Bobcats throttle San Diego in Bozeman

BOZEMAN - Montana State took the lead on the opening drive of the game and controlled its entire contest against San Diego as the No. 11 Bobcats rolled to a 52-10 non-conference football win over the Toreros Saturday in front of 19,107 fans at Bobcat Stadium.

MSU's first three offensive drives led to touchdowns. A 7-yard TD pass from Matthew McKay to Derryk Snell opened the scoring, McKay's 65-yard connection with Elijah Elliott broke the game open, and Isaiah Ifanse's 9-yard burst behind his offensive line put the Cats ahead for good as they jumped out to a 21-0 advantage by the end of the first quarter.

The Bobcat defense wouldn't be outdone by MSU's offensive effort Saturday. Ty Okada returned an interception 72 yards to the opposite end zone for MSU's first defensive points of the game. Troy Andersen replicated the effort with a 40-yard pick six to put the Montana State up 35-0 just before the end of the first half.

Jaharie Martin ended a 3-play, 75-yard drive with a 1-yard TD to extend MSU's advantage to 42-0 before San Diego got on the scoreboard for the first time. The Toreros scored a touchdown near the end of the third quarter, but MSU responded on its next drive. The Cats went on an 11-play, 75-yard drive capped by a two-yard touchdown pass from Casey Bauman to Treyton Pickering for MSU's final points of the day. The Toreros added a field goal midway through the fourth quarter to end the scoring.

Montana State racked up 540 yards of total offense and held San Diego to just 204 yards.

McKay finished the game 12-for-22 passing with 224 yards through the air. He added 73 yards on the ground while Ifanse had a 74-yard carry that propelled him to a team-high 109 yards rushing. Tommy Mellott (46), Bauman (40), Elliott (24) and Martin (18) all contributed to the ground game. Lance McCutcheon, Willie Patterson and Snell each snagged three passes and had at least 40 yards receiving apiece.

Callahan O'Reilly led MSU's defense with nine tackles while Andersen followed him with eight. Daniel Hardy registered three tackles for loss including 1.5 sacks. Eric Zambrano had a team-high two pass breakups for the Bobcats.

MSU hits the road for its next matchup as the Bobcats take on Portland State at Hillsboro Stadium Saturday, Sept. 25. The road contest starts at 3 p.m. MT. The Bobcats return for back-to-back games at Bobcat Stadium beginning Oct. 2 when they take on Northern Colorado.

No. 4 Montana was idle this past week and will host Cal Poly Saturday in Missoula.