MISSOULA, MONT. — Tennessee State fell 41-27 to Montana in the first round of the NCAA FCS Playoffs on Saturday night at Washington-Grizzly Stadium.
The Grizzlies improved to 9-4 on the season while the Tigers dropped to 9-4.
Draylen Ellis led Tennessee State’s passing attack with 296 yards through the air, tossing two touchdowns and one interception. The signal caller also added one touchdown on the ground.
CJ Evans led all Tigers rushers with 26 yards in the contest, picking up 4.3 yards per carry. Jaden McGill also added 26 yards on the ground, averaging 4.3 yards per carry.
Karate Brenson reeled in 11 catches for 122 yards and two scores. Gerard Bullock got in on the action in the passing game as well, hauling in four balls for 50 yards.
Sanders Ellis showed out for the Tennessee State defense, recording 10 tackles, 3.0 TFL, one sack, and two recovered fumbles. Chris Walker added five tackles, 1.0 TFL, one sack, one forced fumble, and one recovered fumble.
The Tigers won the turnover battle in Saturday’s game, forcing three turnovers while coughing the ball up one time, with Tennessee State turning those takeaways into three points.
Defensively, Tennessee State held up fairly well against the Montana passing attack, holding the Grizzlies to 115 yards through the air.
How It Happened
After falling behind 3-0, Tennessee State responded with a field goal with :03 remaining in the first quarter to tie it up at 3-3.Montana then scored to take a 16-3 lead before the Tigers put a field goal on the board to close the gap and make it a 16-6 game.
Montana scored to increase their lead to 27-6 before TSU answered with 1:02 left in the third quarter and closed the gap to 27-13.The Tigers then got on the scoreboard again, narrowing the gap to 27-20.
Montana increased its lead to 34-20 until Tennessee State got on the scoreboard again to close the gap with 3:03 left in the fourth quarter and make it a 34-27 game. Tennessee State didn’t score again and Montana tacked on seven more points to finish off the game.
Game Notes
» Montana outgained Tennessee State 369-277 in the contest.
» Tennessee State won the turnover battle 3-1 after recovering three fumbles.
» TSU had its highest scoring quarter in the fourth period, when they put up 14 points.
» Tennessee State converted 3 of 14 third downs while Montana was successful on 3 of 12.
» The Tigers had two players with more than eight tackles in the ballgame led by Sanders Ellis, who had 10.
» Tennessee State went 1-for-1 on fourth down, converting on 100 percent of attempts.
» Tennessee State forced one red zone turnover in the contest.
» Draylen Ellis completed 74.4% of his passes on the day, going 29-for-39 while averaging 7.6 yards per attempt.
» Logan Fife led the Grizzlies passing attack, completing 11 of his 22 attempts for 97 yards.
» Eli Gillman led the Montana rushing attack with 136 yards and two touchdowns.