Live coverage as the Montana State Bobcats host San Diego Sept. 18, 2021 from Bobcat Stadium.
PREGAME: The 13th-ranked Bobcats enter their final nonconference game of the season with a 1-1 record. San Diego (0-2) is on the road for the first time this season and will face its third straight Big Sky Conference opponent. The Toreros lost to Cal Poly 28-17 in their season opener and to No. 14 UC Davis 53-7 last week. MSU is a 31 1/2-point favorite to win Saturday's game after beating Drake 45-7 a week ago in the Gold Rush game.
FIRST QUARTER: MSU opened the scoring with an eight-yard touchdown pass from Matthew McKay to tight end Derryk Snell with 12:41 on the clock. The score was set up by a pair of completions from McKay to Willie Patterson, for 30 and 11 yards.
The Bobcats went up 14-0 about five minutes later on a 65-yard pass from McKay to freshman running back Elijah Elliott. It was the first TD of Elliott's MSU career.
Isaiah Ifanse, who Elliott backs up, put the Bobcats ahead 21-0 at the 1:30 mark of the quarter with a nine-yard TD run.
MSU out-gained USD 216 to 35 in total yards in the quarter. McKay completed 6 of 11 passes for 135 yards, two TDs and no turnovers, and he rushed for 54 yards on four carries (13.5 ypc).
SCORE: Montana State 21, San Diego 0
SECOND QUARTER: The Toreros drove into MSU territory to start the quarter, but Mason Randall threw an interception to nickelback Ty Okada, who returned it 72 yards for a touchdown to make the score 28-0 with 12:19 left in the half. It's the Bobcats' first pick-six since Oct. 28, 2017 against Idaho State, when Drummond's Mac Bignell returned an INT 18 yards in the fourth quarter to cap the scoring in MSU's 28-14 win.
The Bobcats scored again on an interception about 10 minutes later, when senior linebacker Troy Andersen picked off Randall and galloped 40 yards to put MSU up 35-0.
SCORE: Montana State 35, San Diego 0
THIRD QUARTER: On the first play from scrimmage of the second half, Ifanse rushed 74 yards and came up one yard short of the end zone. Redshirt freshman Jaharie Martin gained that yard on a run up the middle two plays later for the first TD of his MSU career, giving MSU a 42-0 lead with 13:54 on the clock.
MSU freshman kicker Blake Glessner increased the lead to 45-0 with a 43-yard field goal at 7:08 mark.
USD ended the shutout four minutes later, when Judd Erickson completed a 19-yard TD to tight end Michael Gadinis.
SCORE: Montana State 45, San Diego 7
FOURTH QUARTER: The score grew to 52-7 with 12:59 left on a two-yard TD pass to tight end Treyton Pickering from Casey Bauman, MSU's third-string QB. Bauman, who started the first three games of the 2019 season, rushed for 40 yards on four carries during the 11-play, 75-yard drive.
USD scored six minutes later on a 29-yard field goal from Brandon Eickert to make it 52-10.
FINAL SCORE: Montana State 52, San Diego 10