The Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks started their football season 0-2, including a 28-20 loss at Abilene (Texas) Christian on Sept. 6.

That same day, the Montana State Bobcats fell in double overtime at home to South Dakota State to fall to 0-2. 

Now the Cats and Jacks will square off Friday at 7 p.m., in an FCS quarterfinal game airing nationally on ESPN. 

“World works in mysterious ways,” said SFA coach Colby Carthel, whose Lumberjacks will be at Bobcat Stadium Friday to face MSU. “Our team meeting after the first Abilene Christian game, I had it on a graphic, you know: Teams that are 0-2. Montana State was at the top. ‘Where do you think they’re going to finish?’ 

“They’ve rattled off 11 in a row and what do you know, so have the Lumberjacks.” 

Carthel is in his eighth year at SFA, having been hired after six seasons at Division II Texas A&M-Commerce. His 2017 Lions squad won the Division II national championship.  

At SFA, in Nacogdoches — Carthel and his players rock hoodies that say, “East Texas Tough,” — he has gone 35-35. 

Things are obviously trending up, and helping the Lumberjacks to 16 wins over the last two seasons is quarterback Sam Vidlak, who transferred from Montana after the 2023 campaign. 

“Sam Vidlak didn’t play against us back in ‘23, but he was their quarterback initially and sharing time with Clifton McDowell over at the university, so we saw him on film,” MSU coach Brent Vigen noted. “He has a really good arm.

 ”How he goes, and he has really good ability, is certainly the most important thing.” 

Vidlak and McDowell both hit the transfer portal after that 2023 Griz season, which culminated in UM’s 23-3 loss to South Dakota State in the national championship.  

This past Saturday Vidlak threw for 357 yards and three touchdowns and SFA beat Abilene Christian 41-34 in a rematch that featured seven lead changes. 

Yale: Tough Test 

If the final score of Montana State’s 21-13 second-round win over Yale this past Saturday was surprising, you maybe didn’t appreciate the talents of Josh Pitsenberger (124 rushing yards for the Bulldogs) or Abu Kamara (two forced fumbles). 

Kamara forced both fumbles from MSU quarterback Justin Lamson, who hadn’t turned the ball over since the preseason. The first was recovered by teammate Chris Long for a Bobcat touchdown; the second went to Yale, which cashed it in for a Pitsenberger TD run and what turned out to be the game’s final points with 2:09 remaining. 

“We’re up 21-6 with four minutes and change left,” Vigen recalled. “We’re moving the ball and looking like we’re going to maybe run away from the adversity, and then we created some adversity four ourselves with Justin coughed the football up.  

“It could have ended a lot differently but at the end of the day hopefully it’s a great opportunity to learn and grow from.” 

USD for Real 

With the exception of Illinois State, no one had a more eye-catching win than South Dakota’s 47-0 verdict at sixth-seeded Mercer. 

The host Bears had allowed 92 rushing yards a game going in and then gave up 308 to the Coyotes, who will play Montana Saturday at 1:30 p.m. inside Washington-Grizzly Stadium. 

LJ Phillips, Jr., had 159 of those yards. He has filled in capably for Charles Pierre, Jr., who was a beast on the 2024 Coyotes team that lost to Montana State in the FCS semifinals.  

Pierre was hurt in USD’s second game, a 20-13 loss to Lamar. Now Phillips has 1,847 yards and 18 touchdowns rushing. 

Meanwhile 6-foot-5 lefty QB Aidan Bouman will be making his 46th career start Saturday, when the Coyotes and Grizzlies square off on ABC. 

“There’s eight teams left, everyone’s good,” Montana coach Bobby Hauck said. “Certainly South Dakota is a very good team. Their DNA is toughness; we are well aware of what they went on the road and did last weekend, against a team that had won I think nine in a row. Their ability to both run and pass is a problem.” 

Bouman threw for 241 yards and two touchdowns for Mercer; for the season he has passed for 2,645 yards and 24 touchdowns with six interceptions. 

Wary Coyotes 

Travis Johansen, South Dakota’s first-year head coach, has two large concerns about Saturday: The crowd and Montana’s blitzing defense. 

“I think they’ve had 51 false starts in that stadium this year; might be more,” Johansen, who replaced the retiring Bob Nielson after three seasons as associate head coach. “Which is an incredible number. 

“Luckily enough we have a pretty loud dome here and our ability to make it really uncomfortable on our offense. ... We can’t have those unforced errors affect the game.  

Montana’s 3-3-5 defense uses pressure and speed to balance out a perceived lack of size up front. The Griz allowed just 61 rushing yards to Missouri Valley rival South Dakota State in a 50-29 win this past Saturday. 

The approach has left the secondary to get gashed at times, but the Grizzlies’ 12-1 record is hard to argue with. 

“I watched the tape, and I do believe they’re dedicated to stopping the run game and are willing to give up some passing yardage as empty yardage, knowing how explosive their offense is going to be up and down the field,” Johansen said. “I have got a lot of respect for what they do and how they do it, and they can hurt you if you’re trying to throw the football all over the yard.” 

QUICK KICKS: Saturday’s 50-29 win over SDSU saw UM set program single-season records for touchdowns (72) and points (540). In 2009 the (14-1) Griz had 537 points; the 2004 and 2019 teams scored 69 TDs each. ... No Dakota team has won a playoff game at Washington-Grizzly Stadium: SDSU is 0-3, NDSU is 0-1. ... UM leads the series with USD 14-6 and is 11-3 against the Coyotes in Missoula. ... UM’s Brooks Davis has 52 catches for 680 yards; Jon Talmage has the most freshman receiving yards in program history with 690 in 2002, on 50 catches.