GRAND FORKS, North Dakota — With one dropped pass and another batted down at the line of scrimmage, a season once filled with so much promise went down in flames for the Montana State Bobcats.
The preseason Big Sky Conference favorites continue to struggle away from Bozeman. On Saturday, Montana State had two offensive possessions in the final five minutes with a chance to take the lead or tie the game but MSU could not capitalize. Instead, a pair of true freshmen running backs gashed Montana State’s defense for 397 of North Dakota’s 426 rushing yards. UND scored more points than it ever has since joining the Big Sky in 2012 in a 44-38 win over the No. 19 Bobcats.
UND true freshman John Santiago rushed for a career-high 230 yards and scored three touchdowns, including the go-ahead score with 1:41 to play.UND true freshman Brady Oliveira equaled his season total leading up to the game by rushing for 167 yards on 12 carries, including a 30-yard touchdown run in the first quarter. On the ensuing MSU possession following Santiago’s third score, the Bobcats’ playoff hopes likely vanished as a game-tying drive stalled out due to a dropped pass and another pass broken up at the line of scrimmage.
“This was the most important day we have had all year,” UND senior middle linebacker Will Ratelle said after a 12-tackle afternoon. “We knew we had to get a win today. Everyone was ready to go and we showed that with the way we played.”
“I’m proud of our guys for gutting one out,” added Schweigert, UND’s second-year head coach. “When you play against a team like this, you have to keep plugging away, plugging away. This is one program we hadn’t beaten in the Big Sky, Montana State and we really put a lot of effort into this. We feel it is a good win for our program.”
The victory moves North Dakota to 3-3 in Big Sky play, 5-4 overall and keeps a shred of postseason hopes alive as UND enters its bye week. With the loss, Montana State drops to 2-3 in Big Sky play, 4-4 overall including 3-4 against Division I competition. Even with three wins in their final three games, the Bobcats will not reach seven Division I victories, the benchmark for playoff eligibility.
“This does not feel good,” Montana State senior captain defensive tackle Taylor Sheridan after notching two tackles for loss, a sack and forcing a fumble. “This is probably the worst feeling of all time for me right now.”
Montana State took over possession after a forced by sophomore Mac Bignell with the score tied 38-38 with 4:47 to play. In a reversal of misfortunes, the normally productive Bobcat offense sputtered. Montana State assumed control near midfield and punted four plays later. UND took over from its own 20 with 2:56 to play.
Montana State’s defense made the necessary adjustments to limit UND to one touchdown in the second half up to that point but North Dakota found its footing in the run game once again. On the first play of the drive, MSU junior defensive end Robert Wilcox was flagged for illegal hands to the face. On the next play, Santiago ripped off a long run that ended with MSU senior Des Carter bringing him to the Alerus Center turf by his facemask. On the third play, Oliveira bounced an inside zone play off tackle for a 28-yard burst down to the MSU 4-yard line. On the fourth play, Santiago scored his third touchdown of the afternoon.
“We feel like we can make big plays in the run game,” Schweigert said. “Brady busted some big plays today too. I think it stresses the defense when we can take third downs and get first downs in the run game. Running the football is what we are doing best right now so we kept doing it.”
MSU quarterback Dakota Prukop and the Bobcats had one last chance. The Bobcats took over on their own 40-yard line trailing by six with 1:37 to play. Prukop’s seven-yard scramble on second down brought up a third and short from midfield. His third down pass to Justin Paige was on the money but went right through the sophomore’s hands. On fourth down, Prukop stared down sophomore Mitchell Herbert before firing a laser that was broken up at the line of scrimmage by UND sophomore linebacker Jake Disterhaupt. North Dakota took over on downs and drained the final 1:18 off the clock.
“This was tough,” Montana State ninth-year head coach Rob Ash said following his team’s sixth straight loss on the road. “I told them I love them and they are a bunch of battlers. We continued to fight throughout that game.”
North Dakota entered the game wanting to control the line of scrimmage and the clock. Schweigert talked throughout the week about wanting to avoid a shootout with the Bobcats, the Big Sky’s highest scoring team entering the game. With Santiago’s 45-yard touchdown run on UND’s second possession of the game, that notion went by the wayside.
MSU answered the long Santiago burst with a 61-yard touchdown catch by senior Manny Kalfell on a pass thrown by fellow senior wide receiver Mitch Griebel, a former quarterback. But the UND run game continued to churn and Oliveira, a 5-foot-10, 225-pound bull, ripped off his 30-yard TD, the longest of his career.
