One thing that never changes are the changes that Montana State football’s offensive line seems to see from season to season and almost as regularly from game to game.
For the second straight season, the Bobcats had to re-shuffle their offensive line deck in the middle of the week before their opener against an FBS team. This time, however, it wasn’t the University of New Mexico – a team that usually finishes in the middle of the pack in the Mountain West Conference. Instead, it was the University of Oregon – a team that usually finishes in the top 10 of all schools in college football.
A year ago, it was center Justus Perkins and guard Blake Mastel that needed to be replaced. This year it was just Mastel, MSU’s new starting center, who suffered an injury during the runup to the opener. The Red Lodge product’s inability to play forced senior captain guard JT Reed to center and caused All-American tackle Titan Fleischmann to move to Reed’s right guard spot. The other tackle – Cedric Jefferson – hopped over to Fleischmann’s position on the right side and redshirt freshman Braden Zimmer came off the bench to take over for Jefferson on the blind side.
Get all that?
In Brent Vigen’s first four seasons at the helm at MSU, this has been a common occurrence. After his first season in 2021, he lost all but one offensive lineman and the narrative for fans and media alike was that the sky was falling for the Bobcats just a year after advancing to the national title game. MSU proceeded to rush for more yards in 2022 than it ever had in school history, advancing to the national semifinals along the way.
Despite last year’s reshuffle, the Bobcats not only beat New Mexico, but it gained 567 yards of total offense in the process and then won every game it played until finally succumbing in the national championship.
The narrative now is that you simply don’t have to worry about MSU’s offensive line. Whatever happens, the self-titled Don Joy Mafia is going to recover and guide the offense to amazing numbers.
Sure enough, despite playing a team the caliber of Oregon and falling by a resounding 59-13 score, the Bobcat’ offense had several bright spots. Quarterback Justin Lamson completed 23 of 31 passes for 191 yards and didn’t throw an interception. Wide receiver Taco Dowler had the best game of his career in terms of receptions and receiving yards, catching 12 passes for 107 yards. The Bobcats had three scoring drives against a defense loaded with potential early round draft picks, including a late game touchdown against a freshman-laden unit that featured the No. 1 and No. 5 rated prep cornerbacks in the country in 2023, two 5-star players, seven 4-star players, the Arizona player of the year, a 6-foot-4, 275-pound defensive end and defensive tackles that stood 6-6 and both weighed over 330 pounds.
That success, albeit marginal, didn’t happen without an offensive line holding its own.
“We came out of fall camp feeling like we had six guys capable of starting,” MSU head coach Brent Vigen said of his linemen. “Unfortunately, we weren’t good to go (for Oregon), so that shuffled the whole thing. But what we gain out of that is Braden Zimmer was able to play in a football game. He just played his first game against Oregon. Everett Carr had never played a football game; he just played one against some beasts.”
Zimmer and Carr are both redshirt freshmen and both are Montanans. Zimmer played his prep career at Billings West and Carr is straight out of Bozeman. Neither got a warmup game against a lower-level FCS or Division II team, yet Vigen recognized their efforts.
“We left camp thinking Braden could be a starter,” Vigen said. “He held his own out there. There were a few plays where his understanding that he is a little bit lighter in weight, but he has long levers that make it hard for those going against him. I was pleased with that; I don’t think the opportunity or environment was too big for him.”
The veterans also showed some moxie despite not being able to create many holes in the running game.
“JT’s (Reed) ability to step in at center was very commendable along with how he functioned through the course of the week getting ready to go,” Vigen said. “(As were) Titan sliding over to right guard a place he hasn’t played since maybe his second or third year and Cedric (Jefferson) flipping (from left tackle to right tackle). So, (the Ducks) were going to be a tough matchup no matter what, I will say that. I think (our offensive line) experienced gains.”
There’s one big contrast to a year ago. This time the Bobcats don’t go from playing a team a level up to playing their second game an upstart team like Utah Tech, which finished 1-11 in 2024. This time they go from playing a serious national title contender from the highest level to awaiting a visit from 2024 national semifinalist and 2022 and 2023 national champion South Dakota State.
The Bobcats simply cannot let their collective guard down this week. A year ago, they had – relative to their talent – a lackluster performance on the road against Utah Tech after their dramatic 35-31 comeback win over New Mexico. Winning by a 31-7 score was solid but the expectation was for a more robust win. MSU will have to collect itself much better for the Jackrabbits, who will come to Bozeman for the second time since 2017. As has been the case in the last five matchup’s since then, the battle of the trenches will be key.
“You look at the front and there’s only one returning starter,” Vigen said. “They’ve been really good about playing a ton of guys upfront and that experience shows when you’re only returning one starter.”
The task for MSU’s offensive line this week isn’t a small one. The Jackrabbit’ defense shutdown Sacramento State, a squad that was energized from having its request to move to FBS denied. The Hornets went to Brookings to make a statement but instead left with little to show for themselves, especially on offense.
“(SDSU) held their running game down to almost nothing,” Vigen said of SDSU’s defensive performance in its 20-3 win. “(The Hornets) got just 2.6 yards per play and only put three points up.”
Sacramento State had just 131 yards of total offense and only 24 of those came on the ground. The Hornets ran the ball 24 times in getting 1.0 yards per rush and threw 27 passes as SDSU controlled the ball to the tune of 41 minutes to just 19 for SAC. The 20-3 score wasn’t indicative of the statistical edges that SDSU had, including 28-7 in first downs. The Jackrabbits had 430 total yards and 56 of their 79 plays were on the ground where they gained 240 yards.
There’s no question that the MSU offensive line will need to replicate its recent year’s success and ability to adjust to the problems that present themselves if it wants to put points on the scoreboard against one of the top FCS teams in the nation.
Saturday’s Gold Rush game is slated for 6:00 in Bozeman.
