Montana

No. 4 South Dakota vs. No. 1 Montana State: Preview, how to watch, updates

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1 year ago

December 15, 2024

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No. 4 South Dakota vs. No. 1 Montana State: Preview, how to watch, updates

8:12 pm, December 15, 2024

Here’s how to watch the 2024 FCS semifinal game between South Dakota and Montana State:

8:11 pm, December 15, 2024

Here are some of the top storylines and players to watch entering this year’s FCS semifinal game between South Dakota and Montana State.

Storylines

How they got here
- South Dakota ended the regular season with plenty of momentum after knocking off North Dakota State in a top-five matchup. Once the postseason started, the Coyotes rallied past Tarleton State in an explosive second-round win before beating UC Davis without ever trailing in the quarterfinals.
- Montana State has dominated the competition all season long as the only undefeated team remaining in the FCS. The Bobcats haven’t played a close game in the playoffs after averaging 50.5 points scored and a 32.5 margin of victory in two games.
Past matchups
- Montana State and South Dakota have only met once in the two program’s histories. The Bobcats won the lone matchup in 2008, 37-18.
Coaching
- Two Coaches of the Year will meet in the semifinals. Big Sky Coach of the Year Brent Vigen will face MVFC Coach of the Year Bob Nielson. Vigen was also named the Eddie Robinson Award winner as the FCS coach of the year.
What’s at stake
- South Dakota is in uncharted territory making its first-ever semifinal appearance. It’s only the fourth FCS playoff season in Coyote history. Meanwhile, Montana State is still chasing its 1984 FCS championship. The Bobcats have only made one return to the title game since (2021), the first year of the Brent Vigen-Tommy Mellott era.

Players to Watch

Here are some players to watch from South Dakota

MVFC Offensive Player of the Year: DL Mi’Quise Grace

South Dakota All-MVFC Players

1st Team | RB Charles Pierre Jr.
1st Team | FB Travis Theis
1st Team | OL Joey Lombard
1st Team | TE JJ Galbreath
1st Team | DL Nick Gaes
1st Team | DL Mi’Quise Grace
1st Team | DB Dennis Shorter
2nd Team | OL Joe Cotton
2nd Team | OL Bryce Henderson
2nd Team | DL Blake Holden
2nd Team | LB Gary Bryant III
2nd Team | DB Mike Reid

Here are some players to watch from Montana State

Big Sky Offensive Player of the Year: QB Tommy Mellott
Big Sky Defensive Player of the Year: DL Brody Grebe
Big Sky Freshman of the Year: RB Adam Jones

Montana State All-Big Sky Players

1st Team | QB Tommy Mellott
1st Team | RB Scottre Humphrey
1st Team | FB Rohan Jones
1st Team | OL Marcus Wehr (unanimous)
1st Team | OL Conner Moore
1st Team | DL Brody Grebe (unanimous)
1st Team | LB McCade O’Reilly
1st Team | DB Rylan Ortt
1st Team | PR Taco Dowler
2nd Team | OL Titan Fleischmann
2nd Team | OL Cole Sain
2nd Team | DL Paul Brott
2nd Team | LB Danny Uluilakep
2nd Team | DB Andrew Powdrell
2nd Team | P Brendan Hall

8:10 pm, December 15, 2024

South Dakota was ranked No. 3 and Montana State was ranked No. 1 in the FCS Coaches Poll and the Coyotes were ranked No. 4 and the Bobcats No. 1 in the STATS Perform Poll to close the regular season. Here’s how the programs stack up based on this season’s results.

**South Dakota vs. Montana State**
South Dakota	2024 STATs	Montana State
11-2 (7-1)	Record (Conf)	14-0 (8-0)
No. 3	FCS Coaches rank	No. 1
No. 4	FCS STATS Perform rank	No. 1
37.2	Points per game	41.3
16.6	Points allowed	17.0
441.9	Yards per game	496.1
219.8	Pass yards per game	187.6
222.2	Rush yards per game	308.5
312.5	Yards allowed per game	285.2
204.5	Pass yards allowed per game	181.0
107.9	Rush yards allowed per game	104.2
QB Aidan Bouman 2,723 yds, 19 TDs, 4 INT	Passing leader	QB Tommy Mellott 2,256 yds, 26 TDs,1 INT
RB Charles Pierre Jr. 1,187 yds, 15 TDs	Rushing leader	RB Scottre Humphrey 1,325 yds, 14 TDs
WR Carter Bell 50 rec, 753 yds, 4 TDs	Receiving leader	TE Rohan Jones 27 rec, 451 yds, 8 TDs
LB Gary Bryant III 101 tkl, 3 tfl, 2 int	Defense	DL Brody Grebe 33 tkl, 9 sk, 7.5 tfl

8:10 pm, December 15, 2024

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Montana

Your guide to local sports events, plus what’s on TV

Published

10 minutes ago

March 2, 2026

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Your guide to local sports events, plus what’s on TV

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Montana

Montana Department of Agriculture focusing on innovation in 2026

Published

12 hours ago

March 1, 2026

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Montana Department of Agriculture focusing on innovation in 2026

HELENA — You probably have goals and plans for 2026—the Montana Department of Agriculture does too.

