But Saturday's 49-0 victory for the No. 3 Montana Grizzlies had high points, starting with Lex Hilliard's 54-yard touchdown run on his team's first offensive play. Junior quarterback Cole Bergquist was 13-for-13 passing for 163 yards, and the Grizzlies had only four incompletions all afternoon.
And the highlights didn't end with a fourth-quarter TD run by Thomas Brooks-Fletcher, the fourth Griz running back to find the end zone.
“The thing I'm excited about is, it didn't matter who we put in the game, they played their tail off, they executed,” fifth-year Griz coach Bobby Hauck said. “They did a nice job.”
If you're wondering who Hauck and his staff put in the game, the answer is: Everyone. Seventy-three Griz show up on the participation chart. Hauck said everyone who suited up played.
By the end, the Grizzlies had gained 512 yards, split almost exactly between the run and the pass.
The Skyhawks, boasting just eight scholarships, crossed midfield once.
“We know what we're faced with, but it's good experience,” said Fort Lewis coach Ed Rifilato, whose team managed 136 yards and seven first downs. “Our players know they won't compete against another team this good. We go play (Nebraska-) Kearney next week, and they're a good team. But they're not Montana.”
Hilliard of course set the tone. After Montana's first offensive snap was blown dead by a procedure penalty, the 230-pound senior from Kalispell took a handoff from Bergquist and cut between the blocks of right guard Dan Carter and tackle Brent Russum.
He found a hole big enough for Benny the Bull's stretch limousine.
“My first touch was amazing,” said Hilliard, who carried 14 times for 86 yards and three first-quarter touchdowns. “The O-line did an incredible job opening up a lane that I could have drove my truck through. Anybody could have run through it.”
If the Skyhawks were caught out of position on the play, that was also telling. As in 2005, when they lost 55-0, it was their season opener.
“We were a little jittery,” said Fort Lewis strong safety Sam Powell. “The offense was getting to the ball before us and we were getting the wrong calls. Especially that first play, we weren't lined up correctly. That didn't help at all.”
“That was bad coaching,” said Rifilato, managing a smile. “My job is to get them to the ball. I'm the defensive coordinator. So when they don't get to it, I don't have anybody to blame but myself.”
Their problems continued when they punted on their next possession, and UM's Marc Mariani returned it 23 yards to the Fort Lewis 40. Five plays later, Hilliard again waltzed in untouched, this time from 5 yards out.
It was fitting that a stumbling, fumbling 6-yard gain by quarterback Tom Stoffel moved Fort Lewis into UM territory. The drive ended with another fumble on fourth down, which Griz linebacker Kyle Ryan recovered.
Hilliard capped the ensuing 57-yard drive with his third TD.
The rest of the game played out with a few highlights and fewer surprises. Senior defensive end Kroy Biermann recorded another sack, giving him 18.5 for his career. Marc Mariani averaged 18.5 yards on four punt returns.
Mariani also had a superb catch of a pass from backup Andrew Selle in the third quarter, taking the ball away from safety James Davis and gaining 26 yards.
Bergquist, meanwhile, has yet to throw an incompletion against the Skyhawks after going 2-for-2 in the '05 game. His 15-yard scoring pass came after Ryan Bagley ran a slant against one-on-one coverage.
“He made the perfect read and broke it at the perfect time, and there wasn't any inside help,” Bergquist said. “And he was able to crease it down the middle just like it's drawn up.”
That made it 35-0 with 26 seconds left in the first half. Brooks-Fletcher's 21-yard run capped a banner day for the backs, including Greg Coleman's 9-yard scoring run in the second quarter and Reggie Bradshaw's TD from 6 yards away in the third.
The score wasn't as lopsided as '05, though Rifilato rates this year's Griz as a far better squad.
“The first half they beat the hell out of us,” he said. “The second half our guys responded. They didn't want to let the people back home down and us as coaches down, and they did a great job.”
There was no quit on the Grizzly sideline, either.
“When it's seamless, you're playing your 2s, 3s and 4s, and they go in the game and execute,” Hauck began. “No miscues, no fumbled snaps, there are no turnovers, no substitution penalties. ... It shows you have a team with tremendous discipline, which excites me about our guys.”
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