The nightmare is over, at least for an afternoon.
Behind an inspired effort by star running back Chad Newell in his final game at Bobcat Stadium, an offensive performance that did not include any turnovers for the first time in months and a huge fourth quarter strip by Mac Bignell, the Montana State Bobcats finally earned their first Big Sky Conference breakthrough in 2016.
Newell rushed for 132 yards on 23 bruising carries and scored the go-ahead touchdown in the first half. An offense that turned the ball over 23 times in its previous six Big Sky outings avoided a give away for the first time since September. Bignell’s strip and recovery gave MSU a short field and the Bobcats turned a one-score nail-biter in a two-score lead. The sum result: Montana State defeated UC Davis 27-13 in front of 15,767 on Saturday afternoon in Bozeman.
MSU running back Chad Newell (17) leaps into the endzone for his 31st career touchdown
“Shoot, you forget how this feeling is almost but it’s an amazing feeling,” Newell, a captain the last two years after walking on out of Billing Senior, said following his seventh 100-yard rushing effort in his career. “Last game here at Bobcat Stadium here, this is the way we wanted to go out as seniors. We had a lot of fun out there today and took care of the ball.”
Montana State endured six consecutive Big Sky losses to begin Jeff Choate’s first season in the league. The Bobcats lost their first three by a total of 11 points before getting it taken to them at Weber State (45-27) and at home against Eastern Washington (41-17). A week after taking its bye, Montana State controlled the first half against Southern Utah only to get thwarted by four turnovers and surrender 31 unanswered points in a 38-21 loss to fall to 0-6.
The Bobcats turned the ball over an astounding 23 times during the losing streak and took the ball away themselves just four times. The negative-19 turnover margin ranks last in the league.
On Saturday, the Bobcats got back to basics, running the ball with authority and not turning the ball over for the first time since conference play began. MSU rushed for 258 yards on 48 carries (5.4 yards per carry), won the time of possession 31:15 to 28:45 and gutted out a win in the home finale for 14 seniors.
“This year has been rough record-wise, but I’ve never been a part of a better team,” Montana State senior captain offensive guard J.P. Flynn said following his 42nd straight start. “I’ve told coach Choate that, I told (offensive line) coach Armstrong that. What they are building here is incredibly special. There’s more of a sting for me the fact that I don’t get to be a part of it. That hurts me. It’s just kind of laying down a foundation right now. This team has big things coming in the future.”
Davis dominated the ball and the line of scrimmage for most of the first 25 minutes of the game. The Aggies mounted a 13-play, 77-yard drive that lasted seven minutes, 20 seconds to take a 7-0 lead late in the first quarter on senior Manu Luuga’s 10th touchdown of the year. Matt Blair’s 32-yard field goal with seven minutes in the first half pushed the Davis lead to 10-3 and capped a nine-play, 58-yard drive that lasted more than five minutes.
UC Davis quarterback Ben Scott (13) hands off to running back Joshua Kelley (41)
The Bobcats responded by giving the ball to their trusty workhorse. Newell rushed for 30 yards on MSU’s first touchdown drive, capping the seven-play, 63-yard march with a 10-yard touchdown, the 31st of his decorated career to tie the game at 10.
MSU took a one-touchdown lead late in the first half. Facing a third down from the Davis 23, MSU burned a timeout with 26 left in the half. Choate called a wide receiver reverse pass in which true freshman Kevin Kassis was supposed to throw to fellow freshman quarterback Chris Murray, but he was covered. Instead, Kassis threw a rope to redshirt freshman Cam Sutton to give MSU a 17-10 lead.
“Something we’ve had for awhile,” Choate said. “He’s actually a very good thrower. In fact, there was a bunch of people in the stands behind us who were saying, ‘why don’t you play him at quarterback?’”
In the second half, he rushed for 40 yards during a 13-play, 70-yard drive that lasted one second short of six minutes and set up Gabe Peppenger’s second field goal, this one from 28 yards to give MSU a 20-13 lead with 14 minutes left.
The true freshman’s second field goal came on the heels of a near knockout punch by the Bobcats. On third down, Murray threw wide right of senior Austin Barth and the ball was tipped by one-time MSU recruit Isiah Olave. It landed in MSU sophomore tight end Curtis Amos’ hands and he appeared to get one foot down in the end zone. But the officials ruled him and MSU settled for three.
Davis had a chance to answer. Sophomore Josh Kelley, who had gashed the Bobcats all day long, ripped off an eight-yard run to get within one yard of 100, but Bignell knifed through his blocker, attacked the ball as he roll tackled Kelley, stripped the ball cleanly and rolled into the fumble recovery.
