BOZEMAN, Mont. — Both players are senior veterans who have spent five or more years playing college football. Both are the unquestioned leaders on their side of the ball. Both have been injured multiple times over their careers, and both returned from injury at the same time.
But the paths Montana State quarterback Justin Lamson and safety Caden Dowler took back to the field from their most recent trips to the injured list had almost nothing in common.
Lamson admitted he didn’t handle his time off well, while Dowler said he allowed himself a one-day pity party before moving on.
“I don’t think I handled it the best,” Lamson said. “I was pretty down for the first two weeks. Obviously, wanted to be out there just because I didn’t plan for that injury to happen, and I was pretty upset that I wasn’t able to play in those two big games.”
“I didn’t want to feel sorry for myself, and that lasted for about a day, feeling sorry for myself, and then it was really back to work once I learned that I did have a chance to be back on the field this year,” Dowler said. “I haven’t had any of those breaks really when I’ve had an injury. It’s been season-ending usually. Initially, your brain kind of goes to the worst-possible-case scenario.
“I’ve done what I think is the right thing and responded the right way so many times that maybe God gave me a little bit of a break this time, and I’m able to make it back.”
Lamson’s career started with the wrong kind of bang when he injured his knee in practice at Syracuse. The non-contact injury required surgery and knocked him out of the competition for the Orange’s starting job. From there, he transferred to Stanford before coming to MSU, where he started the first 20 games of his Bobcat career before suffering a leg injury against Central Connecticut State.
“Justin went through the first four years of his career chasing playing time and being injured through that stretch at times,” MSU head coach Brent Vigen said. “Then you get in this groove of playing, and you’re used to playing and being the guy, and to be taken out of that mode because of injury, I think, was really challenging for him.”
Dowler’s injuries date back to high school and have persisted throughout his time at Montana State, where he’s had two major knee injuries and an arm injury that caused him to miss most of the national semifinal and the national championship game. He didn’t make it through the first six quarters of the 2026 season before another leg injury knocked him out for four games.
“Caden unfortunately has been through this before, and that goes all the way back to high school for him, so I think he’s learned to deal with it maybe in a different way because of that,” Vigen said.
While Dowler worked through four games of rehab focused on little else, Lamson’s two-game absence was different. Lamson lost ground on the depth chart with his injury and was temporarily removed from the starting quarterback role.
“I think he’s still in that mindset that we could remove him at any time, and it’s like, dude, you’re our guy. Don’t worry about it,” Vigen said.
Both returned to the lineup last Saturday at Eastern Washington, facing the unenviable task of getting the Bobcats back on track after their first loss to a team with a losing record since Vigen took over at MSU in 2021. It was a resounding success, as the Bobcats trounced EWU 56-20, scoring the second-most points and posting the largest margin of victory (36 points) ever by an opponent on the Eagles’ fabled red turf.
Lamson wasn’t overly impressed with his performance, despite breaking off a 41-yard touchdown run and completing his last six passes for 120 yards and a touchdown.
“The first drive I missed two throws that I gotta figure out a way to navigate and get the party started,” Lamson said. He completed just six of 13 passes for 41 yards before his hot finish.
Joining Lamson and Dowler in the training room was running back Adam Jones, who missed the final three quarters of the Northern Arizona game, sat out the Idaho game and got an extra week to prepare for EWU thanks to the bye. Jones said the frustration of missing games was starting to show.
“I think we were about to kill each other these last three weeks because we were around each other so much in the training room, not out there on the field to let anything loose,” Jones said. “So, we were so happy and we smiled from the game. Like, this is what we should be like.”
The return of that trio served as a good indication that leadership makes a difference. MSU played well without them against NAU, holding the Lumberjacks — currently tied with Weber State for first place in the Big Sky — to just 14 points. No other FCS team has held NAU under 34 points this season. Quarterback Patrick Duchein came out of the two-game stretch with a better passer rating on the season than Lamson.
Still, the Bobcats were tied with NAU at halftime and didn’t build a 14-point lead until a late touchdown sealed a 28-14 win. At Idaho, a lot worked against them: a short week, a Vandals team coming off an extra week of preparation and the raucous Kibbie Dome in Moscow. MSU was also without five starters and several backups. The Bobcats led by 14 points a couple of minutes into the fourth quarter, but the wheels fell off. They didn’t score again, and the Vandals fashioned a game-winning touchdown drive and two-point conversion in the final 49 seconds.
“The leadership of Justin and Adam on the offensive side, and Caden on the defensive side, it’s gonna make a difference,” Vigen said. “Justin continued to compete. Your first time back out there — your first time in the live bullets — I think there were a few things early on that could’ve gone a bit differently. For him to run — on third down — over 40 yards, that was Justin being back to Justin as far as being a dual-threat guy that can make plays with both his legs and arm.
“Justin can play better than that, and he’ll be the first one to tell you, but to have him back out there and have his presence was significant.”
Dowler picked up a tackle for loss that drew a standing ovation from the Bobcat fans in the end zone.
“Bobcat Nation is pumped to see him back out there,” Vigen said. “This was as fast as he probably could have gotten back from the injury, and he did. He’s not one to be overly emotional, but for him to show a little bit more emotion in that moment probably drew the crowd’s response more than anything.”
Dowler didn’t get all of his duties back. He typically takes the defensive calls from the sideline and booth through his helmet headset, but linebacker Cole Taylor handled that role so Dowler could focus more on his position. Still, Dowler helped his fellow defensive backs and the linebackers in front of him get in the right spots before snaps.
“He’s just a different player,” Vigen said. “He’s a different communicator. He’s a different reactor. He diagnoses things different, and I think that was big.”
No. 3 MSU (6-1, 3-1 Big Sky) is preparing for upstart Weber State, which has surprised many by vaulting into a tie with Northern Arizona for first place in the Big Sky at 4-1. The Bobcats are a half-game behind at 3-1. The No. 22 Wildcats are 5-3 overall. The Bobcats could get another player back this week, as the status of Dowler’s twin brother, wide receiver/punt returner Taco Dowler, was upgraded heading into the week. There was no word Monday on defensive end Dominic Solano, whose return would reunite MSU’s Day One starters.
