To compound the challenges of playing a Mountain West team at more than 5,000 feet above sea level in the high mountain desert at 2 p.m. local time, there were plenty of other challenges facing Montana State on Saturday afternoon in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Not only did MSU dig itself a 17-0 hole before rallying for a 35-31 win, the ‘Cats also had to reshuffle, re-organize, react and rally.
“Reflecting back on Saturday’s game, it was much like I thought right after the game,” MSU head coach Brent Vigen said during his Monday press conference. “There were quite a few things within that game that we could correct. Certainly, New Mexico made their fair share of plays to contribute to that (31-14) score, but ultimately when it got to the fourth quarter, and after a couple plays, we were within reach.”
The Bobcats found out moments before the start of the game they’d have to make adjustments along their offensive line – something they’re fortunately all too familiar with. Fortunately, because not only do they adjust to this sort of thing, but they adjust very quickly.
MSU had already had to revamp the line twice before going to New Mexico. Once way back at the end of last season when starters Rush Reimer and Omar Agbedion ventured into the transfer portal. MSU moved Cole Sain and JT Reed into the guard spots and seamlessly moved forward. Then in fall camp starting center Justus Perkins was injured, forcing Sain to center and tackle Marcus Wehr to guard, while Titan Fleischman took over at tackle.
Prior to the game, MSU learned Reed was unable to play, so MSU moved its other tackle Conner Moore to Reed’s guard spot and Moore was replaced by freshman Cedric Jefferson at left tackle.
The result? The Bobcats ended up rushing for 367 yards in the game on the way to their first FBS victory in nearly 20 years. The line did allow some pressure on quarterback Tommy Mellott, however, and they may have contributed to Mellott fumbling twice with ball loose being returned for touchdowns.
When crunch time came around, the line was more polished and Mellott’s protection was perfect on a game-winning 11-play, 89-yard drive.
“That two-minute drive that our offense put together with a timeout in hand was really impressive,” Vigen said. “We practice those situations a lot. When you have a quarterback like Tommy, who’s been in a few of those situations in the course of his career. The moment wasn’t too big for him. He executed real well and we had some guys on the other ends of those throws that made good catches. Offensive line-wise we stood up to a lot of pressure throughout that stretch.”
Aside from that, the Bobcat’ offense ran with its No. 3 and No. 4 running backs – Scottre Humphrey and Adam Jones – who combined for 307 rushing yards. They were working with essentially three fresh faces at tight end and H-back, yet it would be the third-string tight end – Rylan Schlepp – that would come down with the first touchdown of the day.
Defensively, budding star Dru Polidore was shelved for the first few games weeks ago and nickelback Caden Dowler was filling in at safety. Early in the game Miles Jackson went out – he would return later – as Dowler slid back to nickelback and Blake Stillwell took his spot.
Kicker Casey Kautzman was replaced just before the game by Miles Sansted, who ended up making all five of his extra point attempts.
To top things off, a huge wind kicked up that sustained over 40 miles-per-hour just before a New Mexico field goal attempt with the Lobos already ahead 31-14. That kick sailed wide and the whole game flipped as the wind persisted and cooled off the MSU players, who were standing in the hot sun all day, while the UNM players eventually got some shade behind their grandstand. The wind probably caused another missed field goal by the Lobos in the fourth quarter that would’ve put them up by 13.
MSU, meanwhile, would hit pay dirt on a broken play that was intended to be a hand off to Jones, who adjusted and made a key block while Mellott scooted in from 15 yards away. On the next possession, MSU would fail on fourth down, but force a UNM punt that was downed at the Bobcat’ 7. Not fazed, Jones galloped 93 yards for an electrifying TD to make the score 31-28 with just over four minutes left
A dropped pass – possibly caused by the wind – on fourth down set up MSU’s final drive engineered by Mellott, who still had the memories of his earlier foibles lingering in his head. He would go 6 for 9 for 81 yards on the 89-yard drive as he found his best rhythm all day. And the Bobcats capped off the game on Humphrey’s 4-yard touchdown run with 10 seconds to play.
At the end of the day, the Bobcats had allowed 14 points directly on turnovers and the defense was duped on a crafty naked bootleg by UNM quarterback Devon Dampier.
“For our defense to ultimately not give up any points in the second half is something that we didn’t talk too much about after the game,” Vigen said. “That was really impressive. They miss a couple field goals and the wind picking up really changing some of the dynamics of the passing game. Their second missed field goal I put that entirely on the wind.”
The Bobcats had a big edge in total yards (567-324) for the game, yet that edge was even more dramatic after they fell behind 17-0. MSU was nothing short of dominant as it out-gained the Lobos by a whopping 497-188 after that point.
Things aren’t likely to get that strange this Saturday night when MSU travels to St. George, Utah to face a Utah Tech team that it beat in its home opening Gold Rush game last year, 63-20.
Then again, you can never be too sure with this MSU squad that is building a reputation of having wild road games. MSU needed late-game heroics in 2022 at Eastern Washington and Northern Arizona to get wins over teams it was heavily favored against. The ‘Cats dropped a pair of tight games on the road last year against South Dakota State on a last second reversed call on a would-be game-winning touchdown and then to Idaho where it couldn’t get a first down until its last drive of the first half and then lost on a missed field goal in the waning seconds.
