Dec. 6—MISSOULA, Mont. — South Dakota State’s 2025 season ended in the snow-capped mountains of Big Sky country on Saturday, as the 3rd-seeded Montana Grizzlies defeated the 14th-seeded Jackrabbits 50-29 at Washington-Grizzly Stadium in the second round of the FCS playoffs.It’s the 37th home playoff win in Montana’s history, and they’ll go for 38 next week when they host the USD Coyotes in the quarterfinals. USD beat Mercer 47-0 on Saturday. If the Jacks (9-5) had defeated Montana it would’ve set up an SDSU-USD rematch at the DakotaDome. But after a strong start, the Jackrabbits were mostly pushed around and dominated by the Griz.The Jacks defense made a goalline stand on Montana’s first drive of the game and quickly turned it into a lead and momentum when Chase Mason found Grahm Goering on a 95-yard touchdown pass, the longest pass play in SDSU history.After a Griz touchdown and missed PAT, the Jacks pushed their lead to 14-6 on a 1-yard Mason touchdown run, and things were looking good for the visitors. But it was all Griz from there.Montana scored 30 unanswered points to blow it open at 36-14, and though SDSU would finally answer on another short touchdown dive by Mason, the Jacks’ inability to stop the Griz offense rendered it moot.When Eli Gillman scored on a Statue-of-Liberty play with 4:54 to go, it was time for the Griz crowd to begin celebrating.Ultimately Montana (12-1) churned up 567 yards of offense in the win. Gillman rushed for 135 yards and two touchdowns, while Keali’i Ah Yat was unstoppable, completing 29-of-37 throws for 360 yards and four touchdowns.Mason threw for a career-high 356 yards and a touchdown while rushing for two scores for the Jacks. SDSU finished with 508 yards of offense. Goering and Alex Bullock each had over 100 yards receiving.