Montana State withstands late charge to defeat UC Davis in Big Sky football thriller
The bruisers from Bozeman flexed their considerable muscle on two of the first three snaps of the game Saturday night in Yolo County.
Ranked second in the FCS football landscape, the Montana State Bobcats recorded two sacks and forced a punt, then trailed 8-0, and then turned it on before withstanding a furious late run. Montana State held off No. 4 UC Davis 30-28 on Jim Sochor Field in the FCS Game of the Week in front of 13,947 overflow fans, the fourth largest crowd in stadium history in a game that started fast with a furious finish.
Montana State moved to 11-0 for the first time; improved to 7-1 all-time against UCD, including 4-0 in Davis; and clinched at least a share of its 17th Big Sky Conference championship. This is shaping up to be the program’s greatest season since the magical campaign of 1984 that ended with an FCS national championship.
UCD, in the midst of its best season in its 20-year existence at the FCS level, had its nine-game winning streak halted, but the Aggies will be in the FCS playoffs for the third time since 2018, a goal for the program after just missing the postseason dance the last two seasons.
First-year UCD coach Tim Plough is not in this grind for moral victories, but his team showed championship resolve after Montana State scored 30 unanswered points. That’s a credit to the coach, his staff and his seniors. Grit has been an Aggies trademark for decades, reflective of the championship and playoff seasons dotted across a wall beyond the scoreboard end zone.
“We’re not a pat-on-the-back program, never will be,” Plough said, his three young sons with him at the postgame media table. “I’m not a big moral-victory guy. Montana State is outstanding. Our guys are really resilient. I kept thinking of (Hall of Fame Coach Jim) Sochor, who’d say, ‘You never give up when you’re behind or stop playing when you’re ahead.’ I know a lot of Aggies are proud (of the effort) but I’m bummed out.”
The one-time Aggies quarterback and a two-time UCD assistant coach added that the players after the game were “pretty crushed. They want respect. They want to feel that people view them the same as the Montana schools.”
The respect is there. UCD was coming off a resounding 30-14 victory at Montana, a blue blood of the Big Sky along with Montana State, and the Aggies gave Montana State its tightest game of a season filled with Bobcats blowouts.
Should No. 10 Montana defeat Montana State next week in the “Brawl of the Wild” rivalry rumble and UCD tops rival Sacramento State in the 70th Causeway Classic, the Aggies would technically earn a share of the Big Sky championship. It would be the program’s first since 2018 and 32nd conference championship all-time, the first coming in 1929 under famed coach Crip Toomey.
But Plough said there’s no debate as to which team has the top team in the Big Sky.
“They are the Big Sky champions,” Plough said of Montana State. “I would recognize them that way. They’d have done the same if we won. We all know they’re the Big Sky champs and they deserve it.”
UCD pulled to within 30-15 on All-American Lan Larison’s 1-yard run with 6:21 left to play. Miles Hastings hit Chaz Davis for a short pass that turned into a 77-yard gain to the Montana State 4 with 1:49 left, and Hastings hit Samuel Gbatu on the next play to inch within 30-22.
Winston Williams recovered the onside kick for the Aggies at their own 49, electrifying the crowd, except those who made the trip from Bozeman. Hastings moved the Aggies downfield and hit Chaz Davis for an 11-yard touchdown with 34 seconds left, leaving it up to the 2-point conversion pass to tie it at 30. It was intercepted by Bobcats linebacker McCade O’Reilly.
UCD attempted another onside kick but did not recover, and finally, it was over.
UCD’s effort likely will not drop them much if at all in the FCS rankings. The Aggies don’t stress rankings, but they do covet a playoff berth. The FCS awards 10 automatic playoff bids to conference champions and 14 additional at-large bids. Montana State on Saturday earned Big Sky automatic bid.
UCD is looking to beat chief rival Sacramento State, thus earning a top-eight FCS seed, which means an opening bye and then a home game to continue what Plough has called “the greatest season” in UCD history.
Hastings played under the weather
The Aggies are led by one of the program’s great quarterbacks in Hastings, a third-year starting senior who passed for 320 yards and three touchdowns. He was sacked a season-high six times but kept charging back.
“Miles’ middle name might be ‘Perseverance’,” Plough said. “He was under the weather all week. Wasn’t sure he was going to play, He showed a lot of heart.”
Larison rushed for 112 yards and a score for UCD, the 12th of his career and sixth of the season. He also had eight receptions for 109 yards, including a remarkable one-handed catch for 42 yards. Davis had four receptions for 128 yards for UCD
Montana State was led by Tommy Mellott, who passed for 174 yards and two touchdowns, and Julius Davis, who rushed for 91 yards and a score. The Bobcats came in averaging an FCS-leading 332.4 yards rushing, including gashing Sacramento State last week for 511, but UCD held the Bobcats to 159 yards on 35 carries.
“Our defense played really well,” Plough said. “We really only gave up 23 points offensively against the outfit.”
The other 7 points allowed came on a 79-yard punt return for a touchdown by Taco Dowler for a 20-8 lead, an example of how many ways Montana State can impact a game.
This story was originally published November 16, 2024 at 9:30 PM.