Taco Dowler may be the headliner at wide receiver at Montana State – his name is a great start, and he expands on that with his electric play as both a wideout and punt returner – yet the Bobcats have a wealth of talent around Dowler.
And with Dowler’s headline-making start to his junior year, he’s received plenty of extra attention through the first five games of the season, in turn allowing MSU’s multitude of other weapons to rise up and make some headlines of their own.
“It’s one of those things where it’s like we have Taco, everyone knows who Taco is,” Montana State junior quarterback Justin Lamson said. “All those other guys add a component, so we’re like, ‘hey, we gotta look for that guy too. I think on the outside (Chris Long) brings a sense of speed. We gotta keep doing a good job of keeping him involved and letting him make big plays, because he’s definitely capable of that.”
In the first half alone in last week’s 57-3 MSU win over Eastern Washington, Lamson threw for 251 yards and three touchdowns. He had completions of 52, 45, 43, 28, and 25 yards to five different receivers – Ryan King, Dowler, Hunter Provience, Jabez Woods and Chris Long – before halftime.
It’s part of the evolution of the Bobcat offense under first-year offensive coordinator Pete Sterbick in the first season of the post-Tommy Mellott era since Brent Vigen took over as the head coach at Montana State.
“There’s guys within the offense that we’re going to continue to make more attempts to get the ball to,” MSU head coach Brent Vigen said. “Ultimately, when you have athleticism all over the place, then we don’t have to dictate where the ball goes so much. Just let it go where it’s supposed to based on the defense. That’s probably the biggest thing and having some guys that can be interchangeable in some roles.”
The trend of spreading the ball around wasn’t confined to just those five long plays. Lamson and backup quarterbacks Patrick Duchein and Chance Wilson connected with nine different receivers over the course of the game on just 15 completions. No one caught more than three passes, and five players had one catch each.
Lamson has been consistent in spreading the ball around all season. He connected with seven players against Oregon (including finding Dowler 12 times for 107 yards), South Dakota State and San Diego, six players on just 12 completions against Mercyhurst.
Dane Steel and Long got the Bobcats going on the first drive against EWU as Steel hauled in a third down pass on the first series of downs, then Long got the ball to the Eastern Washington 3-yard line after catching a short pass across the middle.
“Getting Chris going is really important for our offense,” Vigen said. “I know he caught a couple balls on that first drive where he made a couple guys miss and showed what he’s capable of. Dane’s done a really good job with the ball finding him time and time again. He’s also made some key plays, that catch on that first, first down. It wasn’t an easy play; it wasn’t an easy throw for Justin. It was a big little play in the game just to get us going and keep us on the field early.”
Adam Jones, who caught two passes for 22 yards, plowed across the goal line from there. He had six catches for 41 yards against SDSU and caught a touchdown pass against San Diego. Although the perception is that the preseason Big Sky Player of the Year is off to a slow start, he quietly has 327 yards from scrimmage and has scored six touchdowns this fall.
Long missed the South Dakota State and San Diego games with an injury. The speedy Rutgers transfer was one of the highlights during spring and preseason camps. Steel has made numerous plays outside of receiver as a special teams’ ace. He made a great hustle play against EWU when he downed a punt on the 1-yard line. The Sheridan, Wyoming native is the backup punt returner.
The Bobcats really displayed their toolbox on the next two possessions of the first quarter Saturday, with tight end Provience igniting the stadium when he took a short pass and displayed his speed by outrunning two defensive backs to the end zone on the second play of MSU’s second possession. On the first play of the next possession, Lamson made it back-to-back 40-plus-yard touchdowns as he hit Dowler streaking down the sideline.
Provience’s efforts in multiple areas stood out to Vigen, who sees him as a key cog through conference play.
“Especially Hunter, he shined, especially a couple of blocks that were out in the open for everybody to see,” Vigen said. “He ran away from a couple defenders on that touchdown. He’s a guy that has flashed from time to time, but what we need out of him is a consistent level of play and that game to me was that. It was a step in the direction that he needs to take.
“He’s a got a different ability for a big guy. He’s the biggest of our tight ends at the same time. It’s my hope for him that he sees what he can do. Sometimes guys don’t recognize how good they can be. For Hunter, a guy with a high ceiling, we need that to continue to close on his ability to do things that we haven’t seen for the first time. Getting him involved and I know Justin just missed him down the sideline on one later in the game. His speed, his size, he can be a real threat down the field and hopefully those kinds of plays continue to show up.”
Jabez Woods’ touchdown catch was another example of MSU’s variety of receivers. The redshirt freshman had a precision pass from Lamson hit him on the numbers as he made his cut in the end zone on MSU’s final possession of the half.
“Honestly, not something we’ve done in practice,” Lamson said. “Because it’s supposed to be more of a vertical route and he just made a great play, but I was trying to back-shoulder it to him because there was so much space on the outside. Yeah, ‘Bez, he’s playing good so we gotta keep him involved. He made a helluva play on it.”
The depth at tight end and receiver is a big asset for MSU with the task being how to get those players involved.
Rylan Schlepp, Rocky Lencioni and Luke Smith round out the tight ends. Jordan Reed moved to wide receiver from quarterback in the offseason and caught his first career pass against EWU for 14 yards. Javonte King also sees regular action for the Bobcats.
Lamson has shown great accuracy all season but showed off his ability to get the ball downfield against EWU. He had just three passes for over 30 yards all season, then got three over 40 in the first half against the Eagles. MSU concentrated on the run more in the second half as Lamson threw just five more passes.
“(Jacob) Trimble hasn’t done a lot yet but he’s a guy that’s capable of being in the mix,” Vigen said. “Ryan King had a long pass (52 yards) and he’s more than capable. (Tight end) Luvens Valcin is that type of guy. The more guys we have that are capable of making plays, the easier the job for Justin in distributing and just letting those guys do what they can do.”
