Fleming, the Hornets' senior quarterback, threw for two touchdowns and ran for two more to lead the Hornets past No. 10 Montana 42-28 Saturday - the first win over the Grizzlies in Sac State's history.
Bryan Hilliard added 100 rushing yards for the hosts, who held the ball for two-thirds of the 60-minute contest, played out in front of 12,751 fans. The Hornets bottled up UM's spread offense and took advantage of a couple special teams breakdowns to square their record at 1-1 in Big Sky Conference play.
Fleming ran for 59 yards and threw for 224, including a 37-yard strike to Brandyn Reed that put Sac State up 42-21 with 10:13 left in the game.
But the biggest number was 1, as in that first victory over the Griz after 16 straight losses.
"I mean, you can only imagine," said fifth-year Sac State coach Marshall Sperbeck. "Shoot, we've heard all about it and these kids have played up there and played here.
"And we told our kids this week, ‘You've got to beat Montana. If you're going to make any noise in this conference, it goes through Montana.' They know that. We were fortunate to get after it tonight and our kids played great in all three phases."
It was a step back in all three for the Grizzlies, though they were tied 14-14 with the Hornets midway through the second quarter.
Jordan Johnson set up the first of Dan Moore's two touchdown runs with bursts of 11 and 22 yards as the Griz drew into a 7-7 tie. Then the Griz forced a punt, only to give Sac State its first big break.
The ball brushed blocker Josh Dennard and Sam McCowan recovered for the Hornets at UM's 14. Five snaps later Fleming breezed in from 7 yards out on a quarterback draw for a 14-7 Sac State lead.
Johnson answered with passes of 43 yards to Antwon Moutra and 33 to Bryce Carver, the latter going for a game-tying TD at 8:58 of the second quarter.
But Sac State took the momentum right back with a three-play, 68-yard drive. Fleming hit Morris Norrise for 41 yards, DeAndre Carter for 18 yards and scrambled around right end for the final 9. The Hornets had the lead for good, 21-14, at the 7:45 mark.
It stayed that way until halftime, but any hopes of a third-quarter Griz surge went away early: An option handoff on third-and-2 netted nothing, and Chase Deadder came in to block Sean Wren's punt.
Markell Williams scooped up the ball and scored from 30 yards out for a 28-14 lead.
"We're always going to be aggressive in our special teams," said Sperbeck, who also went for it on four fourth downs rather than try field goals. "We've done that with punt blocks and fakes and different things. Those kids believe they're going to block it every time they go after it, and a lot of its just belief."
It brought visions of the Grizzlies' 2010 loss to Eastern Washington, but the visitors couldn't make the fourth-quarter comeback this time.
McCowan, filling in for a dinged-up Hilliard, scored on a 42-yard burst to put the Hornets up 35-14 midway through the third quarter.
Johnson finished a 72-yard drive with a 4-yard scoring run to cut the gap to 35-21, and the Griz could've drawn closer when Donny Lisowski forced a fumble on the ensuing kickoff and teammate Kevin Frank recovered.
UM netted 4 yards on three plays, and Brody McKnight missed a 36-yard field goal.
Reed's touchdown came at the end of a 14-play drive that ate up almost nine minutes.
Moore's second TD came with 28 seconds left, with Nate Montana and Gerald Kemp sharing QB duties.
Johnson ran for a team-high 64 yards and threw for 148, but was intercepted three times.
"The offense just came out slow," said Moore, who led the Griz with four catches for 66 yards. "We came out sluggish, and we just needed to pick it up. Their defense played great; they stopped the run and shut down the pass. You can't win that way."
Fleming picked apart UM's defense with screens to the edges and some slippery runs.
"I think when he does that he makes us a better offense," said Sperbeck. "Jeff played a very good game tonight and played very much within himself and the scheme. I'm very proud of the way he handled the game."
The Grizzlies surrendered 462 yards of offense.
"I don't think out-formationed us or did anything we weren't ready for," said UM linebacker Caleb McSurdy, who had 11 tackles. "We just didn't play physical, starting with myself.
"He (Fleming) improvised on some stuff. We didn't do a good job of containing him - again, starting with myself. We allowed him to improvise too much."
The Grizzlies have had stunning losses before, including a 45-28 loss at Weber State in 2008 that was their first in 24 conference games. They made the Division I Football Championship that year.
It was small consolation.
"We're upset to say the least about this," said McSurdy. "It's what, week four? It's our second Big Sky Conference game. I don't know - I'm hoping every one of us uses this as motivation. We're aware that there's a lot of season left, but this one hurts."
| Montana | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | – | 28 |
| Sacramento St. | 7 | 14 | 14 | 7 | – | 42 |
| First Quarter | ||||||
| Sac–Deadder 9 pass from Fleming (Diniz kick), 7:40. | ||||||
| Mont–Moore 1 run (McKnight kick), :34. | ||||||
| Second Quarter | ||||||
| Sac–Fleming 7 run (Diniz kick), 10:23. | ||||||
| Mont–Carver 33 pass from J.Johnson (McKnight kick), 8:58. | ||||||
| Sac–Fleming 9 run (Diniz kick), 7:45. | ||||||
| Third Quarter | ||||||
| Sac–Williams 30 blocked punt return (Diniz kick), 13:05. | ||||||
| Sac–McCowan 42 run (Diniz kick), 7:31. | ||||||
| Mont–J.Johnson 4 run (McKnight kick), 5:10. | ||||||
| Fourth Quarter | ||||||
| Sac–Reed 37 pass from Fleming (Diniz kick), 10:13. | ||||||
| Mont–Moore 1 run (McKnight kick), :28. | ||||||
| A–12,751. | ||||||
| Mont | Sac | |||||
| First downs | 17 | 24 | ||||
| Rushes-yards | 32-139 | 49-238 | ||||
| Passing | 184 | 224 | ||||
| Comp-Att-Int | 12-27-3 | 18-27-0 | ||||
| Return Yards | (-10) | 82 | ||||
| Punts-Avg. | 4-39.5 | 3-39.0 | ||||
| Fumbles-Lost | 1-1 | 1-1 | ||||
| Penalties-Yards | 6-45 | 9-71 | ||||
| Time of Possession | 19:17 | 40:43 | ||||
| INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS | ||||||
| RUSHING–Montana, J.Johnson 7-64, Moore 15-41, Kemp 2-14, Canada 3-10, Montana 1-6, Nguyen 4-4. Sacramento St., Hilliard 22-100, McCowan 14-66, Fleming 9-59, D.Carter 1-14, Deadder 1-2, Team 2-(-3). | ||||||
| PASSING–Montana, J.Johnson 9-19-3-148, Montana 3-8-0-36. Sacramento St., Fleming 18-27-0-224. | ||||||
| RECEIVING–Montana, Moore 4-66, Moutra 4-57, S.Gratton 2-15, Carver 1-33, Nguyen 1-13. Sacramento St., Norrise 6-96, Hendershott 4-29, Deadder 4-27, D.Carter 2-27, Reed 1-37, Maciel 1-8. | ||||||
Read more: http://missoulian.com/college/griz/article_5502c618-e70a-11e0-8326-001cc4c002e0.html#ixzz1Yyil5W5o
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