BOZEMAN – “Strange days indeed” as John Lennon sang in his song, ‘Nobody Told Me’.
That would be the opening background music for a montage of Montana State’s 17-0 win over Mercyhurst, where the Bobcats scored on their first three possessions but were shut out on their final – and only other – three. The Lakers drove inside the MSU 30 four times and didn’t score. A strange day indeed in the Gallatin Valley.
MSU, mercifully, burned out the clock on its sixth and final drive as only about 1/3 of the fans were left in their seats.
The game certainly didn’t meet MSU’s expectations or standards.
“What I said to the team is: we’ve raised the bar, so our expectation is super high,” Montana State fifth-year head coach Brent Vigen said after his team moved to 2-2. “It doesn’t mean you’re always going to meet it. You’re in a good spot if you come out on the winning side of it. You’re in a good spot if you can say here’s all the things we learned. We gotta appreciate winning, but I don’t want to lose sight of that expectation at the same time.
“It’s a tricky thing. I imagine a lot of guys didn’t think we played up to our standard, but you have to take a step back and look at why and know your opponent has a contribution to that and ask what did we do within that to make it a little harder on ourselves than we would’ve liked.”
College football’s rules about transferring players and making money available to players have created a new dynamic in college football.
“It’s a challenging situation because they were an entirely different team than last year,” Vigen said, referencing his team’s 52-13 win over Mercyhurst last season. “You can get caught up in saying, well this team came in here last year and we did this and no, we can’t say that. We’re going to get everybody’s best shot and that’s a much better team than they were last year. They managed the game very well outside of not putting points up on the board.”
The Bobcats are used to getting six drives in a half on most days. But a crisp, if not efficient Mercyhurst passing game led by quarterback Adam Urena put together four long drives to keep the ball away from MSU.
“A lot of credit goes to Mercyhurst, their quarterback (Adam Urena) has played a lot of football,” Vigen said. “He finds a way to make plays over and over again.”
Asked about his team’s progress from Game 3 to Game 4, Vigen took a long pause.
“I think this opponent was better, first off,” Vigen said. “I felt that way all through the week. It felt like they were going to be a great challenge, and they shrunk the game down by how they played offense and stayed on the field. Offensively, we had six possessions, didn’t score in the second half, and turned the ball over once. Ultimately finished with the ball in our hands but I think each one of these opportunities to go out there and play allows for progress.”
MSU hummed down the field on its first possession and scored on a short run by Julius Davis, who had another solid day with nine carries for 55 yards. The Bobcats were poised to strike again on their next possession only to see the game start to morph after reaching the one-yard line. Quarterback Justin Lamson uncharacteristically made three straight mistakes when he kept the ball and lost four yards, then threw the ball into the ground with a wide-open tight end Rocky Lencioni striding into the end zone and then overthrew wide receiver Taco Dowler.
“Hand the ball off on first down and whether we get a yard or not, we’re at the one-yard line,” Vigen said. “He took a loss there, that’s needless. The next play we had a guy (Lencioni) open in the end zone and that didn’t happen.
“I think for (Lamson) there’ll be plenty of learning out here. He doesn’t have to make every play with his feet. I think there were times like the third down in the fourth quarter where he took off and was short. Just hang in there and throw it to somebody else and let them do the work. For all the plays he’s made with his legs, we got guys out there that we want to distribute the ball to that can do some things.”
Myles Sansted knocked in a 22-yard field goal and MSU would not see the ball again for another seven minutes. When they got it back, they marched 83 yards on 11 plays to go ahead 17-0 on Adam Jones’ five-yard run.
To demonstrate just how well Mercyhurst kept the ball away from MSU, Lamson was 6 for 7 for 58 yards in the first quarter, 4 for 7 for 51 yards in the second quarter but completed just 2 of 3 attempts for 13 yards in the second half. Lamson’s second half incompletion was intercepted. MSU had 261 yards at halftime – on pace for over 500 – but just 93 in the second half to finish with 354.
“Having the vets that we do on our team, guys who have been around, guys who have won a lot of game, it’s just keeping the main thing the main thing,” MSU senior center JT Reed said. “That’s been our message. The beauty of it is we get to go out and do it again next week. We have another opportunity and that’s the beauty of college football.”
“You’re sitting on the bench and you’re thinking ‘next play, honestly, next drive,” MSU senior defensive tackle Paul Brott said. “Constantly playing and keeping your head in the game because as soon as you get mad or angry or start letting your emotions take over…sometimes you can make a play but most of the time it’s going to take you out of a play and you’re going to do something dumb so you have to play smart and focused in those situations.”
The Bobcats defense did all of that as they repeatedly turned the Lakers away after they drove deep into MSU territory. Four times, the Lakers got to the MSU 32 or closer and each time they came away empty. On two occasions the Bobcats forced turnovers and on another they drove Mercyhurst back 32 yards after it had gotten a first and goal at the 10, which eventually turned into a fourth and goal from the 42.
“What I really appreciate about the defense is they hung in there,” Vigen said. “You can build off of that. A team that’s gonna maybe allow a few things here and there but hang in there for the next play. Take that next call and execute to the best of our ability. I’m certain we’ll learn a lot from this game. Keeping them to zero is something to be pretty excited about.”
The Bobcats came up with a name for their turnover token – a straw cowboy hat – during the postgame press conference when defensive coordinator Shawn Howe stepped in while Takhari Carr, who had a hand in both turnovers, was being asked about it.
“It’s a new tradition for a turnover for the defense,” Carr said. “You get a turnover; you put the hat on. We ain’t made a name yet, but we thinking on it.”
“Takeaway hat,” Howe yelled to Carr through the doorway. “Preach about it, c’mon big dog.”
Carr recovered the fumble forced by Brott near the end of the first half, then tipped a pass in the end zone that bopped around before linebacker Ryan Krahe came up with it.
From only getting six possessions, to turning back four excellent scoring chances, to only winning by 17 a year after winning by 39, to naming your turnover token in a press conference, to getting 261yards in the first half and just 93 in the second all leads to a truly strange day.
“Always something happening and nothing going on.” John Lennon – Nobody Told Me.
