Game photos: Griz roll past Drake as Gillman sets record
(Montana Sports Information) It was a record setting day in Missoula as running back Eli Gillman became an all-time Grizzly great, leading Montana to a dominant 45-10 nonconference victory over the Drake Bulldogs at Washington-Grizzly Stadium on Saturday.
Gillman set a new program record for career rushing touchdowns with three scoring runs, passing Hall of Famer Chase Reynolds to reach 53. His fourth touchdown of the day - a one yard pass - tied two more Reynolds records, pushing his career totals to 59 touchdowns and 354 points, the most by a non-kicker in Montana history.
The prolific fifth year running back posted the 17th 100-yard rushing day of his illustrious career with 105 on the ground. That also puts him at 3,858 career rushing yards, now needing just 212 yards to become UM's all-time leader in that category... And it's only week two.
The Grizzlies improved to 2-0 on the season while putting up 488 yards of total offense, balanced with 206 yards on the ground and 282 over the air.
Quarterback Keali'i Ah Yat was again crisp, completing 27 of his 40 passes for all 282 yards and pair of scores without a sack. Newcomer Landon Ransom-Goelz crossed the century mark to lead UM with 101 yards and Brooks Davis hauled in his first TD catch of the year.
Drake fell to 0-2 on the season as the Grizzly defense imposed its will on the Bulldog's "Top Gun" offense, keeping the visitors out of the endzone until the fourth quarter and limiting their big play ability to just 252 passing yards.
Montana's defense swarmed the Bulldogs, racking up seven tackles for a loss, a sack, and forcing a pair of fumbles, and keeping quarterback Riley Warzynski hearing footsteps all afternoon. Newcomer safety Devin Dunn led UM with six total stops and fellow newcomer Tyler King was a menace on the D-line with a sack, a TFL and a forced fumble on one of the highlights of the day.
There were some big moments on special teams again for the Griz this week as well, with punter Everett O'Donnell uncorking a 68-yard punt that pinned Drake inside the two (one of the 20 longest punts in school history), and kicker Jo Silver booming a career-long 50-yard field goal in the fourth quarter, the first from 50-plus for UM since 2024.
Its wasn't all smooth sailing for the Griz, however, as a slew of second half flags piled up to give UM 16 penalties for a loss of 138 yards, but a turnover-free day and a pair of fumble recoveries helped the Griz manage the errors.
"There's so much that we can get better at, like cleaning up some little things. But I was really pleased with the guys' effort, how hard they played. The defense was phenomenal," said first year head coach Bobby Kennedy, who improved to 2-0 as Grizzly head man.
"That is a tough offensive scheme that we faced, and the way our defensive coaches prepared our guys, and the way we practiced all week, I was really pleased with that."
