By FRITZ NEIGHBOR of the Missoulian
Cannon fodder South Dakota wasn’t, even though the Coyotes’ final numbers were ugly.
The Montana Grizzlies rode 100 yards rushing and a touchdown each from Dan Moore and Peter Nguyen to a 35-24 win over former coach Joe Glenn and South Dakota on Saturday.
Statistically the 11th-ranked Griz dominated, to the tune of a school-record 34 first downs to nine for the visitors from Vermillion. The home team gained 568 yards, 279 of it from the arm and legs of Trent McKinney, a redshirt freshman making his first start at quarterback.
Yet Montana trailed 24-16 in the third quarter, thanks to an 80-yard bomb and a tipped McKinney pass that turned into a Coyote pick-six.
The Griz then came up with 19 straight points – their most impressive numbers of the game.
“I told the kids yesterday and this morning, ‘You know there’s going to be adversity in the football game,’ ” Mick Delaney said after improving to 1-0 as the Grizzlies’ coach. “The team that responds the best will have the best opportunity to be successful.”
That was the Griz, who turned two quick turnovers into touchdowns less than 90 seconds apart late in the third quarter. Moore’s 14-yard burst gave UM the lead for good, 28-24, at the 4:59 mark.
Nguyen’s 3-yard TD run after a botched South Dakota handoff capped the scoring with 3:25 left in the period.
South Dakota managed just one first down from there as the Griz ground out the clock in their first game following a turbulent offseason that saw coach Robin Pflugrad and athletic director Jim O’Day get fired.
“It’s a tribute to these young men,” said Delaney, a 69-year-old who’d been retired a month when UM called him back into service. “They have had adversity, but you know, adversity is what you make of it.”
On Saturday, the Griz made first downs. Montana piled up 316 yards rushing.
“I feel as bad as anybody does about Coach Pflugrad and Mr. O’Day,” asserted Delaney. “And we were charged – the whole entire football team and staff – to move forward and do what we could possibly do. And this was the first step.”
“Our offensive line blocked great,” said Moore, a bruising 235-pound senior who had a career-best 148 yards. “Me and Peter ran behind (right tackle) Danny Kistler and (right guard) William Poehls, and those are some big dudes. They can move some bodies and it was really on us to make the backers and safeties miss.”
Balancing the work of Nguyen – who ran for 102 yards – and Moore was McKinney, who threw for 214 yards while relying heavily on a short passing game. He completed 26 of 32 throws for two touchdowns: An 18-yarder to Cam Warren in which the junior left corner Dyllon Knox tackling air, and a 4-yard strike to Sam Gratton.
The one to Warren made it 16-3, Griz.
“You just give the ball to your play-makers and let them make the play,” said McKinney. “That’s a one-on-one with their corners, one I felt Cam could win. He did.”
South Dakota hung around. The Coyotes drove 75 yards to cut the gap to 16-10 before halftime, and Josh Vander Maten found a wide-open Terrance Terry on an 80-yard play-action pass on their first play of the second half.
Five snaps later Coyote safety Charlie Goro picked off a pass and took it 50 yards for another TD, silencing the Washington-Grizzly Stadium crowd at 9:47 of the third quarter.
The Griz then rallied around their coach.
“I told myself to be calm but I wasn’t very calm,” Delaney said. “I’m about to be my usually crazy self and get going, and start hollering and screaming at everybody. I bet there were six or seven juniors and seniors, after the second TD, who immediately came to me and said, ‘We’re all right coach. We’ll get back in this. We’ll get it going.’ ”
Montana countered with a 73-yard drive, capped by tight end Greg Hardy’s option pass of 39 yards to Bryce Carver.
The Coyotes crumbled: Their next possession lasted three plays before Vander Maten’s pass was picked by Griz linebacker John Kanongata’a, though Glenn protested mightily that the intended receiver was held.
“We threw a slant play to Will Powell and nobody saw it, but I saw it,” Glenn said, smiling. “He got held off the cut and the ball came and popped in the air.
“The statistics would show you we were overwhelmed. But we had a chance as late as near the end of the third quarter. But I give the Griz a lot of credit. Hats off to Mick Delaney for getting his first win.
“They beat a scrappy, hard-nosed South Dakota football team.”
The Griz matched that scrappiness with stingy D and an opportunistic offense.
“We’ll go right back to work tomorrow morning on Appalachian State, which is a huge challenge next week,” Delaney said. “I do think this is a team that’s going to get better and better as we go along. I’ve told you from Day 1 that we have a good offensive line and we have guys on defense that can run. And I think you could see that today.”
Fritz Neighbor can be reached at 523-5247, at fneighbor@missoulian.com or @Fritz_Neighbor on Twitter.
S. Dakota 0 10 14 0 – 24
Montana 3 13 19 0 –35
First quarter
UM – FG Chris Lider 21, 1:21.
Drive: 15 plays, 53 yards, 5:25 time of possession.
Key plays: Griz QB Trent McKinney converts one third down with a 7-yard pass to Greg Hardy; McKinney runs 3 yards to convert a fourth-and-1 and 11 yards on third-and-3 to move put the ball in the red zone.
Second quarter
UM – Sam Gratton 4 pass from Trent McKinney (Lider kick), 14:40.
