It would’ve been a glorious story. A starry-eyed freshman from Butte, America rolls into his first start – a FCS playoff game no less that brought with it wind gusts into the 40s after the team’s previous starter bailed out for greener pastures – and instead of lighting it up through the air, he gets a lot of help from his defense. It turns out to be a somewhat sluggish 26-7 win and just a pretty good story, but one that many won’t soon forget.
Montana State freshman quarterback Tommy Mellott, who has caught everyone’s fancy throughout the season with scintillating running out of the Wildcat, more than made up for his struggles throwing into the wind by running for 180 yards and scoring two touchdowns, including one of 73 yards to give MSU a 19-7 cushion early in the fourth quarter. He would manage to complete just 8 of 20 passes for 51 yards.
The run was the longest by a Bobcat in playoff history. The 180 yards is the most rushing yards in the playoffs by any Bobcat quarterback. The team broke the school record for rushing yards in a playoff game with 387. Isaiah Ifanse collected 176 yards and a TD on 28 carries, meaning he and Mellott had the second and third-most rush yards in a single game in MSU playoff history, in the same game.
Back in 2019, Ifanse rushed for 196 yards in a 24-10 win over Austin Peay, who, like Tennessee Martin, hailed from the Ohio Valley Conference.
Mellott’s passing numbers don’t look so bad considering Tennessee Martin’s quarterback Dresser Winn, who’s a senior that started the 2017 and 2018 seasons for the Skyhawks, connected on just 13 of 27 passes for 98 yards. Mellott had a huge edge over Winn running the ball, however, as his counterpart had five carries for -20 yards.
“He’s pretty electric and he’s shown it certainly a few times this season,” MSU head coach Brent Vigen said of his budding star. “That run (the long TD) was probably the most electric that he’s had a chance to show. He worked through some things today, so it was good to see that.”
It was a play he felt pretty good about considering he fumbled just seconds before the end of the first half and watched it get returned 68 yards by UT Martin’s John Ford for a score to make at comfy 10-0 lead at scant 10-7 edge.
“I think, just growing as a young quarterback,” Mellott explained about the fumble. “I gotta take what they give me and not try to do too much there. It was a tough situation.”
“Great play call and I just really ran the ball,” he simply put it on his long TD run. “Guys up front made a huge hole for me and I just ran.”
“He was twitchy,” UTM’s Jay Woods, who forced the Mellott fumble, would say of the first-time starter. “He’s a good quarterback and he played pretty well.”
“(Mellott) play well today,” UTM coach Jason Simpson said. “He did a good job. I’m sure they’ll go in and watch some film and figure out some ways to make him better, but he did a good job.”
Mellott would need his defense on this day, and they provided for him. The Bobcat’ defense didn’t allow a score in their first shutout of sorts this season. They came close to skunking several teams during the season.
“It was the first time we held anyone from scoring this year, so that felt good,” junior defensive back Ty Okada said. “Especially in a playoff game.”
The MSU defense has been salty over the past three games. They’ve only allowed one offensive touchdown in the past 10 quarters and just three in the past 15.
“The believed in me and they knew that I’d have my ups and downs as a new quarterback,” Mellott said. “As I continued to make mistakes or show improvement, they continued to believe in me, and it meant the world.”
While his score ignited the crowd of 15,327, Mellott’s initial touchdown was MSU’s first of the game and it came after he ran the ball to within about 6 inches of the goal line on third and goal from the eight. The score broke a scoreless tie that lasted from the opening kickoff to the 12:26 mark of the second quarter.
“I was very frustrated with what I had done in the passing game,” he said. “I definitely expect a lot more of myself. Ultimately it was a chance to grow and now we have another opportunity next week.”
That opportunity comes against No. 1 seeded and No. 1 ranked Sam Houston State. Despite the lofty ranking the Bearcats looked beatable Saturday afternoon when No. 15 University of Incarnate Word came within a yard of tying up the game in the final seconds. SHSU would win 49-42 in Huntsville, Tex. and will host the Bobcats next Saturday.
