By Colter Nuanez SKYLINE SPORTS
BOZEMAN—It almost seemed like Tommy Mellott and the Montana State Bobcats had been listening to all the whispers.
Sure, the Bobcats were off to a 6-0 start. But who the heck is Mercyhurst? The same could be said about the rest of MSU’s opponents thus far. That Utah Tech team that used to be Dixie State? They haven’t even won a game. University of New Mexico with FBS affiliation? The Lobos had lost five in a row before triumphing over equally hapless New Mexico State. Idaho State and Northern Colorado, MSU’s first two Big Sky Conference victories? The Bengals are a perennial cellar dweller and the Bears came to Bozeman having lost 18 games in a row.
That was the narrative coming into Saturday night’s nationally televised Top 10 showdown with the University of Idaho. The seventh-ranked Vandals handed Montana State its only outlier loss of the Brent Vigen era last season, toppling the then-second-ranked Bobcats 24-21.
And coming into this Oct. 12 matchup at Bobcat Stadium, Idaho had played arguably the toughest schedule in the Football Championship Subdivision, with a close loss at Oregon (24-14), an FBS win at Wyoming (17-14), ranked wins over No. 17 UAlbany (41-13), No. 19 Abilene Christian (27-24) and No. 25 Northern Arizona (23-17). Idaho’s other loss came two weeks ago at No. 14 U.C. Davis, 28-26.
Mellott, Montana State’s senior quarterback, and the Bobcats answered the bell so resoundingly, they left the latest edition of “Big Sky After Dark” looking peerless among their Big Sky Conference peers.
Against the top-ranked rushing defense in the conference and one of the best run defenses in the country, Montana State bludgeoned Idaho with a relentless, explosive run game that is on pace for historic totals. The Bobcats piled up 361 yards rushing against an Idaho team that allowed 107 to Oregon and had allowed a previous season high of 144 to Wyoming. MSU averaged a robust seven yards per carry and out-rushed the Vandals by 270 yards.
That bulldozing ground game combined with Mellott’s efficient precision helped No. 3 Montana State roll to a 38-7 win in front of 21,907 at Bobcat Stadium and a formidable crowd watching on national television. The contest was broadcast on ESPN2.
“I know we thought the game was going to be decided on the line of scrimmage and I thought we did that,” Vigen said. “We did it right from the start.”
“The way we played complementary football is the way you want and I thought our guys played incredibly hard, incredibly physical tonight.”
Mellott was the catalyst, rolling up 265 yards of total offense and contributing four total touchdowns as MSU moved to 7-0 for the first time since 1978.
“This team has done a great job of understanding that each one of these counts the same, but this week maybe there was a little bit more of an edge because of last year, losing to these guys, wrecking a lot of our hopes of conference championship ideas,” Mellott said. “Maybe a little more of an edge this week.”
As has become his trademark in his three-plus years guiding the Bobcats into big games, Mellott had the sharp focus of a champion and he executed with razor precision from start to finish. Before the game, the Butte native had the honor of carrying the Montana state flag onto the field. He was given the state flag by Arie Grey, a former Bobcat himself and the long-time head football coach at Butte High School.
That moment seemed to lock Mellott in. And when Mellott kept the ball on a zone-read option play, exploding around the edge and sprinting into the north end-zone for a 65-yard touchdown to get MSU on the board, it was clear that MSU’s strategy of mitigating hits on Mellott was not a part of Saturday’s game plan.
“We’ve purposedly tried to limit those opportunities and we didn’t necessarily do that tonight,” Vigen said with a smile. “Tommy is going to get into open space and he is going to be really tough to deal with. I thought he played excellent tonight in all ways.”
Mellott, who is one of just four quarterbacks to rush for more than 1,000 yards in a single season in Big Sky history, entered Saturday with just 36 carries so far during his senior year. But Vigen used the word “unleashed” when talking about Mellott in the run game and that’s exactly what MSU did.
Mellott piled up 148 yards rushing on just 11 carries, scoring two touchdowns and averaging 13 yards per rush. He was also efficient and focused throwing the football, finishing 11-of-15 for 121 yards and two more scores.
“It hasn’t been appreciated this year how he’s played because of who we have played, which is not his fault,” Vigen said. “He’s continued to get better and better.
“No moment is too big for that young man. He’s competitive, his leadership is tremendous and I think his poise in the passing game was a difference tonight.”
Montana State takes the show on the road to challenge Portland State on Saturday, Oct. 19. The Vikings won for the first time this season, posting a 42-38 win at Idaho State last week.
“We are just playing the next team in front of us so to continue to truly live in the one day at a time, one week at a time, one opponent at a time has served us really well,” Vigen said. “We need to continue to do that. We have to acknowledge we played well against a really good team but that’s over and done with and next week, it’s time to move on.”
Colter Nuanez is the co-founder and managing editor of Skyline Sports. He has covered the Big Sky Conference for 18 years and is a former Montana and Washington Newspaper Association Sportswriter of the Year. You can find his work at skylinesportsmt.com and you can reach him at Colter.Nuanez@gmail.com.
