BOZEMAN – In what was one of the craziest football games in Montana State, Weber State, Big Sky Conference and, well, football history anywhere, the Bobcats escaped with a 43-38 win over the Wildcats Saturday afternoon.
Montana State senior safety Ty Okada couldn’t help but laugh when asked to put the frenzied contest into words.
“There was a lot of wild stuff that went down, but we’ve battled back before so this was nothing new for us” Okada said following MSU’s fifth straight Big Sky victory. “I just love that we don’t flinch when bad stuff happens. All that stuff is going to go on during a game and we just keep an even keel. It’s like a rollercoaster.”
Let’s recount the madness.
MSU quarterback Tommy Mellott’s first pass of the game was intercepted. It was the first interception he’s thrown against a Football Championship Subdivision team in 121 attempts. Mellott tackled Weber State All-Big Sky cornerback Eddie Heckard at the MSU 11-yard line and the Bobcat defense helped keep Weber State to a field goal.
Next, in what became a theme for the game, Wildcat’ long snapper Grant Sands sailed his punt snap out of the end zone for a safety. MSU would then score on the ensuing possession. Mellott, who set the Big Sky record – previously held by MSU’s Troy Andersen – for rushing yards in a single game by a quarterback with 273, rambled 42 yards for that MSU touchdown to give the hosts a 9-3 lead.
The ensuing kickoff saw Abraham Williams go 100 yards for a score and a 10-9 Wildcat’ lead. The Wildcats then ran the play clock out and it was on :00 for around five seconds before the snap was made on the ensuing extra-point attempt. MSU head coach Brent Vigen was screaming at the officials from the sideline to no avail in what would become a common theme for the wacky afternoon.
After a couple MSU first downs WSU’s Hudson Schenck returned a Bryce Leighton punt 91 yards for a 17-9 lead. The return was spectacular — Schenck broke at least three tackles, including a stern hit by MSU senior captain fullback R.J. Fitzgerald —but there was at least one block in the back and probably two, and there was also a probable hold being applied to MSU punter Bryce Leighton, who was the last man between Schenck and the end zone. Again, Vigen was in the officials’ ear to no avail.
The 17 points came while the Wildcats had just 12 yards of total offense.
After another MSU punt Weber State scored on one of the only conventional possessions of the game by going 70 yards on six plays.
The teams then traded possessions before Sands launched another punt snap out of the end zone and MSU, as they would do every time WSU gave up a safety, marched downfield for a touchdown as Mellott made his second of three trips to the end-zone.
Weber would again see Sands sail his punt snap out of the end zone and this time – to add to Sands’ shame – MSU’s long snapper Tommy Sullivan would recover a muffed punt on the Bobcats next possession. A play later Mellott found tight end Derryk Snell for a 15-yard score and MSU suddenly went ahead 27-24 going into the half.
That’s not to mention a Weber State blocked field goal and a whole collection of Bobcat penalties, including four first-half false starts, that added to the pandemonium.
Weber started the second half with its fourth straight punt snap out of the end zone, setting an FCS record for safeties in a single game, which will actually go to MSU’s credit even though they didn’t need to do much to notch any of the 2-pointers.
The Bobcats, for the fourth straight time, turned the miscue into a touchdown with Mellott going 36 yards for his third and final touchdown.
“I feel bad for the (Sands),” said Okada, one of the veterans on MSU’s punt return team. “That’s tough being put in that situation after it’s happened so many times with the weather and everything. My heart goes out to him. They have a really great punt team.”
MSU was on the verge of putting the game away after scoring on an 11 play, 60-yard drive that gave them a 43-24 lead. But this game couldn’t end that way and didn’t.
Weber mounted a comeback with a statement drive of 75 yards that was culminated with a touchdown by stud senior wide receiver Ty MacPherson and the two-point conversion to cut the lead to 43-32. A fourth down stop by Weber when MSU looked to ice the game instead of taking a field goal led to a 14 play, 86-yard drive by the Wildcats that resulted in another touchdown.
On the ensuing two-point try, Weber State quarterback Bronson Barron overthrew 6-foot-9 tight end David Rasmussen, who was blanketed by several Bobcats to the ire of Weber head coach Jay Hill.
The Wildcats got the ball back with just over 2 minutes to play and would convert not once but twice on 4th down and ten. They were in a third and five when MSU senior inside linebacker Callahan O’Reilly’s sacked Barron, ominously setting up another fourth and ten.
The final piece of bizarreness occurred when the Wildcats, who dropped numerous passes in the game, would, sure enough, all but ended the game when MacPherson (5 catches, 69 yards), one of WSU’s best players, dropped a sure first down with just 25 seconds to play.
“There’s no words to sum that up,” said Hill after his team’s first loss of the season. “You have to give Montana State credit. They had guys dinged up and they made plays when it mattered. They got down big early and continued to fight. We got down big and continued to fight. That’s two tough teams going at it and some crazy crap but the reality, in the end, people are going to look at those snaps over the punter and all that stuff, but we had mistakes on offense, defense, special teams, made way too many mistakes.
“The weather wasn’t that big of a factor. It wasn’t. We needed to do a better job of handling some situations.”
The Bobcats scored 34 straight points after falling behind 24-9. It was the third straight game that they scored 34 points in a row.
“Our team is grounded on perseverance and attention to detail,” Mellott said. “We practice, we do our workouts a certain way and that builds us to be men that will persevere no matter what adversity hits us.”
The Bobcats have a bye week before going on the road to Flagstaff, Ariz. to face the Lumberjacks of Northern Arizona.
Photos by Brooks Nuanez or Noted. All Rights Reserved.
