BOZEMAN — Montana State will enter its open week right where it wants to be.
The Bobcats won their fifth consecutive game and third straight to start Big Sky Conference play with a dominant performance Saturday at a rainy Bobcat Stadium. Justin Lamson threw four touchdown passes and ran for another as No. 5 Montana State rolled to a 48-14 win over Idaho State.
WATCH THE HIGHLIGHTS:
Lamson, a Stanford transfer in his first season with the Cats, is seemingly getting more comfortable each game. On Saturday, he threw first-quarter touchdowns to Julius Davis and Dane Steel to give MSU a quick 14-0 lead.
Idaho State got on the board late in the first on a 7-yard TD pass from Jordan Cooke to Michael Shulikov, but an Adam Jones 24-yard scoring run pushed the Bobcats' lead to 20-7 early in the second.
Following a 69-yard Cooke-to-Tsion Nunnally touchdown for ISU, Lamson closed the half with a 7-yard rushing TD and a 13-yard scoring strike to Rocky Lencioni. For the game, Lamson had 184 yards on 17-of-21 passing and 60 yards on 16 rushes.
The Bobcats had 373 yards of offense in the first half, including 264 on the ground. Idaho State had only 4 rushing yards in the first half.
Photos: Montana State cruises past Idaho State for 5th straight win
Lamson and Lencioni hooked up for another touchdown in the third quarter and Bobcats backup QB Patrick Duchien ran one in the fourth.
Montana State finished with 568 total yards — 384 rushing and 184 passing. Idaho State had 404 yards, with 368 of those coming through the air.
HELLO, MR. JONES: Jones had his season-high in rushing output by halftime with 130 yards on just 12 carries. After a stellar freshman campaign in 2024, this was Jones' best game of the 2025 season. He was decisive and hard-nosed and showed his breakaway speed on multiple runs.
Jones finished with 173 rushing yards and a TD on 16 carries as the Bobcats rolled up a season-high 384 yards on the ground in a dominant performance.
ROCK-SOLID: Lencioni doesn't catch a lot of passes in Montana State's offense, but he's impactful when he does. On Saturday, he had two receptions for two TDs, the second a 22-yarder where he dove into the end zone late in the third quarter to push the Bobcats' lead to 41-14.
Going back to last week's game at Northern Arizona, that's three consecutive catches for touchdowns for Lencioni, a redshirt-freshman from Bozeman.
DEFENSIVE DOMINANCE: The Bobcat defense allowed two touchdowns in a game for the first time since a 30-24 double-overtime loss to South Dakota State on Sept. 6, but Idaho State owns one of the most high-powered offenses in the FCS. The Bengals had scored at least 22 points in each of their previous six games.
On Saturday, MSU held ISU to just 36 yards rushing and forced three turnovers — two interceptions and one fumble. Caden Dowler had a team-high seven tackles, while Taden Gray and Brock Steel had interceptions. Carson Williams forced the fumble, which Cole Taylor recovered.
WHAT’S NEXT: Montana State (5-2 overall, 3-0 Big Sky) enters its bye week riding a five-game winning streak and tied atop the Big Sky Conference standings. The Bobcats are off until Oct. 25 when they travel to San Luis Obispo, Calif., for a prime time game versus Cal Poly.
Idaho State (2-5, 1-2) is also off next week. The Bengals return to action Oct. 25 with a home game against Northern Arizona.
