GREELEY, Colo. — Montana State started November strong with a 55-7 win over Northern Colorado on Saturday.
It was a day of complementary football starting with the explosive offense — Justin Lamson threw for a career-high 331 yards and accounted for four touchdowns in the Cats' win.
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"Pretty special," Lamson described. "I don’t know if I even got a 300-yard game in high school, so just ... that was a landmark we wanted to hit."
"He had an opportunity to get behind (UNC's defense) a bunch of times, which we haven’t done a whole lot of, and he was able to connect," Montana State coach Brent Vigen said of Lamson and his career day. Again, his ability to extend plays whether it's a few throws on the scramble, a few scrambles for yards. I think he just continues to compete, and I would say he took another step forward today, and that’s really what we needed."
It was also a career-high day for Taco Dowler, who had 138 receiving yards and two touchdowns. Fellow wide receiver Ryan King also had two explosive catches in the first half to put MSU in the red zone, which was something Montana State stressed as a key in going up against UNC’s defense.
Turning over to the MSU defense, Vigen explained what he liked most from the unit’s dominant performance.
"We made it really hard on them in every which way," he explained. "You know, I thought we mixed it up enough and limited the one-on-one matchups that they’ve been getting and that they’ve been really prolific at. Shut down the run enough."
The stellar performance was capped off with Helena native Talon Marsh grabbing an interception and returning it 80 yards for a touchdown, a play the defensive tackle will remember for a long time.
"I caught it, and I turned, and I was like, 'I better turn on the jets the best I can here.' So, I mean, it worked out I guess," Marsh said.
Defensive end Dom Solano tipped the pass. Marsh explained how he and Solano have actually joked about at play like that if it ever were to happen.
"Dom Solano, we were talking about it, if the opportunity ever comes, if I get it from him, he’s going to hawk me down and trip me, but he actually blocked the best for me, so he didn’t really follow through, which I’m really happy for, but that was really special for me," Marsh said with a laugh.
Players came off the sideline to dog-pile on top of Marsh in the end zone after he scored. It did result in an unsportsmanlike penalty, but one that might have been worth it given the circumstance.
"Oh, that was probably the coolest thing I’ve ever seen in my time in football," Lamson said as he began to recall the moment. "I was kind of in the back, and I saw everyone running, and I just joined in on it.
"We got the flag, but coach Vigen will probably be OK with that one. I don’t know, you guys (have) to ask him. So, that was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen."
Vigen seemed OK with the penalty.
"I certainly appreciate the guys," he said with a smile. "Those plays don't happen too often. That put us up a whole lot of points, so we'll maybe take the celebration there."
