This year’s Football Championship Subdivision Final Four contestants have a lot in common: run first, stop the run, and good special teams. Their most striking similarity is that all four have excellent senior starting quarterbacks who have been under center since their freshman seasons.
North Dakota State’s Cam Miller and Montana State’s Tommy Mellott are both finalists for this year’s Walter Payton Award given to the best offensive player in the Football Championship Subdivision. South Dakota State’s Mark Gronowski was the recipient of the Walter Payton Award in 2023.
South Dakota’s Aidan Bouman may come in as a relative unknown next to those three, but he might have a chip on his shoulder due to not being selected to the Missouri Valley all-conference team this season after finishing the season with a 167.8 passer rating.
The trio of Mellott, Miller and Bouman make up three of the top five in passer rating in the FCS.
“There’s a huge investment in that position,” MSU head coach Brent Vigen said. “If you’re always turning it over then that’s challenging. Each quarterback is little bit different, and you want to cater your offense toward quarterback more than any other position.”
Throw in No. 5 seed UC Davis, who lost 35-21 at South Dakota last week, with super senior quarterback Miles Hastings and the top 5 teams in the FCS all have four-year starting quarterbacks.
This Saturday, Gronowski and Miller will go up against one another in the 10:00 am game in Fargo, while Bouman will face Mellott in Bozeman at 1:30 p.m.
All three have solid passer ratings with Mellott leading the nation at 183.2 and Miller sitting in second at 177.9. Bouman’s 167.8 rating is fifth in the nation and sits ahead of Gronowski, who is at 148.0. What separates Mellott, Miller and Gronowski is their ability to run the ball.
Mellott is also on top in that category with 92 carries for 790 yards and 12 touchdowns. Miller (112-417-9) and Gronowski (83-330-9) check in with respectable numbers, while Bouman rarely leaves the pocket as his 21 carries for -41 yards and no touchdowns would attest.
Mellott leads No. 1 seed Montana State into its second home semi-final game in four years and will be the starting quarterback for MSU in a semi-final for the third time in four years – he started in 2021 when the Bobcats beat South Dakota State 31-17 in Bozeman and again at South Dakota State in 2022 where the Bobcats lost, 39-18. Miller and Gronowski have started in the semifinals all four years of their careers and have combined for four title game appearances over the past three years.
While he has great numbers to back up his play, Mellott may be at his best when running MSU’s two-minute offense before halftime and at the ends of games. That feature was on full display this past Friday when he led the Bobcats on two scoring drives late in the first half as MSU took a 10-10 slugfest into a 31-10 Bobcat advantage at halftime over No. 8 Idaho.
Vigen gives at least a part of Mellott’s success in tight situations to the number or snaps he’s taken over the course of his career.
“Goes without saying the reps Tommy’s accumulated over time, they all add up,” Vigen said. “Different than any other position, a game is the tell. A lot of guys can go out there and sling it in 7-on-7, we get protected with a gold jersey in practice and try to make it look like football, but when you’re out there and the bullets are flying and those guys in the other jerseys can tackle you, it’s a whole different world.
“So, game experience accumulates, especially if you can lean into a guy and see him grow and what he can become at the end of it is something pretty special. It doesn’t mean you can’t win with a one-year starter. It’s certainly more challenging if you’re living in a one-year mode.”
Mellott outdid himself when he drove MSU to not one, but two touchdowns in separate two-minute drills before halftime against Idaho.
The Bobcats scored with 1:15 remaining in the half after Mellott connected with Lonyatta Alexander, Jr. for 16 yards to the Idaho 12 to set up an Adam Jones score. Moments later, with :35 to play he took off on one of the most electric runs of his career as he scampered 63 yards to the Idaho 2-yard line to set up another touchdown plunge by Jones. The outbreak shot MSU into a 31-10 halftime lead from which it never looked back.
Due to having insurmountable leads in almost every game in 2024, Mellott’s heroics haven’t been needed much late in games. But he did bring the Bobcats back from a 31-14 fourth quarter deficit against FBS New Mexico. He started the comeback with a 15-yard touchdown run and then completed 6 of 9 passes for 81 yards that netted MSU’s game-winning drive. He has led the Bobcats on seven scoring drives late in the first half of games this season.
Likewise, the other three quarterbacks have all had their moments in crunch time in 2024. Bouman led USD to a pair of scores late against none other than North Dakota State in the last regular season game to forge a three-way tie in the MVFC between USD, NDSU and SDSU. Gronowski ran for a first down on fourth down, then threw for consecutive completions in SDSU’s overtime win over USD.
In NDSU’s 13-9 win over SDSU, Miller was 7 for 7 for 76 yards and threw the game-winning pass with just 1:49 to play. Earlier in the year he led the Bison back from a 12-point deficit to a 35-33 win over East Tennessee State scoring the game-winning touchdown on an 11-yard run with :50 to play. The previous scoring drive he completed a 38-yard pass on 4th-and-10 to keep the game alive for NDSU.
So, if you want to make a case for quarterbacks being the most important position in sports, the Final Four of the FCS playoffs is a good place to start.
