Last night was really something else, it’s hard to really all comprehend that wild game and the cementing legacy of the legend that Junior Bergen has become. It felt like suddenly on Thursday the intensity / anticipation of this game started to grow. Then Friday hits and both fanbases are already at a fever pitch by mid-morning. I don’t know about the rest of you but I had a tough time focusing on other things through the day.
Before reflecting on Montana’s performance I do have to say, Furman is a heck of a team – the best team Montana’s faced this year by far. I know in my case the twitter banter with Furman fans got pretty strong, but it was all just fan to fan trash talk. To the Paladins themselves, absolute beasts. They were really the first team we’ve seen this year that took multiple punches from this Griz team and kept playing unphased. They were the most gap-sound defense, the best tacklers, and had wildly good lateral speed that made the running game damn tough for Montana’s RB’s. Their QB Huff took a beating all night and never gave up and their TEs were solid over the middle. Hats off to them and their coaches, they came to play and fought til the very end.
That said, by now we all know we’re on to NDSU – another team with some early stumbles that has found life in the playoffs. This next Saturday should be one wild game against the premier FCS dynasty of all time.
So, last night. I still have mixed feelings if that was one of the best games I’ve ever seen played in Wa Griz, or if it just was another great/memorable game but not one of the very best. While you can’t take away the long catch and run by the Furman TE and their QB’s long run, remove those plays and their offense had 162 yards of total offense. Now I know Furman can also say that Montana’s offense got bailed out, in sorts, by two ST touchdowns as well so I guess one can argue both sides of this.
I rewatched the game this morning, here’s some things that stood out to me from last night and a re-watch again;
- This might just have been the Junior Bergen legacy game. Opening KR score and the go-ahead punt return TD. Dude brought it last night. Credit his blocking teams too, executed perfectly and helped spring him free. Without Junior’s returns we’re probably giving congrats to the Griz on a memorable season that ended last night. Instead, we’ve now got a semi-final in Missoula this Saturday.
- The Grizzly D-line was teased by Furman fans all week for being small and unathletic. What I saw was Gubner once again putting his signature stamp on some drive-killing plays. Kale Edwards blows up some attempted double reverse play before it can even come together. Hayden Harris (who has had an excellent two playoff games) in the backfield all night. The triumphant return of Hank Nuce with a sack and forced fumble, and Garret Hustedt with a TFL.
- Corbin Walker had a pretty damn good night. Yes he got a PI flag on himself but that happens sometimes when you’re on an island. Furman wanted to attack him and for the most part I don’t think he gave too much ground. Honestly too – he was interfered with twice, once on a QB rollout/broken play where a Furman WR jumps on his back as the ball is coming in, and another where WR #2 just runs him over while the ball is in the air without even looking back to the ball.
- Cliff’s pick was presumably an error in read on the defense between him and the WR, that can happen. He had a tougher night with a lot of Furman pressure on him but he ran the ball as well as we’ve seen. I’m sure today he’s getting rewarded for an effort play from Bobby on his one run where he opts not to go out of bounds but decides to run over the Furman DB instead. His game winning TD pass to Keelan was MONEY too.
- We need a healthy Walker and Liam Brown back this week. The Grizzly OL held up but seemed to have issues with Furman’s blitzes (which seemed really well masked a lot) and the inside running game just wasn’t going. It’s going to be 10x tougher this week with that NDSU D-line.
- As I saw from someone else on twitter, the Grizzly WRs have turned into dangerous assassins on the field. Another big night for Keelan, more big plays from Fontes, Junior doing his thing, and even Racanelli with a 1-handed catch to secure the 2 point conversion. Think about if Sawyer doesn’t haul that in, we’re maybe heartbroken right now.
- Last night I was pissed at the officiating. Re-watching today, most of Montana’s penalties seemed deserved. The refs let contact in the secondary go both ways the whole night, although I do still think Walker was interfered with a few times. Junior’s near TD catch he didn’t secure to the ground, that was the right call. The Ryder Meyer PI was super questionable, that looked like a hell of a good play to me. Montana’s penalty woes helped Furman a lot last night. It extended a drive on a punting play that fortunately didn’t result in a score. It shortened Furman’s last regulation time drive, and continued it as well. People on here have posted worry about penalties before, fortunately Montana’s 90 yards of penalties (that gave Furman 5 first downs) didn’t cost us the game.
- For the most part the online banter with Furman fans was sharp, it was intense, and it was full of trash talk. There’s been a few this week that made it personal, but that’s been happening and it’s best to just ignore. The funny thing that happened to me was suddenly halfway through the 3rd quarter my phone started getting texts, from numbers in South Carolina. While it’s easy to find, some Furman fans got my number and started messaging me. I tried to call whoever it was after the game but oddly they just sent me to voicemail. Fueled with some fireball while on speaker I left them a message asking everyone around me if they know who Furman was playing next week. Not my proudest moment, but felt good to return some fire when these jokers thought it would be fun to text me.
- Montana’s defense gave up 3 scores to Delaware, and 4 scores to Furman. Headed in the wrong direction here. Yes I know it’s better opponents, but still concerning.
