NCAAF Game Recap - Southeastern Louisiana at Montana
Sat Dec 7, 2019 3:00 PM EST

UGA
10
LSU
37
F
OSU
34
Wisc
21
F
UVA
17
Clem
62
F
Utah
15
Oreg
37
F
Bayl
23
Okla
30
F OT
Cin
24
Mem
29
F
Hawaii
10
Boise
31
F
ULLaf
38
App
45
F
MiaOH
26
C Mi
21
F
Monm
21
JMU
66
F
UAB
6
FlAtl
49
F

Montana 73, Southeastern Louisiana 28

Dec 7, 2019, 3:00 PM EST

Final

1

2

3

4

T

Southeastern Louisiana (8-5)

7

14

7

0

28

Montana (10-3)

10

28

20

15

73

Record-breaking Montana swamps SE Louisiana in FCS 73-28
Sat Dec 7, 2019 8:40 PM

MISSOULA, Mont. (AP) The Montana Grizzlies took a week off and then set some records.

Dalton Sneed threw five touchdown passes and Marcus Knight rushed for three scores to lead the Grizzlies' 73-28 rout of Southeast Louisiana in a FCS second-round playoff game Saturday.

Knight, a sophomore running back, also caught a touchdown pass as he set Montana's single-season marks for rushing touchdowns (23) and total touchdowns (25).

Sneed's threw three touchdown passes to Samori Toure, who set Montana's single-game record with 303 receiving yards on 12 catches. Toure also broke the FCS playoff mark for yards, set by Marshall's Randy Moss. Moss had 288 against Delaware in 1996.

The sixth-seeded Grizzlies (10-3) play at third-seeded Weber State in a Big Sky Conference rematch next Saturday.

Freshman defensive back Corbin Walker's 47-yard interception return for a touchdown capped the Grizzlies' first playoff game since 2015. Montana (10-3), ranked No. 7 in the STATS/FCS poll, took advantage of a first-round bye and shook off a 48-14 loss to Montana State that cost them the Big Sky Conference title.

"Not just me, I think everybody on the team benefited from that," said Sneed, who threw for a career-best 459 yards. "Any time you get a couple days, not only physically but mentally, to take a break it's always a good thing."

Knight's scoring reception came with eight seconds left in the first half, and was pivotal. At the 1:17 mark SLU (8-5) had closed to 31-21 on a 52-yard touchdown pass from Chason Virgil to CJ Turner.

Montana led 38-21 at halftime and went up 45-21 when Sneed found Toure for 29 yards and a touchdown at 14:03 of the third quarter.

Lions' coach Frank Scelfo noted that a penalty on a third-down incompletion set up Toure's TD.

"We got the roughing the passer penalty and they kept the ball and scored," Scelfo said. "It was a chance for us to get the ball back and we gave them an extra possession."

Toure's other touchdowns covered 62 and 47 yards. The first came on Montana's first offensive play and the latter made it 65-28 with 13:11 left in the game.

Montana also had an 81-yard kickoff return by Malik Flowers and a safety from Eli Alford. Brandon Purdy added a 32-yard field goal that gave the Grizzlies the lead for good, 10-7 at 1:20 of the first quarter.

Sneed was 29 of 45 passing, including a 15-yard scoring strike to Mitch Roberts that made it 24-7 at 4:47 of the second quarter. The Lions put together two quick drives before the half ended, but Montana answered with a touchdown each time.

Virgil threw for 436 yards and four touchdowns for the Lions. Javon Conner had nine catches for 155 yards with scoring plays of 26 and 18 yards. Turner had nine catches for 148 yards.

Bransen Schwebel had a 12-yard TD reception for SLU.

"We felt keeping it close throughout the game or even taking a lead would be to our advantage,: said Scelfi, whose team did lead 7-0. "Because we've played a lot of close games. But they just weren't going to have any of it."

"Dalton will probably talk about the couple throws he missed but he was on the money today," Montana coach Bobby Hauck said. "It was good to have our quarterback back at near 100 percent. It's been since probably the middle of October."

Montana beat Weber State 35-16 in Missoula on Nov. 16. The Wildcats beat Kennesaw State 26-20 on Saturday.

"It's exciting for us to be back in the quarterfinals for the first time in a long time," said Hauck, who is in the second year of his second tenure coaching Montana. "I know that our group had not played in a playoff game before but they all looked like veterans. They handled all that really well, so I'm proud of our team."

THE TAKEAWAY

Southeast Louisiana: The Lions rolled up big yardage with their passing attack, but didn't get many stops on defense, allowing 600 yards.

Montana: Touchdowns with eight seconds left in the first half and in the first minute of the second put the Grizzlies ) in command, 45-21, as Toure and Sneed had record-setting days.

LAST WORD

"I don't want to say he's fun to watch. Maybe from the stands he'd be fun to watch but from the sidelines he's a nightmare."

