BOZEMAN — Montana State’s offense got rolling early and the defense stepped up late in the Bobcats’ only preseason scrimmage, a closed session held Saturday morning in Bobcat Stadium.
All-America quarterback Justin Lamson completed 10 of his first 11 passes, finishing the day 15 for 21 for 248 yards with two touchdowns. That first scoring strike was a 27 yarder to senior Jordan Reed, the second a 75-yard pitch-and-catch to freshman Parker Mady, who finished his day’s work with four catches for 106 yards.
“I thought the offense moved the ball pretty efficiently throughout the day,” MSU head coach Brent Vigen said, “but then I thought the defense settled in a little bit and situationally made some stops in the second half of the scrimmage.”
MSU’s offense scored three touchdowns and kicker Myles Sansted converted all three of his field goals. Patrick Duchien was 10-for-13 passing with a touchdown and an interception, while Grant Vigen was 8 for 10. Reed, Mady, Carter Dahlke and Maxwell Hendrick each snagged at least four catches.
“We definitely saw some playmakers on the offense, which we’re thinking we have,” Brent Vigen said. “I thought Justin ran things pretty efficiently, and defensively those depth battles in the core, that's D-line linebackers, safety, and how that shakes out will be really important.”
Defensively, freshman cornerback Brian Harris’ interception was the day’s only turnover.
“Clearly at corner, this is the biggest test that we'll have through fall camp and honestly, before we play,” Vigen said. “So you’ve really got to lean into what that looked like. Brian Harris, a young guy, true freshman, got a pick. That's great to see. He's been one that's continued to climb the ladder.”
The only full practice with live tackling provided a good-news/bad-news situation in that area, Vigen said. Bobcat ball carriers evaded tacklers on several occasions, but Vigen said that’s a double-edged sword.
“We have some guys that are really hard to tackle,“ he said.“If our guys are making their teammates miss that’s a positive, as long as that doesn’t emerge during games. But we got some good tackling work in today.”
In the most extensive special teams work of the preseason, Myles Sansted was perfect on place kicking and Colby Frokjer averaged nearly 50 yards on punts.
“We got a lot of special teams work in,” Vigen said, “12 reps of special teams today. So that’s a step in the right direction.”
The Cats practice Monday and Tuesday before taking Wednesday off, then begin transitioning into game preparation. Vigen said plenty of work remains aside from getting ready for Utah Tech.
“Getting our depth sorted, and that’s offense, that's defense, and clearly special teams, putting those guys in more and more situations and then shifting gears to Utah Tech with our mindset,“ he said.
“So, you know, by the time we get to the next week, I hope we have a good understanding of our opponent, and we have a good understanding of who's going to be playing in that game.”
