Montana
Offense struggles as No. 7 Montana drops 30-14 game to fourth-ranked UC Davis
MISSOULA — Montana’s offense, which has been one of the best in the country this season, couldn’t get untracked Saturday, as the seventh-ranked Grizzlies sputtered to a 30-14 loss to No. 4 UC Davis inside Washington-Grizzly Stadium.
It was just the Aggies’ second-ever win over the Grizzlies, who entered the game holding a 9-1 all-time advantage in the head-to-head series.
PHOTOS: NO. 7 MONTANA LOSES NIGHT GAME TO NO. 4 UC DAVIS
Montana’s offensive struggles wouldn’t have been expected — based on the body of work this season nor the early goings of Saturday’s game, as things couldn’t have started much better for Montana. The Griz held Davis to 15 yards on the game’s opening possession and then marched right down the field on a seven-play, 72-yard drive capped by a 23-yard Junior Bergen touchdown reception from quarterback Logan Fife. Fife was surgical on the drive, completing 4 of 4 passes for 55 yards and scrambling for another 13 yards.
But the Griz offense stalled the rest of the first half and the Aggies started to gain some footing. Davis answered UM’s touchdown with its own TD — a 2-yard flip to Trent Tompkins to tie the game at 7-7. That would be the score going to the second quarter, as the teams traded three-and-outs over the next five drives.
Davis took a 10-7 lead in the second quarter on a 42-yard field goal by Hunter Ridley after the Griz defense — and the Washington-Grizzly Stadium crowd — kept the Aggies out of the end zone. Davis had driven to the UM 13-yard line, but two false starts, a delay of a game and a negative play pushed the Aggies back to the 30. They gained 5 yards on third-and-27 to set up Ridley’s field goal.
GRIZ POSTGAME: BOBBY HAUCK, PLAYERS BREAK DOWN LOSS TO UC DAVIS
The Griz offense found some momentum on the next drive with Fife and running back Eli Gillman partnering to get Montana deep into Davis territory. But facing third-and-10 from the Aggies’ 11-yard line, Fife was intercepted in the end zone by Davis defensive back Rex Connors to keep the score 10-7.
The Davis offense didn’t do anything with the possession, punting after three plays and giving Montana another scoring opportunity before halftime. The Griz, though, turned the ball over on downs at the Aggies’ 42-yard line.
This time, Davis took advantage, quickly gaining 34 yards to get into field goal range. Ridley was good from 41 yards, and Davis entered the half with a 13-7 lead.
After both teams traded punts to start the second half, Keali’i Ah Yat — who again split time with Fife at QB — helped give the lead back to Montana midway through the third quarter. The redshirt freshman first ran for 12 yards to start the drive and then, on a designed quarterback draw from the Davis 18-yard line, powered through one Aggies defender and dragged another from the 6-yard line to inside the 1. Three plays later, Ah Yat helicoptered into the end zone on a 2-yard scramble. The point-after attempt gave Montana a 14-13 lead with 6:51 to play in the third quarter.
James Dobson / For MTN Sports
But, just as they did after Montana’s first touchdown, the Aggies had an answer. They drove 75 yards in eight plays — highlighted by running back Lan Larison catching a screen pass and hurdling a Griz defender on a 15-yard gain — with QB Miles Hastings finding Ian Simpson for a walk-in 22-yard touchdown. Davis took a 20-14 lead to the fourth quarter.
The Aggies made it a two-score game early in the fourth on a Hastings-to-Larison TD pass. The seven-play, 60-yard drive included a fourth-down conversion when the Griz had too many defenders on the field and a trick play where receiver C.J. Hutton completed a 29-yard pass to Simpson.
On the first play of Montana’s ensuing drive, Ah Yat was intercepted by Davis linebacker Porter Connors, setting up Ridley’s third field goal of the game.
Montana had three more offensive possessions the rest of the game, with those drives ending in a punt and twice on turnovers on downs. The Griz totaled only 286 yards of offense — 209 through the air and 77 on the ground. Ah Yat led the team with 29 yards on seven carries. He was 7-of-18 passing for 62 yards, while Fife completed 13 of 23 passes for 147 yards.
Hastings completed 28 of 38 passes for 227 yards and three touchdowns for the Aggies, who got 97 rushing yards and 48 receiving yards from Larison.
Turning point: In the first minute of the fourth quarter, Davis lined up to go for it on fourth-and-2 from the UM 41-yard line. The Aggies got a first down by virtue of Montana having too many players on the field, and three plays later Larison was in the end zone to make it a two-possession game.
Stat of the game: Montana had just 286 yards of offense, 170 yards lower than its season average. The Griz entered the game ranked third in the FCS in scoring offense (39.4 points per game) and eighth in total offense (456 yards per game).
Grizzly game balls: WR Junior Bergen (Offense). Bergen didn’t have many opportunities in the return game, but he was Montana’s most consistent player on offense. He finished with six catches for 92 yards and the game’s first touchdown.