-SLU coach Frankl Scalfo on UM quarterback Dalton Sneed.

UP NEXT

Montana: The Grizzlies head to a quarterfinal matchup with Weber State in Ogden, Utah. Montana beat the Wildcats 35-16 at home on Nov. 16.

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More AP college football: https://apnews.com/tag/Collegefootball and https://twitter.com/AP-Top25

Passing

SouLA Att Cmp % TD-Pa Yds-Pa LgPa Int Rat
C. Virgil 59 36 61.0 4 436 52 1 99.3
C. Kelley 3 3 100.0 0 31 23 0 109.7
Mont Att Cmp % TD-Pa Yds-Pa LgPa Int Rat
D. Sneed 45 29 64.4 5 459 62 0 135.3
C. Humphrey 6 3 50.0 0 18 12 0 56.3

Rushing

SouLA Att Yds-Ru Avg LgRu TDRu
D. Williams 11 34 3.1 11 0
T. Jones 4 13 3.3 5 0
Mont Att Yds-Ru Avg LgRu TDRu
M. Knight 16 75 4.7 13 3
C. Humphrey 1 12 12.0 12 0

Receiving

SouLA Rec Yds-Rc Avg LgRc TD-Rc
J. Conner 9 155 17.2 52 2
C. Turner 9 148 16.4 35 1
Mont Rec Yds-Rc Avg LgRc TD-Rc
S. Toure 12 303 25.3 62 3
M. Roberts 9 85 9.4 18 1

Fumbles

Returning

SouLA KR Avg KRTD LgKR PR Avg TD LgPR
A. Mitchell 1 18.0 0 18 1 0.0 0 0
M. Cooper 1 17.0 0 17 0 0 0
Mont KR Avg KRTD LgKR PR Avg TD LgPR
M. Flowers 4 43.3 1 81 0 0 0
K. Foster 2 15.5 0 19 0 0 0

Punting

SouLA Punt Yds Avg LgPu
A. Dunlap 7 251 35.9 41
Mont Punt Yds Avg LgPu
A. Wilson 5 226 45.2 58

Takeaways

Mont Int Yds InTD
C. Walker 1 47 1

Team Stats Comparison

SouLA Mont
Points For 28 73
Total Yards 489 600
Rushing Yards 22 123
Passing Yards 467 477
Passing Completions / Attempts 39/62 32/51
Turnovers 1 0
Interceptions Thrown 1 0
Fumbles - Lost 0/0 0/0
First Downs 23 30
Penalties - Yards 11/83 6/65
Time Of Possession 44:44 16:16
Third Down Conversions/Attempts 8/18 7/15
Fourth Down Conversions/Attempts 0/2 2/2
Punts - Average Yards 7/36 5/45

Scoring Summary

1st Quarter SouLA Mont
SouLA 05:33 TD Javon Conner 29 yd pass from Chason Virgil (Bryce Broussard kick) 7 0
Mont 05:47 TD Samori Toure 62 yd pass from Dalton Sneed (Brandon Purdy kick) 7 7
Mont 13:40 FG Brandon Purdy 32 yd FG 7 10
2nd Quarter SouLA Mont
Mont 05:26 TD Marcus Knight 4 yd run (Brandon Purdy kick) 7 17
Mont 10:13 TD Mitch Roberts 15 yd pass from Dalton Sneed (Brandon Purdy kick) 7 24
SouLA 12:55 TD Bransen Schwebel 12 yd pass from Chason Virgil (Bryce Broussard kick) 14 24
Mont 13:06 TD Malik Flowers 81 yd kick return (Brandon Purdy kick) 14 31
SouLA 13:43 TD Javon Conner 52 yd pass from Chason Virgil (Bryce Broussard kick) 21 31
Mont 14:52 TD Marcus Knight 7 yd pass from Dalton Sneed (Brandon Purdy kick) 21 38
3rd Quarter SouLA Mont
Mont 00:57 TD Samori Toure 29 yd pass from Dalton Sneed (Brandon Purdy kick) 21 45
SouLA 02:51 TD CJ Turner 18 yd pass from Chason Virgil (Bryce Broussard kick) 28 45
Mont 08:00 TD Marcus Knight 7 yd run (missed kick) 28 51
Mont 12:18 TD Marcus Knight 9 yd run (Brandon Purdy kick) 28 58
4th Quarter SouLA Mont
Mont 01:49 TD Samori Toure 47 yd pass from Dalton Sneed (Brandon Purdy kick) 28 65
Mont 06:22 SF Team safety 28 67
Mont 13:10 TD Corbin Walker 47 yd interception return (missed kick) 28 73

Game Information

Stadium: Washington-Grizzly Stadium, Missoula, Montana
Attendance: 16,550
Game Time:
Weather: