Not even two minutes into the second half of Montana State’s second game of the 2026 season, the Bobcats had outscored their opponents — Utah Tech and Butler — by a 91-3 margin. MSU’s backups would allow 24 points to Butler, and the Bobcats would take a 20-7 road win over FBS Nevada a week later. Aside from an explainable glitch in the second half against Butler, things were running smoothly for the defending FCS champions.
Three games later, the Bobcats – who had already lost Big Sky Defensive Player of the Year and captain Caden Dowler to a leg injury and defensive end Dom Solano to an upper-arm injury – began to struggle against a Central Connecticut State team that had been outscored by a combined 122-30 in its first two games. After trailing 21-7, the Bobcats stormed back to take a 35-24 lead before holding on for a 35-30 win.
The close win was troubling, but what happened afterward appeared debilitating. MSU announced that quarterback Justin Lamson and wide receiver/punt returner Taco Dowler — both All-Americans and captains — would miss several games. Then, just a few plays into the NAU game, All-America running back and captain Adam Jones left the field and hasn’t returned. He was also considered a game-time situation entering that NAU showdown and is questionable coming out of MSU’s bye week.
MSU got excellent play from quarterback Patrick Duchien, wide receiver Carter Dahlke and running back Colson Coon. They pulled away from Northern Arizona in the second half for a 28-14 win before the unthinkable happened: a 35-34 loss to winless Idaho. The Vandals scored twice in the fourth quarter and converted a game-ending two-point attempt to complete the upset. While the trio put up good numbers once again, a trend of missed opportunities and mistakes carried over from the NAU win, in which Duchien turned the ball over twice.
On his weekly podcast, Skyline Sports analyst Mike Rider, a former MSU captain who played the same position as Caden Dowler — safety — was outspoken and insightful about MSU’s struggles against Idaho.
“I’ve said this a lot, and maybe it’s an impact from some of the coaches that I got to work with,” Rider said. “Winning one football game is hard. I don’t think the majority of people understand the amount of preparation that goes into winning one football game in the middle of the year, with five days to prepare, game-plan and get guys healthy.
“You now all of a sudden cut a full day of preparation out, and you throw in injuries and you’ve got a playbook for a quarterback … it’s not the same. It’s not the same offense; it’s not the same calls. You’ve got some people defensively — you’ve got people out. It’s a lot of work on a short turnaround, and people don’t understand that you don’t get to just roll your team out there and make it happen. That’s just not how this stuff works.”
Against Idaho, MSU gave up a 75-yard touchdown pass on the Vandals’ first offensive play. The Bobcats missed two long field goals and settled for two short field goals after driving inside the Idaho 10-yard line on possessions that had featured chunk gains before stalling near the goal line. They then allowed Idaho to go 48 yards in the final eight seconds to set up the game-winning points. In just 12 seconds of game time, MSU had allowed 15 points and 123 yards on three plays. The Vandals gained just 320 yards on their other 55 plays.
“Look, they gotta find a way to shut the door in the fourth quarter,” Rider said. “There’s 13:29 left in the game, and it was a fourth-quarter collapse. There’s a lot of pieces where they could’ve made this go away, but they didn’t take advantage of their opportunities and capitalize on it.”
After that 91-3 start over the first six quarters and two minutes, MSU has outscored its opponents just 131-107 over the next 18 quarters or so. The Bobcats scored only 40 more points despite playing roughly three times as long, while allowing 107 points — more than 35 times their total from the opening stretch.
MSU entered the Idaho game on short rest after a near-midnight finish against NAU and a Friday night game in Moscow. Before kickoff, it was revealed that backup defensive tackles Josiah Asuega — a bright spot in the first five games — and Hunter Sharbono were out. That left the Bobcats without Solano, Caden Dowler and their backup defensive tackles, who regularly spell starters Talon Marsh and Zack Black. On offense, MSU remained without Lamson, Taco Dowler and Jones.
The cumulative effect of the injuries appears to have thrown the Bobcats considerably out of sync.
“What we want to be is this team that plays complimentary football,” MSU head coach Brent Vigen said. “That is the more physical team. That can run it but can stop it. That can be explosive in the passing game and limit the passing game to the other team and get after the passer. We’ve had facets of that throughout the season, but not the consistency.”
The Bobcats may have viewed the open date following the Idaho game as an opportunity to give players who might have been able to play against the Vandals additional rest and time to heal.
“We’re in pretty good health, meaning each and every week you accumulate some things, but as far as where we’ve been over the last month, it’s the best scenario we’ve been in,” Vigen said.
While the impressive start came against a pair of teams not expected to challenge MSU, Butler is now 5-2, albeit with four wins against relatively soft opponents. Winless Utah Tech (0-7) has played better since its 54-0 loss to MSU in St. George and a 63-7 defeat at the hands of Brigham Young. The Trailblazers haven’t lost by more than 24 points since, despite playing a schedule of Big Sky Conference opponents.
There’s an expectation that Lamson and Caden Dowler will return for this week’s game against Eastern Washington in Cheney. Jones, Taco Dowler and Solano are not expected to play, however, while Asuega and Sharbono will most likely suit up. Sharbono was dressed but did not play at Idaho.
“I realize you have that ‘next man up’ mentality, and the Cats have done a really good job with that, but it turns out you do need your starting quarterback, starting running back, defensive player of the year and one of the top playmakers in the conference in Taco Dowler,” Rider said. “So, not excuses, but there’s just a reality to: ‘At some point that stuff catches up with ya.’”
Despite the slippage, MSU still has the Big Sky’s statistically best defense, ranking first in points allowed per game (18.3), total yards allowed per game (337.0) and rushing yards allowed per game (119.0). The Bobcats rank second in pass-efficiency defense (130.6). The offense ranks third in scoring (37.0 points per game), first in yards per play (7.0), third in rushing yards per game and first in pass-efficiency offense (170.2).
Whether the Bobcats have a core structural issue eroding their overall performance or are simply dealing with injuries and bad luck has attracted national interest. MSU fell from first to sixth in the polls despite losing by just one point on the road, on short rest and with multiple star players sidelined. The Bobcats might not have lost the game at all, according to former NFL official and NCAA/NFL analyst Terry McAulay, who said Big Sky Conference officials failed to follow proper protocol on the play before Idaho’s game-winning touchdown and two-point conversion. McAulay stated the game should have ended on that play. The Big Sky disputed his interpretation but did not cite the guideline McAulay highlighted.
MSU prepares to travel for another night game Saturday when it takes on Eastern Washington, with kickoff slated for 5 p.m. Mountain Time. Five of the Bobcats’ six road games have been played at night. After EWU, they have just one more night game — at Idaho State — remaining on the schedule.
