UND wide receiver Greg Hardin looks down at the field after falling to Montana 55-17 Saturday evening at the Alerus Center. Battling a strong Grizzly team, Hardin caught five passes for just 46 yards. Photo by Keisuke Yoshimura.

The No. 15 Montana Grizzlies held North Dakota in check Saturday night as they cruised past the Green and White for a 55-17 victory.

The game was a non-conference tune-up, despite the teams being Big Sky Conference rivals. The Grizzlies (2-0) returned to the Alerus Center with the memory of last year’s last second loss to the Green and White (1-2) fresh in their minds. This time, they more than returned the favor to UND.

Montana suffocated North Dakota’s offense, allowing just 336 yards of total offense while exploding for 609 yards of its own.

The Grizzlies benefited majorly from the return of quarterback Jordan Johnson, whose 15-19 completions and 354 passing yards and five passing touchdowns came after an injury from earlier this season. UND trailed Montana 33-10 at the end of the first half. However, the team remained optimistic going into the second half.

“First half, I thought we started out well, especially offensively,” UND coach Chris Mussman said of the loss. “Then, we just sort of sputtered out and allowed (two) turnovers to start the second half.”

The Green and White’s turnovers came off of the arm of quarterback Joe Mollberg, who threw two interceptions in what was an otherwise solid performance. Mollberg completed 25 of 43 pass attempts while tossing for 281 yards and two touchdown passes. The second of UND’s quarterback duo, Ryan Bartels, was hardly seen Saturday night as he left the game after just two pass attempts, both incompletions.

UND’s passing game was one lone bright spot in an otherwise dismal night.

Receiver Kenny Golladay left the Alerus Center with a great performance as he hauled in seven passes for 106 receiving yards and a touchdown reception, while fellow receiver Jameer Jackson picked up nine of his own passes for 86 yards gained.

Standout Greg Hardin was held in check by the Montana secondary as he caught five passes for just 46 yards. The Grizzlies did not let history repeat itself after Hardin’s record-breaking game against them last October. In that game, Hardin set a Big Sky Conference single-game record with 333 receiving yards off of 12 receptions. However, that same performance was nowhere to be seen Saturday night.

North Dakota’s ground attack was subdued by the Grizzlies as the Montana defense held UND backs to just 55 rushing yards on the night. The Green and White averaged a pick-up of just 1.6 yards on the game while Montana brought UND rushers down in the backfield for 54 yards lost. Senior running back Jake Miller was held to just 31 yards on eight attempts, while Jer Garman picked up 27 yards on nine attempts.

“Everybody in that locker room is angry and upset (with the performance),” Mussman said. “We have to move forward and deal with it.”

UND will have a break next week and will have a chance to move forward with a return to action against the No. 3 ranked Montana State Bobcats on Sept. 28. Kickoff is set for 2:35 p.m. at the Alerus Center.

David Butz is a staff writer for The Dakota Student. He can be reached at [email protected].