Bobcats surge past stubborn Blue Devils

BOZEMAN — The top-ranked Bobcats got a test Saturday.

Down 21-7 early in the second half after two quick touchdowns by Central Connecticut State, Montana State went on a tear and scored a 35-30 non-conference football win, its 18th straight. 

The Blue Devils of the Northeast Conference piled up 24 first downs and made plenty of big plays, including a 42-yard touchdown catch by Eli Daniels and a 42-yard fumble return by Navon Mitchell, just 18 seconds apart. The latter put CCSU up 21-7 at 12:28 of the third quarter. 

Adam Jones, who ran for 122 yards, scored two touchdowns and Justin Lamson threw for two scores in a closing 28-9 flourish by the Bobcats (4-0).  

“That was a great effort by our guys after spotting them 14 points out of halftime,” MSU coach Brent Vigen said. “It certainly created a great deal of adversity, and a whole bunch of credit goes to Central Connecticut. I thought that team came out with a plan, played really hard, made plays and made it really hard on us.” 

From there the Bobcats outscored the two-time reigning NEC champs 28-9. 

“Ultimately the adversity that we did face and how we responded, that got us over the hump,” Vigen said. “In that third quarter it was the defense, it was the offense, it was special teams.” 

The Bobcats found a gear after the scoop-and-score. Lamson engineered a seven play, 70-yard scoring drive by completing five of six passes for 69 yards, ending with a 9-yard score to tight end Rocky Lencioni.  

Later in the third quarter Lamson connected with Dane Steel on a 31-yard touchdown pass to draw the Bobcats into a 21-21 tie.  

Then Montana State’s defense took over, forcing a three-and-out; after a 36-yard punt return by Taco Dowler the Bobcats drove 39 yards in three plays. Jones capped the drive with a 32-yard run, and MSU led for good, 28-21 at 12:38 of the fourth quarter. 

“We needed to find a way to run the football and stabilize (the offense),” Vigen said. “It took much longer than I would have hoped, but ultimately Adam was able to pop some runs, run real hard both on that side and the receiving side.” 

Jones, who also caught six passes for 92 yards, had a 13-yard touchdown run with 4:10 left. That made it 35-24.  

The Blue Dvils scored with 54 seconds left on a 16-yard strike from Brett Griffis to Damani Williams; their ensuing onside kick failed.  

Lamson, in spite of throwing his first interception of the season, had 239 yards on 23 of 28 passing, and added 32 yards on the ground. Dowler had seven catches for 38 yards; Steel had four for 62. 

The Bobcats registered four sacks on the afternoon, all by down linemen, and two other tackles-for-loss. Seth Brock registered a pair of sacks in his first career start, while Zac Crews and Zack Black each got one. Crews also forced a fumble after CCSU drove to first-and-goal; the Blue Devils committed three straight false starts before Crews came in untouched and jarred the ball loose from Griffis. Blaine Downing recovered for MSU, keeping the score 7-7 at halftime. 

“I do think there’s an incredible belief on this team,” Vigen said. “There’s incredible belief in our guys. And that doesn’t mean you’re always going to play well, but it means you’re going to keep fighting.” 

Central Connecticut fell to 0-3, all on the road. Montana State returns to Big Sky with an 8:30 p.m. Saturday home game against Northern Arizona. That game is broadcast on ESPN2.