Montana's stagnant offense, UC Davis' impressive show on defense led to 30-14 loss for Griz

MISSOULA — The lights were bright inside Washington-Grizzly Stadium on Saturday for a primetime matchup between UC Davis and Montana. In the end, it was the Aggies who beat the Grizzlies 30-14 to make a statement in the Big Sky Conference.

In a top-10 matchup with major playoff implications on the line, fourth-ranked Davis ended No. 7 Montana’s winning streak of 11 night games at home.

Despite the final score, the game was tight in the first half with both teams missing on scoring opportunities and struggling to get going offensively while staying strong on defense.

However, the second half was a different story. The Griz took a 14-13 lead on a touchdown run by Keali’i Ah Yat, but from there, neither Ah Yat nor fellow Griz quarterback Logan Fife could get the offense moving or find rhythm the rest of the way.

Griz head coach Bobby Hauck addressed the quarterbacks’ issues.

“I thought our quarterbacks struggled a little bit seeing coverage,” Hauck said. “I think they had a couple of new things for us and certainly a different blend of coverages, and I didn’t think we saw coverage very well would be my initial impression.”

Defensively, UC Davis got two interceptions in key points of the game that prevented scoring opportunities for Montana and halted momentum.

On top of the turnovers, Montana struggled to get its running game going with only 77 total rushing yards.

“They controlled the line of scrimmage with their defense,” Hauck said. “I thought their defense was terrific (Saturday). They really did a good job against us and we couldn’t generate first downs at that point in the game and, you know, we kept having to go back out there and stop them.”

The Montana defense held as firm as it could against the Aggies’ high-powered offense, forcing Davis to a 6-for-16 effort on third down. But Davis did find ways to answer Montana scores and also sustain drives through adversity.

In the end, it was the Aggies’ ability to force turnovers and create sacks to stymie the Griz offense, which ultimately led to the 17 unanswered second-half points that gave UC Davis the win.

UC Davis head coach Tim Plough complimented his defense in the postgame press conference.

“I just think defensively we did a great job mixing in our zone coverages and match coverages. We did a great job of getting pressure on the quarterback (Saturday), which we really hadn’t done all season,” Plough said. “Some four-man rushes that got home, with Jackson Cloyd and a couple of guys getting some sacks. So, I just thought we were gonna get some consistent pressure on the quarterback and then I thought we did a great job mixing up the back end and then when we got a chance to, you know, make the play we did, which was big.”