“It’s crazy. You want to keep the score down but it just didn’t have that flow today,” Schweigert said. “They create a fast-paced game and they are scoring points so you keep scoring. You hate even kicking a field goal because you get into that mode. We had to keep scoring and we had to find a way to stop them.”
UND sophomore quarterback Keaton Studsrud did not start for a third straight week after an ankle injury suffered against Idaho State. But he entered the game on the second possession and threw a 53-yard touchdown to Clive George on the fourth possession to give UND a 21-7 lead before the first quarter ended.
Montana State battled back as Prukop hit Herbert for a 13-yard score to cap an 11-play, 74-yard drive that lasted 4:22. Six plays into the ensuing UND possession, Sheridan swallowed up Studsrud and forced a fumble that MSU junior Jessie Clark recovered on the UND 39. On the next play, sophomore Jayshawn Gates ripped off a 39-yard score on a wide receiver reverse to tie the game, 21-21.
MSU sophomore Luke Daly and UND sophomore Reid Taubenheim traded field goals to give UND the ball with four minutes to play in the half. Santiago showed off his speed and vision on the first play of the possession, taking an outside zone play 75 yards untouched for his second touchdown as UND took a 31-24 lead into halftime.
“It was an outside zone call and the blocks set up good, the hole was a gaping hole,” Santiago said. “I saw daylight so I went for it.”
The 5-foot-9, 170-pound Santiago set his career high with 178 yards in a 42-16 loss at Montana last week. He rushed for 175 yards in the first half alone. His 230 yards put him over 1,000 yards, further extending his UND freshman record and breaking him into the school’s all-time top 10 for rushing yards in a season.
“The offensive line played phenomenal up front,” Santiago said. “Credit to the big guys. Everything was easy to see. I had to make one cut every time.”
The scoring calmed down after halftime as MSU’s defense allowed 134 rushing yards after intermission compared to 292 yards before it. Santiago rushed for 55 yards on 16 carries after halftime. Oliveira rushed for 81 yards on five carries after halftime. UND averaged 10.4 yards per carry in the first half and 5.6 yards per carry after halftime.
“It was what I seen all week in practice,” said Bignell, who led MSU with nine tackles, including two for loss to raise his season total to 12 TFLs. “Coaches did a good job of showing us what they did. We just need to go out there and execute and we didn’t. At the end of the game like that, we knew they were going to run it. We couldn’t stop it.”
“We just didn’t tackle,” Sheridan said. “We were there and didn’t execute. We were there, we did everything right, guys were in the right spots. But you HAVE to tackle. You will be a terrible defense if you don’t tackle.”
North Dakota piled up 548 yards of total offense despite throwing the ball just 11 times with a quarterback operating with a bum wheel. For the first time this season, Montana State forced turnovers and was unable to capitalize. The Bobcats forced and recovered three fumbles but earned points out of just one of the takeaways.
MSU rushed for 194 yards against a defense that is giving up just 81 rushing yards per game. The Bobcats ran 78 plays for 479 yards as Prukop piled up 299 yards of total offense and three total touchdowns. But the offense failed to rise to the occasion in key situations and now Montana State will almost certainly be on the outside looking in when the FCS playoffs roll around.
Following the game, Prukop walked into the Oriole Room at the Alerus Center fully dressed in his pads, jersey and cleats. He stepped to the podium and did not field a single question. Instead, he let rip an 84-second statement that the junior captain feels sums up Montana State’s disappointing season.
“There’s two things I’m going to talk about right here,” Prukop said, fighting back emotions. “You have to find a silver lining in this. Sometimes football is humbling. Sometimes, you can come out and play an outstanding game and it doesn’t work out in your favor. It’s happened to us multiple times this season and it hurts. It’s not the team that we are. I want to say two things: one, how proud I am of my offensive line, my receivers, my running backs. I’m surrounded by warriors, I’m surrounded by gladiators. They do their jobs every play and they give 150,000 percent every single play. If there’s one thing I can count on always in life, it’s that the guys on our offense right now will give me every play. The other thing I want to talk about, silver lining. At the beginning of every game, we talk about how whether we win or lose, we will give the glory to God. That’s something that just hit me. That’s something you don’t want to do right here. You are frustrated. But I want to give the glory to God to be able to play this game with the offensive guys I’m playing with. I’m extremely blessed to be at a place where I have guys I want to play with, guys who are going to play hard, a coaching staff I love that will sell out for me every week and I realize that. It’s a humbling event, it’s not how I wanted it to turn out but I’m extremely blessed to be here.”
Photos by Brooks Nuanez. Updated photos within story to come. All Rights Reserved.
