MOSCOW, Idaho – Montana State’s dream of running the Big Sky Conference table for the second straight year came to a halt when Brendan Hall’s field goal attempt in the final minute sailed wide right and the Idaho Vandals escaped with a 24-21 win at a raucous Kibbie Dome Saturday afternoon.
The Vandals took control of the tempo, if not the game in the first half. UI had a 20-play drive that ended in a field goal but burned up 11 minutes in the first quarter on the host’s second possession of the game. Then the Vandals got a six-yard touchdown pass from Gevani McCoy to Terez Trainor to go up 10-0 on the third possession in a first half with limited touches.
Meanwhile, MSU was doing next to nothing on offense on its first three possessions. The Bobcats gained no first downs and just 14 yards during the first 27 minutes of the game. By the end of the game Idaho had a 41:27 to 18:33 advantage in time of possession.
“We didn’t start the way we wanted to,” MSU quarterback Tommy Mellott said. “I don’t think it was anything that they were doing. I think it was us, we had a slow start.”
The Bobcats did drive into Vandal’ territory on their last possession of the half only to see it stall out and Hall miss a 49-yard attempt. MSU had four sacks in the first half, but they didn’t yield anything for the offense to work with.
While Idaho was only up 10-0, the mood of the game favored the Vandals as it was apparent that the MSU defense was eventually going to wear down as it was spending way too much time on the field. That bore out as the Bobcats couldn’t stop UI despite getting an offensive pass interference penalty on the Vandals final scoring drive.
“Idaho gave a really good effort today on both sides of the ball,” MSU head coach Brent Vigen said. “They were able to jump on us and really own the first half in so many ways. It paid dividends for them in the end, I thought our defense wore down in part because our offense couldn’t stay on the field in the first half. Even though we got something going in the second half the damage had already been done.”
The Bobcats, however, came out blazing in the second half as they scored on their first two possessions – both TD passes by Mellott. The first was a swing pass in the flat to Jared White, who scampered in from 16 yards. Then a pop pass to Clevan Thomas, Jr. from two yards away made it 14-10.
“We were able to get into some of the calls that we’d been practicing all week,” Mellott said. “We were able to start executing our game plan. You only have so many possessions because they did a good job on their possessions keeping the ball away from us.”
MSU appeared to be on the verge of running away from UI only to see the Vandals regroup against a tiring Bobcat’ defense. Idaho drove 75 yards to reclaim the lead on Woods TD run from three yards out.
The Bobcats answered in short order as they morphed back into their usual style and ran the ball eight straight times with Julius Davis finishing it off with a 24-yard run and a 21-17 lead with 7:58 to play.
Idaho made it 24-21 as it sliced through the MSU defense with ease getting a touchdown pass from McCoy to stud receiver Hayden Hatten for what turned out to be the game-winner with 2:47. The play came after an offensive pass interference penalty made it first and 25 from the MSU 28.
“It’s tough,” MSU defensive end Brody Grebe said. “We started slow. On defense we didn’t get off the field on third and fourth downs. Had the lead in the fourth quarter but didn’t get a stop. Play a lot of plays and you get a little gassed. We gotta be able to bow up.”
Hall’s ensuing missed field goal came after MSU drove to the Idaho 18 only to see Mellott get sacked and turn a second and 10 into a 3rd and 17. When he threw incomplete on the next play Hall was looking at a 43-yard attempt. He was 6 for 10 coming into the game after missing two attempts against Sacramento State last week. He missed a 49-yard attempt at the end of the first half making four straight misses.
“Didn’t make a play in those third and long scenarios,” Vigen said. “Certainly, got behind the 8-ball. They tackled well that first half. They got the third downs and fourth downs, and we didn’t do that. Defense was on the field way too much. That showed down the stretch. We couldn’t stay on the field, they stayed on it. It was huge.”
MSU finished with an uncharacteristic 23 carries for 128 yards for 5.6 per carry. While that’s not a bad showing, it pales in comparison to the Bobcats’ averages of about 45 carries for 325 yards and 7.7 average.
The Bobcats came out throwing the ball and it backfired as they were incomplete on the first play of their first two drives. Mellott was incomplete on his first three attempts. He rebounded by completing 12 of his final 21 attempts for 191 yards and two touchdowns. His final two attempts were incomplete, and he took a sack between those two throws as what looked like a game-winning drive fell apart.
“Tommy threw the ball really well,” Vigen said. “Got the ball out of his hand. Good to a point, but not good enough to pull the win out.”
Davis ran for 84 yards on 11 attempts and Jared White had 17 on his two carries as they were the only running backs to get carries.
The Vandals were excellent at sitting on the ball and running the clock down. The method had a twin effect as it wore down MSU’s defense and kept the potent Bobcat’ offense off the field. It also seemed to make MSU anxious as it threw more passes (24) than it had rushes (23).
The loss is a bruising one as it’ll be difficult for MSU to retain a top two seed in the FCS playoffs even if it wins out. The Bobcats have games remaining with Northern Arizona and Eastern Washington visiting Bozeman the next two weeks before traveling to Missoula for the Cat-Griz game.
“Team loss in every phase going down to the last kick,” Vigen said. “We fought and were resilient but came up short. Moving forward, all we got in front of us is NAU.”
The Lumberjacks will roll into Bobcat Stadium this Saturday at 1. NAU claimed a 38-21 win over UC Davis at home and stands 3-2 in the Big Sky and 3-5 overall.