S Ryder Meyer (Defense). Meyer finished with a game-high 17 tackles, including eight solo and one tackle for loss. Fellow safety Jaxon Lee was in on 13 tackles.
What’s next: Montana (7-3 overall, 4-2 Big Sky) is back inside Washington-Grizzly Stadium for its final home game of the regular season next week against Portland State (2-7, 2-4). Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. next Saturday, and the game will be broadcast on the MTN channel across Montana.
UC Davis (9-1, 6-0), which has now won nine consecutive games, has another big game next week in what will be the de facto Big Sky Conference championship game. The Aggies host second-ranked Montana State (10-0, 6-0) at 6 p.m. Mountain time next Saturday. The game will be broadcast on CBS affiliates across Montana.
Everyone makes mistakes, even experienced professionals; a good reminder for the rest of us to learn from those mistakes. The motion in State v. Stroup starts off well in its initial pages (no case law hallucinations), but is then followed by several pages of two other motions, which I don’t think the lawyer was planning to file, and which appear to have been AI-generated: It begins with the “Below is concise motion language you can drop into …” language quoted above.
Griffen Smith (Missoulian) reported on the story, and included the prosecutor’s motion to strike that filing, on the grounds that it violates a local rule (3(G)) requiring disclosure of the use of generative AI:
The document does not include a generative artificial intelligence disclosure as required. However, page 7 begins as follows: “Below is concise motion language you can drop into a ‘Motion to Admit Mental-Disease Evidence and for Related Instructions’ keyed to 45-6-204, 45-6-201, and 4614-102. Adjust headings/captions to your local practice.” Page 10 states “Below is a full motion you can paste into your pleading, then adjust names, dates, and styles to fit local practice.” These pages also include several apparent hyperlinks to “ppl-ai-file-upload.s3.amazonaws,” “ppl-ai-fileupload.s3.amazonaws+1,” and others. The document includes what appears to be an attempt at a second case caption on page 12. It is not plausible on its face that any source other than generative AI would have created such language for a filed version of a brief….
There’s more in that filing, but here’s one passage:
While generative AI can be a useful tool for some purposes and may have greater application in the future, when used improperly, and without meaningful review, it can ultimately damage both the perception and the reality of the profession. One assumes that Mr. Stroup has had, or will at some point have, an opportunity to review the filing made on his behalf. What impression could a review of pgs. 12-19 leave upon a defendant who struggles with paranoia and delusional thinking? While AI could theoretically one day become a replacement for portions of staff of experienced attorneys, it is readily apparent that this day has not yet arrived.
The Missoulan article includes this response:
In a Wednesday interview, Office of Public Defender Division Administrator Brian Smith told the Missoulian the AI-generated language was inadvertently included in an unrelated filing. And he criticized the county attorney’s office for filing a “four-page diatribe about the dangers of AI” instead of working with the defense to correct her mistake.
“That’s not helping the client or the case,” Smith said, “and all you are doing is trying to throw a professional colleague under the bus.”
As I mentioned, the lawyer involved seems quite experienced, and ran for the Montana Public Service Commission in 2020 (getting nearly 48% of the vote) and for the House of Representatives in Montana’s first district in 2022 (getting over 46% of the vote) and in 2024 (getting over 44%). “Его пример другим наука,” Pushkin wrote in Eugene Onegin—”May his example profit others,” in the Falen translation.
Thanks to Matthew Monforton for the pointer.
HELENA — You probably have goals and plans for 2026—the Montana Department of Agriculture does too.
“We’re really focusing on innovative agricultural practices,” Montana Department of Agriculture director Jillien Streit said.
It’s no secret that agriculture—farming and ranching—is not easy. There are long days, planning, monitoring crops and livestock, and other challenges beyond farmers’ and ranchers’ control.
(WATCH: Montana Department of Agriculture focusing on innovation in 2026)
Montana Department of Agriculture focusing on innovation in 2026
“We have very low commodity prices across the board,” Streit said. “We still have very high input prices across the board, and we have really high prices when it comes to our equipment, and so, it’s a really tough year.”
But innovation, including new practices, partnerships and technology use, can help navigate some of those challenges.
“We can’t make more time and we can’t make more land, so we need to start putting together innovative practices that help us maximize what our time and land can do,” Streit said.
Practices range from using technology like autonomous tractors and virtual fencing—allowing rangers to contain and move cattle right from their phones—to regenerative farming and ranching.
“It is bringing cattle back into farming operations to be able to work with cover cropping practices to invigorate the soil for new soil health benefits,” Streit said.
The Montana Department of Agriculture is working to help producers learn, share, and collaborate on new ideas to work in their operations.
The department will share stories of practices that work from farms and ranches across the state. Also, within the next year or so, Streit said the department is hoping to roll out technology to help producers collaborate.
“(It’s) providing a communication platform where people can get together and really help each other out by utilizing each other’s assets,” she said.
While not easy, agriculture is still one of Montana’s largest industries, and Streit said innovating and sharing ideas across the state can keep it going long into the future.
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