The 17 point favorites Montana Grizzlies hit the road this weekend and absolutely fell flat. They were shell shocked right away. The defense was baffled most of the game by a true freshman NAU QB and a running game that shoved the front line around. The offense looked… well… as we’ve seen. Inefficient, full of errors, and unable to execute. The running game was totally shut down and QB play wasn’t at a level that was needed to win a road game against a (previously) winless team.
The margin for error with this season and this team was slim already and now Montana has put themselves even further behind. With games against Davis, Sac, Idaho, Portland, and MSU looming – right now I see 0 wins in that slate. There’s time to correct and save this but now Montana needs to make ground against teams that are looking/playing/coaching better than they are right now.
I’m really frustrated. This was such a disappointing loss. In a week where many heavyweight teams were duking it out Montana was SUPPOSED to have a good road test but a game they should have walked away with a win. Now with this loss they’ll tumble almost all the way out of the top 25, already find themselves behind in conference standings, and have so many unanswered questions that I don’t know have a quick solution.
My observations:
- The Grizzly offensive line was dominated today. The veteran group that needed to play its best, simply didn’t. They were shoved back all day. The QB was under pressure up the middle and on the edges. The most veteran group on this offense that HAS to preform every week simply didn’t. Near end of the 1st half the OL gets blown off the ball and on a needed 3rd and 1 – Harris loses 4. Then with 6 minutes to go in the game with a shred of hope left, needing a short game, again there’s no running lanes and it’s a turnover on downs. Where does this group go from here? Can it be fixed?
- 6 years / 5 seasons and Montana just doesn’t have that solution at QB. Dalton Sneed (when healthy) was great. Beyond that it just seems the Griz have been so lost at that position. I don’t blame Vidlak or McDowell for this poor performance on offense, Vidlak flashes great potential but probably isn’t fully ready for the job. McDowell is best in the zone read (from what I’ve seen) but when the run game isn’t there… what do you do? This was a situation that we’ve been in for a few years now. How does this get fixed? NAU rolled out a freshman QB that outperformed today. How does a school like NAU do that over us? It SHOULDN’T happen. Vidlak needs to play with more urgency in the pocket.
- The pass defense had too many big shots given up and were fooled to often once again. This has happened every single week. It’s on film, in 4 weeks there’s been continual deep shots down field that have been allowed. I’m no expert, I have no idea how this can be fixed, is it possible? What can be changed to limit this?
- Trevin Gradney secures his 4th pick in 4 games, how awesome. Then… when needed, later in the game, he’s on the sideline at times. Did he get hurt? Are we just sticking with a plan for rotation? If he’s one of your leaders and studs on defense, in a game where you’re having issues with a pass offense, why is he off the field when needed?
- Credit NAU (I think) for taking Junior Bergen out of this game. This guy needs double digit touches… and I don’t think got them today.
- Montana’s special teams once again forced errors and swung points in the favor of their opponent. A blocked punt sets up a short field TD, then a missed PAT.
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I don’t think I’m being too dramatic to say this is one of the worst losses under either of Hauck’s tenures. I can think of some others, 2003 NDSU, 2008 Weber, 2018 MSU. But man… this one just feels like there’s an absolute mountain of poop coming our way the rest of this season. I’m not feeling positive at all and you guys know I try to find the silver lining here.
That said… 2008 Weber State was just about as ugly and gross of loss. That team found it’s identity from that loss and went on a run. I’m going to need more convincing to think this Montana team has that type of rebound in them, but who knows.
This post is a big vent, this team needs to dig deep and find it’s real identity, is this a .500 squad or can they rally from this sh*t sandwich of a game and find a winning streak? The margin for error is even thinner and Montana now has to rebound fast. While I’m upset, disappointed, and frustrated – I’m not giving up on these guys. You’ll find me at Wa Griz this weekend, I’m not pulling any support, and I want these guys to all succeed. Where do we go from here? Fans, I know we’re all upset – let it out, lets blast this crap game into the sun and get back after it.
go griz
