MISSOULA — How do you beat the unbeaten?
South Dakota State figured, after taking third-quarter leads of 41-14 and 48-21, that it had the formula Saturday at Washington-Grizzly Stadium. That was before Marc Mariani turned on the jets and the No. 3 Montana Grizzlies turned five straight possessions into touchdowns.
Mariani’s 98-yard kickoff return with 5:25 left in the third quarter sparked a monumental comeback by the Griz, who took their first-round FCS playoff game from the Jackrabbits 61-48 before 19,197 frazzled fans.
The return, coming after SDSU cashed in a 61-yard bomb for a 1-yard run by Kyle Minett and a 48-21 lead, couldn’t have been more timely.
What happened after was still hard to predict: Four SDSU punts, four Montana scoring drives, with Mariani catching a 4-yard pass to put the Griz up 55-48 with 1:08 left in the game.
Severin Campbell’s 32-yard touchdown return of a tipped Jackrabbit pass capped a shake-your-head afternoon. The Griz scored the final 40 points.
“I am exceedingly proud of my football team,” said coach Bobby Hauck, who watched his 12-0 club commit four first-half turnovers, which led directly to 17 Jackrabbit points and a 34-14 deficit. “The assistant coaches did a great job of holding that thing together and the players did an outstanding job of doing what we teach them from the day they walk in the door – which is fight to the finish and scrap and claw for every yard.
“And we needed all of them.”
The game was reminiscent of the 1993 classic between the Griz and SDSU, when Dave Dickenson rallied Montana back from a 38-7 third-quarter deficit to a 52-48 victory. Saturday it was Andrew Selle who shook off a nightmarish first half to throw for 309 yards and three touchdowns, two to Mariani.
“I put a lot of it on my shoulders,” said Selle, who fired a touchdown pass to Ty Palmer to draw Montana to 17-14 at 6:47 of the second quarter, only to throw his second interception and fumble deep in his territory as the Jacks pulled away again. “To say I played bad in that first half is a little bit of an understatement.”
From the start SDSU freshman quarterback Thomas O’Brien looked steadier than either Selle or UM’s Justin Roper, flipping scoring passes of 7 and 8 yards to Colin Cochart to put the Jackrabbits up 14-0. SDSU’s Ross Basham jarred the ball loose from Chase Reynolds at the Griz 11 to set up the second TD.
Campbell’s first of two interceptions — of another tipped pass, by teammate Jace Palmer — set up Reynolds for the first of his three touchdowns as UM rallied. But after the score narrowed to 17-14, SDSU responded with a quick drive.
Cochart caught his third TD pass to make it 24-14 at 4:02 of the second quarter, and Minett got the first of his two TDs 90 seconds later, after Conrad Kjerstad picked off a Selle pass and took it 30 yards to UM’s 1.
Selle’s fumble with 2:21 left led to another Harris field goal.
By then the 210-pound Minett had 108 rushing yards, and SDSU owned the clock and turnover battles.
“We did exactly what we always say we can’t do,” said Hauck.
Then it got worse in the third quarter, with Corey Jeske falling on a UM punt blocked by teammate Ross Shafrath for another TD and a 41-14 SDSU lead.
“We came out after halftime knowing our backs were against a wall,” said Mariani, who had 12 catches for 171 yards. “Then they came out and blocked a punt and put a drive together. But no matter what the score was, we were going to fight.”
Glen Fox’s 61-yard reception set up Minett’s second TD, but that was the Jacks’ last big play. And Mariani was about to get started.
The senior, in for freshman Peter Nguyen, took the ensuing kickoff at his 2, started up the middle and found a seam to the right. Sambrano made a crucial block and Mariani shot a gap toward the UM sideline, stepped out of a tackle by Harris and skated in.
“We kind of drew something up in the dirt, that we haven’t done for a couple of years,” Hauck said of the kick return. “And they executed it perfectly. It makes you wonder why we practice.”
That cut the gap to 48-27 and ignited both the crowd and Montana’s defense. The Jacks’ next four possessions netted two first downs, one by penalty. They had procedure calls on three of those possessions.
Mariani caught a 15-yard strike from Selle to make it 48-34, Reynolds scored to cut the gap to 48-41 and then the running back tallied a third time to tie it with 4:11 left.
The Grizzlies got the ball again with 2:42 remaining, with Mariani returning a Dean Priddy punt 19 yards. That left a short field, and Steven Pfahler’s clutch third-down catch and a pass interference call set up Mariani’s final TD: A post-corner from 4 yards out.
“When he gets away you kind of catch your breath, because he’s got the ability to run away from a lot of folks,” said Hauck. “The last touchdown on the double-move, he made such a good move the corner bit and he was wide open.”
Mariani’s kickoff return was the first by UM for a TD since 2004. His final TD catch was the 27th of his career, a UM record.
The comeback was possibly the best-ever, given the stage: Montana’s 17th straight playoff berth.
“I was the defensive coordinator here in 1993, when I think this whole thing started,” said SDSU coach John Stiegelmeier. “That’s football. I didn’t think this would be a basketball game in terms of score.
“But we made big plays and they had to make plays — big plays — and they made them.”
Posted in College on Sunday, November 29, 2009 12:05 am | Tags: University Of Montana, South Dakota State University, Andrew Selle, Bobby Hauck, Marc Mariani, Severin Campbell, Ty Palmer, Football Championship Subdivision
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