MSU linebacker Fletcher Collins (59) tackles UC Davis running back Manu Luuga (10)
MSU took over on the Aggies’ 37-yard line. Four plays later, true freshman quarterback Chris Murray danced, juked and then burst his way into the end-zone from 22 yards out to pull ahead 27-13 with 11:50 left.
“That’s something we’ve been working on since Day 1 and that play finally came out and was successful after many tries,” said Bignell, who finished with seven tackles and a tackle for loss as MSU allowed 304 total yards to the Aggies. “It felt really good. That was something we needed in this game especially to put it away and the offense did a great job of going down and scoring right after it. It was the play that put it out of reach for us.
Murray turned the corner and did not turn the ball over for the first time in his fourth career start. The true freshman from Inglewood, California completed 7-of-13 passes for 66 yards and a long of 24, a completion to junior Mitch Herbert to set up Newell’s touchdown run.
Murray also made solid reads all day as Montana State ran the read option with prevalence. Murray added 98 yards on 14 carries, including the 22-yard game-sealing touchdown, the 10th of his rookie year. He also had a 19-yard gain as Montana State drained the last five minutes off the game clock to secure its first win.
“I like that style,” Choate said. “We are going to have to be more diverse as an offense when we mature and develop. I think our offensive line did a really nice job today. Chad had over 100 yards and Chris did a really good job of making decisions. When he ran the ball, he ran the ball with more authority, was more physical finishing runs. That’s a step in the right direction for him.”
Murray’s 98 yards rushing gives him 718 yards this season, breaking Aaron Mason’s MSU freshman record of 645. His 10 rushing touchdowns are tied for the top mark in the Big Sky. Newell’s third 100-yard game this season pushed him 631 yards this season and past 2,000 yards for his career. His 2,039 yards are 116 yards behind Wayne Edwards for ninth all-time at MSU.
“Eliminating turnovers allows you to compete in football games,” Newell said. “The team that values the ball more is typically going to win. It’s something we have been stressing for weeks and weeks. Chris, I saw him grow up instantly today. He came a long way even from last week to this week as far as being mature. He played an incredible game, came out and executed, did what he needed to do.”
MSU wide receiver Cam Sutton (84) catches a 23-yard touchdown from fellow wide receiver Kevin Kassis
Choate earned his first win back on September 10 with a 27-24 victory over Bryant in Bozeman. He won for the second time with a 55-0 blowout of Western Oregon at Bobcat Stadium the following week. But the Bobcats went nearly two months without sniffing victory, getting pushed to the brink physically and mentally.
Saturday’s breakthrough brought forth a completely different post-game persona from Montana State’s head coach as his team moved to 3-7 this fall.
“It’s gratifying when you win but more so, to see the smile on those kids’ faces, not just the seniors but all our guys,” Choate said. “It’s been a tough stretch for us. To be able to feel like what it is to be a winner again, that’s important.”
Montana State celebrated Flynn, Newell and 12 other Bobcats before the game. Those two plus senior captain linebacker Fletcher Collins, wide receiver Will Krolick and tight end Austin Barth have been at MSU for five seasons. Captain running back Gunnar Brekke played as a true freshman in 2013.
Defensive lineman Robert Wilcox tore his ACL for the second time during fall camp and was forced to retire. He left the program and did not participate in senior day activities. Wide receiver Brandon Brown tore the labrum in his hip before Big Sky play and had season-ending surgery. The former Baylor transfer participated in the pre-game ceremony.
Linebacker Joey Michael, MSU’s best special teams player, and defensive tackle Matt Brownlow made the MSU roster as tryout players back in 2013. Safety Zach Stern and defensive end Jessie Clark joined the team before last season as junior college transfers. Cornerback John Walker and offensive lineman Patrick Carroll are graduate transfers from the FBS ranks.
MSU running back Chad Newell (17) celebrates with quarterback Chris Murray (8)
“It’s a culmination of a lot of things for those young man and you may not realize how hard it is to get to where those guys are at,” Choate said. “It is a tremendous grind. Football is so different than other sports. Usually you come in with a class of 25 or 30 other young men. There’s five guys who have been here for five years. That says a lot. And the guys who are transfers, they have had to battle through some things and they have a great deal of perseverance, whether it’s injury or a guy like Johnnie Walker who was looking for a new opportunity. There’s a lot of things I have a tremendous amount of respect for and those guys are going to be successful in life because they understand how to stick to it. They have a lot of fortitude and a lot of character.”
Montana State concludes its season with the 116th version of the fiercest rivalry in the west against Montana in Missoula next week.
