Bobcats down Idaho St. with dominant first half
BOZEMAN — Montana State kept on rolling Saturday, brushing aside Idaho State 37-6 in front of a Homecoming crowd of 21,647, second largest in MSU history.
Idaho State, with first-year coach Charlie Ragle not on the sidelines after a hospital visit about an hour before kickoff, scored on its opening drive on a 36-yard touchdown pass.
MSU answered with a 71-yard drive, capped by RJ Fitzgerald’s 2-yard touchdown run. The Cats had the lead for good, and the Bengals never came near the end zone again while falling to 0-6.
“They come out and drove the length of the field, and we had a busted coverage and they scored,” MSU coach Brent Vigen said. “But I thought we had a great drive to answer that, and James got the pick on the next time and we kept taking the ball away, kept finding a way to get it.”
Led by Sean Chambers’ three rushing touchdowns, the Bobcats (5-1 overall, 3-0 in the Big Sky Conference) romped, starting with an RJ Fitzgerald 2-yard TD burst up the middle as JT Reed and Justus Perkins plowed a path.
Following James Campbell's second interception in two weeks, Chambers scored from 4 yards out to put MSU up 14-6 at 4:40 of the first quarter.
After a Blake Glessner field goal, the Bobcat defense soon came up big again: David Alston strip sacked ISU quarterback Sagan Gronauer and Level Price recovered. That led to a 13-yard scoring jaunt by Chambers to make it 24-6.
Chambers added another score in the second quarter behind the bruising blocking of Derryk Snell; he has 15 touchdowns on the season, already fourth-most in team history. Troy Andersen set the team record in 2018 with 21.
Glessner kicked his second field goal of the half as the gun sounded making it 34-6. In the second half, as both teams rested their starters, Glessner kicked his third field goal, from 48 yards, to account for the final score.
The win was MSU's 16th straight at home, tying a school record set from 1956-59. It’s also the longest FCS streak in the nation.
After ISU's opening scoring drive that covered 76 yards, the Bengals managed just 178 yards over the final 58 minutes.
Lane Sumner, coming back to the field after missing three games with an elbow injury, led the Bobcats with 100 yards rushing. Elijah Elliott had 16 carries for 68 yards while the Bobcats relied less on Chambers in the run game.
“We have the utmost confidence in whoever’s running the ball,” Justus Perkins said. “They trust us so that gives us a bunch of motivation to help them break the line of scrimmage and get to the second level.. Whoever’s toting the rock, we’re going to make sure we do the job and get them up and moving.
As a team, MSU piled up 465 yards to 254 for the Bengals. Chambers, who rushed for 33 yards, threw for 150 yards with 16 completions in 22 attempts. MSU's leading receivers were Garret Coon with four catches and Snell, Ryan Lonergan and Treyton Pickering with three grabs each.
The defense came up with six takeaways, including two fumble recoveries by Price, another one by Ty Okada and interceptions by Campbell, Callahan O'Reilly and Jeffery Manning.
O'Reilly led all players with nine tackles.
The Bobcats' next game is at Northern Colorado Saturday. They return home to play Weber State on Oct. 22.
Idaho State has Homecoming this week against Cal Poly.
“I want to wish Coach Ragle the best,” Vigen said. “That’s a serious deal, for a coach not to be at a game. I know he’s had some challenges health-wise, and I wish him the best.”
No. 4 Montana St. 37, Idaho St. 6
Idaho St. 6 0 0 0 — 6
Montana St. 14 20 0 3 — 37
First Quarter
ISU — James 36 pass from Gronauer (kick failed), 13:24
MSU — Fitzgerald 2 run (Glessner kick), 8:12
MSU — Chambers 4 run (Glessner kick), 4:40
Second Quarter
MSU — Glessner 27 FG, 9:47
MSU — Chambers 13 run (Glessner kick), 6:55
MSU — Chambers 6 run (Glessner kick), :29
MSU — Glessner 40 FG, :00
Fourth Quarter
MSU — Glessner 48 FG, 10:51.
ISU MSU
First downs 13 31
Total Net Yards 254 465
Rushes-yards 24-81 52-255
Passing 173 210
Punt Returns 0-0 0-0
Kickoff Returns 1-17 1-2
Interceptions Ret. 0-0 3-46
Comp-Att-Int 16-23-3 24-30-0
Sacked-Yards Lost 1-7 2-12
Punts 3-34.0 1-53.0
Fumbles-Lost 4-3 1-0
Penalties-Yards 2-20 3-25
Time of Possession 19:59 40:01
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — ISU, Hunter 8-31, Kauhi 5-27, Omayebu 6-19, Gronauer 3-2, Sanders 2-2. MSU, Sumner 15-100, Eliott 16-68, Coon 5-34, Chambers 8-33, Austin 5-13, Snell 2-7, Fitzgerald 1-2, Pickering 1-minus 2.
PASSING — ISU, Gronauer 16-23-3-173. MSU, Chambers 16-22-0-150, Austin 6-8-0-60.
RECEIVING — ISU, Guillory 11-80, James 4-72, Hunter 3-16, Omayebu 1-5, Dailey 1-0, Heck 1-0. MSU, Coon 4-34, Pickering 4-40, Lonergan 3-17, Snell 3-16, Thomas Jr. 2-32, Alston 2-22, Elliott 2-20, Patterson 2-10, Johnson 1-13, Suner 1-4, Dowler 1-2.
MISSED FIELD GOALS — MSU, Glessner 26 (blocked).