Montana State advances to first FCS title game since 1984

BOZEMAN — For the first time all game, quarterback Tommy Mellott was on the sideline for a Montana State offensive snap.

Tucker Rovig replaced Mellott solely to take a couple knees and officially end one of the biggest wins in MSU history. ESPN's cameras captured Mellott in tears on the bench. The pride of Butte had just accounted for 384 yards and all four Bobcat touchdowns in a 31-17 FCS semifinal win over South Dakota State. The gravity of the accomplishment hit Mellott, and it overwhelmed him.

“Just unbelievably grateful for the blessings I’ve been given,” Mellott said when asked about his emotional moment. “The Lord has blessed me with this opportunity. All the guys around me supporting me and loving me, I just couldn’t ask for anything more.”

In their first home semifinal game since 1984, the Bobcats advanced to their first national championship game since 1984. A 14-0 second half lifted eighth-seeded MSU (12-2) past unseeded South Dakota State (11-4) Saturday afternoon at Bobcat Stadium.

MSU will face second-seeded North Dakota State (13-1) in the title game Jan. 8 in Frisco, Texas. The Cats lost to NDSU 42-14 in the 2019 semifinals and 52-10 in the second round of the 2018 playoffs.

“The number of people who walked up to me and shook my hand — alumni, fans, students — just saying, ‘Thank you for playing at Montana State,’ is a wild feeling, man. Almost surreal,” said MSU senior defensive end Daniel Hardy. “We're headed to the national championship. This is everything we’ve worked for. We’ve got one game left, and it’s all chips down. We’re all going all in on this.”

Mellott took over as starting QB during the low point of MSU’s season. The Cats had just lost to rival Montana, 29-10. They fell from a likely top-three playoff seed to No. 8. The previous starter, Matthew McKay, entered the transfer portal two days before MSU’s playoff opener against UT Martin.

Mellott looked a little shaky to begin that UTM game, his first collegiate start.

“Things were going really fast, and I don't think it overwhelmed him, but I think he had to be out there and kind of experience the bullets flying a little bit differently than he had in previous games,” said MSU head coach Brent Vigen.

Mellott finished with an MSU playoff QB record 180 rushing yards against the Skyhawks, who the host Cats beat 26-7.

A week later, MSU traveled to top-ranked and top-seeded Sam Houston, the defending FCS champion. MSU’s flight to Texas was delayed for hours. Starting cornerback Eric Zambrano missed the game. Third-team All-America nose tackle Chase Benson got hurt on MSU’s first defensive series. All-Big Sky second-team nickelback Ty Okada exited later in the first half, and neither he nor Benson played after sustaining their injuries.

The Cats jumped out to a 28-0 lead, all on TDs Mellott accounted for: two rushing, one passing and one receiving. He added a 68-yard TD toss to Lance McCutcheon in the 42-19 win.

Not only were Benson and Okada inactive for Saturday’s game. So was All-America second-team running back Isaiah Ifanse and his backup Lane Sumner.

Mellott’s final stats against SDSU: 9 of 14, 229 yards, two TDs; 34 carries, 155 yards, two TDs.

“It’s been a lot of adversity we’ve been fighting through. Nothing new this week,” Mellott said. “We knew that our best running back was out, but we trusted what was going on. We trusted the guys up front. We trusted the coaches.”

The Cats didn’t commit a turnover, although they came close when Mellott coughed up a fumble with about four minutes left in the first quarter. The ball fell right on top of Mellott as he fell to the turf, preserving MSU’s possession in its own territory. Two plays later, he completed a 64-yard TD pass to Nate Stewart to put MSU ahead 7-0.

Three plays earlier, Mellott rushed for 21 yards on third and 7. Three plays before that, MSU first-team All-America linebacker Troy Andersen tackled Isaiah Davis for a two-yard loss on fourth and 1 from MSU’s 7-yard line.

“A lot of stuff happened there, a lot of stuff that could have gone either way,” Vigen said. “But for us to take the lead and really grab the momentum for the first time in that game, I think was big for everybody. We knew that we'd have to keep taking some punches from them.”

Sure enough, SDSU tied it up on a 44-yard TD run from Pierre Strong Jr. with 1:21 left in the first. Like Andersen, Strong played despite being questionable earlier in the week.

MSU went ahead 10-7 on a 27-yard field goal from Blake Glessner with 9:59 left in the first half. SDSU took its first and only lead of the game on a 13-yard TD pass from Chris Oladokun to Jadon Janke three minutes later. A 33-yard pass from Mellott to Treyton Pickering sparked the next drive, which ended with a four-yard TD run from Mellott. SDSU's Cole Frahm drilled a 51-yard field goal as the first-half clock expired to tie the game at 17-17.

The first half could hardly have been closer: MSU out-gained SDSU 262 to 256 yards and edged the Jackrabbits 15:10 to 14:50 in time of possession.

SDSU ended up with more total yards than MSU (439-405), but many of them came after MSU went ahead for good.

Mellott rushed for a three-yard score as the third quarter ended, capping a 12-play, 68-yard drive that took 6:29 and put MSU ahead 24-17. Oladokun threw an interception to true freshman Simeon Woodard on the next drive, and MSU took advantage with a 17-yard TD pass from Mellott to McCutcheon (five catches, 98 yards). One play before the score, Mellott threw a 24-yard pass on third and 11 to Stewart, who, like McCutcheon, was well covered.

“I think it makes him a complete quarterback,” SDSU coach John Stiegelmeier said, referring to Mellott’s ability to throw deep. “He can run the ball, and when you play-action like they did to the tight end, he simulates a run and we don't read our keys, bad things happen.

“I was looking for him at the end of the game. Too many doggone students on the field, but I wanted to shake his hand and tell him I was very impressed.”

MSU held SDSU to minus-2 yards on 15 carries in the second half, thanks largely to some sacks but also strong run defense in Benson’s stead.

“Knowing how much he put into this program and how much he sacrificed for this program just makes us want to go out and ball even harder,” Hardy said. “We talked about it in pregame just going and winning for Chase, putting our body on the line for Chase.”

Andersen led all players with 10 tackles, and Amandre Williams tallied a sack. Hardy finished with two sacks, six tackles, 2½ tackles for loss, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery with 51 seconds left to set up MSU’s victory formation.

MSU finished the season with an 8-0 home record.

“It’s one of our goals each year to go undefeated at home, and to be able to win your last home game with it being the last one you possibly can play being the semifinals, it means a lot,” Andersen said. “We knew we had the pieces, had the guys. We brought in a great coach, coaching staff. We knew we could do it. It was just a matter of going out and executing.”

After MSU went ahead 31-17, Vigen tried to get Mellott to smile, which isn’t easy to do. Mellott obliged, but the smile quickly turned back into a game face.

It’s how Mellott has carried himself throughout this season, whether it’s on the field or in interviews. But he allowed himself to smile in that moment, as MSU’s Frisco dreams began to crystallize. He smiled throughout his postgame press conference too.

The rare reactions make sense. MSU hasn’t gotten this far in 37 years. The Cats are one win away from their first national title since 1984, thanks largely to a legend-making playoff performance from their freshman QB.

“Shoot, he’s a kid from Butte that just took his team to the national championship game,” Vigen said. “It’s OK for him to be a little bit emotional.”