There was plenty going on Saturday in Albuquerque, where Montana State faced the University of New Mexico and eventually defeated the Lobos 35-31 after trailing all but the final 10 seconds.
“Looking back at Saturday’s game, it was exactly how I envisioned it right after the game,” MSU head coach Brent Vigen said during his press conference on Monday. “There were some things in that game that we were able to correct. Obviously New Mexico did their part to make it 31-14, but ultimately we were within reach in the fourth quarter and after a couple of plays.”
The Bobcats discovered shortly before the game that they would have to change their offensive line – something they are fortunately all too familiar with. Fortunately, because not only do they adapt to such things, they adapt very quickly.
MSU had to reshuffle the line twice before going to New Mexico. Once at the very end of last season when starters Rush Reimer and Omar Agbedion attempted to transfer. MSU moved Cole Sain and JT Reed to the guard positions and continued seamlessly. Then, in fall camp, center Justus Perkins was injured, forcing Sain to play center and tackle Marcus Wehr to play guard, while Titan Fleischman took over at tackle.
Before the game, MSU learned that Reed could not play, so MSU moved its other tackle Conner Moore to Reed’s guard position and Moore was replaced by freshman Cedric Jefferson at left tackle.
The result? The Bobcats rushed for 367 yards in the game, earning their first FBS win in nearly 20 years. However, the line allowed some pressure on quarterback Tommy Mellott, and it may have contributed to Mellott losing possession twice and the ball being carried back for touchdowns.
When it mattered, the line was more sophisticated and Mellott’s protection on a game-winning 11-play, 89-yard drive was perfect.
“That two-minute drive our offense put together with a timeout was really impressive,” Vigen said. “We practice those situations a lot. When you have a quarterback like Tommy, who’s been in a few of those situations throughout his career, it wasn’t too big a moment for him. He executed it really well and we had some guys on the other end of those throws that made good catches. As far as the offensive line goes, we endured a lot of pressure throughout that stretch.”
Apart from that, the Bobcat offensive ran with its No. 3 and No. 4 running backs – Scottre Humphrey and Adam Jones – who combined for 307 rushing yards. They were working with essentially three new faces at the tight end and H-back positions, but it was the third tight end – Rylan Schlepp – who scored the first touchdown of the day.
On defense, rising star Dru Polidore was benched for the first few games a few weeks ago and nickelback Caden Dowler stepped in as safety. Miles Jackson went out early in the game – he later returned – as Dowler slid back to the nickelback position and Blake Stillwell took his place.
Kicker Casey Kautzman was replaced shortly before the game by Miles Sansted, who ultimately used all five of his extra point attempts.
To make matters worse, a strong wind that gusted over 40 miles per hour came up just before New Mexico attempted a field goal when the Lobos were already leading 31-14. The kick missed and the whole game changed at that point as the wind continued and cooled off the MSU players who had been standing in the hot sun all day while the UNM players finally got some shade behind their bleachers. The wind was likely the reason for another missed field goal by the Lobos in the fourth quarter that would have put them ahead by 13 points.
MSU, meanwhile, had a bullseye on a broken play intended as a handoff to Jones, who adjusted and made a key block as Mellott raced in from 15 yards out. On the next possession, MSU failed on fourth down but forced a UNM punt that landed at the Bobcats’ 7. Undeterred, Jones galloped 93 yards for an electrifying TD, making the score 31-28.
A dropped pass – possibly caused by the wind – on fourth down set up MSU’s final drive, which was orchestrated by Mellott, who still had memories of his past foibles fresh in his mind. He completed 6 of 9 passes for 81 yards on the 89-yard drive and found his best rhythm of the day as the Bobcats tied the game on Humphrey’s 4-yard touchdown run with 10 seconds left.
At the end of the day, the Bobcats had allowed 14 points directly from turnovers and the defense had been tricked by a clever naked bootleg from UNM quarterback Devon Dampier.
“Our defense ultimately not allowing any points in the second half is something we didn’t talk about much after the game,” Vigen said. “That was really impressive. They missed a couple of field goals and the wind picking up really changed the dynamics of the passing game. I attribute their second missed field goal entirely to the wind.”
The Bobcats had a large lead in total yardage (567-324) entering the game, but that lead became even more dramatic after falling behind 17-0. MSU was nothing short of dominant, outscoring the Lobos by a whopping 497-188 from that point on.
It probably won’t be that strange this Saturday night when MSU travels to St. George, Utah, to face a Utah Tech team it beat 63-20 in its first home game at Gold Rush last year. Then again, you can never be too sure with this MSU team that’s building a reputation for wild road games. MSU needed late-game heroics at Eastern Washington and Northern Arizona in 2022 to win against teams it was clearly favored against. Last year, they lost two close road games to South Dakota State on a last-second call overturned on what was believed to be a game-winning touchdown and then to Idaho, where they couldn’t get a first down until their final drive of the first half and then lost on a missed field goal in the final seconds.
