GREELEY, Colorado — Sluggish start? What sluggish start?
Montana State exploded for 42 points in the final 31 minutes to obliterate Northern Colorado 55-7. However, none of the Bobcats 55 points were as electrifying as the six defense tackle Talon Marsh scored.
Marsh, a 6-foot-1, 285-pound sophomore out of Helena Capital, intercepted a pass deflected by teammate Dominic Solano and returned it 86 yards with one of the biggest escort parties in school history as his teammates surrounded him for the final 40 yards to not allow a UNC defender to catch him. The return was right down the MSU sideline just to add to the flavor as the Bobcats watching from off the field went ballistic with glee watching the big man touchdown play out.
“Dom Solano (and I), we always are talking about it if the opportunity ever comes if I get it from him, he’s going to hawk me down and trip me,” Marsh said. “He actually blocked the best for me, so I guess he really didn’t follow through, which I’m really happy for, but that was really special. I caught it and I turned, and I thought I better just turn on the jets. I haven’t run very far in a long time, like in high school in track, so I was pretty pumped about how fast I was going.”
The play was the all the rage among the players after the game as the Bobcats ran their Big Sky record to 5-0 and overall mark to 7-2. Saturday marked MSU’s 7th straight victory.
“That was probably the coolest thing I’ve ever seen in my time in football,” MSU quarterback Justin Lamson said. “I was kind of in the back, and I saw everybody running and I just joined in on them. We got the (unsportsmanlike conduct) flag, but I think coach (Brent) Vigen will probably okay with that one.”
“When you see something like that, that’s exciting,” added cornerback Seth Johnson. “We were all running down the sideline. It was crazy, it was exciting. You don’t really get to see a d-lineman get a pick-6. That’s crazy.”
The play didn’t quite overshadow the day Lamson had as the junior connected on 16 of 22 passes for 331 yards and three touchdowns. He also ran nine times for 57 yards and a score. A week ago, Lamson got off to a slow start connecting on just one of his first five passes for five yards, but he hit on his first four this time around.
“There was just a couple plays last week we started with the three and out after we had pretty good field position,” Lamson, who threw on all three downs, said. “This week just able to get in that rhythm early. Cal Poly has a good defense too. They made some plays on the football.
“We gotta continue to start fast, that’s important. I was seeing it well today. We started early on that drive and then we had the two drives that we didn’t score, so that’s just the way the game flows. Just being able to bounce after those two drives
“We scored 34 points last week and to our standard that’s not good enough. A lot of people that’s probably good enough, but we want more, and our coaches challenged us to do that this week, and we got the job done.”
Lamson’s numbers came against a UNC pass defense that was ranked first in the league in passing yards allowed (180.3 a game) and pass efficiency defense at 105.3. The Bobcat struggled to run the ball early despite going against one of the worst run defenses in the league. MSU piled up 650 yards rushing in its last two games but had just 137 on 28 carries through three quarters before cracking the 200-yard mark.
Taco Dowler was Lamson’s main target as he hauled in five passes for 138 yards and two touchdowns. The yardage total is a career high for the former Montana Gatorade Player of the Year from Billings.
His 67-yard touchdown reception was the second play of the second half and gave MSU two touchdowns on three plays going back to the score right before the half. Ryan King had two catches for 82 yards with both putting the Bobcats inside the UNC 10-yard line only to see his team settle for two short Myles Sansted field goals.
“The score before half was big and then we come out after half and score on a couple plays and jumped from 13-0 to 27-0 was pretty quick,” Vigen said. “The defense kept coming really hard on them all day and they’ve scored a bunch of points, and they’ve moved the ball so credit to the defense and the effort.”
MSU had managed just 13 points over the first 29 minutes of the game and looked to being taking a 13-0 lead into the locker room the same as they did last week against Cal Poly. The Bobcats went 85 yards in just 45 seconds after taking over on their own 15 with 1:24 to play in the half. Adam Jones capped off the drive from two yards with his 9th touchdown of the season to give MSU a 20-0 lead, but the Bobcats finished with just 69 rushing yards on 24 carries in the first half. They would score on their first two drives of the second half as Lamson hit Dowler for score of 67 and 18 yards. Jones finished with 67 yards on nine carries, but most of those came on a 44-yard run in the third quarter.
“Credit to the offense they’ve been working through the struggle a little bit and the field position battle early with their punter dropping the ball in there,” Vigen said. “That’s the way it goes. You gotta be willing to punt the ball back and let the defense take hold. Really proud of the guys to work through that, trust one another and ultimately come out on the right side.”
MSU just missed a second shutout as the Bears scored with just under two minutes to play. Other than the 14 points scored by Cal Poly in the fourth quarter last week, the Bobcats have allowed just 10 points in the last 10 quarters. None in the second half against Idaho State, three through three quarters versus Cal Poly and the lone touchdown by UNC.
The Bobcat defensive backs set the tone early as Jhase McMillan made a tackle-for-loss on the first play and then forced a three-and-out with a tackle short of the sticks. On the next possession for UNC, Johnson made all three plays to force another three and out and he broke up two passes and had a nice open field tackle. Carson Williams and Caden Dowler also added big hits out of the secondary.
“I was feeling pumped up but I gotta keep my composure,” Johnson said. “Just next play mentality.”
The 48-point win is one of the biggest in Bobcat history. MSU beat Weber State 40-0 in 2023, Cal Poly 72-28 in 2022 and Northern Arizona 60-13 in 2008. MSU also won 57-3 earlier this season against Eastern Washington.
MSU’s kicking has seen a resurgence after missing at least one extra point in each game over a four-week span, along with three missed field goals. Sansted hasn’t missed an extra point in the last two games making 11 straight. He’s also 4-for-4 on fields, but none have been over 40 yards.
MSU returns home for the first game in nearly month next week when Weber State comes to Bozeman. The Wildcats bowed their necks on defense after a rough first quarter against Montana but saw their comeback bid get no closer than 31-17 in a 38-17 loss to the Grizzlies.
