CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - On a field that quickly came to resemble a cow pasture, Montana's dreams of a third national football championship in a decade were run into the ground by James Madison University on Friday night.
The Dukes controlled the ball for nearly 12 1/2 more minutes, ran 79 plays to Montana's 61, outgained the Grizzlies 314 yards to 44 on the ground, and won the NCAA Division I-AA national title 31-21.
A crowd of 16,771 watched at Finley Field and a national television audience looked in as well. Montana quarterback Craig Ochs made it tough on the Dukes, completing 29 of 38 passes for 371 yards and three touchdowns. He wasn't intercepted until the last play of his college career - essentially a Hail Mary toss on fourth-and-16 with 6:14 to play and the Grizzlies trailing by 10.
"Their quarterback played a tremendous football game," said James Madison coach Mickey Matthews. "He did not throw into coverage the entire time."
The Grizzlies rallied from a 17-7 deficit to lead 21-17 when Ochs hit Willie Walden on an 8-yard touchdown pass with 7:29 to play in the third quarter.
But James Madison, which had only 2 yards total offense after one quarter, shredded the Grizzly defense with its running game from there.
"We thought kickoff was at 8:30, I guess," Matthews said.
Maurice Fenner, who carried 29 times for 164 yards, put the Dukes on top for good at 24-21 with 3:57 left in the third quarter on a 1-yard touchdown run, and Justin Rascati's 6-yard quarterback keeper with 8 minutes to play left the Grizzlies needing two scores to catch up.
Fireworks erupted and JMU fans stormed the field after the Grizzly defense couldn't get the ball back. Montana receiver Jon Talmage stood watching them celebrate long after his teammates had moved off the field.
"James Madison is a heck of a ball club," Talmage said. "They deserved to win. They beat us outright."
Thirty yards away, Ochs, Tuff Harris and Justin Green kneeled to pray with Green's father, Anthony, as the Dukes celebrated behind them.
James Madison won its first national championship in the hardest of ways. The Dukes had to play on the road every step of the way. They beat Lehigh and Furman by identical 14-13 scores in the first two rounds, then won at William & Mary 48-34 last week.
It was Montana's fifth trip to the championship game in 10 years. The Grizzlies won it all in 1995 and 2001.
They suffered outcomes similar to Friday's in 1996 and 2000.
The three games since 2000 have all been played on this field, which quickly turned into a mess for both teams.
"That's probably the worst field I've ever played on in my life, to tell you the truth" Rascati said. "Grade school, high school, college ... I was really surprised at how bad it was."
James Madison finished 13-2. The Grizzlies wound up 12-3.
"Congratulations to James Madison and their coaching staff and their players on a job well done," UM coach Bobby Hauck said. "They played a great game tonight. They deserved to win, and just a great job by them."