Missoula meltdown / Griz take advantage of Wildcat turnovers

SLIDESHOW: Weber State vs. Montana football

MISSOULA. Mont. -- There were no treats at Washington-Grizzly Stadium for the Weber State Wildcats, who left with an empty feeling following their highly anticipated Halloween meeting with the Big Sky Conference leading Montana Grizzlies.

In a game where big plays by the Wildcats were as scarce as the color purple amidst the 25,811 fans mostly dressed in Montana maroon, No. 14-ranked Weber State was inconsistent on defense and unproductive on offense while losing 31-10 to the No. 2-ranked Grizzlies.

The Wildcats (5-4, 5-2 Big Sky Conference) gave up 506 total yards to the Grizzlies (8-0, 5-0 Big Sky) with Chase Reynolds accounting for 241 on the ground.

"You've got to give them credit because they kicked us around," said WSU coach Ron McBride. "They made the plays, we didn't. They were the better team today, this was the first time this year that we've been kicked around by anybody."

But WSU's defense wasn't the only reason WSU lost for the 20th time in 23 meetings with the Griz.

WSU's offense finished with 299 total yards, the first time WSU was held under 300 yards this season, as quarterback Cameron Higgins completed just 16 of his 34 pass attempts for 243 yards and one touchdown. The biggest smudge on the stat sheet was Higgins' four interceptions, one of which came on a poorly thrown screen pass and Montana defensive end Jace Palmer returned it 57 yards for a touchdown late in the first quarter.

"Our offense was poor," McBride said. "We didn't execute anything on offense so we don't move the ball and if your defense is on the field the whole time then pretty soon you're going to get worn out."

That pick-six Montana a 13-0 lead, and as many points as the Griz would need for the rest of their game.

Mike Snoy's 36-yard field goal in the second quarter made the score 13-3 at halftime. Just before the intermission the Wildcat defense made an impressive stand by stopping the Griz four straight times on WSU's one-yard line.

"Our defense was weird today," said WSU safety Beau Hadley, who had 15 tackles on the day. "It was like we would play really good, fly around and knock the piles back, but then sometimes they would run right over us.

WSU's defense, which was led by Taylor Sedillo's 17 tackles, had the chance to capitalize on the momentum of that stop when Montana started the third quarter with the ball. But the Griz, who had the ball nearly 15 minutes more than the Wildcats, went 81 yards in six plays as Reynolds scored on a two-yard run less than three minutes into the second half.

"Coming out it was our job to stop them, and get the ball to the offense," Hadley said. "So that hurt the momentum coming out of halftime that we had gained."

The Griz also added a 42-yard field goal and a 14-yard scoring pass from Andrew Selle to Thomas Brooks-Fletcher in the fourth quarter.

The Wildcats didn't get off to a good start. After Higgins hit Joe Collins on a 29-yard pass on the first play of the game, the Wildcats had to punt three plays later. Then WSU fell behind as the Grizzlies marched 75 yards during a 10-play drive that ended when Selle hit Dan Beaudin on a three-yard TD pass.

That was the first time in five games that the Wildcats allowed a score on their opponent's first drive. WSU's first three opponents (Wyoming, Colorado State and Idaho State) all scored touchdowns on their first drives while Portland State kicked a field goal in its first drive during week four.

Trevyn Smith, who played most of the game on an injured ankle, finished with 64 rushing yards as the Wildcats couldn't get going on the ground.

"It all starts on the offensive line," McBride said. "Those guys have to be tougher and get a knock off and you've got to create a run game, and then the quarterback's got to play better. He didn't play well. He forced the ball and he did things normally he doesn't do."

Higgins' lone touchdown came on a 59-yard flea-flicker pass to Mike Phillips, which beat the defense after Bo Bolen took the handoff and then pitched the ball back to Higgins.

Montana came into the game having given up an average of 285 passing yards a game, which was second-to-last in the conference. Holding WSU, which averaged a league-best 307 yards per game, to just 243 yards was a big key for the Griz.

It was also the most frustrating part of Saturday's loss for the Wildcat offense.

"We had a lot of things set up during the week that we thought would exploit them and take advantage of what we saw on film," said WSU wide receiver Tim Toone. "We either didn't run it or execute it right so it just goes back to execution on our part."

Montana 31,

Weber St. 10

At Missoula, Mont.

Weber St. 0 3 0 7 -- 10

Montana 13 0 7 11 -- 31

First quarter

Montana--Beaudin 3 pass from Selle (McKnight kick), 9:04.

Montana--J.Palmer 57 interception return (run failed), 2:05.

Second quarter

Weber State--Snoy 36 field goal, 10:56.

Third quarter

Montana--C.Reynolds 2 run (McKnight kick), 12:08.

Fourth quarter

Montana--McKnight 42 field goal, 14:09.

Weber State--Phillips 59 pass from C.Higgins (Snoy kick), 11:16.

Montana--Brooks-Fletcher 14 pass from Selle (Pfahler pass from Selle), 4:52.

A--25,811.

Web Mont

First downs 13 24

Rushes-yards 26-56 52-288

Passing 243 218

Comp-att-int 16-34-4 14-30-0

Return yards 8 76

Punts-avg. 7-38.0 6-32.8

Fumbles-lost 1-0 1-0

Penalties-yards 7-65 6-65

Time of possession 22:36 37:24

Individual statistics

Rushing--Weber St., Smith 20-64, Bolen 3-13, C.Higgins 3-(minus 21). Montana, C.Reynolds 33-241, Brooks-Fletcher 9-28, Selle 4-22, Moore 3-4, Kemp 2-(minus 1), Roper 1-(minus 6).

Passing--Weber St., C.Higgins 16-34-4-243. Montana, Selle 13-26-0-214, Roper 1-4-0-4.

Receiving--Weber St., Toone 5-73, Phillips 3-82, Collins 3-35, Bolen 3-27, Eldridge 1-21, Kaimikaua 1-5. Montana, Mariani 4-98, Sambrano 3-20, Pfahler 2-51, Brooks-Fletcher 2-34, Beaudin 2-10, C.Reynolds 1-5.