MISSOULA — The Montana football team bounced back from its first loss of the season by blasting Morehead State with a 57-point margin of victory on Saturday afternoon at Washington-Grizzly Stadium.

The Grizzlies' win over the non-scholarship team improves their record to 2-1 heading into their nonconference finale against Western Carolina at 1 p.m. on Saturday in Missoula. They won their 14th consecutive home game and 18th straight regular-season nonconference home game.

"When you gifted that one a little bit last week with the second half, you always worry about that carrying over," Montana head coach Bobby Hauck said, referring to the loss at North Dakota.

"I think historically we've done a pretty good job of correcting and flushing the last game win or lose. It was good by our guys being willing to work on it, improve, fix things and then come out and play well."

UM dominated while other top-ranked teams struggled. No. 1 South Dakota State won just 24-3 against NCAA Division II Augustana, No. 2 North Dakota scored two TDs in the final 1:59 to win 38-35 at unranked East Tennessee State and No. 5 Villanova squeaked out a 14-13 win over unranked Towson.

The Griz dropped from No. 8 to No. 9 in the FCS Top 25 poll on Monday despite its lopsided victory. Western Carolina re-entered the Top 25 at No. 24 after it knocked off No. 22 Elon, 24-17, to improve to 1-2.

As a fun side note, UM's win against Morehead State is believed to be the first 59-2 final score in a college football game at any level, according to multiple reports.

The offensive line is like a chorus line in which all five players have to stay in step to perform well.

The Griz struggled in the trenches last week at North Dakota but improved their play against Morehead State. That's what one would expect playing a more inferior opponent that had faced only non-NCAA Division I opponents.

Montana running back Eli Gillman (10) leaps into the end zone for a touchdown while Morehead State defensive back Matthew McClelland (8) reaches to grab him during Saturday's game at Washington-Grizzly Stadium.

Perhaps Montana has found something, though, with flipping Cade Klimczak and Liam Brown on the O-line. Klimczak played center for the first time this season and Brown played left guard for the first time as they swapped spots.

Klimczak transferred in from Central Michigan over the summer and got some snaps at center during fall camp but was primarily a guard. He had played guard at CMU, where he started five times and played in 26 games.

"We kind of viewed him as a center," Hauck said, "but we didn't really feel like we could put all our eggs in one basket because we didn't know how good he was going to be. We thought he'd be good enough to contribute. We didn't know if he could get into the lineup."

Brown had been UM's first-string center going back to spring camp when they had to replace AJ Forbes, a three-year starter and All-Big Sky honoree. Brown had been a guard before that, starting in several games going back to 2022.

"As Cade worked his way into the starting lineup, we really feel like he's probably a little more natural at the center position for us," Hauck said. "Liam is a big old goon guard. He can move people. We love the way Liam plays at guard. He doesn't have to worry about snapping. He can just go after it."

Hauck said the suggestion of making the change this week came from first-year offensive line coach Joe Pawlak. Third-year starter Brandon Casey was again at right tackle, second-year starter Journey Grimsrud at right guard and first-year starter Cannon Panfiloff at left tackle, as has been the case all year.

Behind them, players rotating in and an entirely backup O-line at times in the second half, the Griz racked up 410 yards and seven TDs on 55 carries. Eli Gillman, the reigning FCS freshman of the year, ran for 106 yards and two scores in the first half, his fourth career 100-yard rushing game.

Nick Ostmo added 76 rushing yards and one rushing score. He became the eighth Griz to reach 2,000 career rushing yards and is now at 2,013 as he surpassed Peter Nguyen for eighth place. His 22 rushing TDs tied him for eighth in UM history with Justin Green, his position coach, and Jody Farmer.

Arizona transfer Stevie Rocker Jr. got in on the fun with 58 yards and one touchdown on the ground.

True freshman Malae Fonoti stole the show in the second half as he ran for 176 yards and one touchdown, the 23rd-most rushing yards in a single game in team history. He and Gillman helped the Griz have two 100-yard rushers in the same game for the first time since 2013.

"I thought he was terrific," Hauck said of Fonoti. "That goes hand in hand with the offensive line. I thought he ran really hard. I don't think he looked like a guy that's had two weeks of school under his belt in college. I thought he looked like a veteran presence. I thought he was physical at the end of runs. I thought he saw things well."

Fonoti did carry the ball 24 times, and with Hauck's previous comments about not overworking guys so they're fresh later in the season, it would seem Fonoti is a candidate to play in up to four regular-season games to preserve his redshirt. He could then play in an unlimited number of postseason games. 

Montana's do-it-all superstar, Junior Bergen, returned to the field for extended playing time for the first time this season and made an instant impact.

