BILLINGS — Illinois State had the formula. Montana State got the glory.
In the only overtime championship game in the history of the FCS, and in what might have been the most riveting title contest in the near five-decade history of the subdivision, the Bobcats found a way to overcome penalties, limited possession time and a sweeping momentum change to prevail on a wild night in Nashville, Tenn.
In the end, Justin Lamson’s touchdown loft to Taco Dowler on fourth down in overtime, followed by Myles Sansted’s all-important extra-point kick, allowed MSU to cut through years of history to claim its first football championship since 1984 with a 35-34 victory over spirited Illinois State.
No matter where you watched this drama play out — from FirstBank Stadium or from 1,700 miles away in Montana — it was the pinnacle of a dream season for the Bobcats.
“Long time coming — 41 years in the making,” coach Brent Vigen, whose MSU program fell short in the title game in both 2021 and last season, told reporters.
“When you’re in fourth and long and you need a play like (Lamson and Dowler) made … those guys are the stars. Just excited to get this done.”
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For a team that reeled off 13 straight wins to get to Nashville, including two victories over rival Montana in a month’s time, it was a battle to the end.
The Bobcats took a 21-7 lead into halftime as Lamson darted the offense 75 yards in just three plays to score a crucial touchdown with 18 seconds left. Dane Steel’s 33-yard catch and run for a touchdown was just one of the highlight-reel plays, in which he hurdled a defender and dove across the goal line.
At intermission, MSU’s passing game was humming. Lamson completed 12 of 13 for 228 yards. Defensively the Bobcats didn’t allow Illinois State to convert on any of its five third-down plays.
But in the second half, the Redbirds’ Missouri Valley pedigree began to take over. Their offense kept the ball for 10 minutes, 50 seconds of the third quarter alone, which included a 17-play, 85-yard touchdown drive to make the score 21-14.
Photos: Montana State clips Illinois State to win national championship
Montana State answered with another score — a shifting, cutting, leaping 22-yard touchdown run by Dowler to make it 28-14. Still, Illinois State stuck to its formula and dug in.
Remember: the unseeded Redbirds were the first team in FCS history to win four consecutive road playoff contests to make the title game, a run that included an implausible victory at the Fargodome over top-seeded defending national champion North Dakota State. Their mere presence in Nashville seemed unlikely at the end of November.
Nevertheless, here they were. And they continued to put pressure on the Bobcats’ fatigued defense in the fourth quarter with consecutive scoring drives totaling 23 plays, 141 yards and 11:53 of clock time. Touchdown passes from Tommy Rittenhouse to Daniel Sobkowicz and Dylan Lord, the former on fourth down, tied the game 28-28 in the fourth quarter.
By game’s end Illinois State had run 84 pays to just 51 for MSU. The Redbirds’ blueprint was shining through.
And that’s when thing got positively crazy. Plagued by a litany of false-start penalties and center snap issues, MSU went three and out three times in the fourth quarter, a trio of possessions that netted minus-23 yards.
On its last possession of regulation, Illinois State was in position to score the go-ahead points. And on fourth and 1 from MSU’s 21 with 1:03 left, Redbirds coach Brock Spack sent the field goal unit onto the field. This proved to be a fateful decision.
The snap-hold-kick operation was wonky from the start, and the Bobcats’ Jhase McMillan shot around the edge, laid out and blocked the attempt to keep the game tied. A massive play that ultimately forced overtime.
The Bobcats won the all-important coin toss and began OT on defense. The Redbirds scored on just two plays, capped by a 10-yard touchdown pass to Lord. But again MSU’s special teams rose up as Illinois State botched its placekicking operation.
This time it was Hunter Parsons who came through with a blocked extra-point try to put Montana State in prime position to end it.
First play, Julius Davis for 11 yards to the 14. Second play, Davis again for three yards to the 11. Next play ... uh oh. False start. Then came a 2-yard pass from Lamson to Adam Jones. Then an incomplete pass. Uh oh again. Suddenly it’s fourth and 10.
Despite the scenario, it all came down to Lamson and Dowler. And as Illinois State blitzed everybody but the water boy, MSU's blockers held up just long enough to allow Lamson to maneuver and loft the ball toward the boundary of the end zone to an open Dowler for the tying score.
All that was needed now was Sansted’s point-after kick — and he drilled it. Final score: Bobcats 35, Redbirds 34. The celebration was on.
“These things aren’t supposed to come easily, I guess,” Vigen said to the media, later adding: “The unscripted piece was the penalties tonight. We made it really hard on ourselves. It was one step forward and sometimes two steps back.
“The momentum clearly had shifted, so much so that they got the ball in their hands with a chance.”
Still, the Redbirds didn’t capitalize. The Bobcats did.
On a night when they had possession for barely 20 minutes, rushed for only 101 yards, were outgained by nearly 100 total yards and committed 14 penalties, special teams proved to be the Bobcats’ saving grace.
That and the tried-and-true Lamson-to-Dowler connection — a quarterback/receiver combination that for more than just one play will go down as heroes in MSU football annals.
“I got hit, so I just kind of gave (Dowler) a chance. And the rest is history,” Lamson said of his overtime throw. “Myles did his thing and won us the game.”
Illinois State may have had a winning formula, but the Bobcats made the winning plays. And history — 41 years worth of history — has been made.
