EUGENE, Ore. -- Montana Grizzly, Big Sky Conference and FCS football fans have known what Montana linebacker Dante Olson is capable of on the football field. Saturday night at Autzen Stadium, the Oregon Ducks and Pac-12 viewers learned the same.
Olson, an Oregon native, finished with a game-high 14 tackles, 10 of them solo, by making impressive stops all over the field. The all-American helped the Grizzlies limit the Ducks on third and fourth down, and enjoyed the opportunity to play at the FBS level close to home.
"It's cool. It's good experience. It's awesome to be able to play here in front of family and friends, but I'm just a little disappointed with the loss," Olson admitted. "I thought we did good. We're going to watch the film and learn from it, but at points we handled ourselves well, but at the end of the day we didn't get it done."
"I thought Dante, like the rest of our kids on defense, played really hard," added head coach Bobby Hauck, whose son, Griz safety Robby, finished with nine tackles.
PHOTOS: MONTANA GRIZZLIES FALL AT OREGON
Hauck stressed all week leading into the game that the only way the Grizzlies would leave Eugene satisfied was with a win over the No. 15 Ducks. Just Herbert spoiled that plan, throwing five touchdowns for the second week in a row. Olson, Robby Hauck and the Griz defense showed glimpses against the high-powered Ducks, while UM's offense did the same, with Jerry Louie-McGee breaking the program record for career receptions, while hauling in six catches for 66 yards. Samuel Akem also had six catches for a team-high 85 yards against the Ducks. so certainly Bobby Hauck could find some positives from the trip?
"Well we need to get better. We lost. We came here to win and we didn't do it," said Hauck, doubling down on his initial statements. "We did win at wide receiver. We won on the outside, we won in the slot. Not consistently enough. I mean, I can't sit here and say we did a great job, we scored three points."
Olson, ever competitive himself, agreed with his head coach.
"It was a fun atmosphere and fun place to play in, but we didn't get it done. We played well sometimes, but we didn't get done what we needed to get done, and obviously that shows up on the scoreboard. Disappointed about that," Olson said. "We take things from every game. ... We never gave in, never gave up and I'm proud of the guys for that. There's going to be a lot to learn from on film, and I'm looking forward to getting back after it for next week."
Montana returns to Washington-Grizzly Stadium in Missoula on Saturday for a 1 p.m. kickoff against Monmouth.
