Grizzlies use running attack to stop Coyotes in opener
<p>Montana's Dan Moore (35) gains yardage during the Grizzlies' win over South Dakota State on Saturday at Missoula.</p>
Montana coach Mick Delaney believes no one should be surprised that his team racked up 315 yards on the ground Saturday in its season opener against South Dakota.
"I've been a guy who loves to run the football my whole career," said Delaney, who is in his first season as Montana's head coach.
Behind a power running game and a couple of key second-half turnovers, Montana gave Delaney his first Grizzly victory with a 35-24 win over the Coyotes at Missoula.
Montana quarterback Trent McKinney, who also made his Grizzly debut Saturday, completed 26-of-32 passes for 214 yards and two touchdowns. Dan Moore ran for 148 yards and a touchdown and Peter Nguyen added 102 yards and a touchdown for Montana. The Grizzlies set a school record with 34 first downs.
The Montana win spoiled the homecoming of Coyote head coach Joe Glenn, who won the Football Championship Subdivision national championship while coaching at Montana in 2001.
"We didn't hold up against the run as good as I had hoped," said Glenn, who was coaching his first game at South Dakota. "They just took it to us down the middle."
After trailing the entire first half, South Dakota took the lead, 24-16, with 9:47 left in the third quarter following an 80-yard touchdown pass from Josh Vander Maten to Terrance Terry and a 50-yard interception return for a touchdown by Charlie Goro.
But the Grizzlies responded with a double pass play that saw McKinney toss it to tight end Greg Hardy who then threw downfield to a wide open Bryce Carver for a 39-yard touchdown to cut the Coyote lead to 24-22 with 7:11 left in the third quarter.
The Coyotes then turned the ball over on their next two possessions, resulting in a 14-yard touchdown run by Moore and a 3-yard scoring run by Nguyen.
"The momentum changed after we turned it over twice," Glenn said.
In the first half, McKinney connected on scoring tosses of 4 yards to Sam Gratton and 18 yards to Cam Warren.
Air Force 49, Idaho State 21: At Air Force Academy, Colo., Cody Getz ran for 218 yards and three touchdowns, Connor Dietz rushed for 74 and a score and had 142 yards passing, and Air Force beat Idaho State.
Kevin Yost was 41 of 52 for 355 yards passing and two touchdowns, and Josh Hill had 55 yards receiving and two scores for the Bengals.
Whitworth 28, St. Scholastica 13: At Duluth, Minn., Ronnie Thomas ran for 161 yards and three touchdowns to lead Whitworth past the Saints.
Portland State 38, Carroll 20: At Portland, Ore., D.J. Adams rushed for two touchdowns and Kieran McDonagh threw a pair of touchdown passes as Portland State defeated NAIA Carroll (1-1).
Carroll's Dakota Stonehouse had a solid game, completing 20 of 34 passes for 218 yards and a touchdown, but was intercepted twice.
Texas-San Antonio 33, South Alabama 31: At Mobile, Ala., Sean Ianno kicked four field goals, the last a 51-yarder with 16 seconds to play, to give Texas-San Antonio a win over South Alabama.
Texas State 30, Houston 13: At Houston, Marcus Curry rushed for 131 yards and two touchdowns to lead Texas State past the Cougars.
Curry caught two passes for 23 yards and a touchdown. Shawn Rutherford was 18 of 24 for 189 yards and a touchdown to lead Texas State, which is in its first year of FBS play and will play in the WAC this season.