Time to rest up and get ready for the Bison. Hopefully we can get some guys healthy though the week, this game will be an even bigger test as NDSU is RED HOT. Let’s keep stacking and keep this rolling.
Go Griz!
Before reflecting on Montana’s performance I do have to say, Furman is a heck of a team – the best team Montana’s faced this year by far. I know in my case the twitter banter with Furman fans got pretty strong, but it was all just fan to fan trash talk. To the Paladins themselves, absolute beasts. They were really the first team we’ve seen this year that took multiple punches from this Griz team and kept playing unphased. They were the most gap-sound defense, the best tacklers, and had wildly good lateral speed that made the running game damn tough for Montana’s RB’s. Their QB Huff took a beating all night and never gave up and their TEs were solid over the middle. Hats off to them and their coaches, they came to play and fought til the very end.
That said, by now we all know we’re on to NDSU – another team with some early stumbles that has found life in the playoffs. This next Saturday should be one wild game against the premier FCS dynasty of all time.
So, last night. I still have mixed feelings if that was one of the best games I’ve ever seen played in Wa Griz, or if it just was another great/memorable game but not one of the very best. While you can’t take away the long catch and run by the Furman TE and their QB’s long run, remove those plays and their offense had 162 yards of total offense. Now I know Furman can also say that Montana’s offense got bailed out, in sorts, by two ST touchdowns as well so I guess one can argue both sides of this.
I rewatched the game this morning, here’s some things that stood out to me from last night and a re-watch again;
- This might just have been the Junior Bergen legacy game. Opening KR score and the go-ahead punt return TD. Dude brought it last night. Credit his blocking teams too, executed perfectly and helped spring him free. Without Junior’s returns we’re probably giving congrats to the Griz on a memorable season that ended last night. Instead, we’ve now got a semi-final in Missoula this Saturday.
- The Grizzly D-line was teased by Furman fans all week for being small and unathletic. What I saw was Gubner once again putting his signature stamp on some drive-killing plays. Kale Edwards blows up some attempted double reverse play before it can even come together. Hayden Harris (who has had an excellent two playoff games) in the backfield all night. The triumphant return of Hank Nuce with a sack and forced fumble, and Garret Hustedt with a TFL.
- Corbin Walker had a pretty damn good night. Yes he got a PI flag on himself but that happens sometimes when you’re on an island. Furman wanted to attack him and for the most part I don’t think he gave too much ground. Honestly too – he was interfered with twice, once on a QB rollout/broken play where a Furman WR jumps on his back as the ball is coming in, and another where WR #2 just runs him over while the ball is in the air without even looking back to the ball.
- Cliff’s pick was presumably an error in read on the defense between him and the WR, that can happen. He had a tougher night with a lot of Furman pressure on him but he ran the ball as well as we’ve seen. I’m sure today he’s getting rewarded for an effort play from Bobby on his one run where he opts not to go out of bounds but decides to run over the Furman DB instead. His game winning TD pass to Keelan was MONEY too.
- We need a healthy Walker and Liam Brown back this week. The Grizzly OL held up but seemed to have issues with Furman’s blitzes (which seemed really well masked a lot) and the inside running game just wasn’t going. It’s going to be 10x tougher this week with that NDSU D-line.
- As I saw from someone else on twitter, the Grizzly WRs have turned into dangerous assassins on the field. Another big night for Keelan, more big plays from Fontes, Junior doing his thing, and even Racanelli with a 1-handed catch to secure the 2 point conversion. Think about if Sawyer doesn’t haul that in, we’re maybe heartbroken right now.
- Last night I was pissed at the officiating. Re-watching today, most of Montana’s penalties seemed deserved. The refs let contact in the secondary go both ways the whole night, although I do still think Walker was interfered with a few times. Junior’s near TD catch he didn’t secure to the ground, that was the right call. The Ryder Meyer PI was super questionable, that looked like a hell of a good play to me. Montana’s penalty woes helped Furman a lot last night. It extended a drive on a punting play that fortunately didn’t result in a score. It shortened Furman’s last regulation time drive, and continued it as well. People on here have posted worry about penalties before, fortunately Montana’s 90 yards of penalties (that gave Furman 5 first downs) didn’t cost us the game.
- For the most part the online banter with Furman fans was sharp, it was intense, and it was full of trash talk. There’s been a few this week that made it personal, but that’s been happening and it’s best to just ignore. The funny thing that happened to me was suddenly halfway through the 3rd quarter my phone started getting texts, from numbers in South Carolina. While it’s easy to find, some Furman fans got my number and started messaging me. I tried to call whoever it was after the game but oddly they just sent me to voicemail. Fueled with some fireball while on speaker I left them a message asking everyone around me if they know who Furman was playing next week. Not my proudest moment, but felt good to return some fire when these jokers thought it would be fun to text me.
- Montana’s defense gave up 3 scores to Delaware, and 4 scores to Furman. Headed in the wrong direction here. Yes I know it’s better opponents, but still concerning.
Time to rest up and get ready for the Bison. Hopefully we can get some guys healthy though the week, this game will be an even bigger test as NDSU is RED HOT. Let’s keep stacking and keep this rolling.
Go Griz!
Keeping it all in perspective.
