The Grizzlies scored all of their 24 points in the first half thanks to a pair of touchdown passes by Brady Gustafson, a short touchdown run by running back Jeremy Calhoun and a 25-yard field goal conversion from Daniel Sullivan. A 30-yard screen pass to Ben Roberts sent the Griz deep into SDSU territory and Brady Gustafson finished it off with a 4-yard pass to Jamaal Jones, his 10th touchdown of the year.
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The Grizzlies head to four-time national champion North Dakota State for a quarterfinal game next Saturday. UM defeated NDSU, which drew a playoff bye this week, back on August 29 in Missoula, a 38-35 thriller.
Those handful of totes equated to 34 yards of offense, melted the clock and Montana staved off a furious second-half comeback to notch a 24-17 victory before 14,575 spectators on a frigid, breath-seeing afternoon at Washington-Grizzly Stadium. The last score by the Jackrabbits was a 30-yard touchdown connection from Taryn Christion to Dallas Goedert to convert on 4th and 19 with just under five minutes left in the game.
Montana running back John Nguyen (20) rushes against South Dakota State during the first half of a first round game in the NCAA college Football Championship Subdivision playoff, Saturday, Nov. 28, 2015, in Missoula, Mont.
Aaron Bailey threw for three touchdowns and Tyvis Smith rushed for 147 yards and a score as Northern Iowa (8-4) blitzed Eastern Illinois 53-17. But the two teams appear headed in different directions – Montana is the victor of three straight while the Rabbits needed a 20-point comeback to beat South Dakota the week before that recent loss – and 60 minutes of football will determine which trend continues this weekend.
After a typical Montana slow start featuring a trio of three-and-outs to open the game, the Griz put 78 yards behind them on an eight-play drive that claimed UM the early 7-0 lead.
Holmes, the first-team Big Sky selection, moved into a tie for second all-time in UM history in both sacks and tackles for loss. “He can get the ball where it needs to go and can also check us into some really good plays that isolate our guys one-on-one”. “I’m grateful that coach Stitt has faith in me, for me to hold on to the ball and really kind of end the game on my hands”. South Dakota State is 10th and 12th, respectively.
“The defensive players don’t know where I am”, Nguyen said.
“We feel really good about where we’re at, how we’re playing, the health of our team”, Stitt said.
Christion ended up 18-43 with 230 yards and 1 TD. But we did fall short. On a designed quarterback run, Christion was brought down at the line of scrimmage by Jeremiah Kose and Caleb Kidder, forcing a turnover on downs and giving the ball right back to the rolling Montana offense.
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SDSU’s offense is keyed by receiver Jake Wieneke, who averages 122 yards receiving and has 11 touchdown catches. “You just put your guys out there and go win the thing”.
