By Colter Nuanez SKYLINE SPORTS
Montana State has found a variety of formulas for victory as the Bobcats try to become the first Big Sky Conference team to win consecutive national championships.
After Saturday’s triple-overtime victory at Idaho State, add another to the list. The Bobcats proved they can also win an absolute street fight.
A week after firing on all cylinders in a 61-7 runaway over Cal Poly, MSU got Idaho State’s best shot. The Bengals entered the game with a reputation as one of the hardest-hitting, toughest defenses in the Big Sky. That proved true. Defensive coordinator Grant Duff’s plan was sound, and the Bengals played with a ferocity the Bobcats hadn’t seen this season.
At one point, Idaho State defensive lineman Bronson Childs ripped Montana State quarterback Justin Lamson’s helmet off, and before Lamson hit the Holt Arena turf, Childs punched him in the face.
That was the most violent play in a game filled with violence, as Idaho State nearly pulled off the best win of head coach Cody Hawkins’ four years leading the traditionally downtrodden but suddenly competitive Bengals.
But the Bobcats showed great resolve and tremendous toughness in enduring the 15-round slugfest. Rocky Lencioni’s fourth-down catch turned into a pivotal touchdown that forced the first overtime. Myles Sansted’s 43-yard field goal kept the Bobcats alive at the end of the second overtime. And Lamson continued to look like the alpha leader and the toughest player in the Big Sky, helping Montana State gut out another win.
The 28-26 triple-overtime victory moved the Bobcats to 6-1 in Big Sky play and 9-1 overall. Montana State is now 21-2 with Lamson as its starting quarterback. And Brent Vigen earned his 70th career victory at MSU, tying Rob Ash (2007-15) for the most in Bobcat football history.
“I’m sure we have to correct a bunch of things, but it’s hard to beat the heart we have,” an emotional Vigen told Keaton Gillogly, Leo Davis and Dan Davies of the Bobcat Radio Network. “So damn proud of them.”
The No. 3-ranked Bobcats came into the Top 25 matchup with the six-win Bengals as the top team in the FCS Playoff Committee’s latest Top 10, released Thursday.
The Bobcats got a much stiffer test in front of a sold-out Holt Arena, where a raucous crowd turned out to support an ISU team that entered November with a winning record for the first time in more than 20 years.
Idaho State raced out to a 10-0 lead and was up 20-13 with 2:30 left before Lamson provided some heroics. On fourth-and-10, Lamson threw a perfect pass to Lencioni, a Bozeman native, for a 20-yard touchdown that tied the game and forced overtime.
“It wasn’t going to be our last chance, but it was going to be our best chance, the way that was unfolding,” Vigen said. “I hated for us to get into the fourth-and-10, but that’s a matchup we probably haven’t gone after a whole lot, getting Rocky isolated. I just love that Justin trusted him and gave him a ball that he could make a play on.
“You can’t draw it up the way it played out today in so many instances. In our opportunities down there, we fell short over and over again, it felt like. But that one, when we needed it to tie and that was our only option, we figured it out.”
After both teams could only muster field goals in the first two overtimes, the Bobcats stopped ISU’s two-point try in the third overtime. Then they ended with a trick play, as wide receiver Dane Steel threw the winning two-point conversion to tight end Rylan Schlepp.
Caden Dowler made the stop on the ISU two-point try and was among a host of defenders who made key plays.
“It was a very similar play to one that was run on a two-point play in Moscow,” Vigen said. “Same exact general concept when you boil it down. We didn’t execute in that previous opportunity, and we were dialed in and executed it there. The coaches had a good sense for what they might go to, and they did, and the guys knocked it down. Then it gave us a chance to win it on offense.”
Idaho State, solid defensively all season, was outstanding against the MSU run game, holding the Bobcats to just 123 yards on 31 carries. MSU had run for at least 220 yards in each of its previous five games but found the middle clogged with defenders all night.
That meant MSU had to turn to its senior captain at quarterback. By the end of the battle, Lamson looked like a prizefighter. When his helmet was ripped off, it opened a gash above his right eye, and blood trickled down his face. After the game, he had another cut over his left eye. He finished with 46 rushing yards on 13 carries and completed 22 of 37 passes for 209 yards.
Statistics aside, Montana State continued to show why the Bobcats are the team to beat. So much of that comes from how hard it is to finish off a team with the Bobcats’ resolve.
“I think it’s our experience. We’ve had a fair amount of experiences we’ve had to come through, and we haven’t come through them all. But you learn,” Vigen said. “We certainly learned a hard lesson on finishing the last time we were in this state, and we were put in some similar scenarios tonight. Again, we found a way. At the end, you need one more point than them. I know it didn’t look pretty, but we just want to get a win.”
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.