The All-Big Sky first-team receiver caught two passes for 18 yards. He had a 12-yard reception on a fourth-and-4 on UM's first scoring drive and a 6-yard catch on a first-and-10. He also dropped a pass and had a ball picked off on an acrobatic grab by the player defending him.

Bergen, an All-American special teams returner, ran back two punts for 14 yards and 1 yard. The former set up the Griz at the MSU 33-yard line ahead of an eventual TD. He fair caught two and then gave way to backups Drew Deck and B.J. Phillips with the outcome in hand. He didn't return any kickoffs.

"It was good for him to get some practice in," Hauck said of his star who played one snap the previous week. "You can't play without practice. He had a couple weeks of practice, which means he can play."

Montana linebacker Riley Wilson (42) celebrates during Saturday's game.

All-American linebacker Riley Wilson totaled four tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss in his second game of the season. His continued return to full health should be a boost to the defense, which bounced back in stopping the run.

Defensive ends Noah Kaschmitter and Hank Nuce are also continuining to get in the flow in their returns from injuries. Nuce started against North Dakota and Kaschmitter started against Morehead State after Youngstown State grad transfer Andres Lehrmann started in the season opener.

"We want to play a lot of guys up front," Hauck said. "When they start going down to injury, that, to me, lends itself to not-as-efficient defensive line play if you don't have the depth. Having Kasch back, Hank back is great because I think they're pretty solid players."

Montana played without senior safety Ryder Meyer, who suffered an apparent leg injury at UND. He went through special teams warmups as a holder but didn't play in the game. Sophomore Tyson Rostad got his first career start in place of Meyer. He was tied for second on the team with four tackles.

Senior linebacker Isiah Childs got his first game action playing on defense, although his lone tackle came on special teams.

The Griz dominated a non-scholarship team just like they should have. Hauck had tried to play up Morehead State being 2-0 earlier in the week, but the Eagles proved to be no match for the Griz and no match even for the backups.

But can the Griz replicate what they showed at a high level and do it consistently as the caliber of competition picks back up? And can they progress to a high-enough level by the time they hit November for primetime matchups against UC Davis and Montana State leading into the postseason?

While the offensive line owned the run game, the Griz still did give up two sacks after allowing six against North Dakota and one in the opener. Their pass protection with the reshuffled O-line is something to keep an eye on.

Montana linebacker Isiah Childs (28) makes a tackle on Morehead State Eagles running back Chance Harris (1) during the college football game between Montana and Morehead State at Washington-Grizzly Stadium in Missoula on Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024.

Montana's tackling was an area that appeared to be cleaned up. The Griz had 24 players record at least one tackle, led by linebacker Vai Kaho with seven. They totaled eight tackles for loss, five sacks and one quarterback hurry but were going against an offensive line that started two true freshmen.

"I don't know that we necessarily stressed them in a situation where they had to make open-field tackles very often," Morehead State head coach Jason Woodman said. "A lot of it was in the box and they were able to play downhill and corral the ball."

The Griz finished 5 of 12 (41.7%) on third downs, another increase after 2 of 9 (22.2%) in the opener and 4 of 13 (30.8%) in the second game. They also went 4 of 5 on fourth downs after 1 of 1 and 1 of 2 in the first two games.

Montana's 35 first downs gained were the second most in program history. Its 25 rushing first downs were tied for the most in team history.

Defensively, the Griz held the Eagles to 1 of 12 on third down and 0 of 1 on fourth down. They had let their opponents go 6 of 14 and 6 of 13 on third down during their first two outings.

"We were probably better on first down, which caused us to be better on third down," Hauck said. "Defense was good in that situation. I don't think they had a first down the second half, so we kind of swarmed them."

Montana committed just one penalty, a pass interference on a third down that extended a drive. That ended up being Morehead State's most threatening drive as it moved to UM's 28-yard line before having a turnover on downs.

Montana stuck with playing multiple quarterbacks and its offense stayed in rhythm. This time, three guys got in as Keali'i Ah Yat, Logan Fife and even third-stringer Kaden Huot all saw action.

Ah Yat was 9-of-11 passing for 79 yards, one touchdown and one interception while running for two scores. Fife was 9-of-16 for 87 yards. Huot primarily handed off the ball, running once without attempting a pass.

Montana also created a special teams advantage with its coverage units. Childs and TJ Rausch set the tone with big hits on the first two kickoffs.

"Going into the season, I was worried about our kick coverage playing a lot of guys that haven't played much," Hauck said. "I think it's improved steadily the first three weeks. It's something that those guys take pride in. Those are good hits. It's good to knock that ball carrier down and hear it. Got to keep doing that."