MISSOULA, Mont. — 1-seed Montana State University scored 42 unanswered points to run away with a 52-19 victory over 8-seed Idaho Friday in the FCS quarterfinals.
The Vandals kept it close early on. Down 7 and following a turnover on downs, Isiah King intercepted MSU senior quarterback Tommy Mellott to give Idaho a boost.
Quarterback Jack Layne hit Jordan Dwyer on a 55-yard touchdown pass on the next play to tie the game. That score was the first allowed by the Bobcat defense in the first quarter at Bobcat Stadium this season.
A 32-yard field goal from Cameron Pope tied the game at 10-10 with 8:22 left in the first half. However, that’s when Idaho’s miscues benefitted Montana State on five of the next six scoring drives to begin the 42-point run, sparked by Mellott and redshirt freshman Adam Jones.
A surprise onside kick did not reach 10 yards and gave the Bobcats a short field. That turned into an 8-yard touchdown run by Mellott for Montana State to take the lead for good at 17-10.
On the following drive, Idaho’s Mark Hamper ran into his offensive lineman on a screen, and senior defensive end Brody Grebe came up with the fumble recovery. Five players later, Jones found the endzone for the first time on a 2-yard touchdown run.
The Bobcats got the ball back with under a minute left in the first half after a punt, but Mellott scrambled for 63 yards to set up Jones for a 1-yard touchdown run and a 31-10 halftime lead.
A Jon Johnson interception on the first play of the second half resulted in a Jones 9-yard touchdown run. A failed fake punt gave short field once again to MSU and ended with Mellott finding Taco Dowler for a 9-yard touchdown pass.
Jones capped off the Bobcats scoring run with a 2-yard touchdown run following a 56-yard catch and run from Mellott. This came after a turnover on downs by the Vandals in MSU territory
Mellott completed 12 of 18 passes for 174 yards, two touchdowns, and an interception, while rushing for a team-high 131 rushing yards on 14 carries and a touchdown.
Jones finished with 95 rushing yards and four touchdowns on 23 carries, but was also the Bobcats’ leading receiver with 66 yards on three catches. It’s the first four-rushing touchdown game by a Bobcat since Marqui Johnson in 2022 against Cal Poly.
The game put Jones at 1,068 rushing yards and 14 touchdowns on the season. Those are now both single-season records for an MSU freshman.
The Bobcats scored on their opening drive as Mellott connected with Gallatin product and sophomore tight end Rylan Schlepp for a 3-yard touchdown. It’s Schlepp’s first time in the endzone since he caught the first touchdown of the MSU season in the opener at FBS New Mexico.
Sophomore kicker Myles Sansted made a 46-yard field goal in his lone attempt of the game.
Montana State finished with 457 total yards as the 283 rushing yards are the second-most allowed by Vandal defense, followed by the Bobcats’ 360 rushing yards in the pair’s regular season meeting back on Oct. 12.
Layne and Dwyer were able to end the scoring streak with a 25-yard touchdown connection. Layne completed 20 of 30 passes for 239 yards, two touchdowns, and an interception, while Dwyer had a team-high 11 catches for 189 yards and two touchdowns.
Pope tacked on another field goal from 43 yards at the 3:55 mark in the fourth quarter to finish the night 2 for 2.
Although Idaho’s 407 total yards are the second most allowed by the Bobcat defense this season, the turnovers and stops on late downs put the ball in the hands of Mellott and Jones.
The MSU defense held the Vandals to 2 of 10 on third down and 1 of 5 on fourth down. Idaho did not convert on third down until 7:02 remaining in the game.
That is in contrast to the Bobcat offense which was 11 of 15 on third down conversions, 11 of 13 by the starting offense, and converted their one attempt on fourth down.
The time of possession also favored MSU with 38:51 compared to the Vandals’ 21:09.
The Bobcats spread the love when it came to tackling as freshman defensive back Jhase McMillan finished with a team-high four tackles.
MSU logged six tackles-for-loss, including three sacks with 1.5 from redshirt freshman defensive tackle Hunter Sharbono, one from Bozeman native and junior defensive end Kenneth Eiden IV, and a half sack from Logan Fredericksen.
1-seed Montana State will have one final home game of the 2024 season as the Bobcats host the winner of 5-seed UC Davis and 4-seed South Dakota in the FCS semifinals on Saturday, Dec. 21.
