BOZEMAN – In a day of firsts, Montana State ran all over a depleted Sacramento State’ defense to the tune of a school-record seven rushing touchdowns and a stadium-record 511 rushing yards as the Bobcats cruised to a 49-7 win to reach 10-0 for the first time in school history.
The win was also MSU’s first over the Hornets since 2015. The Hornets came into the game having won the Big Sky Conference title in 2019, 2021 and 2022. They own the last regular season win by an opponent in Bobcat Stadium, which dates back to midway through the 2019 season.
“That’s a team we didn’t play our first couple years,” MSU head coach Brent Vigen said of the Hornets. “We didn’t play them in ’21 and ’22 and they won the conference championship both years. I know last year that was a huge game for us going out there and winning.
“So, being able to do that to a team that has played at a really high level – whatever they’ve done this year – we took it to another level with what we were able to do against them relative to other teams.”
The 10-0 overall mark is accompanied by a 6-0 Big Sky tally for the second-ranked Bobcats. MSU was 9-0 to start the 1956 season and earned its first national championship that year. There are still two games remaining in the 2024 regular season alone not to mention as many as four in the postseason.
“Unbelievable,” running back Adam Jones said. “To think I’m on a team that’s making history is something that I’m extremely grateful for, but right now I think we’re really just focused on the next game and that’s UC Davis. We try not to think about that stuff because we’ve got some big goals this year.”
The rushing total marked the second time in school history MSU has gone over 500 yards rushing (the other was 554 against Cal Poly in 2022). The seven touchdowns was one more than the previous record, which was last accomplished in 2022 and has been done eight times.
It took just three plays on this day for MSU to reach the end zone with the first of their seven rushing touchdowns. Then just four plays to score again to get the blowout going.
“We talk a lot about how to stress defenses,” MSU head coach Brent Vigen said. “And how you do it…there’s a lot of different ways. Our run game stresses defenses horizontally as much as you probably can. It has this, at times, really potent play action off of it and that’s what we want to be. We want to strive for balance and ultimately I’m sure there will games ahead when we have to throw it more.
“To be able to run the football and be able to stop the run are the mark of championship teams.”
Jones finished with 159 yards on five carries, while backfield mate Scottre Humphrey had 129 yards on 12 totes. Humphrey has rushed for 100 or more yards on eight occasions this season. The Bobcats averaged 10 yards per rush and 9.5 yards per play in the game. MSU pulled its starters midway through the third period.
“I mean it’s entirely our offensive line and tight ends,” Jones said in deflecting credit away from himself. “If you watch the film those holes are so big. We aren’t even touched until we’re a full 15 yards down the field. When we’re having explosive plays before we’re getting touched it’s going to be a good day for the Bobcats.”
The duo started the second half with a pair of runs in succession that summed up how overpowering the Bobcats were in the run game on the day. Humphrey took the opening play 75 yards for a touchdown, but it was called back for holding. So, Jones took the next snap 78 yards only to be pulled down at the Hornet’ four-yard line. Humphrey scored on the next play.
Despite only lasting two plays it barely beat out the next shortest drive of the game as MSU needed just three running plays to score on its first possession of the game. So it would be for the Hornets as their defensive line, which was made up of most second and third stringers was no match for MSU’s formidable offensive line.
MSU showed that it isn’t just running backs that teams have to worry about as wide receiver Ty McCullouch electrified the 21,987 fans in attendance with a 64-yard touchdown on a jet sweep to start the scoring. Then quarterback Tommy Mellott went in from the 14 after completing a 32-yard pass to McCullouch as MSU entered the locker room up 28-0.
McCullouch’s TD run was aided a great deal by a block from Jones.
“That had a lot to do with the game plan this week,” Jones said. “That look that we had (from the Hornet’ defense) was exactly like we thought it was going to look like during the week. I knew that I had that dude on that play. It was how we drew it up but he kind of hedged the defense and I just took him where he wanted to go and Ty’s really fast. You only give him a half a second and he’s outta there.”
Where the defender wanted to go apparently was into the Sacramento State bench as Jones ran him out of bounds to spark the play.
The 32-yard catch gave McCullouch 157 yards on three plays covering his late 61-yard touchdown reception against Eastern Washington through his first two plays versus Sacramento State.
The Bobcats got two more scores before the half as Julius Davis and Mellott reached pay dirt. They got three more in the second half from Humphrey, Jones and Davis.
For the second straight game the Bobcats got a strong team building moment when the defense picked up the offense after a turnover. A week ago, they forced a four-and-out turnover on downs after Mellott threw his first interception of the year. This week they helped out Jones, who fumbled the ball away deep in Sacramento State territory with a three-and-out.
“It definitely makes you feel a lot better about making a mistake like that,” Jones said. “It allows us to not dwell on what happened so that we can wash it away. That’s extremely important in football. The second you start to think about two-three plays ago, you’re missing the opportunity to make the play in front of you.”
Jones would bounce back on the next drive when he took a pass from Mellott 22 yards only to see it called back, but on the next two plays he ran for 11, then four yards to get MSU a first down on a drive that would end with MSU’s third touchdown of the game.
The Bobcats will face the two teams that are on their tail for the league title in the next two weeks. UC Davis is up next on the road, then rival Montana visits to finish the regular season.
