POCATELLO, Idaho - If the offense wasn't beautiful, at least the defense was a beast for the Montana Grizzlies, who shut out Idaho State 33-0 for their first road win of 2011 Saturday.
Brody McKnight kicked four field goals and Jordan Canada, Jabin Sambrano and Sam Gratton scored touchdowns as the No. 16 Griz improved to 4-2. But it was the Grizzly D that rendered most of Holt Arena too bored to blow a vuvuzela.
Montana came up with seven turnovers, including a pooched kickoff that Idaho State's Tavoy Moore couldn't get a handle on. Griz running back Caleb Walden, who earlier forced a fumble that McKnight recovered, fell on the ball with 5:08 left.
Soon - mercifully - time ran out on Montana's first shutout on the road and in Big Sky Conference play since a 23-0 victory at Northern Arizona in 2005.
It was a sobering performance for the Bengals, who gained just 121 yards, including minus-26 on the ground and fell to 2-4. The tone was probably set on their first play, when Griz safety Bo Tully picked off a Kevin Yost pass. That set up McKnight's first field goal.
"They executed the game plan," said UM defensive coordinator Mike Breske, whose group lined up in Montana territory for three plays the whole game. "We knew what they were going to do; we knew they weren't running the ball.
"Our whole deal was win first down, win third down and get field position for our offense. And I think we did a pretty good job of that."
The Grizzlies' offense, despite gaining 466 yards, wasn't much prettier than ISU's. Montana was just 5 for 20 on third-down conversions and found little rhythm until the third quarter.
Jordan Johnson ended one first-half drive with an end-zone interception, and Canada lost a fumble at the ISU 26 in the second quarter, one snap after Donny Lisowski recovered a fumble for UM. McKnight missed twice, from 51 and 49 yards.
In other words the Griz could've done a lot more with five first-half turnovers than score three points. They led 13-0 at intermission.
"It was definitely an ugly experience as an offensive team," second-year Griz coach Robin Pflugrad said. "The production was not there. We had many opportunities to take advantage of a lot of key situations and didn't do it.
"So I was very happy our offense played a lot better in the second half. Just the things we're supposed to do every day in practice, they did better; they blocked longer, they caught the ball better, they threw better."
Johnson threw for 234 yards and a touchdown, and Gerald Kemp had eight catches for 82 yards. Sambrano had a 43-yard catch ahead of the Grizzlies' first TD, a 39-yard strike from Johnson to Gratton; then Sambrano got loose on a couple of reverses to open the third quarter.
He scored from 28 yards out at the 11:08 mark. That put UM up 20-0.
Canada scored on a 17-yard burst for the game's final points with 5:20 remaining.
McKnight hit from 44, 51, 48 and 42 yards.
Johnson was more one-dimensional than in past games - the Grizzlies' leading rusher carried just four times for 3 yards - and sported two ice bags afterward, including one for his right shoulder.
"I hurt my ankle pretty early which hurt my ability to change direction," he said. "Even throwing the ball a little bit, I could still feel it.
"But our defense, once again, played great, and gave us as good a chance as you can have to win."
Moore, who burned Montana for TD returns via the kickoff and punt a year ago, fumbled on a punt late in the first quarter. Sean Murray forced and recovered it for the Griz.
Besides Tully, safeties Matt Hermanson and Mike McCord intercepted passes. McCord's came at the UM 3-yard line - on a pass tipped by teammate John Kanongata'a - with 1:11 left in the first half.
Yost had hit Rodrick Rumble for 43 yards down to the Grizzlies' 22 two plays earlier.
"They grew up today," Breske said of his safeties. "Bo Tully -first freakin' play! We talked about it up here before we came out; they haven't been a gadget team. I said, ‘Boys, be ready. Be ready.' They threw ‘sucker' right off the bat and Bo Tully has a pick. They were fun to watch. They're growing up."
"We had a good plan," said linebacker Caleb McSurdy, who also had one of Montana's four sacks. "I give Breske a lot of credit. He mixed in some new coverages we hadn't run a lot of. Maybe that caused them a little confusion, but we made plays on the ball, which we had to do against a pass-happy team."
Josh Harris and Ben Hughes also tallied sacks against Yost, who was directed to the new Holt Arena turf often enough - most notably by Harris and fellow defensive end Bobby Alt.
"That's a credit to our guys getting home," said McSurdy. "Our D-line took it upon themselves to have a great week and they got some sacks and a lot of pressure.
"Every level of the defense was asked to pressure this guy, and for the most part we did a good job."
| Montana | 10 | 3 | 10 | 10 | – | 33 |
| Idaho St. | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 0 |
| First Quarter | ||||||
| UM–FG McKnight 44, 13:31. | ||||||
| UM–S.Gratton 39 pass from J.Johnson (McKnight kick), 6:58. | ||||||
| Second Quarter | ||||||
| UM–FG McKnight 51, 10:17. | ||||||
| Third Quarter | ||||||
| UM–Sambrano 28 run (McKnight kick), 11:08. | ||||||
| UM–FG McKnight 48, 6:26. | ||||||
| Fourth Quarter | ||||||
| UM–FG McKnight 42, 8:42. | ||||||
| UM–Canada 17 run (McKnight kick), 5:20. | ||||||
| A-9,124. | ||||||
| UM | ISU | |||||
| First downs | 23 | 5 | ||||
| Rushes-yards | 55-211 | 9-(-26) | ||||
| Passing | 288 | 147 | ||||
| Comp-Att-Int | 22-37-2 | 21-46-3 | ||||
| Return Yards | 151 | (-1) | ||||
| Punts-Avg. | 7-42.0 | 12-51.5 | ||||
| Fumbles-Lost | 1-1 | 5-4 | ||||
| Penalties-Yards | 6-51 | 4-41 | ||||
| Time of Possession | 39:21 | 20:39 | ||||
| INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS | ||||||
| RUSHING–Montana, Moore 21-62, Nguyen 8-54, Canada 11-46, Sambrano 2-38, Walden 2-6, J.Johnson 4-3, Kemp 7-2. Idaho St., Moore 1-0, Prier 1-(-4), Yost 7-(-22). | ||||||
| PASSING–Montana, J.Johnson 18-31-1-267, Montana 3-4-1-17, Kemp 1-1-0-4, Moutra 0-1-0-0. Idaho St., Yost 21-46-3-147. | ||||||
| RECEIVING–Montana, Kemp 8-82, Sambrano 2-49, S.Gratton 2-42, Moore 2-35, Canada 2-24, Saylor 2-10, Moutra 1-22, Nguyen 1-10, Carver 1-7, Hardy 1-7. Idaho St., Hill 7-40, Rumble 6-73, D.Graves 3-16, Boyles 2-19, Prier 2-(-4), Austin 1-3. | ||||||
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