BILLINGS — A year ago, Montana State's offense was a steamroller.
The Bobcats ranked in the top five in the FCS in 11 statistical categories, and were in the top two in total offense, scoring, rushing, rushing touchdowns, passing efficiency, first downs, third-down conversion percentage, red zone scoring and fewest passing interceptions.
At the heart of it all was quarterback Tommy Mellott, who won the Walter Payton Award after passing for 2,759 yards, rushing for 1,050 more and accounting for 46 total TDs during a run to the national championship game in Frisco, Texas.
But Mellott is gone — not to mention offensive coordinator Tyler Walker, offensive line coach Al Johnson, receivers coach/pass game coordinator Justin Udy and several key contributors.
With expectations still sky-high in Bozeman, the Bobcats had no time to waste in fall camp. The offense has to maintain its productivity.
Enter new offensive coordinator Pete Sterbick. Previously the head coach at Division II Colorado Mines with a stop at Montana Tech mixed in, Sterbick spoke about how MSU might maneuver and refine itself in the face of change.
"We're a big 'take space' offense with the pass game, and some of it's RPOs (run/pass option) and just trying to put the ball where they aren't and manipulate space with formations and motions and shifts," Sterbick said after a recent fall camp practice at Bobcat Stadium.
"It's really just spreading the field, making the defense be accountable across the board."
To that end, MSU and fifth-year head coach Brent Vigen recently named Stanford transfer Justin Lamson starting quarterback.
The 6-foot-2, 210-pound junior is jumping into some big shoes with the graduation of Mellott, and his performance during a scrimmage on Aug. 16 perhaps gave a peek at what he can provide; Lamson completed 16 of 18 passes for 145 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
Still, Sterbick indicated that the offense wants to feature more downfield passes this year to take further advantage of the pass-catching skills of Taco Dowler, Chris Long, Ryan King, Jacob Trimble, Dane Steel, Rylan Schlepp, Hunter Provience, et al.
"(Lamson) just having the knowledge base of where to go with the football is really important," Sterbick said. "Some of that can be over the middle, it can be laterally from sideline to sideline ... we want to push the ball downfield a little more than we probably did in that scrimmage.
"That's something I probably needed to do a better job of, calling some plays to push the ball down the field."
MSU, of course, has long had a commanding running game. Last year the Cats rushed for 294.9 yards per game and scored an FCS-leading 53 touchdowns on the ground.
Running backs Adam Jones and Julius Davis are back to spearhead the ground game (though Scottre Humphrey is gone). But it remains to be seen if MSU will have as effective a plus-one rushing attack — or as dynamic as it was when the ball was in the hands of Mellott with his 4.39 40-yard-dash speed.
"We'll have to rely on the run game still, because we have a great O-line — that's just what we are going to be based upon," said sophomore QB Patrick Duchien, a Florence product who is listed No. 2 behind Lamson on MSU's Week 1 depth chart.
"I think all of us quarterbacks, whoever's in there, I think we can all throw the ball fairly well, so we'll be able to go in there and have that efficient pass game. And I think we'll have a good balance this year."
Last year perhaps saw more balance on offense at MSU than at any time since the Dakota Prukop era. Though the Cats ranked No. 2 nationally in per-game rushing yards (294.9 ypg), the passing game still produced 32 touchdowns and served up only two interceptions.
Nevertheless, Sterbick looks forward to utilizing innovative ways to move the ball.
"I think probably (MSU) was a little more intentional on running the football" in the past few years, Sterbick said.
"We're always going to lean on the run game here and lean into it and breed everything we do offensively through it. But I think there's some things, when you get people condensed in the box, that I think you can take advantage of outside. So I think there's some different elements that we've been able to bring in and utilize.
"When you don't have a guy that runs a 4.39 back there playing quarterback, you can't just hit repeat and try to do the exact same thing. If we still had Tommy here we probably wouldn't be expanding as much as we are, to whatever degree that ends up being. But I like the direction that we're headed."
The Bobcats open the 2025 season this Saturday against FBS power and reigning Big Ten champion Oregon at Autzen Stadium. As of Wednesday afternoon the Ducks were 27.5-point favorites. Kickoff is at 2 p.m. Mountain time and the game will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network.
