PORTLAND, Oregon — Football returned to downtown in the City of Roses on Saturday evening as a sea of orange and black descended upon Providence Park, a venue that once hosted the Vikings but now almost exclusively hosts futbol rather than football.
Portland State football has been displaced from their former barn since 2017, a place they played their home games for 60 years. Oregon State’s return to Providence marked the Beavers’ first game here since 1986. Saturday, with the No. 4-ranked FCS squad in the country in town, Oregon State settled in instantly, scoring on their opening drive and every drive after that.
Montana State gave the near sellout crowd reason to stay in their seats early, using a dual quarterback attack to mount a touchdown march on their opening offensive possession and returning a kickoff for a touchdown to keep it a one-score game early in the second quarter.
Even with the score sitting at 21-14 in favor of the hosts early in the second quarter, thousands of the Beaver faithful — some wearing orange pants, other wearing tiger-striped shirts, all enthused to be back in the heart of one of America’s most unique small cities — seemed as intent on waiting in line for microbrews and slices of pizza as in watching OSU’s offensive onslaught.
MSU’s two-quarterback system helped keep Brent Vigen’s team in the game for the first 40 minutes (MSU trailed 40-21 with 7:21 left in the third quarter).
But Montana State’s kick coverage teams and its defense never found footing at a Major League Soccer Stadium for the second time in a row (remember the FCS national championship game at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas in January, anyone?) as Oregon State rolled to a 68-28 win in front of a near-sellout crowd of 25,218 here on Saturday afternoon.
“We lost by 40 and I don’t think we had any expectation to just come in here and show up and play. We wanted to come in here and compete and we didn’t do that,” Vigen said after his fourth loss in 18 games as MSU’s head coach.
“Own it. Own this game, own our performance, own our preparation and we can’t lose to this team more than once. We lost to them tonight. We can’t let this linger. If you let a performance linger, you don’t learn from a performance, shame on us. We didn’t get it done tonight and it’s as simple as that.”
The last time Montana State gave up this many points came in September of 2008 in a 69-10 loss to Kansas State. The only other time MSU surrendered 50 in the last decade-plus came at this park; in 2015, David Jones rushed for 285 yards to pace a 465-yard effort on the ground as Portland State rolled up 59 points in a 17-point win that proved to be an initial nail in Rob Ash’s coaching coffin at MSU.
Oregon State is a Pac 12 team that played in a bowl game, although that PSU team was one of it’s best in school history. Montana State lost for the first since the national title game last January, not an unexpected result, although MSU did not come close to covering the 13.5-point pre-game spread.
When asked how he felt after the game, “Frustrated,” was the single word sophomore quarterback Tommy Mellott came up with after throwing three interceptions in the third regular-season start of his career.
“The coaching staff and everyone did a great job of preparing us,” Mellott elaborated. “We knew what we were going to get. We knew they were a good team. We had a lot of guys make a lot of plays. We just need to take care of the ball.”
Oregon State’s first five possessions went for touchdowns as quarterback Chance Nolan attacked the middle of the field, throwing particularly frequently in the area of MSU senior safety Jeffrey Manning Jr., a former OSU transfer. That helped the Beavers earn a 34-14 lead at halftime.
An 80-yard punt return for a touchdown by Anthony Gould and a 65-yard kick return by Silas Bolden to set up Dennis Martinez’s first rushing touchdown ensured Oregon State more points than the Bobcat defense had given up since its 2019 season opener against Texas Tech.
And the next two scores made Montana State start to look ahead to its Big Sky Conference opener next week even if the Bobcat offense kept fighting.
“The talent, the skill, the scheme, it’s all a level above the norm,” Woodard said. “We knew coming in, Oregon State would be a good team, a well-prepared team.”
An MSU offense led by Mellott and burly junior Sean Chambers, a Wyoming transfer, kept the Beavers on their heels early in the game. After Oregon State burned its first timeout before running a play, then went 90 yards in seven plays and three minutes, 33 seconds to open its assault, Chambers started at quarterback, Mellott at wide receiver and the duo stayed on the field at the same time for most of the first possession. Chambers capped the march with an 11-yard touchdown, his first of three rushing touchdowns on the day.
“Leaning on both of those guys a little bit from a ball carrying perspective was something we intended on doing,” Vigen said after Mellott rushed 18 times for 135 yards and Chambers finished with nine carries for 35 yards, accounting for 170 rushing yards on a night MSU finished with 168 yards on the ground.
The first quarter ended with the score tied 7-7. Nolan hit Tre’Shaun Harrison for a six-yard score on the first play of the second quarter, then Oregon State nickelback Ryan Cooper Jr., intercepted Mellott on the very next play. Four plays later, Nolan plunged in to put OSU up 21-7.
Marqui Johnson, a Sacramento State transfer who’s becoming increasingly valuable given MSU’s absence of available running backs, kept the decent number of MSU fans on hand engaged by taking a kick off back 98 yards for a touchdown. At that moment, Oregon State lead 21-14 with 10:53 in the second quarter.
But Montana State had no answer for Gould in either the return game or when he lined up in the slot. Nolan constantly threw on time and on a rope to a variety of receivers operating out of the slot and attacking the middle of the field, particularly Gould, who hauled in five catches for 77 yards and scored two touchdowns, including a dagger from 17 yards out to push the OSU advantage to 54-21.
He finished the game with 181 all-purpose yards and three total touchdowns.
“The possessions got away from us, then we throw an interception the second play of the second series, then we get the kick return for a touchdown, so we went a really long time without really establishing much identity,” Vigen said.
“We were going to have to come in here and win the turnover battle and we were minus three, plus they got a couple of long returns. We were going to have to be clean and we were far from clean today.”
Mellott finished with 235 total yards and spearheaded an MSU rushing attack without All-American senior Isaiah Ifanse, San Diego State transfer senior Kaegun Williams, game 1 starter Lane Sumner and upstart freshman Jared White, all out with injury. Chambers continued showing power as MSU’s Wildcat quarterback in the red-zone, pushing his rushing touchdown total to seven this season.
Montana State’s offense ended up notching 14 first downs, rushing for 168 yards and amassing 269 of total offense. Oregon State rolled up 32 first downs, 570 yards of total offense and scored the highest point total against the Bobcat defense in more than a decade. Oregon State did not once punt in the game.
“Not really, no,” Vigen said when asked about silver linings. “Our guys, by and large, continued to play. But we weren’t coming in here to just show up and play in front of a big crowd. We were coming in here with the intent to compete and win a football game. And we didn’t do that.”
But none of that really mattered for a team trying to prove last year’s run to the national title game was no flash in the pan. The Bobcats sit at 2-1 entering Big Sky play, about exactly where almost everyone that follows the FCS would’ve scored out Montana State to this point.
The evaluation has been nearly impossible. McNeese State provided mystery and that’s about it. Morehead State provided little resistance. And Oregon State moved to 3-0 in front of a congregation of exuberant fans soaking in the novelty of a victory in the heart of the City of Roses.
So what does that mean for the Bobcats as Montana State will hit the road once again, next week opening league play at Eastern Washington?
“The margin in a game like this is really thin and a good team isn’t going to hand you those breaks, you have to create them,” Vigen said. “We didn’t do that tonight.
“Now, it’s turning the page. We are going to let this hurt. It’s not as simple as you walk out of this stadium and it’s over. We have to go in as coaches and watch the film tomorrow. Our guys who were on the field alot have to be in that training room tomorrow. And come Monday morning, we have to go through the film with our players and say this is where we are at, define what needs to change.”
Photos by Mark Boling, for Skyline Sports. All Rights Reserved.