Drive: 4 plays, 42 yards, :42 time of possession.
Key plays: A personal foul on South Dakota preceeds a punt from its own 12 to goes just 30 yards; Peter Nguyen tears off a 24-yard run down to the SD 11.
SD – FG Kevin Robb 25, 10:33.
Drive: 6 plays, 13 yards, 1:58 time of possession.
Key plays: UM’s Nguyen drops a 51-yard punt, giving SD possession at the Griz 22; Marcus Sims’ 10-yard run sets up first and goal.
UM – Cam Warren 18 pass from McKinney (kick blocked), 6:08.
Drive: 13 plays, 75 yards, 4:25 time of possession.
Key plays: McKinney runs 2 yards to convert one third down and Dan Moore rumbles 7 yards to convert another; Warren’s 12-yard reception takes the ball to SD’s 23.
SD – Terrance Terry 8 pass from Josh Vander Maten (Robb kick), 1:01.
Drive: 10 plays, 75 yards, 5:07 time of possession.
Key plays: Terry takes a short pass 17 yards, recovering his own fumble at the end; Will Powell hauls in another 17-yard pass on third-and-16, putting the Coyotes inside the 20.
Third quarter
SD – Terry 80 pass from Vander Maten (Robb kick), 10:52.
Drive: 1 play, 80 yards, :11 time of possession.
SD – Charlie Goro 50 interception return (Robb kick), 9:47.
UM – Bryce Carver 39 pass from Greg Hardy (pass failed), 7:11.
Drive: 7 plays, 73 yards, 2:29 time of possession.
Key plays: A 10-yard bubble screen pass to Carver puts the ball at midfield; Nguyen gains 2 yards on third-and-1 the play before the TD.
UM – Dan Moore 14 run (pass failed), 4:59.
Drive: 3 plays, 34 yards, :41 time of possession.
Key plays: Griz linebacker John Kanongata’a picks off a Vander Maten pass at the SD 41 and returns it 7 yards; Nguyen carries twice for 20 yards.
UM – Peter Nguyen 3 run (Lider kick), 3:25.
Drive: 3 plays, 13 yards, 1:22 time of possession.
Key plays: Vander Maten loses the ball on a handoff, and Tonga Takai recovers for the Griz; Moore runs 10 yards to set up first-and-goal.
TEAM STATISTICS
SD UM
First downs 9 34
Rushing 3 19
Passing 5 14
Penalty 1 1
Third-down efficiency 3-12 10-18
Fourth-down efficiency 0-0 2-3
Total yards 233 568
Plays 45 98
Average gain 5.2 5.8
Rushes-yards 26-61 64-315
Average per carry 2.3 4.9
Yards passing 172 253
Comp-Att-Int 12-19-1 27-34-1
Sacks by-yards lost 0-0 2-6
Return yards 50 11
Punts 0-0 2-4
Interceptions 1-50 1-7
Fumbles 0-0 0-0
Kickoff returns 1-17 4-65
Punting 7-40.6 2-58.5
Penalties-yards 8-72 6-60
Time of possession 24:03 35:57
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
South Dakota
Rushing
No.-yards
Marcus Sims 8-38
Josh Vander Maten 13-25
Jasper Sanders 5-(-2)
Passing
Comp Att Int Yds
Josh Vander Maten 12 19 1 172
Receiving
No.-yards
Terrance Terry 4-109
Will Powell 4-40
Marcus Sims 2-17
Tyler Wilhelm 1-4
Quintin McMartin 1-2
Tackles
(Unassisted-assisted-total)
U A T
Kyle Guziec 2 13 15
D’Angelo Butler 3 11 14
Jordan Eaton 1 13 14
Ryan Hillier 4 8 12
Devin Taverna 2 7 9
Sacks by-yards lost
None.
Fumbles forced-recovered
D.J. Wakes 0-1, Tyler Wilhelm 0-1.
Interceptions-return yards
Charlie Goro 1-50.
Missed field goals
None.
Montana
Rushing
No.-yards
Dan Moore 27-148
Peter Nguyen 19-102
Trent McKinney 13-65
Jordan Canada 2-5
Adam Brzeczek 2-(-4)
Passing
Comp Att Int Yds
Trent McKinney 26 32 1 214
Sam Gratton 0 1 0 0
Greg Hardy 1 1 0 39
Receiving
No.-yards
Sean Haynes 5-53
Sam Gratton 5-42
Bryce Carver 4-61
Peter Nguyen 4-23
Cam Warren 3-41
Chase Naccarato 2-15
Greg Hardy 2-14
Dan Moore 2-4
Tackles
(Unassisted-assisted-total)
U A T
Jordan Tripp 3 7 10
John Kanongata’a 4 4 8
Josh Stuberg 3 3 6
Anthony Goodwin 2 1 3
Brock Coyle 1 2 3
Bo Tully 1 2 3
Tonga Takai 1 2 3
Sacks by-yards lost
Tonga Takai 1-5, John Kanongata’a 0.5-1, Brock Coyle 0.5-0.
Fumbles forced-recovered
Jordan Tripp 1-0, Tomga Takai 0-1.
Interceptions-return yards
John Kanongata’a 1-7.
Missed field goals
None.
No comments:
Post a Comment