Montana’s first loss of the season came Saturday night in Corvallis, where Oregon State beat the Grizzlies 52-17 at Reser Stadium. Afterward, Bobby Kennedy’s message was clear: the result stung, but he wasn’t walking away from the game discouraged by his team’s effort.
Kennedy opened by congratulating Oregon State and crediting the Beavers as a tough opponent. He noted they could have been 2-0 entering the night and said Montana simply didn’t play its best.
“We didn’t play our best tonight but I’m really proud of our guys in terms of how hard they fought to the end. There was no complaining or negative thoughts.
It’s tough when you don’t go out and play your best. But there were a lot of things I saw that were really good tonight.
I love this team. They put it all on the line for the University of Montana every week and we’re going to keep going.”
That same theme ran through Kennedy’s entire postgame session: disappointment with the loss, but admiration for the way Montana competed. He said he liked the effort, the fight, and the fact that his players never checked out even after the game started slipping away. He also pointed to missed chances early as part of the story, saying Montana didn’t cash in on some opportunities before Oregon State pulled away.
“We knew going in that their speed was really good. Their quarterback is an excellent player.
They’ve got a big defensive front. Our guys, they care about this program, they fight their ass off.
Everything is not perfect but that’s what practice is for. We’ve got to come back and we’ve got to go back to work.
What I love about these guys is there’s no quit.”
Kennedy also defended his receivers after a couple of missed deep shots early, making it clear he wasn’t interested in singling anyone out. He said he would take those players “any day and twice on Sunday,” and added that nobody plays a perfect game. For him, the bigger point was the standard Montana carries and the response that followed.
“I’ll take these two guys any day and twice on Sunday. Nobody ever plays a perfect game.
I want (Brooks Davis) on our team. We’ve got good guys who fight their ass off.
Obviously it’s disappointment because we have high expectations and that’s what we have at the University of Montana. When we fall short, we fall short.
We’re going to go back to work. I thought the preparation was excellent last week.
Our guys came out with a spirit, a passion to practice and they practiced well all week. If they laid it all on the line, I can live with that.”
The offensive line, Kennedy said, gave him plenty to like. He pointed to progress in both the run game and pass protection, and said the group has grown into a real strength after entering the season as a question mark.
“I’ve said this before, what we’ve got to do is we’ve got to win up front. I did think that those guys tonight did a nice job opening some holes and also in pass protection.
They’re growing and I’m really proud of them, especially the offensive line. That was a question mark for us going into this season. ...
The way that they’ve embraced what we’re trying to get done, really pleased. Obviously we’ve been down a few players on the defensive line, but the guys are stepping up.
There were some holes and maybe we could have done some things better. We’re getting guys for the most part in the right spots.”
On defense, Kennedy said Montana did get some stops and made Oregon State work at times, even if the Beavers ultimately made the bigger plays. He referenced a sequence in which a pass went for a score after a penalty, saying a defender was “a quarter inch” away from breaking it up.
“I think our guys kept playing hard. They took advantage.
They made plays. Football is not perfect all the time.
That one pass that they scored on and then there was a penalty, (a defender) was a quarter inch from knocking that down. We’ve got to focus on the things we can control: our effort, it’s our togetherness as a team.
Coming out of this game there’s no moral victories or anything like that. We lost tonight.
But on the other hand too, I like this team. We’re going to continue to fight.
I really believe we’re going to win a lot of games here.”
Kennedy later said Montana ran into a quality team that was explosive on tape and on the field. Still, he made no attempt to soften the final score. He said both players and coaches need to improve.
“You look at those guys and you study them on tape, they’re a quality team. The way that our guys fight, the way our guys prepare, we fell short.
We need to get better as players. We need to get better as coaches.
What I like about this team is they went up against a really good opponent that was very explosive and (I) thought we did some really good things.”
The loss also included a blow on defense with Peyton Wing going down. Kennedy said that hurts because of everything Wing brings, not just on the field but as a leader. Even so, he said Montana has enough depth for others to step in, and he singled out Nai Mose.
“Losing Peyton Wing is a blow to our defense because he does so much and also his leadership aspect. But you can lose guys at any point.
We have other guys who can step up. I was really proud of Nai (Mose).”
Looking ahead to Big Sky play, Kennedy kept the focus on improvement. He said every week matters, there are no easy games on the schedule, and Montana will be in good shape if it brings its best.
“We’ve got to continue to improve. A lot of guys are getting playing time but it’s always tough to lose and maybe not play your best. ...
Every week’s a big game. There are no patsies on our schedule.
I feel like if we bring our best then we’ll win more than our share.”
He also pointed to the way teams can respond after an early setback, saying Montana has the character to do the same thing if it keeps working. His message to the group was blunt: the standard has to stay high every day.
“There was another team last year that lost to a really good FBS opponent and they stayed together as a team,t hey bounced back, they went on a tremendous run. We have the character in this group of players that we can do the same thing.
But it’s going to take hard work every week. As coaches, as players, we can’t give an inch.
We’ve got to keep demanding of our guys.”
For Kennedy, the lesson he wants his team to take from the night is simple: never want to lose, and never let the level drop in practice or in games.
“I hope that they learn don’t ever want to lose a game. It’s disappointing but on the other hand, bring your ‘A’ game every week and do it in practice and making sure that we execute at the highest level possible. That’s what is going to win football games.”
And when asked if he had been through seasons before that started with a loss and still ended with major success, Kennedy didn’t hesitate. He said he had seen it plenty of times over 35 years, including at Texas and Wake Forest.
“Over 35 years there’s a lot of them. I remember the first year people might say the score was bad, but I remember 204 at the University of Texas, we lost 12-0 to Oklahoma, which is a pretty big game.
Our guys went and finished 12-1 and won the Rose Bowl. I remember at Wake Forest maybe 1998 I think we got handled pretty good by Florida State and we ended up beating Georgia Tech at the end of the year to go to a bowl game and beat Arizona State.
There’s always lessons that you can learn. But we play to come out on top.”
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