North Dakota State and Montana State were two teams that didn’t meet lofty expectations during the season. Still, they may have given us the best 2nd round game in FCS history. In what was an instant classic, NDSU outlasted six-seed Montana State in overtime to advance to the school’s 14th consecutive quarterfinal appearance.
Montana State and NDSU played a pretty sloppy first quarter as both teams couldn’t get anything going. Montana State missed two field goals and NDSU couldn’t get anything going.
Montana State eventually threw the first punch as with just under two minutes to go in the opening frame Tommy Mellott found Ty McCullouch for a 34-yard touchdown pass to give the Bobcats the early 7-0 lead.
The Bison finally got going in the 2nd quarter as following a 33-yard punt NDSU marched 39 yards in five plays and finally found the endzone as Cam Miller found Zach Mathis for a three-yard touchdown pass to tie the score at 7.
Following another Montana State punt, NDSU was pinned on its own seven-yard line but the Bison took the challenge in stride as they covered 93 yards in five plays and it was capped off by a 44-yard TaMerik Williams touchdown to put the Bison back in front,14-7.
Montana State responded right back with a six-play, 71-yard drive finished off by none other than quarterback Tommy Mellott who ran it in from six yards out to tie the game at 14.
The 3rd quarter began with a massive uppercut thrown by the NDSU offense as TaMerik Williams took the first play from scrimmage in the 2nd half 75 yards to the house to give NDSU a 21-14 lead.
Only two plays later Montana State one-upped the TaMerik Williams touchdown with a Tommy Mellott 76-yard touchdown to tie the game at 21. NDSU punted on its next possession and Montana State seemed to grab all momentum as the Bobcats drove the ball 69 yards in eight plays. The drive was capped off by a Tommy Mellott touchdown pass to Clevan Thomas from eight yards out to give the Bobcats a 28-21 lead.
The 4th quarter in playoff time truly is crunchtime and for NDSU it was do or die. Following a Bobcat punt the Bison were backed up on their own 11-yard line. NDSU took this challenge and responded by going on their most impressive drive of the season, covering 89 yards in 9 plays as TK Marshall found paydirt from 29 yards out to tie the score at 28.
The Bison left Montana State 2 minutes and 33 seconds on the clock. The Bobcats had a chance to win and drove the ball down to the NDSU 35-yard line. Before “Code Green” showed how good they were in terms of their pass rush by sacking Montana State quarterback Sean Chambers on back-to-back plays. Forcing the Bobcats to punt and send the game to overtime.
In overtime, Montana State won the toss and elected to play defense so NDSU was forced to go on offense first. The Bison took the ball and covered the 25 yards in five plays. The drive was capped off by a Cam Miller touchdown run and an important Griffin Crosa extra point to give the Bison a 35-28 lead.
Montana State quickly responded with a 25-yard Scottre Humphrey touchdown run to draw the Bobcats within one. With Montana State fans wanting to go for two, head coach Brent Vigen decided to kick the point after to tie the score. In the biggest PAT of the season, Bison head coach Matt Entz decided to use a new field goal block that allowed their biggest player, 6’7 lineman Hunter Poncius, the opportunity to block the kick. Bobcat placekicker Casey Kautzman had been kicking low-line drive PATs the whole day and on his 5th and most important of the day his kick didn’t find the goalposts but the hand of Hunter Poncius.
Poncius’s blocked PAT gave the Bison an improbable 35-34 win over the Bobcats of Montana State. This is NDSU’s 5th consecutive playoff win over Montana State and with the win, NDSU now holds the record for most playoff wins by one FCS school with 46. The Bison also ended Montana State’s 26-game home winning streak that dates back to 2019.
NDSU out-rushed the #1 rushing offense in the FCS 296 to 279. The best part was for the first time this season the Bison had a 100-yard rusher, TaMerik Williams had 162 yards and two touchdowns.
The Bison will move on to the FCS quarterfinals and they will have revenge on their minds as they will face a South Dakota team that beat the Bison in Fargo 24-19 earlier in the season.