Montana bests Idaho in top-10 matchup 41-30, retains Little Brown Stein
The Montana Grizzlies built a big advantage, then refused to let the Little Brown Stein slip from their grasp.
The visiting Idaho Vandals tried to rally in the second half, but Montana stifled the comeback attempt and retained the 87-year-old traveling trophy, winning this year’s edition of the historic Big Sky Conference rivalry game 41-30 on Saturday night at Washington-Grizzly Stadium in Missoula.
The Grizzlies (4-0, 1-0 Big Sky), ranked fifth in the STATS Perform FCS poll, opened conference play with a statement win over the No. 8 Vandals (2-3, 0-1), who fell into a 24-6 hole early in the third quarter. Idaho cut the deficit to nine points early in the fourth, but the Vandals couldn’t keep step with a physical Grizzlies team that never let up.
Montana reextended its lead to 16 points with an 11-play, 79-yard scoring drive, then forced a turnover on Idaho’s ensuing possession to all but seal the win.
The Grizzlies, who reclaimed the Little Brown Stein in 2023 after losing it in 2022, gathered at midfield and held the old wooden cup high in front of a sellout crowd and a national TV audience from ESPN2.
“I told (the team), ‘We’re not losing another game the rest of this regular season,’ ” Vandals coach Thomas Ford Jr. said on Idaho’s postgame radio show. “We played a quality opponent. They’re the No. 4 team in the country for a reason. They have one of the top offenses in the country for a reason. We just didn’t play well enough to beat those guys tonight.”
The Vandals seemed buried in the third quarter. Their offense couldn’t find a rhythm, and their defense struggled to stop Montana quarterback Keali’i Ah Yat and tailback Eli Gillman.
But Idaho quarterback Joshua Wood gave his team life in a must-score situation, scrambling out of pressure and throwing a 62-yard strike on the run to Ryan Jezioro. That set up Wood’s 8-yard scoring scramble to make the score 24-14.
Montana answered back with Gillman’s 6-yard scoring rush, but Wood kept the Vandals in it on the ensuing drive with a 47-yard pass to Emmerson Cortez-Menjivar. Wood scrambled in for a short touchdown on third-and-goal to cap the drive, trimming the Montana lead to 31-22 with 13:31 remaining.
The Grizzlies didn’t budge. Ah Yat and Gillman powered Montana right downfield, and Ah Yat’s 1-yard sneak concluded a dagger of a possession that made the score 38-22 with 7:49 to play – too much to overcome for the Vandals, who fumbled the ball away on the next drive before scoring a touchdown with 19 seconds left.
Wood completed 14 of 28 passes for 262 yards, and added 32 rushing yards and three scores on the ground. The first-year Idaho quarterback was 5 of 14 for 35 yards in the first half as the Grizzlies built a 17-6 lead.
Tailback Nate Thomas had 70 yards on 19 carries to pace the Vandals’ run game, which faded as the game wore on. Wood was forced to pass as the deficit grew, and while his deep balls became more successful in the second half, the Vandals weren’t consistent enough to keep pace with Montana’s big-play offense. Jezioro had 102 yards on four catches and fellow freshman Daveon Superales recorded 98 yards on four receptions.
The Vandals totaled 370 yards.
“There are a lot of positives,” Ford said. “No one has scored more points than us against that team this season. There’s a lot to build on, but we gotta get better on special teams, we gotta tackle better and we gotta execute better on offense.”
Montana’s offense overpowered the Vandals to the tune of 413 yards. Ah Yat went 17 of 23 for 223 yards and a TD. Gillman amassed 142 yards and two TDs on 27 carries.
The Vandals now enter a bye week before returning to action for homecoming on Oct. 11 against Northern Colorado in Moscow.