Vandals routed by Montana State

BOZEMAN, Mont. — The Montana State fans could be forgiven if they went out for beers at halftime and never came back. 

By the midpoint, their Bobcats had this one well in control. 

Montana State, ranked third in FCS, jumped out to a 24-0 halftime lead en route to a 38-7 thumping of No. 7 Idaho in what was billed as a Big Sky Conference football showdown Saturday night at Bobcat Stadium and before an ESPN2 audience. 

“Hat’s off to Montana State. They’ve got a really good football team. They played well tonight,” Idaho coach Jason Eck said. “They kicked our butts. I’ve got to do a better job getting us ready to play 

Montana (7-0, 3-0 Big Sky) rushed for 360 yards and totaled 485 yards to 267 for Idaho (4-3, 1-2).  

Tommy Mellott, Montana State’s star running/passing quarterback started the onslaught, keeping the ball and running to his left and down the sideline for a 65-yard touchdown. He finished with 140 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 11 carries, and also completed 11 of 15 passes for 121 yards and two scores. 

“They got Mellott more involved in the run game, and he did a really good job,” Eck said. “They blocked us better than I anticipated. Offensively, we couldn’t get into much of a rhythm. They did a good job stopping the run, and we didn’t do a very good job on third down.” 

Idaho lost redshirt freshman quarterback Nick Josifek to a broken collarbone in the first half. In the season opener, Jack Layne suffered a broken collarbone. 

Eck started Josifek and planned to go with him, until his injury. 

“It was a negative, but we believe in Wags (Jack Wagner),” Eck said. 

Scottre Humphrey ran for 124 yards on 19 carries.  

“I just thought we would hang in there a little better, our D-line against their O-line,” Eck said.  

One of Montana’s State’s first-half scoring drives was kept alive by a personal foul on Idaho star rusher Keyshawn James-Newby on Mellott. 

“I thought that was a tough call when we had them in a tough situation,” said Eck, who thought the players might not have heard the whistle in the loud stadium. 

Wagner threw an interception just before the half, and Montana State kicked a field goal to lead 24-0 at halftime. 

Montana State scored on the first drive of the third quarter to bump it up to 31-0. 

Idaho avoided the shutout when backup running back Deshaun Buchanan caught a 9-yard TD pass from Wagner with less than a minute to play. 

Idaho linebacker Mathias Bertram was ejected in the first half for targeting. 

Linebacker Zach Johnson, a redshirt freshman from Lake City High, had eight tackles for Idaho, second behind fellow ‘backer Jaxton Eck’s nine. Matyus McLain, a redshirt freshman from Priest River, had four tackles, including one tackle-for-loss. 

Idaho plays host to Cal Poly next Saturday.

Idaho    0    0    0    7    —    7 

Montana State     14    10    7    7    —    38 

First quarter 

MSU — Mellott 65 run (Sansted kick), 5:34 

MSU — Dowler 34 pass from Mellott (Sansted kick), :11 

Second quarter 

MSU — Mellott 7 run (Sansted kick), 1:44 

MSU — FG Sansted 34, :00 

Third quarter 

MSU — M. Jones 11 pass from Mellott (Sansted kick), 12:48 

Fourth quarter 

MSU — A. Jones 4 run (Sansted kick), 12:44 

IDAHO — Buchanan 9 pass from Wagner (Pope kick), :43 

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS 

RUSHING — Idaho, Buchanan 9-49, Cummings 6-30, Williams 4-18, Wagner 5-2, Cortez Menjivar 1-0, Josifek 3-(minus 8). MSU, Mellott 11-140, Humphrey 19-224, Jones 11-39, Coon 3-26, Wilson 3-17, White 4-9, Duchien 1-4, McCullouch 1-2. 

PASSING — Idaho, Wagner 11-23-1-134, Josifek 5-8-0-42. MSU, Mellott 11-15-0-121, Wilson 1-2-0-4. 

RECEIVING — Idaho, Harste 3-48, Hamper 3-42, Higgins 2-34, Cortez-Menjivar 2-22, Dwyer 2-14, Moore 2-9, Buchana 1-9, Cummings 1-(minus 2). MSU, R. Jones 3-28, McCullouch 2-28, Dowler 2-28, Provience 2-7, Alexander 1-23, A. Jones 1-7, Lonergan 1-4.