The Idaho Vandals and Montana Grizzlies took the field in a battle for the Little Brown Stein, a fight which ended in a 41-30 loss for the Vandals, keeping the Stein in Missoula for one more year.
Despite the loss, head coach Thomas Ford Jr. was proud of his team for fighting until the final whistle.
“That’s the thing about my club, they’re going to play hard no matter what the time is, no matter what the score is. You saw that again tonight,” Ford said in the postgame press conference. “We are not in the business of quitting anything. I’m very proud that our guys never quit.”
In a rivalry that dates back to 1903, this contest marks the 90th time these teams have met in one of the best rivalries in the FCS.
For most players, growing up playing on national TV in front of a sold-out crowd is a dream come true. All those hours in the backyard working on their craft were for the chance to one day play on the biggest stages.
For redshirt junior running back Eli Gillman, Washington Grizzly Stadium in front of 27,000 fans on ESPN was his backyard, and he was living his dream.
Gillman, one of the best running backs in the FCS, showed the Vandals and the country why. He was electric all night with his cuts, home-run speed and physical running attack, determined to help the Griz keep the Stein in Montana.
Gillman finished the contest with 27 rushes for 142 yards and two touchdowns, along with one catch for 17 yards, accounting for 159 of Montana’s 414 yards of total offense.
Ford thought the Vandals did a good job containing him for the most part, but not enough to secure victory.
“I thought we did a good job slowing him down. But again, like I told this group here, the guy is a hard runner,” Ford said in the press conference. “As the game went on, I think he started to wear our defense down a little bit. He broke some tackles that he wasn’t breaking in the first half. So, I thought we did a good job on him, but not a great job, and obviously not good enough to win.”
From the kickoff, the Grizzlies were the better team. In their first two possessions, they jumped out to a 10-0 lead. The Vandals’ offense struggled in the first half, specifically in the passing game, having a hard time moving the ball. After a 31-yard field goal by sophomore Owen Adams, the Vandals cut the Grizzlies’ lead to seven.
The Grizzlies answered with an 11-yard touchdown run to extend their lead and take a 17-6 advantage into the locker room.
The Vandals had a chance to cut the lead right after halftime but were forced to punt, leading to another Montana touchdown.
The Vandals’ offense finally caught fire on their first touchdown drive of the game, including a 62-yard bomb from redshirt sophomore Joshua Wood to redshirt freshman Ryan Jezioro. Wood took the snap under center and scrambled to his right, buying himself time before finding Jezioro behind the defense to get the Vandals to the 20-yard line.
A few plays later, Wood used his elite scrambling ability, made some Grizzlies miss in the process and scored from eight yards out. The Vandals made the two-point conversion to cut the lead to 24-14.
From then on, the Grizzlies pulled away scoring two more touchdowns, forced a fumble and walked away with their second consecutive victory over Idaho.
The Vandals’ offense, behind Wood’s two late rushing touchdowns, kept the score manageable but they were no match for the Griz.
After throwing for under 50 yards in the first half, Wood got going with both his arm and legs. He finished the game 14-of-28 for 262 yards with no passing touchdowns, adding 10 carries for 32 yards and three rushing touchdowns. In a game where the offense struggled, Wood showed his competitive spirit and never gave up despite the scoreboard.
“Joshua is a competitor,” Ford said. “That guy is going to play hard till the bitter end. You see his scrambling ability. You see how elusive he is. He’s a hard guy to tackle and when he’s able to extend plays, you get a couple big explosives as a result. He’s extending plays, guys get a chance to get behind the secondary and he definitely did that tonight.”
The Vandals fell to 2-3 (0-1 in conference play). Despite the consecutive losses, Ford remains confident in his team’s ability to compete not only for the playoffs but for the league championship.
“When you look at our three losses this year, we have two losses to FBS teams by a combined six points and we lost to the no. 4 team in the nation by 11 points in their place in a tough environment,” Ford said. “When you take a step back … and you really look at the grand scheme of things, everything that we want is still in play for us: an opportunity to make the playoffs, heck, an opportunity to win this league. If these guys run the table, they’ll win the league, but this is a hard league to run the table in. If we can do the same thing, we could be in a position to still win our league and certainly make the playoffs as well.”
The Vandals will have an opportunity to rest and regroup during their bye week before hosting Northern Colorado on Saturday, Oct. 11, at 2 p.m. for homecoming.
Jayden Barfuss can be reached at [email protected].