Montana and Montana State made sure the 106th Brawl of the Wild introductions were short and sweet. Michael Jefferson, meet Van Cooper Jr. POW! Donell Wheaton, meet Jimmy Wilson. BLAM! Rob Schulte, meet Kevin Retoriano. THWACK! Cory Carpenter, meet Kerry Mullan and Craig Mettler. OOF!
When the hit parade was finally over, UM had survived what MSU coach Mike Kramer called “the detritus” - that's a fancy word for debris - to gouge out a 13-7 victory and complete its first undefeated Big Sky football campaign since 2001.
The archrivals, revved up like Tasmanian devils, combined for eight turnovers, two flying helmets, a blocked kick and 15 penalties - eight of them for major misdeeds such as personal fouls, unsportsmanlike conduct, roughing the passer or roughing the kicker.
“Both teams played with a lot of emotion,” said defensive end Mike Murphy after the second-ranked Griz closed the regular season at 10-1. “It was just a really, really intense game. Both sides wanted it super bad, and when you get that much emotion out there, it can get the best of you.”
What the showdown for the Big Sky's automatic Division I-AA playoff berth lacked in aesthetic appeal, it made up for in drama.
MSU's final victory bid ended inside the UM 20 when Mullan and Mettler, a couple of stout defensive tackles, clamped Carpenter, the Cats' backup quarterback, in a Jaws of Strife and sacked him on fourth down. Only then could the Griz dump a celebratory bucket of ice water over coach Bobby Hauck before retiring to the happiest locker room since the invention of deodorant.
The Griz came in as winners of nine straight games, while the No. 15-ranked Cats had won six in a row - the plumpest combined success since the rivalry began in 1897. Both arrived with flawed offenses and excellent defenses. Sure enough, the contest quickly devolved into, depending on your viewpoint, a tense defensive stalemate or a torpid offensive struggle.
“Maybe the Grizzly fans, and maybe even ours, wanted to see 35, 40 points, nobody making mistakes,” said Kramer, whose teams had won three of the past four meetings. “But all the mistakes in this game were forced by the other team playing well.”
“Heck, I'm an old defensive guy,” added Hauck, smiling next to the Big Sky championship trophy. “The only thing more beautiful than that is a 2-0 game.”
MSU took UM to the wire despite losing running back Evin Groves and quarterback Jack Rolovich to injuries, but the Cats finished with just 196 yards of total offense - just 53 on the ground - and penetrated UM's 20-yard line only twice. The Griz had marvelous field position most of the day, but turned the ball over three times in MSU territory, had a long field-goal attempt blocked and were stuffed cold on a fourth-and-short run inside the Bobcat 5. That came in the waning seconds of the first half after Hauck, trailing 7-3, turned down the opportunity at a chip-shot field goal.
Swogger did throw a pretty 54-yard touchdown pass to Eric Allen to put UM ahead 10-7 midway through the third quarter, and backup running back Thomas Brooks-Fletcher continued his promising play, picking up 58 tough yards on 11 carries. But after racking up inflated numbers last week against last-place Northern Colorado, UM's offense thudded back to earth, as the normally resourceful Swogger completed only 17 passes in 41 attempts with two interceptions.
That was little consolation for the Cats. At 7-4, they know they're a long shot for an at-large playoff invitation, and this one hurt.
“I don't care who they are, we don't want to give up points - period,” said MSU cornerback Kory Austin. “We played Portland State and I think they're a better offensive team than the Griz. And we held them to zero points. I don't see any reason why we should give up more than zero.”
Fact is, there are a lot of teams out there with more dangerous offenses than Montana. That's no secret and, this late in the season, it's not likely to change. But they don't have UM's defense, they haven't won nine straight conference titles, and they're not headed to the playoffs with the prospect of at least two, and probably three, guaranteed home games.
As Kramer pointed out, the Griz don't panic when they do make mistakes, and they play within themselves. If that doesn't exactly set Griz Nation on fire, there's also this little nugget: The last time Montana ran the table in the Big Sky, in 2001, it won its second national championship.
KABLAM! Holy detritus, Batman.
Rial Cummings can be reached at 523-5255 or rcummings@missoulian.com. His column appears Sundays.
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