DAVIS, Calif. – In a finish that had everything you could want and couldn’t have been scripted any better, Montana State held off a frenetic UC Davis rally to pull out a 30-28 win and take its second Big Sky Conference title in three years.
The Bobcats (7-0 Big Sky, 11-0 overall) and Aggies (6-1, 9-2) came into the game with a combined 19-1 record and 12-0 in league play. The game wasn’t living up to the hype after MSU scored 30 unanswered points and had been controlling the action for nearly 45 minutes after an early UCD score.
The night was one play from over several times only to see the Aggies hold on by a strand and capitalize all but one time to take a once-dominant looking Bobcat’ coronation party to the cusp of one of the greatest comebacks in Big Sky Conference history.
A pass interference, a 77-yard pass play and an onside kick set up touchdowns in the final seven minutes for the Aggies. MSU just needed to make one play at some point during that stretch and they finally did when McCade O’Reilly intercepted UCD quarterback Miles Hastings, who was trying to connect with Aggie’ superstar Lan Larison for a two-point conversion to tie the game.
“That’s a testimony to how McCade works, day-in and day-out,” MSU defensive end Zac Crews said.
“Just some ups and downs there at the end. We got a defensive pass interference call there. You know our mentality is to bow up, next play and you can’t worry about the refs there.”
MSU built a 30-8 lead with a punishing defense and timely completions from quarterback Tommy Mellott. The full 60 minutes hadn’t been played yet, a conference championship was still hanging in the balance and the Aggies proved the adage that games aren’t over until they’re over.
The Aggies had one more chance after the failed conversion, but their second onside kick went right to senior captain Rylan Ortt and MSU took a knee to run out the clock.
“We had a gut-check down there at the end in the fourth quarter,” Crews said. “So, we can bank that experience now and use it when we need it.”
UC Davis got a herculean effort from Larison, who touched the ball 32 times of the 67 plays UCD ran. He finished with 112 rushing on 23 carries and 109 receiving on eight catches. He also completed a pass for four yards. His 225 yards were more than half of the Aggies’ 414 total yards.
Larison made a spectacular one-handed catch to setup the first score of the game as UCD also got a two-point conversion to jump out to an 8-0 lead. His 34-yard run featured four broken tackles to get the Aggies in position for the first touchdown of their rally cutting the Bobcat’ lead to 30-15.He had a 27-yard reception the play before the Aggies scored their final touchdown.
It wasn’t quite enough.
Mellott, who brought MSU from behind against New Mexico in the first game of the, produced numerous first downs on third and fourth downs as the Bobcat’ run game couldn’t get going. His plays coupled with a stifling defense had MSU breezing along. He completed 16 of 18 passes during one stretch.
“Different path to a (close) win like that,” MSU head coach Brent Vigen said in comparing the UC Davis win with the New Mexico win. “We’ve been put through some trials. Tonight, Eastern we were tied. Our guys continue to fight and any experience you can build upon and not lose belief in the next call is a good one. You know we give up a touchdown, we gotta stop a two-point conversion and we get a stop; we didn’t get an onside kick so we gotta get back out there and get an onside kick covered and we did that.”
MSU’s first score came when Mellott was blitzed from both ends of Aggies’ line. He outmaneuvered both defenders and got himself in a position to connect with a wide-open Rohan Jones for a 53-yard score and a drive later waited in the pocket just long enough for Ty McCullouch to sprint across the end zone to an open spot for another touchdown.
Mellott finished 18 of 25 for 174 yards and he got an assist from running back Julius Davis, who came off the bench in the second half and ran for 91 yards on 13 carries and MSU’s last touchdown. Davis had more yards rushing in the third quarter than MSU had as a team in the first half.
The MSU defense was playing its best game of the year until nearly collapsing entirely in the final seven minutes. The Bobcats had a season-high six sacks, which was also a season-high for sacks allowed by UC Davis. Zac Crews had two to go along with a fumble recovery and Kenneth Eiden IV had three tackles-for-loss, including two sacks.
“Get another win and keep things moving in this direction is really all this game was about,” Vigen said.
At the end of the day the Bobcats are undefeated and Big Sky champions. They have a chance to set a conference record for wins in a regular season become outright league champions next Saturday at home in Bozeman. Their road schedule is complete at 6-0 for the season a big turnaround from a 2023 season that saw MSU lose three of five road games as a promising season didn’t produce top four let alone a top two seed.
MSU is a win away from being a top two seed for the FCS playoffs. The Bobcats can earn that with a win over rival Montana at noon this Saturday.
