POCATELLO – When it came time to turn on the jets tight end Rohan Jones was ready, and his touchdown catch and run took the wind out of the sails of an Idaho State comeback attempt in Montana State’s 37-17 win over the upstart Bengals.
“We knew their safeties came down hard, so we just tried to fake the block,” Jones said of his move before a touchdown reception that gave MSU a 24-10 lead. “That’s just a good play, that’s really not on me, I was just the one to catch the ball.”
The MSU defense took over from there as they forced a quick three-and-out, then a more methodical Bobcat’ offense took charge with an eight play, 74-yard drive to put the Bobcats in control at 31-10.
“I just feel like we’re resilient,” linebacker Danny Uluilakepa said. “Back against the wall, someone’s going to come in to make a play. I love all the boys, all the boys on the offense. We just found a way.”
On the following drive, MSU went to Scottre Humphrey four times for 38 yards. Jones hauled in a 23-yard pass before Humphrey took it three straight times, scoring from the six.
Scottre Humphrey had perhaps the best game of his career as he ran for 159 yards and three touchdowns on 27 carries.
“You know what? I think you continue to see growth out of Scotty,” MSU head coach Brent Vigen said. “A couple runs in the second half were maybe some of the best he’s had in his career. His ability today to put his foot in the ground was impressive. He made more guys miss today than other game. Some tough yards between the tackles, but his ability off the tackle in being hard for the first guy to bring him down… we saw that over and over again in the second half and it was impressive to watch.”
The Bengals struggled offensively but didn’t let up as they finally got across midfield for the first time with about two minutes to go in the half. They converted a fourth-and-10 from the MSU 41 to the ten. After a run to the 2-yard line, they went backwards before going for it on fourth down from the five and scoring on a catch by Michael Shulikov from Kobe Tracy at the back of the end zone.
ISU then got stops near midfield on MSU’s first two drives of the second half and after the second they worked their way into field goal position and cut the lead to 17-10.
That’s when quarterback Tommy Mellott struck. After starting the game just 7 of 13 for 44 yards, he made a great play fake before finding Jones all alone near the seam and he had nothing but a sea of green to the end zone.
“Our down the field passing has to continue to improve,” Vigen said. “We took a few shots in the game, but I don’t know that we connected on any of them. I know that was long pass, but it was short pass through the air. We need to work on ability to attack down field.”
The Bobcat’ defense gave up a deceptive 276 yards as Idaho State advance the ball downfield and into the end zone with a variety of improbable if not obscure plays.
The first touchdown came on a fourth-and-five and the catch appeared to be going under review by the replay officials as it looked as if Shulikov may have been out of bounds. There was no review and replays later showed he had both feet inbounds. Their second score came on after advancing the ball to the MSU 1 not once, but twice, only to be forced back to the 16 after a false start and an unsportsmanlike conduct. Tracy then scrambled away from pressure and got a pass off as he was being hit but it landed in the arms of Jeff Weimer, who was streaking across the middle-front of the end zone. The play came with just 4:57 to go and only drew the Bengals to 31-17. Their ensuing onside kick was recovered by MSU’s Hunter Provience.
Jones would finish with 93 yards on two catches. Taco Dowler got MSU going with his 50-yard punt return that set up the first points of the game, which came off the foot of Myles Sansted’s 45-yard field goal – the longest of his short career. Sanstead is now 5 for 7 on field goals and 26 for 26 on extra points.
Uluilakepa led MSU with 10 tackles and that included a tackle-for-loss. McCade O’Reilly had eight tackles with four QB hurries and a pass breakup. Hunter Parsons had two QB hurries and one breakup.
The Bobcats added a new wrinkle on defense as they had Brody Grebe at a hybrid linebacker position several times during the game. He jumped offside the first time but was able to create some havoc for ISU quarterbacks as they combined to go just 20 for 41 for 201 yards and an interception.
The Bobcats will entertain Northern Colorado next week for their homecoming game. Kickoff is set for 2:00.
