To hear Montana State’s best and most veteran receiver tell it, rookie quarterback Tommy Mellott is “always extra for us.”
That awareness, that observation from Lance McCutcheon is the most concise way to describe how the man Troy Andersen calls “Touchdown Tommy” has used his ability to take the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs by storm by first seamlessly seizing the MSU football locker room.
From drama that was talked about all around the FCS when Matt McKay abruptly bolted for the transfer portal to Mellott looking like a shaky freshman during the first half of his first career start, Montana State’s season hanging in the balance, almost no one could’ve predicted what might come next.
Clinging to a 13-7 entering the fourth quarter with the Gallatin Valley wind ripping right through the middle of Bobcat Stadium, Mellott suddenly transformed into superman.
The rookie from the Mining City put his foot in the ground and ripped off a 74-yard touchdown run to ignite the No. 8 seed in this year’s FCS Playoffs. And after that long touchdown jaunt that gave MSU a two-score lead, Mellott looked like veteran in helping the Bobcats navigate their way to a 26-7 victory over Tennessee Martin to move into the quarterfinals of the FCS playoffs.
Most thought Montana State would be at least that far in the playoffs given the talent the Bobcats have on their current roster. But no one could have predicted what happened next.
“For so long, drama at quarterback, not exclusive to this year, seemed to mitigate the rise of the Bobcats to the ultimate level of football,” former Montana State head coach Mike Kramer, who led MSU from 2000 until the spring of 2006, said earlier this week. “”We thought we had a chance with Travis Lulay. But we had a hard time staying healthy. And we always had to go on the road. That’s what makes the trip to Huntsville so unbelievable.”
Sure, when Sam Houston hosted Montana State on December 11, the Bearkats were playing their 22th game of the calendar year. But SHSU also claimed the FCS spring national title by going undefeated. And the Bearkats went undefeated against during the fall season leading up to the quarterfinal with Montana State. Sam Houston won its first 17 home playoff games, including beating MSU 49-13 in the quarterfinals of the 2011 playoffs.
“The win down in Sam Houston last month is easily, EASILY the most incredible win in the history of the program,” Kramer, a resident Big Sky Conference historian who spent 18 seasons as as head coach in the league with stops at Eastern Washington (1994-1999), Montana State (2000-2006) and Idaho State (2011-2016) plus another nine as an assistant.
A win of such epic proportion was spurred on by Clark Kentturning into the man of steel. Before the game from Elliott T. Bowers Stadium was 17 minutes old, Mellott had caught a touchdown on a “Philly Special” type trick play that resulted in Willie Patterson’s first scoring strike, dropped another back shoulder fade perfectly in the bucket to Patterson and punched in two rushing scores.
Montana State led 28-0 before Sam Houston could even catch its breath. And by the time the dust settled, MSU rolled to a resounding 42-19 victory to punch its second consecutive trip to the final four.
And the lightning never left the bottle MSU’s last time out. Against a South Dakota State team that played for the national title in the spring and has four semifinal appearances since 2017, Mellott channeled his inner Otto Graham, rushing 34 times for 155 yards and a pair of scores. He also threw for 229 yards, including a 64-yard touchdown to senior Nate Stewart just one play after fumbling and recovering his own miscue plus another perfectly thrown back shoulder fade to McCutcheon for the game-sealing score in a 31-17 victory.
“Didn’t we see this with Robert Redford in ‘The Natural’?” Kramer said with his trademark laugh. “It’s a movie scene. It’s unprecedented. It’s fun to watch. It’s why sports are sports because the drama that is sports is nothing that is pre ordained. You just can’t make a Hollywood movie that people would go see that is better than real life. That’s why we are so enthralled by it.”
And it makes it all the more storybook that Touchdown Tommy hails from one of the country’s most historic and mystical cities.
For those around Montana, the emergence of MSU’s fresh-faced signal caller is a product of opportunity combined with a diligence by Mellott to improve more than the scenario serving as something completely out of the blue.
After all, the 6-foot-1, 200-pound dual threat was a three-year starter at Butte High, throwing for 7,542 and 71 touchdowns, while rushing for 2,568 and 31 touchdowns while leading Aerie Grey’s Bulldogs to 18 wins and a runner-up finish in Class AA Mellott’s senior prep season (11-1) in 2019.
