The Griz blew a 17-point halftime lead and were outscored 20-0 in the final two quarters after building a 24-7 halftime lead. They dropped their record to 1-1 in non-conference play when they lost their first road game and first game against a ranked opponent.

Montana was outscored 204-34 yards in the second half and 340-305 for the game. The Griz ran 17 offensive plays on four second-half drives, went three-and-out and possessed the ball for 5:53. Their final drive went for 34 yards and included their only first down of the second half after their first three possessions of the half yielded zero yards.

“Not a great performance by us, especially in the second half,” Montana head coach Bobby Hauck said. “You can’t do what we did in the second half and expect to hold on to a big lead or win by any means. Bad job by us. That starts with me. We’ve got to do a better job of figuring out how to get a first down.”

The Griz were 4-of-8 passing for 9 yards and ran eight times for 25 yards in the second half, including a 32-yard run by quarterback Keali’i Ah Yat on a fourth down to extend their final offensive drive. UM finished the game completing 20-of-30 passes for 145 yards and running 29 times for 160 yards. Eli Gillman led the ground game with eight carries for 86 yards and one TD.

Ah Yat completed 20 of 28 passes for 145 yards and one TD. Two of his three second-half drives ended in three-and-outs, while his last resulted in a 54-yard field goal by Ty Morrison that missed a wide right in the final minute to force overtime.

QB Logan Fife’s lone drive of the second half resulted in a three-and-out. He was 0-of-2 passing and ran twice for 5 yards.

“We didn’t generate first downs,” Hauck said. “We missed throws. We missed blocks. We didn’t give the ball away. We handled the noise. We did all those things. I thought the guys did a really good job. I was excited about the way we did it. But we didn’t make plays.”

North Dakota rushed for 243 yards on 49 carries, led by Gavin Ziebarth who had 88 yards on 22 carries. Sawyer Seidl added 51 rushing yards and Isaiah Smith 48. Montana had limited Missouri State to just 99 rushing yards last week.

Ziebarth’s 2-yard touchdown run cut UM’s third-quarter lead to 24-14 during a drive that saw the Griz commit two pass interference penalties for 22 yards.

UND quarterback Simon Romfo ran seven times for 57 yards. All seven of his rushing attempts came in the second half as the Fighting Hawks looked for some advantage.

He scampered for a 19-yard TD after dropping the snap as the Grizzlies’ advantage was cut to 24-21 in the third quarter. The Griz were penalized 15 yards for a facemask penalty on that drive.

“They’ve got some depth issues at quarterback, so we didn’t really expect them to run him much in this game,” Hauck said. “We just didn’t think they would. That was probably part of the problem in the second half.

“We didn’t lean on quarterback run defense, which we have some things we like against teams that do that a lot. But we didn’t really expect them to do that, but they did.”

Romfo completed 11 of 24 passes for 97 yards and one interception. He completed six of 10 passes in the second half.

UND picked up at least one first down through the air on both of its last two scoring drives. C.J. Elrichs hit back-to-back field goals of 19 and 40 yards in the fourth quarter to give the Griz their first deficit.

“They did a good job of turning some of the second-and-longers into third-and-shorters, which allowed them to execute because they weren’t throwing it very well,” Hauck said. “I don’t know if they can throw it. In the second half, we didn’t make them. In the first half, it looked like they weren’t throwing very well.”

The Griz, favored by 4.5 points, scored touchdowns on three straight drives in the first quarter to build a 24-7 lead. Ah Yat showed off his nimble moves as he escaped the pressure of three defenders and threw a pass to Xavier Harris, who caught the ball along the left sideline and made a defender miss as he sprinted into the end zone for a 37-yard score and a 7-0 lead.

Montana linebacker Riley Wilson made an immediate impact upon his return to the field, applying heavy pressure to Romfo to force an incomplete pass as UND went for it on fourth-and-5 from UM’s 30-yard line. Two plays later, running back Gillman ripped off a 63-yard touchdown run that gave Montana a 14-0 lead with less than nine minutes remaining in the game.

UND responded with a touchdown drive of its own, capped by Smith’s 30-yard touchdown run. UM was not to be deterred and responded with a touchdown drive of its own, which went into extended play when Ah Yat used his wheels to avoid pressure and convert a third-and-3. Two plays later, Aaron Fontes took an end-around 18 yards to the end zone for his first score of the season and a 21-7 lead.

After Fife’s lone drive of the first half ended with a point, Ah Yat returned to run the two-minute drill he excelled at last week. He moved the sticks again as UM settled for a 30-yard field goal from Morrison on an intentional grounding penalty on Ah Yat to lead 24-7 at halftime.

“The crowd helped tonight,” North Dakota head coach Bubba Schweigert said. “It was a great atmosphere. The first half, we couldn’t get the crowd into the game. You’ve got to play well. We always tell our guys to make plays to get the crowd excited. But there’s something about it. We just believe in it.”