Watch the Fritz Blitz.Reynolds, the 190-pound sophomore out of Drummond, had the breakout game he was waiting for with 137 yards on just 14 carries, sparking a 41-20 victory for the No. 8 Griz that wasn't that close.
His career long 43-yard touchdown run in the first quarter kick-started the Grizzlies' third straight rout of the Bears in front of a sparse Nottingham Field crowd. Another 32-yard burst by the sophomore capped UM's first drive of the second half, making it 31-3.
And Reynolds was a bit of a revelation.
“He's got the ability, he hits it down hill, he's a physical back,” said Bobby Hauck, who notched his 60th win in five-plus seasons as UM's coach. “And if he gets in the open field, he can run. He's a hard guy to catch. He's not an easy guy to run down.”
“It's been a long time coming,” said Reynolds, whose longest run to date had been 14 yards. “The guys open up the holes, and I've just got to get past that next level.”
Reynolds' first burst came after the teams traded first-quarter goal-line stands that ended in field goals - 20 yards by UM's Brody McKnight, 27 yards by the Bears' Michael York - and punts.
After that it was almost all Montana, with a 20-yard punt by UNC Cameron Kaman setting up a 54-yard TD drive that was all Reynolds.
After an 11-yard burst, he took the ball on a counter left, broke into the open and cut back to the right. Reynolds zipped past Bears safety Max Hewitt and linebacker Logan Zabel, and then rode a block from Ferriter to paydirt.
“Ferriter and those guys work their butts off every day to get down there,” said Reynolds. “That's the most impressive thing to me. As soon as I got past (the backers), those guys were down in front of me.”
That began a surge that bridged into the third quarter, after which the Grizzlies led 41-6. If the gap was surprising against a team that had lost several heartbreakers, it was equally satisfying heading into next Saturday's showdown against Northern Arizona. The Lumberjacks lost 42-14 to co-Big Sky leader Weber State Saturday.
“Like I tell the kids, you never take winning for granted,” said Hauck. “Just ask the kids in the other locker room. They're scrounging to get a win and they've had so many close games that they lost that they maybe shouldn't have. We were obviously aware of that and wanted to come down and have a decided victory, and we got it.”
The Bears had few bright spots. Quarterback Bryan Waggener, the Florida transfer, proved elusive in the first half, when he had a 16-yard run. But he was apparently shaken up near intermission - “He's dinged,” UNC coach Scott Downing said afterward - and gave way to James Schrank and then Dylan Orms.
Even with Waggener running and throwing, UNC kept stalling with penalties, sacks (Austin Mullins) and batted passes (Shann Schillinger) blunting drives.
Meanwhile, the Griz drove 94 and 93 yards for scores.
Ferriter capped the first, taking a 20-yard pass on a crossing pattern and beating a pair of Bears to the corner to complete a 75-yard touchdown at 4:55 of the second quarter. That made it 17-3.
Before halftime, passes of 11 yards to Ferriter, 16 to Steven Pfahler and 21 to Andrew Schmidt - Brent Russum and Mariani cleared Schmidt's path on a screen - sparked a march that lasted 1:27. Bergquist scored from 6 yards out to make it 24-3 with 16 seconds left in the half.
“In the second quarter, things didn't go so well,” Downing said, after his club fell to 1-6. “Obviously when you're playing a team that's ranked anywhere from third to eighth in the country, they're a good football team.
“I can't say we took a step back due to the fact that I thought the kids stayed into the game. They kept playing. They kept trying. They started making some plays on offense and defense.”
Those came in the fourth quarter, with Orms (150 yards passing, 67 running) at the controls.
By then the game was out of hand. After Reynolds' second TD, a perfect 30-yard strike from Bergquist to Mariani made it 38-6 at 3:32 of the third quarter. A fumble by the punter Kaman, who was dodging the rush of Ryan Fetherston when Jeff Larson stripped the ball, led to UM's final points - a field goal from McKnight.
Safety Colt Anderson and linebacker Tyler Corwin had nine tackles each to lead the defense, which recorded four sacks.
“Coming down here, we just wanted to keep playing like we have been,” said linebacker Shawn Lebsock, who had seven tackles. “We started out the season a little rough, but the last few weeks we've really been rolling. Basically we need to keep that momentum going, keep that energy. We did that for the most part.”
Bottom line
Crowd: 3,709.
Conditions: 58 degrees, sunny.
Elapsed time of game: 2:54.
Records: Montana improved to 7-1, 3-1 in the Big Sky Conference. Northern Colorado fell to 1-6 and 1-3.
Up next: The Grizzlies come back to Missoula for a Big Sky showdown against Northern Arizona on Saturday at 12:05 p.m. Northern Colorado heads north to play Montana State on Saturday.
Key stats: Montana ran up a 413-179 bulge in yardage over UNC while building a 41-6 lead through three quarters.
Key moment: Griz quarterback Cole Bergquist scored on a 6-yard run with 13 seconds left in the first half, capping a 93-yard drive that took less than 90 seconds and put the Griz up 24-3.
Quotable: “We went the length of the field and then we came out of the locker room and went three and out with our defense, and went down and scored, and we said, ‘All right, this one's over.' ” - Griz coach Bobby Hauck
Montana 3 21 17 0 - 41
N. Colorado 3 0 3 14 - 20
First Quarter
UM-FG McKnight 20, 6:48.
UNC-FG York 27, 3:12.
Second Quarter
UM-Reynolds 43 run (McKnight kick), 9:44.
UNC-Ferriter 75 pass from Bergquist (McKnight kick), 4:55.
UM-Bergquist 6 run (McKnight kick), :12.
Third Quarter
UM-Reynolds 32 run (McKnight kick), 8:55.
UNC-FG York 25, 5:31.
UM-Mariani 30 pass from Bergquist (McKnight kick), 3:32.
UM-FG McKnight 30, :13.
Fourth Quarter
UNC-Orms 1 run (York kick), 4:04.
UNC-Smith 5 pass from Orms (York kick), 1:21.
A-3,709.
UM UNC
First downs 21 21
Rushes-yards 35-186 44-199
Passing 257 203
Comp-Att-Int 15-23-0 14-22-0
Return Yards 18 2
Punts-Avg. 3-47.0 4-38.0
Fumbles-Lost 2-0 1-0
Penalties-Yards 7-58 7-55
Time of Possession 27:34 32:26
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING-Montana, Reynolds 14-137, Brooks-Fletcher 4-17, Mariani 1-12, Schmidt 7-12, Schulte 1-9, Klaboe 1-0, Bergquist 7-(-1). N. Colorado, Orms 9-67, Wilson 10-55, Waggener 9-39, Woods 6-27, Cary 2-12, Muns 3-11, Smith 1-1, Walker 1-(-2), Schrenk 2-(-2), Team 1-(-9).
PASSING-Montana, Bergquist 14-18-0-243, Selle 1-5-0-14. N. Colorado, Waggener 6-11-0-53, Orms 8-10-0-150, Schrenk 0-1-0-0.
RECEIVING-Montana, Ferriter 3-88, Pfahler 3-44, Mariani 2-38, Schulte 2-30, Reynolds 2-16, Schmidt 1-21, Overton 1-11, Klaboe 1-9. N. Colorado, Smith 3-92, Gunn 3-25, Walker 2-33, Chesla 2-26, Cary 1-15, Fauver 1-8, Emmerling 1-2, Muns 1-2.
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