That fall, Mellott had his best year, throwing for 2,940 yards, rushing for 1,217 yards and compiling 46 touchdowns, on his way to earning Montana Gatorades Player of the Year honors. Yet because of his point of origin probably more than his skill set or potential, it remained uncertain at best if Mellott would ever get a true shot as a true quarterback at MSU.
And part of it is because Mellott’s Butte toughness shone through so sharply, he made plays on special teams and in special offensive packages all season despite not having a starting role.
In-state products have had wild success quarterbacking the Montana schools, but it’s been awhile since any Montanan actually got that opportunity, particularly at Montana State.
Great Falls product Dave Dickenson quarterbacked Montana to its first national title in 1995. Billings West alum John Edwards helped the Griz earn a second national crown in 2001. And Billings West product Andrew Selle helped guide UM to the 2009 national title game, the last time an FCS team from the Treasure State advanced this far.
That is, until first-year MSU head coach Brent Vigen decided to bench McKay following a 29-10 loss at Montana in Missoula on November 20. MSU’s first and only loss to an FCS team this season also happened to snap a four-game winning streak against the hated rival. And the defeat caused Bobcat followers across the state and region to go into a state of disarray.
Little did almost anyone know that the baby-faced freshman from Butte was about to take the nation by storm. And now Saturday, Montana State takes on perennial powerhouse North Dakota State in Frisco, Texas in the FCS national title game with a kid from the Richest Hill on Earth steering the ship.
“Our job is to get that man the ball,” MSU All-American Daniel Hardy said earlier this week. “You can see the things when he has it in his hands so whenever we can get him the ball, that’s our way of supporting him.
“He’s doing a fantastic job for the situation he was put in and he has the team’s support 100 percent.”
Mellott has thrown for 449 yards and 4 touchdowns while rushing 74 times for 411 yards and 6 touchdowns in the playoffs alone. He already has tied Paul Dennehy, himself a Butte native, and Kelley Bradley as the only Bobcat starting quarterbacks with three playoff wins
Mellott’s ability to guide a team flush with veteran leaders might be more impressive than any statistic.
“There’s a lot to like,” MSU All-American linebacker Troy Andersen, the 2021 Big Sky Defensive Player of the Year, said in late December.. “His toughness and his leadership are where it starts. Everyone feeds off of that. He’s doing whatever we ask him to do and doing it at a super high level.
“There is a lot of trust and kind of a new sense of energy and revival for the offense and that goes through the entire team. He’s been playing well and it’s awesome to watch. He’s only a freshman so watch out.”
Mellott’s lofty potential will turn heads, particularly if he maintains his personal perspective. So many in-state products who prepped as quarterbacks find their way into the lineup in other ways more because of their diverse athleticism, work ethic and toughness than because they are forced to change position because of deficiencies.
And now Mellott has Montana State knocking on the door of a breakthrough. This particular group, led by stalwart star seniors like Andersen, McCutcheon, Hardy and captains offensive tackle Lewis Kidd and defensive tackle Chase Benson has been to the playoffs three years in a row. In 2018 and 2019, MSU’s seasons ended in Fargo at the hands of NDSU.
Now Montana State is in the title game for the first time since 1984 and they get one more shot at the Bison, this time on a neutral field.
Part of North Dakota State’s allure the last decade — a 10-year stretch that has seen the Bison advance to the FCS national title game nine times and claim eight titles — has been the intimidation attached to the aura of only losing eight games in nine seasons.
Mellott is one of the best athletes in the FCS. He was a multiple time sprint champion throughout his life and would’ve likely won the Class AA title in the 100 meters if his senior track season would not have been cancelled.
For all of his athletic accomplishments, his stoic, discerning yet endearing nature mixed with wicked smarts might be why he doesn’t sound intimidated one bit by the tall task looming on Saturday.
“You just have to realize just like here at MSU, it’s just a bunch of 19 to 24 year olds, college students,” Mellott said. “Those teams from the past, they have graduated. These are new guys. I’m sure there are guys who this is their first opportunity playing in the game. It’s all new to everybody.
“I don’t think they have a secret recipe down there. They are very detailed. They are really well coached. They do what they are supposed to do. I think that’s what we’ve implemented here. We are going to go down there and give them our best shot.
“This team believes in each other. It’s a great team, a great brotherhood. It’s been all about the guys in our locker room believing in each other and that’s all we really need.”
Photos by Brooks Nuanez or noted. All Rights Reserved.
