DAVIS, Calif. — From start to finish, it was all Montana Grizzlies as UM defeated UC Davis in a top-10 matchup 62-22 on Saturday night in California. It was a record-breaking night for Eli Gillman and a show-out performance for the rest of the team, as the Grizzlies proved they are one of the top teams in the FCS.
"I'd say it put everybody else on notice, for sure," Gillman said. "We all inside our room, we knew we could all do that. Like all of us knew that. But I think it's kind of like making a statement. Like it made a statement not just like as a team but like through specific position groups that we all can ball out."
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Montana's potential as a lethal FCS team has been bubbling beneath the surface, the Griz just needed to see everything click together and shore up some details.
On Saturday against Davis (3-2, 1-1 Big Sky) under the bright lights, the Grizzlies took the top off and broke loose.
"We played Montana football. Offense, defense, special teams, all three phases were really good," UM head coach Bobby Kennedy said. "And obviously when you come into an environment like this and play that well, it says a lot about the character of our kids. But also, I'm really happy with our staff because I thought they did a great job preparing our guys."
Watch: Grizzly Replay: No. 5 Montana at No. 10 UC Davis
Out of the gates, a sack on the Aggies' first drive forced a punt with a nice return from Brooks Davis, which was followed by a quick drive that got Montana on the board first and seemed to sum up how the day would go for the Grizzlies, as they let the bad taste of last week's loss to Oregon State fuel them as they jumped back into Big Sky play.
"We just knew we had to come out and make a statement, really," Gillman said. "Because we haven't played our best, I feel like, all season, and people just like, start talking. We know we can play better, and it's just like we know we had to come out and do something about it, so we did."
Defensively, the Griz got pressure all day as Tyler King and Zekiel Seumalo combined for three sacks, and the Griz racked up eight tackles for loss — two more from Peyton Wing — as they dominated on third down — Davis was 6 for 17 — and the UM secondary shut down the high-powered passing offense of Davis. Nai Mose led Montana with nine tackles on the day.
"It felt great. Obviously the first three games we played well but not to our full potential," said King, who was credited with 2.5 sacks. "And then obviously the fourth game happened. And then I think (Saturday) we came out with the right mindset and kind of put it all together for a complete game."
"I never wanted to let up at any point, right?" Kennedy added. "I wanted to show them that no matter what the score is, we keep playing. We keep doing our job and being the best version of ourselves that we can be."
Led by Gillman, the offense was the story of the show as UM's elite abilities were fully unlocked.
Gillman set a Griz single-game rushing record with 275 yards on just 26 carries — an average of 10.6 yards per carry — while he scored four times. The previous record of 265 yards was set by Yohance Humphery in a 2001 game against Weber State where he racked up 38 carries.
Quarterback Keali'i Ah Yat looked the most comfortable and dialed in he's been all season, as he also accounted for four touchdowns, completed 21 of 31 passes for 241 yards, and guided an offense that racked up 607 total yards, while Brooks Davis had his fourth straight 100-yard game and caught a score, as did Landon Ransom-Goelz, his first as a Griz. Davis finished with nine catches for 121 yards.
But it was Gillman's performance that left jaws on the floor as the Big Sky's reigning MVP somehow outdid himself yet again en route to another record-breaking moment this season. He also became the Big Sky's all-time rushing touchdowns leader with his first score of the game.
"Any time a guy can break a record like that, you want to weigh the pluses and the minuses in terms of, oh gosh, what if he gets dinged or something happens?" Kennedy said, explaining how UM handled Gillman down the stretch of a blowout. "But when a guy like that who works so hard has a chance to do something like that, we want to let him get it. Not only for him, but for our team."
All in all, it was as complete a performance as Montana (4-1, 2-0) could ask for, as the Griz took a step forward, showed growth and improvement, but most importantly, what they're capable of when their units are gelling, mistake-free and peaking. Next up for Montana will be a home game against Northern Colorado (2-3, 1-1).
"It's definitely like a big confidence boost," Gillman said. "It's going to get us fired up for next week too. I mean, we got all the potential in the world. Restarting conference play starting off like this I think is exactly what we need to do."
