HILLSBORO, Ore. – The Bobcats kept on rolling.
Aside from some poorly timed penalties and a failed fourth down attempt, Montana State played about as complete a first half as possible in annihilating Portland State here on Saturday afternoon, 44-14.
The Bobcats had 417 first half total yards on just 35 plays and built a 35-0 lead at the break against the one-win Vikings. MSU had over 200 yards passing and 200 yards rushing by halftime a week after PSU quarterback Dante Chachere wowed the country with a 200-yard rushing and 200- yard passing individual effort that earned him national player of the week honors last week in Portland State’s 42-38 win at Idaho State.
The Bobcat’ defense was in on the act as they held PSU to just 90 first half yards. Neil Daily, who got his first career start when Bryce Grebe was ruled out late this week, had six first half tackles, a sack and another tackle-for-loss to lead the way.
MSU held Chachere to only 69 total yards as he hit on just 10 of 17 passes, threw no touchdowns and was intercepted by Portland product Miles Jackson. Chachere, a senior, had just four yards rushing on seven attempts.
“I think we came in with a great game plan,” Jackson said. “(Defensive coordinator Bobby) Daly got us all right this week. Coach (Jody) Owens made sure we knew what we were doing on the back end. This is what we expected to happen. We prepared for situations like this and we keep a high expectation and a high standard for ourselves.”
The Bobcat’ coaches knew from first-hand experience how impactful Chachere can be as he scored on two long touchdown runs in Bozeman last season as the Vikings trailed just 17-14 before falling 38-22.
“He got loose a few times and there were a couple sacks we didn’t complete,” MSU head coach Brent Vigen said of Chachere. “Ultimately, the plays he got last year we weren’t in the right place. This year, we were in the right place. You defend a guy like that with assignment football and pursuit.
“We take a little bit of a lead and we make him the type of quarterback he doesn’t want to be or they don’t want him to be as just a passer. We have ultimate respect for what he’s capable of doing and we saw it last year and the week he had last week certainly had our eyes wide open.”
The Vikings scored a touchdown with 11:14 to go in the game for their first points. It was the third time this season and second week in a row that the Bobcats lost a shutout in the fourth quarter.
The Daily development is a big one for Montana State, which lost three-year starter Danny Uluilakepa last week to a season and potentially career-ending injury. Daily, a 6-foot-3, 230-pound sophomore from Billings by way of Missoula, drew praise from Vigen earlier this week for his growth in practice. It carried over to the field against PSU.
“We’ve seen him improving as the season has gone along,” Jackson said. “We got young guys that can step in for at any given time.”
Despite losing three starters at every level of their defense, the Bobcats appear to have adjusted seamlessly. Senior stalwart Blake Schmidt went down at defensive tackle, while sophomore upstart Caden Dowler was lost at safety/nickel. Freshman Hunter Sharbono and sophomore Dominic Solano filled in adequately for Schmidt, while senior Dru Polidore is a proven commodity at safety, although he got ejected Saturday for targeting.
MSU got on the board on its first drive with an interesting twist. True freshman Unterrio Latin-Henley caught passes in the flat on consecutive plays to go along with the hard running of Scottre Humphrey, who finished it off with a 7-yard touchdown run and rushed for 46 of his career-high 160 yards on the opening possession.
MSU turned the ball over on downs on its next possession, but then went four straight possession with touchdowns to close out the half, scoring 28 points in the second quarter. Taco Dowler got the barrage started with a 57-yard reception, juking his way past a pair of defenders before bolting into the end zone. The former Montana Gatorade Player of the Year from Billings has scored four touchdowns in the last four games.
“Taco each week – one way or another – whether it’s offense or punt return, continues to make plays,” Vigen said. “I think it just goes to show if we get the ball in his hands, big things are gonna happen.”
Humphrey went in again from the six before Mellott made a nice play-fake before hitting Jared White across the middle om a perfectly executed trail rout. Mellott finished the half with a 48-yard pass play to fullback Rohan Jones, who made the catch, put on a nice move to evade a defender and then bullied his way for the final 10 yards, dragging multiple PSU defenders into the end-zone with him.
The second half featured the kicking of MSU’s Myles Sansted, who leads the team in scoring with 69 points after hitting all three of his field goal attempts to go along with his five extra points, all in the first half. Humphrey has 60 points after scoring his ninth and 10th touchdowns on Saturday. He now has 952 yards this season after his sixth 100-yard effort of his sophomore season.
“It doesn’t really matter to me too much, I’m just worried about getting this (win),” Humphrey said. “Doing anything I can to help this team. Not really worrying about my stats too much.”
“Another plus day for Scottre,” Vigen said. “He only had first half action, but he continues to see things the right way and he’s a load. My guess is there were pretty considerable holes but he didn’t have a lot of wasted motion and that continues to show up.”
Mellott was on fire in the first half, finishing 11 of 14 for 207 yards and three touchdowns at the break. He ended up 15 of 20 for 239 yards and a passer rating of 224.9.
The Bobcats have an open date this weekend. Senior wide receiver Ty McCullouch injured his shoulder in the second half on a running play and didn’t return. Running back Adam Jones suited up but didn’t play and linebacker Bryce Grebe didn’t make the trip due to an injury.
MSU travels to Cheney, Wash. after their open date to take on Eastern Washington. The Eagles lost to UC Davis Saturday, 48-38. The Aggies are tied with MSU in the Big Sky standings at 4-0. No. 6 Davis sits at 7-1 overall.
