BOZEMAN - Smothering defense was key to Montana's surge to the FCS title game last season, and the same can be said of its success the past four weeks. After holding Weber State, Idaho State and Northern Colorado to a combined 30 points leading up to Saturday, the Griz held Montana State to two touchdowns on its home field.

Critical to Montana's success was its ability to make the Cats go away from their ground game. Montana State finished with 83 yards rushing, just 20 of those coming in the second half.

"I thought we had a good plan coming into it," Montana safety Shann Schillinger said. "It starts with the guys up front. They tried establishing the run at times and we were able to stop it.

"They had to adjust and I thought our secondary did a good job."

The way in which Montana stopped Montana State's ground game made it even more impressive.

"They played with great leverage, good width," Cats coach Rob Ash said. "They were able to stop our run game without having to pack in a nucleus and then we didn't have the edges."

Montana's pass defense was nearly as effective, in part because the Griz did not need to take special measures to stop the run. The Cats finished with 159 yards passing to Montana's 261.

"They're very fundamentally sound on defense and they don't make mistakes," MSU quarterback Cody Kempt said.

Fourth-down follies

Fourth downs can be an adventure for the Montana Grizzlies, who have a gambling head coach and a habit of faking kicks.

But Saturday was a little extreme.

We're not talking about MSU's Dane Fletcher knocking down a second-quarter field goal attempt by Brody McKnight, but what happened the series after, when punter Sean Wren ran out of punt formation and was stacked up for no gain at the UM 21.

"I was as surprised that he took off running as you all were," Griz coach Bobby Hauck said of Wren, who averaged 48 yards on three punts Saturday. "He did a good job, almost got the first down. And it was a big stop by our defense to hold them to three."

The Griz also came up empty on fourth-and-goal from inside the 1 early in the second quarter. Chase Reynolds had set up first-and-goal at the 5 by taking a screen pass 20 yards; then he ran the ball four times and couldn't get to the end zone.

His fourth-down run around the right end stopped with a hit by MSU linebacker Jeff Price, who had 11 tackles in place of the ill Clay Bignell.

"We went for it on fourth and a half-yard late in the game, too," noted Hauck, who saw Andrew Selle convert a QB sneak during UM's crucial fourth-quarter drive. "I'm a big proponent of, ‘If we can't get a half-yard, we don't deserve to win.'

"We went, and they made a nice play both on third and fourth down. And we've seen them do it - that's how they finished the game at Weber State. They're good at it."

MSU preserved a 26-21 win at Weber with a goal-line stand, and also had stands against Northern Arizona and Eastern Washington.

Montana was 2-for-4 on fourth down Saturday.

Late scratch

The Montana State defense suffered a big blow late in the week when Bignell, the starting middle linebacker, was hospitalized. He is suffering from a spinal cord infection, according to a source cited in the Bozeman Chronicle.

As of Friday afternoon, Bignell was listed as a patient at Bozeman Deaconess Hospital.

"We missed him, you know," Montana State defensive end Dane Fletcher said. "I think (Jeff) Price stepped it up and did a great job, but as far as missing Clay, he brings a lot of fun to the game, a lot of emotion."

No giving up

The Grizzlies had their problems running the ball on MSU's defense despite Bignell's absence, netting just 95 yards on the ground. Yet when they needed a clock-eating drive in the fourth quarter they got it, into the wind, thanks to Thomas Brooks-Fletcher, Chase Reynolds and a solid offensive line.

The 19-play drive matched a 20-play TD march the Griz had against the Cats in 2008. That was also in the fourth quarter, in a 35-3 win.

"They are good up front, and they get to that edge quick, so it was difficult for us," said Dan Beaudin, who capped Saturday's drive with a 14-yard reception. "We knew the pass game was going to be there, but like coach Hauck said, our goal is to run the ball.

"So I was pretty happy in the fourth quarter there when we put that drive together, similar to last year's 10- or 11- minute drive. I was happy with our team up front."

QUICK KICKS: Wren is averaging 42.7 yards a punt on the road and 37.8 per punt in Washington-Grizzly Stadium. ... Mariani now has 2,519 career receiving yards, on 134 catches. ... Reynolds finished 7 yards behind Northern Arizona's Alex Henderson in the Big Sky Conference rushing statistics. Henderson has 1,166 yards, Reynolds 1,159. ... Selle's QB efficiency rating Saturday was 184.5, and Roper's was 142.6. Kempt's was 90.4.