For the second week in a row the AGS Game of the Week didn’t go the full 10 rounds. Montana and Eastern Washington stood toe-to-toe for the first quarter before the Eagles took advantage of a missed field goal, turnover on downs and interception to pull out to a 21-10 halftime lead.
For the Eagles, Gage Gubrud threw for 327 yards, completing 21 of his 37 attempts, including 4 touchdown passes. Cooper Kupp had 3 of those receiving touchdowns on 8 catches for 140 yards. Kupp may have hogged the touchdowns, but 9 different Eagle WRs caught a pass on Saturday. Gubrud also threw 2 interceptions on the day.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Io2AMMwuy3E
The Montana offense put up plenty of yards but had a hard time finishing. The Griz offense had 540 yards on the day, but only had 16 points to show for it. Brady Gustafson finished the day 45 of 63 for 398 and had 2 TDs and 2 interceptions. Jeremy Clahoun led all rushers with 11 carries for 90 yards. I thought Gubrud spread the ball around well, but the Griz had 11 players catch a pass on Saturday. That is definitely the most I remember seeing in a box score for quite a long time.
Moving Forward:
The Griz are in trouble. After slipping up against Northern Arizona they now sit at 5-3 with 3 games remaining. It looks like 8-3 is a pretty good possibility, all but a guarantee that the Griz would be in the playoff field, but two of their last three games are harder than you might think. Northern Colorado has shown some signs of life this season and they end the season with the Brawl of the Wild. The Bobcats are really down this year, but you have to imagine they don’t intend to roll over for their rivals.
Eastern Washington is right where they want to be. They will be in the seed conversation if they win out. The face Cal Poly next, a game which will be a battle of yin and yang: EWU’s potent passing attack vs. Cal Poly’s power triple option game. It’s a very important game for both teams and the Big Sky has shown a lot of parity this season.
