In football, just like in real life, there are good habits and bad habits. It’s good, if not great, to be able to acquire the habit of winning close football games. Not so good to have a knack for losing them. One key element to having the good habit is a quarterback with an innate ability to rise to the occasion.
Montana State seems to be in the process of sorting that out. And senior quarterback Tommy Mellott has been – and will continue to be be – integral in any type of late-game heroics for MSU.
This past Saturday was a prime example of that.
MSU’s 35-31 win saw the Bobcats facing a fourth quarter deficit of 17 points as they trailed 31-14. Mellott, who suffered two strip-6s earlier in the game, was nails in the fourth quarter for MSU.
He led the Bobcats to 21 unanswered points in the quarter connecting on a 25-yard pass to Hunter Provience, then scoring on a 15-yard touchdown run to cut the lead to 31-21. MSU got another touchdown two possessions later when Adam Jones ripped off a 93-yard touchdown run, then Mellott completed six of nine passes for 81 yards on an 89-yard touchdown drive as Humphrey plunged in from four yards for the win.
The fourth quarter comeback win was the biggest since at least 2003. In 2004, MSU trailed 24-10 to Weber State and won 27-24 and in 2018 the Bobcats trailed Montana 22-7 and won 29-25.
“When it came down to it at the end, there was a real calm about how he went out there,” MSU head coach Brent Vigen said. “I think he did what he would’ve expected to do and I think he did what we would’ve expected of him in that moment. That comes from experience. Good experiences, bad experiences.”
In 2022, the Bobcats were all about pulling out games that it seemed on the verge of losing. They were going back-and-forth with Eastern Washington all day were on the verge of losing after Sean Chambers, who was filling in for the concussed Mellott, threw an interception in the end zone. One play later Callahan O’Reilly stripped the ball and Ty Okada recovered, then Chambers ran twice for 20 yards and the winning touchdown.
Four weeks later, MSU found itself in a 24-9 hole against Weber State after the Wildcats returned a kickoff and a punt for touchdowns on consecutive touches, then got another TD on a short run. A series of four self-inflicted safeties by WSU and a pair of Mellott touchdown runs and touchdown pass midway through the third quarter got the Bobcats back in front and they held off a desperate rally by the Wildcats for a 43-38 win. Mellott finished with 273 yards rushing.
Two week later, the Bobcats appeared on the verge of routing Northern Arizona only to Jacks quarterback RJ Martinez catch fire and throw four touchdown passes and catch one himself to push NAU to a 35-31 lead with 11:44 to go. Mellott would answer with a one-yard TD run and after a NAU field goal tied the game at 38-38, Mellott and Taco Dowler made a play for the ages by hooking up on a 64-yard pass play on third and 10 from the MSU 18 to help set up a chip shot field goal for a 41-38 win.
Last year, however, the Bobcats came out on the losing end of three tight games, losing on a controversial play to South Dakota State 20-16, then failing to get a first down for the games first 28 minutes before losing on a missed field goal in the waning seconds to Idaho 24-21, before dropping a second round playoff game to North Dakota State 35-34 on a blocked extra point in overtime.
In those three games quarterbacks Chambers and Mellott put MSU in position to win before things out of their control proved fatal. Against SDSU, Chambers hit Clevan Thomas, Jr. for what was initially called a touchdown, but was reversed on review. However, no video ever surfaced showing Thomas being out of bounds or bobbling the ball. Thomas stretched out to catch the pass and adjusted the ball in his hands as he brought to his body, which is allowed, before he hit the ground.
“Offensive football, in its most extreme moments, its most intense moments I think that’s the best way to go about your business,” Vigen said when asked about Mellott’s stoic nature that seems to rub off on his teammates. “Joe Montana pointing out John Candy in the Super Bowl right before they go on that drive. There’s endless stories about quarterbacks going into that huddle and the other players saying, ‘we knew he could do it because of the way he was.’ If you go out there and you’re frantic, then, boy, those other ten guys are going to be frantic in their own right.
“I think if you’re going to be successful in those moments, then you need to be a guy who is outwardly displaying that (confidence). That’s how Tommy is anyway, so I’m certain our guys had a real sense of confidence because of who was steering the ship.”
Against Idaho in Moscow last fall, Mellott completed five of six passes to move MSU 57 yards to the Idaho 18. The drive sputtered from there and after a sack cost the Bobcats eight yards, Brendan Hall missed a 43-yard attempt that would’ve tied the game.
With Mellott playing perhaps his best game as a passer against NDSU, the Bobcats took a 28-21 lead midway through the third quarter. On the next drive Mellott suffered a game, and season, ending injury and the Bison would eventually tie the score at 28-28 with 2:28 to play before Chambers began what look to be a game-winning drive.
After Jared White ran twice for a first down, Chambers went off the left side for momentarily looked like the go-ahead score only to have stepped out of bounds 29 yards into the run. Still MSU was on the NDSU 36 needing just a few yards to get into some semblance of field goal range, but two NDSU sacks ended the threat and the game went into overtime. Scottre Humphrey scored on the first play for MSU after NDSU opened the overtime with a touchdown. Casey Kautzman’s extra point was blocked and the Bobcat’ season was over.
“All three of those losses, we had good two-minute drives and (Mellott) was in on one of them,” Vigen said. “In the Idaho game, down three needing a touchdown to win, we move it pretty good, but we don’t close it out.”
While there’s a mixed bag of finishing off teams – MSU is just 4-3 in those games – during that stretch the quarterback play in crunch time has been top notch. Mellott drove MSU to winning scores in two of the wins and brought his team back from a 15-point deficit in another. He also had the Bobcats in good shape to beat both Idaho and NDSU only to see special teams plays and an injury play big roles in those losses. Chambers keyed the win against EWU and he arguably made the game-winning pass against SDSU, but had it taken away on the controversial reversal, otherwise MSU would be 5-2. A missed field goal and blocked extra point are all that kept the Bobcats from being, potentially at least, undefeated in those games, but 4-3 is the reality.
Montana State is prepping for another road non-conference game this Saturday night in St. George, Utah against Utah Tech.