“We’re really focusing on innovative agricultural practices,” Montana Department of Agriculture director Jillien Streit said.

It’s no secret that agriculture—farming and ranching—is not easy. There are long days, planning, monitoring crops and livestock, and other challenges beyond farmers’ and ranchers’ control.

(WATCH: Montana Department of Agriculture focusing on innovation in 2026)

Montana Department of Agriculture focusing on innovation in 2026

“We have very low commodity prices across the board,” Streit said. “We still have very high input prices across the board, and we have really high prices when it comes to our equipment, and so, it’s a really tough year.”

But innovation, including new practices, partnerships and technology use, can help navigate some of those challenges.

“We can’t make more time and we can’t make more land, so we need to start putting together innovative practices that help us maximize what our time and land can do,” Streit said.

Practices range from using technology like autonomous tractors and virtual fencing—allowing rangers to contain and move cattle right from their phones—to regenerative farming and ranching.

“It is bringing cattle back into farming operations to be able to work with cover cropping practices to invigorate the soil for new soil health benefits,” Streit said.

The Montana Department of Agriculture is working to help producers learn, share, and collaborate on new ideas to work in their operations.

The department will share stories of practices that work from farms and ranches across the state. Also, within the next year or so, Streit said the department is hoping to roll out technology to help producers collaborate.

“(It’s) providing a communication platform where people can get together and really help each other out by utilizing each other’s assets,” she said.

While not easy, agriculture is still one of Montana’s largest industries, and Streit said innovating and sharing ideas across the state can keep it going long into the future.

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Frontier Conference women: MSU-Northern, Montana Western pull upsets to advance to semifinal round

Published

1 day ago

March 1, 2026

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Frontier Conference women: MSU-Northern, Montana Western pull upsets to advance to semifinal round

BUTTE — MSU-Northern and Montana Western pulled a pair of upsets Saturday at the Butte Civic Center to wrap up the quarterfinal round of the Frontier Conference women’s basketball postseason tournament.

The fifth-seeded Skylights started the day with a red-hot shooting performance to down No. 4 Rocky Mountain College 82-74. Western, the sixth seed, used a third-quarter surge to defeat No. 3 Carroll College 65-56.

MSU-Northern (17-11) and Western (14-13) now advance to Sunday’s semifinal round, where the Skylights will play No. 1 seed Dakota State at noon and the Bulldogs will face No. 2 Montana Tech at 2:30 p.m.

MSU-Northern 82, Rocky Mountain College 74

MSU-Northern sizzled in the first quarter, making seven 3-pointers to take a double-digit lead, and put together a crucial third-quarter run to get past Rocky and advance to the semifinal round.

Becky Melcher splashed four 3s in the first 10 minutes, and Taya Trottier, Canzas HisBadHorse and Shania Moananu added one apiece as the Skylights built a 29-13 lead. Melcher scored 14 first-quarter points and finished with a game-high 30 on 10-of-19 shooting (7 of 15 from 3-point range). She added 11 rebounds, a blocked shot and three steals to her stat line.

Rocky battled back to tie the game at 36-36 in the second quarter on a Brenna Linse basket, but MSUN responded with consecutive triples from Trottier and Melcher and took a 44-38 lead into halftime. The Bears eventually stole the lead back in the third quarter following a 9-0 run capped be an Isabelle Heggem bucket.

But the Skylights again answered — this time with a 13-2 run to take a 60-51 lead. MSUN led 66-59 going to the fourth and wouldn’t trail the rest of the way. The Skylights trailed for less than two total minutes of the game.

As a team, MSUN made 14 of 26 3s in the game. Ciera Agasiva was 3 for 3 from behind the arc, and Trottier was 2 for 3. Trottier had 18 points, eight rebounds and six assists, while Agasiva had 13 points.

Paige Wasson led Rocky (20-9) with 29 points but was 0 for 10 on 3-point attempts. Heggem had a double-double of 21 points and 12 rebounds.

Montana Western 65, Carroll 56

After neither team led by more than five points in the first half, Western broke open a 25-25 tie game by outscoring Carroll 20-9 in the third quarter.

Bailee Sayler scored 10 points in the quarter, including making two 3-pointers, to help the Bulldogs take control. They led 45-34 going to the fourth, and Carroll wouldn’t get closer than six points the rest of the way.

The Fighting Saints were just 18-of-65 shooting (27.7%) for the game.

Sayler scored an efficient 22 points on 7-of-8 shooting. She was 2 for 3 from 3-point range and 6 for 7 at the free throw line. The Missoula native also had nine rebounds.

Isabella Lund added 16 points for the Bulldogs, and Keke Davis had 11 points and 11 rebounds.

Carroll (19-10) was led by Kenzie Allen with 12 points. Willa Albrecht and Meagan Karstetter scored 11 points apiece for the Saints.

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