BOZEMAN — Top-seeded Montana State (14-0) will take on fourth-seeded University of South Dakota (11-2) at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at Bobcat Stadium in the semifinals of the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs.
This is USD’s first trip to the semis, while MSU has reached the final four for the fourth time in five seasons.
The Bobcats are 9 1/2-point favorites to win Saturday’s game. Whoever prevails will face North Dakota State in the national championship game. NDSU beat rival South Dakota State 28-21 in the semis Saturday in Fargo, North Dakota.
MSU beat Idaho 52-19 at home last week in the quarterfinals, while the Coyotes prevailed 35-21 at home over a different Big Sky Conference team, UC Davis.
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The Cats are 2-0 against USD. Two teams first met in 2008, the Coyotes’ first season after moving up from Division II to D-I. MSU won that game 37-18 and beat USD 31-24 back in Bozeman a year later.
The Bobcats have set program records for single-season victories and longest winning streak. Their last trip to the FCS title game happened in 2021, when they beat South Dakota State 31-17 at Bobcat Stadium in the semis and lost to North Dakota State 38-10 a few weeks later in Frisco, Texas.
Pregame
MSU All-Americans Scottre Humphrey (running back) and Rohan Jones (fullback/tight end) are both active after missing last week’s game due to injury.
Cats head coach Brent Vigen is one win away from tying Sonny Holland for second-most wins in program history (47). A win Saturday would also give Vigen 30 home wins as MSU head coach, tying him with Cliff Hysell for second-most as a Bobcat. Rob Ash owns both records, with 70 overall wins and 43 at home.
MSU is 73 rushing yards away from matching its record for rushing yards in a season (4,366, set in 2022) and is one touchdown away from tying its single-season rushing TD record (49, also set in 2022).
The flag bearers for the Cats during the pregame runout were defensive back Tayden Gray (American) and center Justus Perkins (Montanan), a Bozeman native.
First quarter
MSU got the ball first and scored with 11 minutes, 56 seconds on the clock. Tommy Mellott hit Taco Dowler for a 34-yard TD pass to put the Cats up 7-0.
TACO TIME TACO TIME 🌮🌮@DowlerTaco x @Tommy_Mellott
📺 ABC#BobcatBuilt | #CATS pic.twitter.com/HuyoCB2QTj
— Montana State Football (@MSUBobcats_FB) December 21, 2024
Mellott also found Dowler for a 20-yard gain on the first play from scrimmage.
USD tied it up on a 55-yard TD run from Travis Theis at the 8:52 mark.
Theis for the Tie! 🙌@SDCoyotesFB RB breaks loose for a 55-yard touchdown to even the score!#FCSPlayoffs x 🎥 ABC pic.twitter.com/oShCPoukkx
— NCAA FCS Football (@NCAA_FCS) December 21, 2024
The Cats have now allowed a play of at least 55 yards for the fourth time in five games. It’s the 83rd play of at least 20 yards for USD this season, according to the Bozeman Daily Chronicle.
USD forced what appeared to be a three-and-out on the next drive, but a Coyote jumped offsides before the punt attempt, turning a fourth-and-3 into a first down. MSU punted four plays later.
USD went three-and-out on its next drive, after a false start on third-and4 and a pass breakup from MSU cornerback Jon Johnson on the resulting third-and-9.
Mellott put MSU back up by seven points with a 5-yard TD rush with 1:04 on the clock. A 28-yard pass to Dowler set up the score.
BUTTE BUILT 😤
📺 ABC@Tommy_Mellott | #BobcatBuilt pic.twitter.com/F6rbcIjbD8
— Montana State Football (@MSUBobcats_FB) December 21, 2024
SCORE: Montana State 14, South Dakota 7
Second quarter
USD tied it up with 14:51 left in the half on a 45-yard TD run from Charles Pierre Jr.
Pierre Powers Ahead 🏃♂️
Charles Pierre Jr. takes it 45 yards to the house!#FCSPlayoffs x 🎥 ABC / @SDCoyotesFB pic.twitter.com/ptvbHqoItq
— NCAA FCS Football (@NCAA_FCS) December 21, 2024
Going into the game, MSU had allowed two runs of 45 or more yards all season.
Scottre Humphrey put the Cats ahead 21-14 with a 1-yard TD run at the 8:24 mark.
Freight train coming through 🐂
🤝 Donjoy Mafia
📺 ABC@ScottreHumphrey | #BobcatBuilt pic.twitter.com/mcOW4xnYKm
— Montana State Football (@MSUBobcats_FB) December 21, 2024
MSU broke the program record for single-season rushing yards on the 12-play, 74-yard drive. Humphrey’s TD put MSU at 4,384 ground yards this season. The previous mark was 4,366 in 2022.
Humphrey now has a team-leading 15 rushing TDs this season, the fifth-most in MSU history.
A Kenneth Eiden IV sack led to a USD punt on the following drive.
Eat em up ‘Cats 😼@MSUBobcats_FB bringing the pressure against the Yotes pic.twitter.com/45mtPAYZF8
— Big Sky Conference (@BigSkyConf) December 21, 2024
Myles Sansted made a 28-yard field goal with eight seconds left to put MSU ahead 24-14.
SCORE: Montana State 24, South Dakota 14
This story will be updated.
Victor Flores is the Montana State Bobcats beat writer for 406 MT Sports. Email him at victor.flores@406mtsports.com and follow him on Twitter/X at @VictorFlores406
