Bobcats ‘standing on the shoulders of giants’; unranked Illinois State plays with ferocity, relentlessness and fortitude
By Colter Nuanez SKYLINE SPORTS
NASHVILLE—A championship game victory 41 years in the making came down to the two young men who have risen to the occasion over and over again throughout a tumultuous-turned-triumphant season for the Montana State Bobcats.
With a sea of blue and gold filling up most of FirstBank Stadium here on Monday night, MSU looked like the team to beat for most of the first three quarters of action. Then, in the blink of an eye, Illinois State pushed Montana State’s season, and title aspirations, to the brink.
Dane Steel capped a spectacular last-minute drive to put MSU up 21-7 before halftime with a play that will live in Bobcat lore forever. Steel’s 33-yard touchdown catch included a hurdle, a spin, a dive and a No. 1 ranking on SportsCenter’s Top 10.
Taco Dowler thrust Montana State to a 28-14 lead late in the third quarter with a winding, juking 22-yard touchdown run that was SportsCenter-esque, too.
As the fourth quarter began to unfold, it all started to unravel for Montana State. The horrors of when MSU blew a fourth quarter lead to lose in overtime to North Dakota State in the 2023 playoffs might’ve started to ring in the heads of the thousands and thousands of Bobcat fans who made the cross-country trip to Nashville. Certainly, memories of last season’s 35-32 loss to NDSU in Frisco, Texas that spoiled an undefeated season came to mind. And certainly, so did MSU’s double-overtime loss to South Dakota State in the second week of this season.
Illinois State scored 20 unanswered points and rallied all the way back to push Montana State to the brink of another heartbreak. And when Redbird kicker Michael Cosentino lined up for a 38-yard field goal with 83 seconds left, it looked like MSU might’ve let another national championship game slip away.
Instead, Jhase McMillan blocked the game-winning field goal attempt to help MSU stay alive. After a manic final minute that included a bad snap and a missed opportunity for the ‘Cats, the game went to overtime.
Again, ISU pushed Montana State to the brink. Freshman wide receiver Dylan Lord had a breakout evening as MSU focused intently on limiting Illinois State All-American Daniel Sobkowicz, and Lord made the biggest play of his career when he snared his 13th catch for his second touchdown to give ISU its first lead of the game.
But the Redbirds led by six instead of seven points because MSU senior Hunter Parsons blocked Costentino’s extra point attempt.
After Montana State committed its eighth false start on a night when MSU committed 14 penalties, the Bobcats faced a fourth down, trailing in overtime with their season to go. And of course, Taco Dowler and stud quarterback Justin Lamson were the kings of clutch once again.
On fourth and 11, from the MSU 14-yard line, Lamson threw through contact, lofting a perfectly placed ball that Dowler settled underneath for the latest in their iconic string of connections. That touchdown tied the game 34-34, thanks to the extra point blocked by Parsons.
Myles Sansted, Montana State’s kicker who happens to be head coach Brent Vigen’s nephew, hit the PAT and the stadium, which featured a crowd of 24,101—the largest to see an FCS title game live since 1996—lost its collective minds.
For the first time since 1984, the Bobcats are national champions.
“You think it’s going to happen. But now that it’s really happened, it’s a dream come true.”
Justin Lamson, MSU quarterback
“We are standing on the shoulders of giants and we would not be where we are at without the alumni, the donors, the players who came before us,” Dowler said after the game. “It means the world to see a family and a culture that was built so long ago and there’s so much love for— that’s what this means so much for. This is for the alumni, the people that came before us. I couldn’t be happier to bring this championship to them along with my brothers here.”
The decades-long road to riches
Montana State has been knocking on the door of the nation’s best—first quietly then loudly, but never definitively over the last four decades. The 1984 championship marked the third title for the Big Sky Conference since Division I-AA was created in 1978. That 12-2 title season was also sandwiched between two abysmal seasons. MSU went 1-10 in Dave Arnold’s first season in 1983, won the national title in 1984, went 2-9 in 1985 and after a 3-8 record in 1986, Arnold was dismissed.
MSU did not make the playoffs between 1987 and 2002. Those shortcomings were associated by losses to archrival Montana year in and year out. “The Streak” became the most omnipresent sports narrative in the state of Montana.
But since MSU won in Missoula 10-7 in 2002, the Bobcats have been ascending toward the moment that played out on Monday night. It was never rapid but always incremental. MSU beat the Griz in 2002, 2003 and 2005 to share the league title with a rival that won 12 in a row.
In the early 2010s, Rob Ash had a heck of a time beating the Griz but he kept helping MSU win league crowns, three-peating from 2010-2012. And even when it fell apart for Montana State’s all-time leader in wins, the Bobcats kept building.
“We are standing on the shoulders of giants and we would not be where we are at without the alumni, the donors, the players who came before us.”
Taco Dowler, MSU wideout
Jeff Choate won four times in a row over Montana, helping solidify the Bobcats as the Treasure State’s best football program of the last decade. And when Choate bolted, Brent Vigen took over, helping raise the expectations from in-state and in-conference to a national championship standard.
But the previous four seasons, while wildly successful, ended in heartbreak for MSU. The Bobcats took a 29-10 whipping in Missoula at the hands of the Griz and turned it into a run to the national title game in 2021, winning the first road playoff game in school history by toppling No. 1 Sam Houston State in the quarterfinals on the way to appearing in the title game for the first time in 37 years. That came to an abrupt end with a 38-10 loss to North Dakota State.
Two years later in a second-round playoff game in Bozeman, NDSU blocked an extra point in overtime to win 35-34—the same final score of Monday’s slugfest.
Last season, Montana State fell to NDSU because of a slow start and a myriad of off-the-field drama.
So when NDSU lost in the second round this season for the first ever, it seemed like MSU had a golden opportunity to fulfill the destiny athletic director Leon Costello hoped he could achieve when he hired Vigen, a former NDSU player who had been on the coaching staff at his alma mater when they won their first three—in a string of 10—FCS national titles.
Trouble was, the team that ousted NDSU in Fargo, North Dakota was the team that awaited MSU in Nashville. And that Illinois State team played with ferocity, relentlessness and fortitude.
With MSU focusing heavily on Sobkowicz, Lord went nuts. Senior running back Vic Dawson has been a revelation down the stretch, rushing for almost 1,000 yards since Nov. 1 alone, including 126 yards on 29 physical carries Monday. And the Redbirds controlled the ball, running 85 plays to MSU’s 51 and possessing the ball for nearly 40 minutes of game time.
Montana State blew a two-score lead in the second half. The Bobcats committed an uncharacteristic number of penalties. MSU let the underdog Redbirds take their first lead in overtime. And the ‘Cats nearly suffered yet another heartbreak in front of a passionate, partisan fan base that has experienced so many over the years.
Instead, though, the meltdown did not come to fruition. Instead, Lamson and Dowler saved the day.
Again.
The same duo who converted a game-changing and unforgettable third and 20 against Montana in the semifinals to spark a 48-23 win, made magic again in the Music City.
“I think you always dream of winning a national championship and I really do think that’s become the standard at Montana State,” said Lamson, the title game’s Most Outstanding Player. “I know we lost a lot of guys coming out of last season and that’s all I heard coming into the season. But coming in, I already knew we had dudes, guys not a lot of people were talking about.
“I thought about this moment but to be here is a little bit different. You think it’s going to happen. But now that it’s really happened, it’s a dream come true. I’m just trying to take it all in.”
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.
