The last time Montana State beat an FBS opponent in one of the most memorable victories in Bobcat football history, a few of the most humiliating losses in program history followed.
In 2006, MSU beat Colorado 19-10, marking the most recent victory over an FBS team until Montana State rallied for a 35-31 victory over New Mexico on August 24. Unlike in 2006, MSU followed up the breakthrough with another victory.
Back in 2006, MSU got shredded at home by Danny Woodhead and Division II Chadron State, losing 35-24. The following week, MSU lost 45-0 to UC Davis, a team transitioning to Division I at the time.
“I think we got overconfident,” Montana State defensive coordinator Bobby Daly said to MSU sports information matter-of-factly in the days following Montana State’s exhilarating come-from-behind win at NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) New Mexico in Week 0.
“We went down and beat an FBS opponent and thought we had arrived. Then a week later Danny Woodhead and Chadron State came in here and put it on us. So my message to the defense on Monday was that exact story.”
Message received. Saturday in Saint George, Utah, Montana State did not allow a first down for the first three quarters of the game, forcing eight consecutive 3-and-outs in the process.
“Coach Daly had a great perspective of it, being on that 2006 team and he told us that story on Monday and said we have to go back to work,” Montana State senior safety Rylan Ortt said. “This is the same situation he was in but we get to control it, right? We went back to work, had a great week of preparation and handled business the right way.”
Utah Tech fits a similar mold these days to what UC Davis fit almost 20 years ago. The Trailblazers were Division II Dixie State and playing in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference five years ago. Now Utah Tech is in one of the fastest-growing towns in all of the United States — Saint George’s population has swelled from 75,000 to more than 200,000 in the last decade-plus — and the Trailblazers are in their second season playing in the newly formed United Athletic Conference.
UT is under a first-year head coach in Lance Anderson after last season’s 2-9 finish spelled the end for Paul Peterson. Since changing the name to Utah Tech, the program is just 6-17 overall. So it’s fair to say, the Trailblazers have quite a ways to go to reach the level of Montana State, a team that has won 17 Big Sky Conference titles and three overall national championships.
Still, Saturday night’s 31-7 win was a big one for MSU, only because it helped squelch the memory of the disappointing let downs from the last time the Bobcats had defeated an FBS squad. And it kept Montana State undefeated during a season filled, once again, with sky-high expectations.
“I think we had a great week of preparation and were dialed in, everybody came out ready to go, tackled well, executed well and everyone was doing their 1/11th,” Ortt siad. “I thought it was good.”
Montana State enters its home opener against Maine on Saturday as the only team in the current STATS FCS Top 25 poll with a 2-0 record. And those two wins both came on the road, marking the first time in more than 20 years MSU won its first two games away from Bobcat Stadium before playing a single home game.
MSU has done it despite having a rash of injuries, particularly along its offensive line and in its offensive backfield.
The hits to the offensive front started coming in fall camp when senior captain and four-year starting center Justus Perkins went down with an ankle injury. That first domino caused senior guard Cole Sain to shift to the middle. Shortly after, senior guard JT Reed suffered a hand injury that’s cost him the first two games this season.
The next dominoes were to move All-American right tackle Marcus Wehr to right guard, rising star sophomore left tackle Conner Moore to left guard and insert sophomore Titan Fleishcmann and freshman Cedric Jefferson in at the tackle spots.
Then during the Utah Tech game, Moore went down with an injury. His presumed backup was supposed to be redshirt freshman Burke Mastel, a Red Lodge product who earned plenty of praise this off-season. But he also has been hurt since fall camp. So all of a sudden, Jaden Perkins, a former walk-on who is Justus’s younger brother, was with the first group.
“The offensive line, we are way thinner than we would like to be but the saving grace is we will get guys back,” MSU head coach Brent Vigen said. “The guys who are now playing, that experience is going to go a long, long ways ultimately when we hit our stride a month or two down the road.”
Montana State has led the league and ranked among the nation’s best in rushing yards per game for the last several seasons. MSU has done it by employing multiple running quarterbacks and an array of running backs (and sometimes, converted wide receivers like Marqui Johnson) behind an impossibly deep offensive line.
That’s been the case this year again, despite the reshuffling up front and the fact that Julius Davis, a former Wisconsin transfer who was MSU’s projected starter, has yet to play in a game. Veteran tailbacks Jared White and Elijah Elliott have been the odd men out so far as sophomore Scottre Humphrey and redshirt freshman Adam Jones have emerged suddenly as a devastating 1-2 punch.
The duo rushed for 307 of MSU’s 362 rush yards against New Mexico. Humphrey gained 107 yards while Jones rushed for 60 yards and a score to earn National Freshman of the Week honors against Utah Tech.
“I’m extremely confident in the running backs,” Jones said. “Coach Mix does a great job with us. We have five, six guys who can be out there at any given time. We extremely talented guys who all work really hard and I think we are all happy for each other. It’s extremely competitive but at the end of the day, we are just happy to win.”
Because Montana State played two games in a row to open its season on the road, the Bobcats are now in Bozeman for six of the next eight weeks if you include the two bye weeks coming Montana State’s way. The team moved up to No. 3 in the national poll this week yet remains focused on the off-season mantra of going 1-0 every single day.
“We are just really focused on improving every week, going 1-0 and I thought we’ve done that the first two weeks,’ Ortt said. “But we need to go back to work and focus on going 1-0 next week. Lucky enough, we get to play at ‘Gold Rush’, in Bozeman and it will be a great atmosphere, ready to get back home.”
