BOZEMAN – True freshman Scottre Humphrey had a debut for the ages rambling for 114 yards on 14 carries and three touchdowns as Montana State University ripped Utah Tech 63-20 in its annual home opening Gold Rush game in front of 21,967 fans.
Humphrey ignited the crowd with a 47-yard gallop that set up MSU’s first score, which was his own. He carried on all four plays of the drive, which covered 53 yards. In the second quarter he broke loose for a 29-yard touchdown run, then capped it off in the third quarter taking the ball in from the nine.
The Bobcats scored on their next three drives after Humphrey’s first score building a 28-3 lead and carried a 35-10 edge at halftime.
“All the running backs are dogs,” Humphrey said in deflecting credit to his teammates. “Anyone of them can go off, but it just happened to be me tonight. I give all the credit to the offensive line. I had some huge holes to run through.”
Humphrey wasn’t the lone bright spot for the Bobcats as quarterback Tommy Mellott looked more poised than he previously has. He exemplified that in the first quarter when he scrambled out of the pocket and instead of continuing to run as he’s done so many times in the past he waited for running back redshirt freshman Jared White to get open. The result was a 47-yard scoring play to put MSU up 21-3. He completed 8 of 14 passes for 157 yards and at touchdown.
The Bobcat’ defense was also very solid despite giving up a couple big plays in the first half that covered 95 yards combined. Aside from that, MSU allowed just 41 yards on 25 plays in the first half. They had three interceptions in the game after getting just 13 last season.
Defensive end David Alston, a senior from St. Paul, Minn., got the interception parade started when he came down with a deflected pass to set up MSU’s second touchdown.
“Turnovers, we gotta have them,” Alston said of his first career interception. “That was awesome, especially my first play back from injury to make a play like that is special. This was definitely the most energy I’ve felt from the crowd.”
Sophomore MSU nickelback Caden Dowler got into the act when he picked up the offense after it faltered on a late first drive and had to punt. Dowler picked off Trailblazer quarterback Boone Abbott and returned the ball the ball to the Utah Tech 14 then Wisconsin transfer Julius Davis hauled it in from the eight with 51 second to go to put MSU up 35-10.
“The crowd brings the energy and we just kind of feed off of it,” Dowler said. “I feel like we came out really fast.”
The Trailblazers threw for 300 yards a game last season and the Bobcats knew they would be tested. They answered the call by allowing just 260 yards on 41 pass attempts. MSU knew Utah Tech would make some plays but did a good job of limiting them.
“They threw a lot and we just had to prepare for them taking shots and their key routes,” Dowler said. “We had a week and a couple days to game plan for them. There were a couple miscues. I messed up a couple calls, so I gotta tighten that up.”
Dowler splits time with senior Level Price, Jr., who had a solid game himself with a team-high seven tackles.
“They each have things they do well,” MSU head coach Brent Vigen, who often notes that Price is good in coverage and Dowler is good in run defense. Oddly enough it was Dowler with the interception and Price, Jr. getting the tackles.
MSU finished with 633 yards, including 407 rushing. The Bobcats held Utah Tech to 309 yards – just 49 rushing – and 5.5 yards per play.
The Bobcats were marred by big plays in 2023 giving up 70 plays of 20 or more yards. They did get gouged early when Abbott hit Bo Sparks for 62 yards but the defense bowed its neck and forced the Trailblazers to kick a field goal.
“I think we responded,” Vigen said of the stop. “We say ‘bad play, next play dig in and make some plays.’ That’s a team that threw for over 300 yards a game so they’re going to hit some. I do feel like our guys don’t panic and they believe in one another. You move on and you got a chance. That’s a small little example of how we want out guys approach things.”
Mellott also had 79 yards on seven carries. Senior Sean Chambers ran for two touchdowns and had 21 yards rushing after being stopped four straight times inside the Utah Tech 3-yard line on MSU’s first possession. He threw for another 53 yards. Third-string quarterback Jordan Reed got into the act as well completing the first pass of his career and then topping that by hitting his second pass for a touchdown to freshman Rylan Schlepp.
The running backs combined for 36 rushes for 282 yards and five touchdowns. Freshman Jared White had 84 yards on just four carries with one run a 79-yard touchdown jaunt. He also made a great adjustment on a Mellott pass coming back to the ball and then taking it to the end zone to complete a 47-yard pass play.
The Bobcats, ranked third in the nation in preseason polls, begin preparing for No. 1 ranked and defending FCS national champion South Dakota State University on Monday. The Jackrabbits started their season with a 45-7 win over Division II Western Oregon.
“Enjoy the win tonight, hit the training room tomorrow and start our plan, Vigen said. “We have a recent history of the game and we each have a game under our belts (as wins). You can go back and to some degree, dust off what you really liked in that game in December. And you look at the game where we didn’t play so well.
“Our guys are going to be ready to play. But it’s Sunday tomorrow, not Saturday, so we will go through the week and really get a good plan put together and we will have a plan by Friday to go to Brookings and put our best foot forward.”
Sean Chambers touchdown/ by Blake Hempstead 
Kenneth Eiden IV sack/ by Blake Hempstead 
Redshirt freshman running back Jared White/ by Blake Hempstead 
Junior running back Elijiah Elliott/ by Blake Hempstead
