal that pass.
- It seemed the defense kind of had it’s swagger back. More aggressive, harder hitting, less out of place overall.
- Hell of a game for Mitch Roberts and good to see Sammy back into the mix. The offense moves so much better when the Griz can stretch the field
- 5-6 scoring in the red zone with the only non score was the end of the game. Add in the offense scored 10 points off turnovers. Glad to see those small things starting to come together.
- Not sure why, especially in the face of little to no push early, Montana kept running up the middle on 1st and 2nd down for little gain. They’d have this open and free moving offense until goal-to-go and then get back to what they did against Sac, multiple times setting up a 3rd and long with goal to go. Once it did result in a TD to Grossman, the other time a field goal.
- More penalties wiping points off the board for Montana. A Mayginnes chop block wipes out a Janacaro TD run and a Ford hold (allegedly) wipes out a Hicks-Onu pick-6. Yeah it didn’t matter against crappy Idaho, but those small errors could add up in other games against better teams.
- Idaho is trash, I’m glad we kicked their ass
On to SUU, I’m hopeful that the Griz aren’t too beat up after this game and can continue to get a few guys back, healthy, and can find a nice little run ahead of them.
Go Griz!
While usually a footnote it’s worth an early mention at how incredibly atrocious the officiating was tonight. Colter mentioned it in our GFP last week that there were at least 7 missed major calls in the Sac game (4 favoring Sac, 3 favoring Montana) and tonight seemed just as bad. I snapped some rough video of a few of the missed calls and I’ll share those here. There was no false start on the fake fieldgoal and Montana had an easy TD either running or passing there. Gubner was most certainly not late and wasn’t targeting (Big Sky will overrule that suspension) which wiped out an interception. That cost UM a TD vs a field goal and the wiped out INT lead to an Idaho TD. Additionally, I think Kris Brown was sacked in the endzone, that’s 2 points off the board for Idaho + a possession too. Beyond that, you had out of position refs flagging late hits and defenseless targets where the in-position refs opted to call nothing. I didn’t see Ford’s hold on the Hicks-Onu pick either. It was a total mess out there and this officiating was terrible tonight. Add in the replay machine was broken and unable to be fixed… what a joke.
https://twitter.com/Bwahlberg/status/1452102076264112135
https://twitter.com/Bwahlberg/status/1452077975403253762
Moving beyond that main gripe of mine it was great to see the offense attack Idaho’s defense vertically once the game got going. It opened up things and it allowed Brown to have his best game to date. He looked far more poised thowing the ball and getting it down field, rather than to just his easy check-down options. Akem and Roberts got far more involved in the game, and a few tough Keelan White drops (not totally faulting him, both were really tough grabs) could have made Brown’s night even better.
The defense also got back to what we expect. Giving up an opening drive TD in their base set seems to be their MO now, it happened against Washington, EWU, Sac, and Idaho. After that, they locked it in until the game was out of hand for Idaho. The defense snagged 2 picks (should have been 3 but that BS call wiped Robby’s out) and if the stats are correct had Idaho put the ball on the ground 5 times, mostly on errant snaps I think. The defense tallied 6 sacks against a team that’s mostly a run-option team, and had 12 TFLs in the game.
Some additional thoughts:
- Happy birthday to would be PPR stat monster Junior Bergen, getting his first career start, rushing for 77 yards and having 2 great TDs. This true freshman was supposed to be redshirting and in line to work his way into a slot WR job, now he’s our main running back and kicking ass at it.
- Seemed to me with Mallory at center the running game opened up quite a bit more. Pass protection with blitzes in the middle was still an issue.
- Lots of injuries tonight, seemed to me that Forbes was the only one who didn’t return though. I saw Belknap running to the fans with the Stein at the end.
- Holy cow Bobby must’ve been pissed at Petrino for the on-sides kick. Passing with a 20 point lead and almost cashing in late for a TD would’ve been quite the scene, I almost wonder if a brawl would’ve broken out. I don’t blame him entirely, to be honest, I really wish they would’ve cashed in on that last drive.
- Justin Ford with another pick, incredible read on a pass play and cutting across the field to steal that pass.
- It seemed the defense kind of had it’s swagger back. More aggressive, harder hitting, less out of place overall.
- Hell of a game for Mitch Roberts and good to see Sammy back into the mix. The offense moves so much better when the Griz can stretch the field
- 5-6 scoring in the red zone with the only non score was the end of the game. Add in the offense scored 10 points off turnovers. Glad to see those small things starting to come together.
- Not sure why, especially in the face of little to no push early, Montana kept running up the middle on 1st and 2nd down for little gain. They’d have this open and free moving offense until goal-to-go and then get back to what they did against Sac, multiple times setting up a 3rd and long with goal to go. Once it did result in a TD to Grossman, the other time a field goal.
- More penalties wiping points off the board for Montana. A Mayginnes chop block wipes out a Janacaro TD run and a Ford hold (allegedly) wipes out a Hicks-Onu pick-6. Yeah it didn’t matter against crappy Idaho, but those small errors could add up in other games against better teams.
- Idaho is trash, I’m glad we kicked their ass
On to SUU, I’m hopeful that the Griz aren’t too beat up after this game and can continue to get a few guys back, healthy, and can find a nice little run ahead of them.
Go Griz!
