MISSOULA, Mont. – The Drake University football team fell to No. 14 Montana, 48-16, Saturday afternoon at Washington-Grizzly Stadium.
 
"We played a great opponent. We need to learn and grow from this to be the kind of team we want to be moving forward in the season," said Drake head coach Rick Fox.

In front more 23,000 rowdy Montana fans in one of the Football Championship Subdivision's toughest atmospheres, the Grizzlies made it even more difficult for the Bulldogs to get comfortable offensively as they brought the pressure on nearly every play, which produced seven sacks, 11 tackles for a loss and four Bulldog turnovers.
 
"Montana's blitz was getting to us all day. We knew that and were prepared for the blitz, but we didn't pick it up and handle it as well as we needed. They also have a lot of defensive speed and we saw that on the field," said Fox

Dalton Sneed paced Montana's offense with a game-high 65 rushing yards, 278 passing yards and a combined three touchdowns. He completed 31-of-47 passes. Jerry Louie-McGee was Sneed's top target as he caught 14 passes for 133 yards and a touchdown.
 
"I thought our defense played a great game but eventually they just wore out with the athletes that they have and their quarterback is a great player. He can do so many different things to you and you think a play is done and he makes thing happen," said Fox.

Despite getting blitzed on nearly every play, Drake's Grant Kraemer completed 23-of-42 passes for 281 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions that turned into 14 UM points. Kraemers' top target was Devin Cates, who caught nine passes for 80 yards. Steven Doran hauled in four Kraemer passes for 64 yards.
 
Sean Lynch and Will Warner led Drake's defense with seven tackles apiece.
 
Drake surrendered just 10 first-half points to the No. 14 Grizzlies and a Danny Donley 45-yard field goal to start the second quarter accounted for the 10-7 halftime score. The Grizzlies scored to open the third quarter, but Drake countered with a well-executed fake punt that turned in a 49-yard touchdown run by Will Warner to make the score 17-10 Montana with 4:46 left in the third quarter.
 
However, turnovers began to mount for the Bulldogs with Montana capitalizing for a pair of touchdowns in the final 44 seconds of the third quarter to take a 31-10 lead.
 
The Bulldogs converted on a 7-play, 63-yard drive to open the fourth quarter capped by a 3-yard strike from Kraemer to Will Purdom to pull within two scores at 31-16. However, that would be the final time the Bulldogs found the endzone as Montana scored three more times to end the game with the 48-16 advantage.
 
The Bulldogs return to Drake Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 17 when they host Missouri S&T. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m.