BOZEMAN – It was a bounce back day in many ways for Montana State as they got off to a rough start on offense and had to come back from a 21-7 second half deficit, while stars Adam Jones and Justin Lamson recovered from rare miscues. The ever-resilient Bobcats made do with the hand they were dealt for a 35-30 win over upset-minded Central Connecticut State, earning a 17th straight win in the process.
The Blue Devils were sparked by a 42-yard bomb from quarterback Brett Griffis to wide receiver Elijah Daniels on the third play of the second half, followed by a rare fumble by Jones on MSU’s ensuing possession that Navon Mitchell returned for a touchdown. Suddenly, the Blue Devils were up 21-7 just a few minutes into the second half.
But MSU found a way to rally as Jones and Lamson each came up big. Lamson threw touchdowns to Rocky Lencioni & Dane Steel, Jones scored both his touchdowns in the fourth quarter and MSU survived the upset bid from the two-time defending Northeast Conference.
“A lot of our guys have been in some sticky situations before,” MSU head coach Brent Vigen said. “Adam doesn’t fumble often, but he did there and all of sudden it’s a 14-point deficit just like that.”
Jones rushed for 60 of his 122 yards in the fourth quarter alone to overcome his uncharacteristic miscue.
“I do think there’s an incredible belief on this team,” Vigen said. “That doesn’t mean you’re always going to play well, but it means you’re going to keep fighting and you’re not going to have in-fighting or those kinds of things. You just gotta keep going at it and that’s what they did today and I’m proud of them for that. Not that all teams would fold, but a lot of teams would have trouble with that.”
After MSU (4-0, 1-0 Big Sky) cut it to 21-14 and had the ball to the Blue Devil 11, Lamson threw an interception in the end zone off a deflected pass on first down. His first since the FCS playoff quarterfinals last season and it was just his second interception in his last 347 attempts.
“Justin is going to do whatever he can,” Vigen said. “He’s as big a fighter as we have on this team. That continues to show up in all ways. He got us through some things today and ultimately had a pretty productive day when it didn’t look like that was going to be the case. Without his toughness, his competitive nature we’re not the team we are.”
Lamson laid a big block on Jones’ second touchdown of the game, which put MSU up 35-24. After the play Jones jumped up and pointed directly at his quarterback to signify the importance of his effort.
“It fired me up pretty good seeing (Lamson) make that block on the goal line,” Jones said. “Justin’s a competitor, I mean you guys have heard that a million times and he’s willing to do whatever it takes for this team, and I think maybe he was a little banged up and he was playing through it. Honestly, he was probably playing better.
“He got his back against the wall, too. This whole team, it’s fun to watch (defensive end) Zac (Crews) to watch the fans get – it seemed like 15 false starts or whatever – it’s awesome to play for a team like this.”
The 21,557 fans did enjoy seeing 14 penalties against the Blue Devils and seven of those were false starts, including three straight after CCSU reached the two-yard line with first-and-goal from there before fumbling the ball away. Oddly, the 14 penalties only cost CCSU 66 yards. A week after committing 15 penalties at Nevada, MSU had just five for 38 yards against the Blue Devils.
The Bobcats, who won for the 18th straight time, outscored the Blue Devils 28-3 after falling behind 21-7, but CCSU scored with 0:54 to play and had a shot to get the ball back before Colson Coon cradled the onside kick and MSU ran out the clock. Jones had
a chance to tack on another touchdown, but took a knee after breaking away from the line of scrimmage with no one between him and the end zone.
Lamson finished with 23 completions on just 28 attempts. He had 239 yards passing and a pair of touchdowns.
CCSU had a 243-113 edge in total yards at one point early in the second half, but MSU out gained the Blue Devils 290-112 from there. The Bobcats managed just 19 yards on their first 12 plays of the game as the Blue Devil defense set the tone.
Defensive end Seth Brock got his first start for MSU and didn’t disappoint as he came up with three tackles-for-loss and two sacks. Crews had a sack, a forced fumble and two pass breakups as he was physically haranguing CCSU quarterback Griffis all afternoon.
“Just a lot of growth,” Crews said of Brock. “Dominic (Solano) went down last week but our mentality is the ‘next man up’ and that’s throughout the program. So, for sophomore defensive end) Blaine (Downing) and Seth to come in and step up the way they did it was big. It was good to see him step up when the lights were shining bright on him.”
Jones finished the game with 122 yards rushing on 18 carries and two touchdowns to go along with six catches for 92 yards in what was his most productive game of the season. After having 24 total carries in MSU’s first two wins, Jones carried the ball 25 times last week in a 20-7 win over Nevada, then followed up this with with 24 more touches.
“There’s a lot of trust in Adam,” Vigen said after seeing Jones respond with two touchdowns after his fumble. “He’s an intense competitor. He’s gonna own that, I guess, he’s not going to point any fingers at anyone else except himself. Again, you have that belief and trust that he’s going to go out there and do what he can moving forward.”
Jones caught fire after his fumble rushing eight times for 74 yards and two scores to go along with five catches and 89 yards. Lamson, as well, bounced back from his first interception since the 2025 playoff quarterfinals against Stephen F. Austin connecting on five of his last six passes for 58 yards and a 31-yard strike to wide receiver Dane Steel that tied the game.
The Blue Devils came into the game after suffering huge losses to South Dakota (59-20) and Toledo (63-10). The Blue Devils gained momentum early as MSU needed to go for it on fourth down to get its first first down and then scored on their second possession and never trailed until the fourth quarter. CCSU continued to fire away despite falling behind as the visitors pieced together a late drive only to see its unsuccessful onside kick end their day.
A week ago, the Bobcats used four interceptions to take a convincing win over FBS Nevada, but on this day MSU had no such edge as it was negative-1 in turnovers with one giving CCSU a touchdown and the other taking potentially seven off the board for MSU as Lamson’s interception came on a first and 10 play from the CCSU 11. He would connect with Steel for the score on the next possession.
The Bobcat’ defense was without the services of linebackers Bryce Grebe and Neil Daily, along with safeties JJ Dolan and Caden Dowler and defensive end Dominic Solano. No timeline has been given for their returns, however, Dolan was suited up and it appears Grebe was held out for precautionary reasons. Solano and Dowler are expected to have longer time frames before they return.
Defensively, Zac Crews & Seth Brock led a charge that saw the Bobcats roll up four sacks. Brock had two sacks, while Crews & fellow senior Zack Black had one sack each.
MSU backup quarterback Patrick Duchein scored the first touchdown of the day for the Bobcats on the only play he was in on, tying the game 7-7. The former Class B star from Florence was in because Lamson limped off the field but ultimately, came back into the game.
MSU now begins its run of eight straight games through the Big Sky Conference as they’ll host Northern Arizona next Saturday night at 8:30 on ESPN2. The Lumberjacks went into Saturday’s game at Utah Tech at 2-1 overall and 1-0 in the Big Sky.
Photos by Desire Rukundo for Skyline Sports – All Rights Reserved.
