OGDEN, Utah – In 2022, the Montana State University offense – namely its run game – was the story. In 2023, it appears the defense is looking to start a new chapter after its first Big Sky shutout since 2006 with a 40-0 win over No. 10 ranked Weber State on Saturday night here.
“The standard doesn’t drop,” defensive end Ben Seymour said. “Whoever’s in. If it’s the first guy, second guy, third guy the standard doesn’t drop. We play to a high level and whoever’s out there we play Bobcat built football. The key to having a shutout and maintaining a shutout is having guys who know their job and do their job out there.”
MSU (3-1, 1-0 Big Sky) held the Wildcats to 208 total yards and had four sacks. WSU was under 3.0 yards per play on the game. The shutout is Montana State’s first since a 55-0 win over Western Oregon in 2016 and its first against a Big Sky team in 17 years.
“We call it the Cheetah package,” Seymour said, referring to MSU’s 3rd down package that includes defensive end Kenneth Eiden IV playing on the inside next to All-American defensive tackle Sebastian Valdez with Seymour and Brody Grebe manning the edges. “We bring in our best rushers on third down and hopefully we can get them off. We go 1-2-Cheetah, that’s what we say.”
The Bobcats allowed 70 plays of 20 yards or more in 2022, but the Wildcats got just one play of that distance on Saturday night. Meanwhile, MSU had 10 plays over 20 yards on the way to rolling up 518 yards on just 62 plays and racking up 24 first downs. The road win over a ranked opponent was the first of the season that features five road games against teams ranked in the top 15.
“It was a heckuva effort,” MSU head coach Brent Vigen said. “(Weber) made some plays, but we got them in some short yardage situations where we made the play there. That typically doesn’t happen, and those drives continue but we shut them down time after time.”
MSU’s last Big Sky shutout came against Portland State in 2006 by a 14-0 score in Bozeman.
“Definitely coming in their house and giving them a shutout and scoring 40 on them is a huge thing and we wanted to send a message to the Big Sky,” Seymour said.
The run game wasn’t overshadowed by any means as four players ran for 61 yards or more with running back Julius Davis collecting his first 100-yard game with 132 yards on just 14 carries. Quarterback Sean Chambers had 86 yards and two touchdowns on 12 rushes, Jared White added 69, including a touchdown, on 13 carries and Elijah Elliott had 61 yards, including a 56-yard TD run on just three totes. The Bobcats ran for 347 yards and averaged just under eight yards per carry.
“We knew we could run the ball on these guys and that was our goal,” Chambers said. “It was just a matter of time. It was a credit to our offensive line of sticking to our game and sticking to out script.”
“We got running backs right now that if you keep feeding them, I think they’re gonna do good things,” Vigen said. “Whether we’re in the pistol or under center. The things we can do under center are a little bit different in the play action game.”
The Bobcats, ranked No. 3, were effective if not efficient on offense with 517 yards. Their kicking game left eight points on the field as two field goals were wide and two extra points failed – one hit the upright the other was blocked.
Tight end Treyton Pickering getting into the act early and his first two receptions – the second for a 29-yard touchdown – may have helped open things up for the Bobcat’ runners.
“He did a helluva job, those two routes were great,” Chambers said of Pickering, who also had a TD reception in the fourth quarter. “He lulled them to sleep and sprinted out of there. Luckily enough, the O-line gave me enough time.”
Weber State looked up to the task in the early going as the Wildcats stuffed the Bobcats on their first five carries allowing just nine yards. But on MSU’s first pass play of the game Chambers hit Clevan Thomas, Jr. for 20 yards on third down and 14 to ignite the offense. The drive extended all the way to the WSU 14 only to see Hall miss a 33-yard field goal.
“It was a little bit of a slow burn there at the beginning,” Vigen said. “It was an uneven day by Brendan (Hall), but he was able to keep it away from their burner (kick returner Abraham Williams) all game.”
All but one of Hall’s seven kickoffs sailed out of the end zone.
The next MSU drive started on its own six, but it made short work of things as Chambers hit Pickering for 30 yards on the first play and two runs for 23 yards had MSU into Weber territory. Two plays later Chambers hit Pickering again, this time for a 29-yard touchdown and MSU was off and running.
After their next drive stalled out, the Bobcats scored on the following two possessions as Chambers made a pair of nifty touchdown runs. He evaded several defenders on the second from 29 yards out skirting down the sidelines for the final 15 yards after cutting across from midfield.
Like the first half the start of the second half was sluggish before Chambers and Pickering hooked up again – this time from 24 yards out early in the fourth quarter as MSU scored 20 points in the fourth quarter.
Pickering finished with three receptions for a game-high 83 yards and two touchdowns. Thomas had four catches for 67 yards. Chambers was just 8-for-17 passing, but his completions were good for 172 yards.
MSU linebacker McCade O’Reilly had a big game overall with a game-high 11 tackles and a forced fumble. Nolan Askelson had 10 tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss, while Danny Uluilakepa had seven tackles and 0.5 TFL before being ejected for targeting.
“They’re just playing with their hair on fire,” Vigen said of the defense. “That’s what they need to do. They need to be on the same page and create opportunities for guys to make plays. I thought we had out best tackling game of the season against some really good backs and a really good offensive line.”
The Bobcats entertain Portland State this Saturday.
