Live coverage as the Montana State Bobcats host Drake for their first home game of the season Sept. 11, 2021 in their traditional Gold Rush game.
PREGAME: Montana State has not hosted a game since the 2019 FCS playoffs, 638 days ago. MSU canceled last football season and limited or forbade attendance at its other sporting events in 2020-21 because of the coronavirus pandemic. Bobcat Stadium is at full capacity Saturday, and tickets for the Gold Rush game were sold out by Wednesday.
MSU (0-1) is ranked No. 11 in the Stats Perform FCS Top 25, while Drake (1-0) is unranked. The Bobcats are coming off a 19-16 loss at FBS Wyoming, and Drake beat Division II West Virginia Wesleyan 45-3 last week. MSU is a 29.5-point favorite to beat the Bulldogs on Saturday night.
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FIRST QUARTER: The Bobcats received the opening kickoff and went three and out on their first drive, but Drake senior returner Jeran Proctor muffed the ensuing punt at Drake's 29-yard line. MSU got a first down but stalled out at the 11, leading to a 28-yard field goal attempt, which freshman Blake Glessner made with 11:06 on the clock.
The score remained 3-0 until the final seconds of the quarter, when Matthew McKay completed a sideways pass to Willie Patterson, who ran 23 yards for a touchdown as the buzzer sounded.
One play earlier, McKay completed a 25-yard pass on third down to Lance McCutcheon. The senior wide receiver from Bozeman, who dove on the right sideline to make the catch, finished the quarter with four receptions and 46 yards. McKay went 6 of 8 for 81 yards, the TD and no turnovers.
SCORE: Montana State 9, Drake 0
SECOND QUARTER: MSU starting fullback RJ Fitzgerald left the field with 12:26 left in the half after suffering what appeared to be a left arm injury. The junior from Dillon went down after a two-yard reception. Drake DB Alex Rogers hit Fitzgerald in the left arm, and Fitzgerald landed awkwardly on it.
McKay connected with Patterson for another TD, this time from 31 yards out with 8:09 left in the half. Patterson made a tricky over-the-shoulder grab with a defender right on him near the front right pylon. The redshirt junior wideout from Washington State was called for unsportsmanlike conduct after the catch, but the penalty didn't hurt the Bobcats, whose defense forced a punt on Drake's next drive.
Isaiah Ifanse scored MSU's third TD on a four-yard rush at the 2:48 mark, and Bryce Leighton completed a two-point pass to Bozeman graduate Ryan Lonergan to put the Bobcats ahead 24-0. Ifanse's score was MSU's first rushing TD of the season. A streak of 14 straight games with a TD on the ground was broken last week against Wyoming.
Drake got on the board with 11 seconds left, when junior quarterback Ian Corwin completed a two-yard TD pass to senior running back Cross Robinson.
SCORE: Montana State 24, Drake 7
THIRD QUARTER: McKay completed his third TD pass of the game, finding his favorite target McCutcheon for a 45-yard connection with 4:28 left in the quarter to put MSU up 31-7. It was McCutcheon's seventh catch of the game and increased his receiving yards total to 121.
That TD accounted for the only points of the quarter. The Bobcats improved their total yardage advantage to 348-156.
SCORE: Montana State 31, Drake 7
FOURTH QUARTER: The Bobcats went up 38-7 with 12:57 left on a run from Ifanse, although he didn't get credited with the TD because the referees ruled he fumbled right before he crossed the goal line on his six-yard rush. The ball was recovered in the end zone by senior tight end Ryan Davis, a Billings Skyview grad.
Six minutes later, MSU sophomore receiver Cam Gardner caught a 28-yard TD pass from backup QB Tucker Rovig. It was a perfect throw down the left sideline from Rovig, an Idaho native, who missed an open Charles Brown over the middle one play earlier.
FINAL SCORE: Montana State 45, Drake 7