BOZEMAN – Montana State rode the punt returns of Taco Dowler that overshadowed the two touchdown receptions he had in the game, and the Bobcats got a pair of turnovers to jump out to a 27-0 halftime lead on winless Northern Colorado. The hosts then coasted to a 55-17 win, pushing their record to 6-0 on the season and 2-0 in the Big Sky Conference.
Dowler’s returns put No. 3 ranked MSU in great field position as the Bobcats never had to start inside their own 37 all half and had starts at their 48 and 49, then at the UNC 37 after his returns. The turnovers did the same as Danny Uluilakepa’s interception set up MSU on the UNC 35 and a fumble recovery by Zac Crews happened at the MSU 44.
The Bobcats scored on four of their first five possessions but only needed 211 first half yards of offense to do so.
Mellott set personal records with his longest touchdown pass – 72 yards to Dowler – and most touchdown passes (4) in a game. He threw for 225 yards on 8 for 12 passing, but his most impressive plays were his play-fakes that set up his first touchdown throw to tight end Ryan Lonergan and another to wide receiver Ty McCullouch.
Both receivers were all alone and had no one within ten yards of them, which was reminiscent of Mellott’s throw to tight end Rohan Jones a week ago at Idaho State.
“Everybody’s going to bite on our run, so the more Tommy can conceal that, it just adds on to it being that much better,” McCullouch said. “I’ll be able to go see that on tape and see just how well he faked it but I’m sure it was great one because that safety did not move off that hash to his part of the field, so (the play fake) must’ve been really good.”
Head coach Brent Vigen has been working with his team’s passing game to get the ball downfield more and they did just that as Mellott also connected with Aidan Garrigan on a bomb that covered 56 yards to go along with the long ball to McCullouch, who threw a long touchdown pass himself to Dowler after taking a handoff from Mellott.
The Bobcats finished with more passing yards (278) than rushing yards (232) a stat not lost on Vigen.
“Little slower go on the rushing side than in some of our games but our ability to be explosive was by-and-large still there,” Vigen said. “Not too many games that Montana State throws for more than they rush, so that was good.”
McCullouch did it all for MSU on this day as he not only had 61 yards receiving and the touchdown, but also threw a touchdown pass to Dowler that covered 34 yards and ran for 13 yards on one carry.
“We just put it in this week,” McCullouch said of the gadget play to Dowler. “We practiced it like twice all week and that was it. We joked all week like, ‘it’s gonna get called’ not thinking it was but it did and I looked right at Taco when it was called and – I’m sweating – thankfully I got it there.”
That play put the Bobcats up 20-0 and followed a pair of Mellott touchdown passes to tight ends Lonergan and Jones. The MSU tight ends have been relatively prolific considering the propensity of the run in their offense. Through six games, Lonergan, Jones, Hunter Provience and Rylan Schlepp have combined for 24 receptions for 428 yards and seven touchdowns. Last year’s tight end group had 37 catches for 584 yards and seven touchdowns in 12 games.
Bobcat’ punter Brendan Hall had a big day as well as his first three punts averaged 47 yards and all three put the Bears in a deep hole as they never started with better field position than their own 12-yard line. Hall also put on a show kicking off as two balls went through the uprights and five others sailed out of the end zone. Only one landed in the end zone but it wasn’t returned.
MSU’s backups saw plenty of action as the second and third string players played the entire fourth quarter and part of the third. Running back Colson Coon was impressive again as he ran for 45 yards on nine carries. He had over 100 yards the last time he got in a game. Chance Wilson connected on two of his three passes for 19 yards, and he also ran for a touchdown. As a team MSU was 11 of 16 passing for 278 yards and five touchdowns.
Dowler finished with 106 yards receiving on two catches and scored on both. He had a punt return for a touchdown called back on an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty that was several yards away from the play. He finished with 225 all-purpose yards.
Northern Colorado, to its credit, played a role in what was a “slower” run game by MSU. The Bobcats managed just 4.8 yards per carry as the Bears loaded the box with as many as nine players at times. Mellott ran the ball five times in the first half after only about 25 carries through the first five games, but even that didn’t deter the Bears.
“That’s where their strength started,” Vigen said. “Beyond just the personnel, I think their ability to use movement and then be in the right place and tackle well was going to be challenging. I know at the same time we felt like our ability to do something to leverage that to get the big plays that we had was all a part of their aggressiveness.”
MSU celebrated its homecoming and the 1984 national championship and an estimated 40 players returned to Bozeman from that team.
“We had a good grouping (of ’84 players) at practice yesterday,” Vigen said. “When a group of men is standing there 40 years removed and there was as many guys as there were back, that indicates that it was a special team beyond winning a championship. My message to the guys was ‘they aren’t special because they won, they won because they’re special. That’s what we’re trying to become is a special team. A special team is willing to do the little things, the dirty work.”
The Bobcats have their first major hurdle in their quest to bring MSU its first national championship in 40 years when it takes on the University of Idaho next Saturday night at 8:15 p.m. in front of a nationwide audience on ESPN2.
The Vandals downed Northen Arizona 23-17 in Moscow to move to 1-1 in Big Sky Play and 4-2 overall. Idaho lost to UC Davis the prior week and lost a non-conference game to Oregon in their season opener.
