Montana defense aims to just slow Eagles
The Montana defense is hitting its stride and answering a few critics’ questions along the way.
A bigger question: Will Eastern Washington quarterback Vernon Adams Jr. find his stride – or even find the field – in Saturday’s crucial Big Sky Conference game at Roos Field?
As the guessing game continues through the week – will the Grizzlies face All-American Adams or backup Jordan West? – coach Mick Delaney has a quick answer:
It doesn’t matter who’s under center for the Eagles, because “they really haven’t changed their game plan” since Adams broke two metatarsals in his right foot on Oct. 4.
“They’re a high-scoring outfit, and we’re not going to stop it, just try to slow it down,” said Delaney, whose defense abjectly failed to do that last year in Missoula; Adams completed 27 of 40 passes for a career-high 457 yards while accounting for six touchdowns in a 42-37 Eastern win.
That defense figured to slide a bit with the graduation of several all-conference performers, including linebackers Brock Coyle and Jordan Tripp, and lineman Alex Bienemann. Instead, the 11th-ranked Grizzlies lead the Big Sky in the stats that matter most: scoring offense (20.3 points a game) and total defense (357 yards).
Last week, against a Sacramento State offense that was averaging 39 points a game, the 11th-ranked Grizzlies kept the Hornets out of the end zone until the final minutes of a dominating 31-13 win.
Lost in the stats is Montana’s outstanding defensive performance in the red zone: opponents have scored on 25 of 32 chances, but nine of those have ended with field goals. In other words, rivals have reached the end zone only half the time after crossing the 20.
“We’ve gotten a lot of four-man pressure – which is nice – and we’ve tackled well,” said Delaney, now in his third year in Missoula.
Much that pressure has been applied by senior defensive end Zack Wagenmann, a home-grown Missoulian who leads the conference with 10 ½ sacks. The 6-foot-3, 255 pound Wagenmann has 31 ½ sacks in his career, one off the school record set by Tim Bush,
“He’s been a tremendous leader … a really good student who leads by example – he’s shown that best players are the hardest workers,” Delaney said.