BOZEMAN – Caden Dowler gave Montana State the spark it needed on a sluggish night when he returned a third quarter interception – his first of two picks in the game – 83 yards for a touchdown to help ignite the Bobcats to a 38-17 win over Big Sky rival UC Davis.
Montana State survived – not so much its opponent’s play – but its own misplays as they were hit with several untimely (and some would say controversial) penalties that kept the Aggies within striking distance all night. Dowler changed all that with second pick which he returned for 33 yards to the UCD 20 to lead to a touchdown and a 31-10 lead.
“I was kind of expecting a slant,” Dowler said of his second interception. “Something to the sticks maybe because it was third and short. I was kind of sitting on a route and just guarded the guy and caught it and ran as far as I could.
“I was in man that time and I was in zone the (first) time, so kind of a gift – the pick-6 – but on that one, I just did my job.”
The adversity from being down early and making mistakes is something the team was quietly hoping for.
“It was good for us to get challenged tonight,” MSU head coach Brent Vigen said following his team’s ninth straight victory. “That’s a team that we knew would challenge us. Saying that, it was going to be really hard to tackle (UC Davis quarterback) Pinnick; it was. They do things on defense, so it wasn’t like we were going to run through them. You got that sense you’re playing a good team and it’s not going to always go your way.”
“Them scoring on us early and us having to respond; we do a good job responding,” Dowler added. “We have a lock-in drill we do; kind of a crux drill short little thing with a little breathing where there’s something you say to yourself to get yourself back in a good frame of mind. I think our team did a really good job of doing that a couple times where we could’ve maybe plummeted, we held up and played well.”
Justin Lamson was steady under center again for the Bobcats but did most of his damage with his legs as he ran for 97 yards and two touchdowns, including a 48-yard run after the Aggies cut the lead to 31-17. He followed that with an 18-yard scoring run to all but put the game on ice. He was 10 of 18 passing for 144 yards and an 18-yard touchdown pass to Chris Long.
“He’s ultra-competitive, “Vigen said. “He understands the position he plays. Wearing that (characteristic) at times: that competitive nature and being outward, there’s moments for that. He understands that the guys are still going to look to him so becoming calm in the moment going forward is a big piece to know what he’s got to display for his teammates. I really appreciate who he is and what he’s about. He’s fit in so well and with his ability, but more with his fire and his leadership, our guys really rally around him.”
After completing eight of 14 passes for 134 yards in the first half, Lamson was quiet for much of the second half amid Caden Dowler’s electric play. He connected with Taco Dowler on a third-and-3 play for a key first down deep in UCD territory early in the fourth quarter to set up a short touchdown run by Julius Davis. After the Aggies answered with a touchdown of their own, Lamson broke off his 48-yard run on another third-and-3 with UCD desperate to get the ball back down by 14. One play later he put the game away with an 18-yard jaunt around the left side for the game’s final points.
“There’s a lot of things on my end that I can get better at,” Lamson said. “We gotta fix that and then we’ll put up a lot of points, but I’m pretty happy with how I finished.
“Davis is a good defense; their defensive coordinator is super smart. Different fronts, different coverages. They’re pretty multiple and they were making some plays; they’re a good team. I get too antsy sometimes, but (the MSU’ defense) does a great job. We talk about it all the time: just play complimentary football.”
As they have all season, the Bobcats were strong over the middle part of the game. They scored just before halftime, got a three-and-out to start the second half and then went 56 yards on their first possession of the second half to turn a 7-7 game into a 17-7 lead. Even leading 31-10, they still had their game against UCD from last season when they nearly squandered a 22-point lead in the fourth quarter hanging over them. Montana State is now ahead of opponents 100-0 in the third quarter since a season-opening loss at Oregon.
Dowler has come up with four takeaways over the last two games. He forced a fumble that linebacker Neil Daily recovered and had a long return of an intercepted a pass against Weber State. Despite his stellar play he credits his team’s togetherness for everyone’s successes.
“We all have each other’s back,” Dowler said. “It’s not just offense sticks with the offense, defense sticks with the defense. It’s a whole cohesive unit. When you got that brotherhood, it’s pretty hard to break.”
MSU’s offense finished with 233 yards rushing on just 32 carries. The defense held its tenth straight FCS opponent to 17 points or less and the team has outscored its FCS opponents 100-0 in the third quarter.
The Bobcats allowed over 300 total yards for just the second time against FCS opposition and both games (UCD and Idaho State) were at home. It was the first time since the season-opener against FBS No. 7 Oregon that MSU was outgained in total offense. The Aggies finished with 424 total yards to 377 for MSU, but UCD needed 83 plays while the Bobcats only ran 50 plays. That resulted in MSU averaging 7.5 yards per play to just 5.1 for UCD.
MSU now turns its attention to the archrival University of Montana, which it plays next Saturday in Missoula at noon for the de facto Big Sky Conference championship. The Griz beat Portland State 63-17 to move to 11-0 this season, including 7-0 in Big Sky play just like Montana State.
“We’ve done this now five years in a row,” Vigen said of playing UM with the league title on the line. “To have everything on the line in the last game; what we need to make it about is playing a game. That’s going to be complicated. Positioning ourselves at this point, it’s where we want to be. Obviously, they haven’t lost yet this year so we’re going to dive deep into doing everything we can to defend them, to find ways to score and combat everything a rivalry is about. Really looking forward to it and just thankful we’re in this position.”
It’ll be the first, not the fifth, for Lamson, who has gotten word from his teammates about the rowdy nature of Washington-Grizzly Stadium.
“They say it’s super hostile and that’s something I gotta understand,” Lamson said. “I gotta respect that at the end of the day Missoula’s a tough place to play in but we’re not going to…we’re going to treat it like it’s the biggest game of the year, which it is. Regardless of our record the stakes are even higher: a Big Sky championship. (Teammates) have told me but I think we’re up for it and our guys are looking forward to this week.”
