By Colter Nuanez SKYLINE SPORTS
BOZEMAN—Montana State’s peculiar non-conference schedule came to a most peculiar finish on Saturday in front of another record crowd at Bobcat Stadium.
And it’s still a bit of a mystery what the prospects are for the defending Big Sky Conference champions entering league play, which opens this coming Saturday, Sept. 27 against Eastern Washington in Bozeman.
Montana State started 0-2 for the first time since 2016 due mostly to having to endure the most challenging first two games of any Football Championship Subdivision contender. Last season saw Montana State rip off a school and conference-record 15 consecutive wins only to sputter in the first half of the national championship game on the way to a heartbreaking, 35-32 loss, MSU’s second to North Dakota State in the title game in the last four years.
This season began with a money game at the University of Oregon that left many wondering if the $680,000 the Ducks paid the Bobcats was worth the revenue stream considering OU has a payroll that exceeds $40 million to fund its roster and look like a real national championship contender after taking the No. 1 seed into the College Football Playoff last season.
Montana State lost 59-13, marking the most lopsided result for MSU since losing at Kansas State 69-10 in 2008. Although 46 points seems like an eye-opening number, Oregon beat Big XII foe Oklahoma State 69-3 the following week.
MSU’s home opener came against a South Dakota State program that is the only FCS team other than NDSU to win national titles over the last 15 years (SDSU won in 2022 and 2023), and the Jackrabbits appear like a title contender again. SDSU outlasted Montana State in an instant classic, emerging with a 30-24 double overtime win on a “Gold Rush” Saturday night to drop MSU to 0-2 and keep the Bobcats waiting to taste victory for the first time this calendar year.
Montana State got on the board with a 41-7 win over San Diego in which the hosts looked dominant. Justin Lamson threw for almost 300 yards and three touchdowns while the Bobcat run game also churned out more than 200 yards.
But many of the 21,000-plus in attendance Saturday, Sept. 20 left Bobcat Stadium scratching their heads after MSU had to gut out a 17-0 win over Mercyhurst. The game was among the most peculiar in recent memory, as the hosts only had the ball for six possessions. The Lakers drained the clock at all costs and went for it on fourth down most of the afternoon. Despite scoring no points, Mercyhurst only punted one time. Montana State scored on all three of its first half possessions but did not score after halftime.
The Bobcats moved to 2-2 and remain in the Top 5 of the national polls. But is Montana State a true championship contender?
“What I said to the team is: we’ve raised the bar, so our expectation is super high,” Montana State fifth-year head coach Brent Vigen said following the game. “It doesn’t mean you’re always going to meet it. You’re in a good spot if you come out on the winning side of it. You’re in a good spot if you can say here’s all the things we learned. We gotta appreciate winning, but I don’t want to lose sight of that expectation at the same time.
“It’s a tricky thing. I imagine a lot of guys didn’t think we played up to our standard, but you have to take a step back and look at why and know your opponent has a contribution to that and ask what did we do within that to make it a little harder on ourselves than we would’ve liked.”
Eastern Washington comes to Montana State following its first win of the season, a 52-31 victory over Western Illinois. EWU lost a heartbreaker the week before, falling 17-14 at Northern Iowa after a missed field goal at the buzzer. EWU’s other losses came at Boise State, 51-14, and at Incarnate Word, 31-21.
Montana State has won two of the last three Big Sky Conference titles. Vigen is 49-12 in his four-and-a-half seasons leading the Bobcats, including 29-3 in league play. All signs point to MSU remaining a contender. And the Bobcat veteran players certainly believe that’s the case.
“Having the vets that we do on our team, guys who have been around, guys who have won a lot of games, it’s just keeping the main thing the main thing,” MSU senior center JT Reed said. “That’s been our message. The beauty of it is we get to go out and do it again next week. We have another opportunity and that’s the beauty of college football.”
Colter Nuanez has covered the Big Sky Conference for 19 seasons and has directly covered Montana State since 2011. His work can be found at skylinesportsmt.com and he can be reached at Colter.Nuanez@gmail.com.
