BOZEMAN – Montana State moved the ball in a variety of ways and scored the ball in a variety of ways in a 63-13 blowout win over Morehead State.
Backup quarterback Sean Chambers accounted for four touchdowns (2 rushing, 2 passing), true freshman Taco Dowler ran a punt back for a score, the Bobcats used eight different players to run the ball (despite missing most of its top running backs), three players to pass it , and nine to catch it.
“It’s just fun to watch my guys get the ball and it’s a sweep, it’s a fade, it’s a slant, it’s a pitch, it’s everything” senior wide receiver Willie Patterson said. “It keeps the defense on their heels and always just guessing.”
Patterson scored on two pass plays, Clevan Thomas scored on a pass, as did tight end Derryk Snell. Wideout Marqui Johnson ran for two scores on sweeps.
The defense may have been the story for MSU, however, as the Bobcats were vastly improved in the tackling department after giving up four plays (75, 66, 31, 31) over 30 yards last week in a 40-17 win over McNeese State. MSU opened the game with 28 unanswered first-quarter points and never looked back.
“A small emphasis (on tackling) this week,” MSU sophomore defensive tackle Sebastian Valdez said. “We knew we made mistakes last week, especially on tackling. We knew what we messed up on. You could say we fixed it.”
“A lot of it’s playing with better leverage, gang tackling and better positioning,” MSU head coach Brent Vigen said.
The Bobcat’ secondary made numerous impressive open field tackles after getting burned for a pair of long touchdowns last week. Dru Polidore, Jackson Harman, Tyrel Thomas, Tyson Pottenger among others came up with big hits.
Starting quarterback Tommy Mellott completed more passes in the first half (12) than he did the entire game (11) against McNeese. He finished 16 of 22 for 265 yards and two touchdowns for a 203.9 passer rating. Chambers would finish with a game-high 127 yards rushing, including a 55-yard burst.
Third-string quarterback Sean Austin led a late touchdown drive capped off by a 30-yard TD run by Marqui Johnson – his second TD run of the game. Austin finished with 32 yards on five carries.
“We completed the ball better with Tommy,” Vigen said. “That was one thing we were definitely looking at (after the McNeese game).”
The 63 points was the most by MSU against an FCS team since 2014 when it scored 77 points against UC Davis. MSU scored 63 against East Tennessee State in 2015, but that was ETSU’s first season, and they were almost exclusively freshmen.
MSU found itself down yet another running back before the game started and then another in the first quarter. Last week’s star Lane Sumner hurt his elbow doing a drill in practice to put Jared White in the starter’s spot. Sumner had an elevated role because All-American senior Isaiah Ifanse is out indefinitely, as is San Diego State grad transfer Kaegun Williams.
White went down with a lower leg injury and missed the rest of the game. Sophomore Elijah Elliott had the most carries by a running back, but that was just four. He gained 32 yards. The heavy lifting in the run game was done by Chambers, but even he only had seven carries – a team-high.
Despite the running back quandary, the Bobcats still ran for 290 yards and 9.4 yards per carry. That average nearly equaled the pass game’s 10.2 yards per attempt. The Bobcats had and equal number of pass attempts with 29.
Dowler’s punt return touchdown seemed inevitable. The true frosh caught the ball on the left sideline, weaved his way to the right outmaneuvering several Morehead players along the way to 67-yard score.
It marked MSU’s first punt return touchdown since Shawn Johnson housed a punt during the 2013 season against rival Montana.
“Once he caught it, I put my hands straight up,” Patterson said. “I already knew. Touchdown.”
MSU tight ends were heavily involved in the first half with Treyton Pickering from tiny Sunburst, Mont. having the best game of his career with five receptions for 98 yards. Derryk Snell also had one catch for nine yards. The receivers combined for 179 yards after the catch much to Vigen’s delight.
“One thing that stood out to me was the yards after catch was especially nice to see this afternoon,” Vigen said. “Ravi (Alston), Willie and in particular our tight ends. We had a tight end (Pickering) with 98 yards today. Get these people off my back for not throwing to the tight end.”
MSU amassed 585 yards on 60 plays just short of 10 yards per play. The Bobcat’ defense held Morehead State to 260 yards on 75 plays. Most of MSU’s damage was done in the first quarter, however, jumping out to a 28-0 lead that featured 188 yards of total offense and Dowler’s punt return.
MSU had another sellout crowd with 19,927 in attendance. MSU is averaging over 20,000 per game after last weeks stadium record crowd over 21,000. The Bobcats play their first road game next week when they travel to Portland, Oregon to face a Beaver team that was playing at Fresno State Saturday night. The game will be played at Providence Park downtown in the City of Roses as OSU’s Reser Stadium finishes its renovations.
