Grisly Grizzly attack

MOSCOW — Dalton Sneed threw for 220 yards and three touchdowns, linebacker Dante Olson set a program record and Montana blew the game open in the first half en route to a 46-27 rout of Idaho at the Kibbie Dome on Saturday for the Little Brown Stein.

Sneed threw for 182 yards and three touchdowns in the first half to help Montana build a 36-6 lead.

“Their staff spoke ad nauseam this week that if you stop Sneed, you stop the Grizzlies,” said Montana coach Bobby Hauck, who was the recipient of a postgame Gatorade shower on the sideline after becoming the winningest coach in program history, passing Don Read. “Well, they didn’t do it, even though they had their whole defense juiced up to do that. Good for Dalton and good for our offense. We made plays, and when guys are making plays around him, we’re hard to stop.”

Samuel Akem had two scoring grabs — for the fifth time this season — in the first half. Olson’s eighth tackle of the game broke the Montana program record for tackles in a single season with 131. He finished with 10 to remain the nation’s leading tackler.

Montana (6-3, 4-3 Big Sky) scored 29 unanswered points in the first half with two 50-plus yard scoring plays. Akem scored from 52 yards out and Gabe Sulser 59. Former Lake City High standout Jerry Louie-McGee scored his first career rushing touchdown from 13 yards out.

“As well as we played last week (in a win over North Dakota), I thought we would have played a lot better,” Idaho coach Paul Petrino said. “It’s disappointing. We didn’t do a good enough job of coaching, we didn’t do a good enough job of playing. We just got our butts kicked.”

Samori Toure secured a fourth-quarter onside kick and almost returned it for a score, setting Montana up at the 30.

Mason Petrino passed for a career-high 310 yards and two touchdowns, and ran for another for Idaho (4-6, 3-5), which lost its first game at home this year. Isaiah Saunders rushed for 123 yards in front of the Vandals’ largest home crowd, 14,571, since Oct. 18, 2014.

“That was the most energy I’ve ever seen in the Dome,” Idaho senior linebacker Ed Hall said. “I wish the outcome would have been a little different.”

The Vandals scored first on a 38-yard field goal from Cade Coffey, but Montana rattled off the next 29 points in a span of 12 minutes and 18 seconds, including two touchdown passes from Sneed to Akem in the second quarter.

Idaho outgained Montana 457-420, but the Grizzlies’ 306 first-half yards staked them to a 36-6 advantage at the break. Sneed accounted for most of Montana’s damage, running for a game-high 129 yards and throwing for 220. He passed for three touchdowns and scored once on the ground.

David Ungerer was Petrino’s top target, catching seven passes for 117 yards and a touchdown. It was Ungerer’s third 100-yard receiving game of the season. Petrino also hit Cutrell Haywood for a score.

Saunders, who tallied a career-long 60-yard run in the third quarter, moved up to No. 10 on Idaho’s career rushing list with 2,155 yards.

“We had great drives down the field, and we couldn’t put the ball in the end zone,” Saunders said. “You can’t do that.”

Kaden Elliss registered 1.5 sacks and 4.5 tackles for loss among his seven stops. Elliss now has 46 career tackles for loss, tied for fifth in program history and the most by a Vandal since 2000.

This was the first meeting between Idaho and Montana since 2003. The Grizzlies have won the last five meetings in the rivalry, dating back to 2000.

Montana 46, Idaho 27

Montana 14 22 7 3 — 46

Idaho 3 3 7 14 — 27

First Quarter

IDHO—FG Coffey 38, 7:59.

MONT—Sulser 59 pass from Sneed (Semenza kick), 5:46.

MONT—Eastwood 2 run (Semenza kick), 1:28.

Second Quarter

MONT—Akem 52 pass from Sneed (Miller run), 11:56.

MONT—Akem 5 pass from Sneed (Semenza kick), 8:28.

IDHO—FG Coffey 35, 3:32.

MONT—Louie McGee 13 run (Semenza kick), 2:34.

Third Quarter

IDHO—Petrino 1 run (Coffey kick), 5:49.

MONT—Sneed 1 run (Semenza kick), 1:01.

Fourth Quarter

IDHO—Haywood 26 pass from Petrino (Coffey kick), 7:58.

MONT—FG Semenza 40, 1:43.

IDHO—Ungerer 10 pass from Petrino Coffey kick), 0:48.

MONT IDHO

First downs 19 22

Rushes-yards 43-191 34-147

Passing 229 330

Comp-Att-Int 13-22-0 27-45-1

Return Yards 37 73

Punts-Avg. 5-42.2 6-41.3

Fumbles-Lost 0-0 0-0

Penalty-Yards 3-40 6-62

Time of Possession 28:41 31:19

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING—Montana, D. Sneed 14-129, A. Eastwood 11-27, J. Louie-McGee 3-21, A. Lee 5-18, G. Graves 5-15, T. Wilson 1-(minus 3), C. Humphrey 2-(minus 13). Idaho, I. Saunders 20-123, T. Walker 6-23, D. Henderson 1-1, M. Petrino 7-0.

PASSING—Montana, D. Sneed 12-20-0-220, C. Humphrey 1-2-0-9. Idaho, M. Petrino 27-45-1-330.

RECEIVING—Montana, S. Akem 6-130, G. Sulser 2-65, A. Eastwood 3-19, J. Louie-McGee 2-15. Idaho, D. Ungerer 7-117, D. Lee 4-75, C. Haywood 6-70, J. Cotton 5-55, C. Elliss 1-6, S. Fernand 1-3, C. Whitney 1-3, I. Saunders 1-2, T. Walker 1-(minus 1).