Weber State University Athletics
Weber State University
6-1 , 3-1
Montana State
7-1 , 5-0
Wildcats fall to Bobcats 43-38 in wild game in Bozeman
10/22/2022 7:40:00 PM | Football
Weber State hosts three-straight games starting with Montana on October 29.
The loss snapped a school-record eight-game road-winning streak and an overall eight-game winning streak.
Montana State put up 487 yards of total offense with 347 rushing yards and 140 passing yards. MSU quarterback Tommy Mellott had 32 carries for 273 yards and rushed for three touchdowns.
Weber State had 222 yards of offense with 151 yards passing and 71 yards rushing.
The game saw a kickoff return touchdown, a punt return touchdown and a blocked kick by Weber State and four bad snaps that resulted in safeties for Montana State.
.@CoachJayHill postgame comments.#WeAreWeber pic.twitter.com/C3a3icyGKE
— Weber State Football ?? (@weberstatefb) October 22, 2022
On just the third play of the game, Eddie Heckard picked off an MSU pass that led to a 25-yard field goal by Kyle Thompson.
The Wildcats then snapped a punt into the endzone leading to an MSU safety.
The Bobcats scored on a 42-yard run on the next possession to take a 9-3 lead.
That's when the Wildcat special teams kick returners got things going.
On the ensuing kickoff, Abraham Williams returned the kick 100 yards for a touchdown, his second 100-yard return of the season.
Late in the first quarter, Hudson Schenck returned a punt 91 yards for a touchdown to give the Wildcats a 17-9 lead. It was the third-longest punt return in Weber State history and the first punt return touchdown by a Wildcat in four years.
The Wildcats opened the second quarter with a 70-yard drive, culminated by a five-yard touchdown run by Damon Bankston to give Weber State a 24-9 lead with 12:42 to play in the second quarter.
Maxwell Anderson blocked a field goal attempt on MSU's next possession, but the Bobcats scored the next 34 points.
With 6:19 to play in the second quarter, the 'Cats had a bad snap again that resulted in an MSU safety to make it 24-11.
Montana State scored a touchdown with 2:34 to play to make it 24-18, before another bad snap made it 24-20 with 1:39 to play in the half.
MSU scored on its next possession with 59 seconds left in the half to end the half at 27-24.
The Wildcats had another bad snap that led to a safety to start the second half to make it 29-24. The four safeties is a new FCS record for safeties in a game.
Montana State scored two-straight touchdowns to take a 43-24 lead before Barron connected with Ty MacPherson for a 21-yard touchdown late in the third quarter. The 'Cats got a two-point conversion to make it 43-32 after three quarters.
Weber State put together a 14-play, 86-yard drive that took 5:46 and ended with a one-yard touchdown run from Barron to make it 43-38 with 6:49 to play.
The Wildcats had a chance on the final drive and converted on two fourth downs, but couldn't convert on a third fourth down attempt with 25 seconds to play.
Individually, Barron was 14 of 30 passing for 151 yards and a touchdown and rushed for 40 yards and a touchdown.
MacPherson had five catches for 69 yards and a touchdown.
On the ground Dontae McMillan led the Wildcats with nine carries for 76 yards. Kris Jackson had 37 yards and Damon Bankston had 34 yards and a touchdown.
On defense Desmond Williams had 10 tackles, including nine solo tackles. Winston Reid had eight tackles and Eddie Heckard had six with one interception.
MSU dominated the time of possession 37:45 to 22:15 and the Bobcats had three sacks.
At 6-1, Weber State now returns home for three-straight games at Stewart Stadium, starting with Montana on Saturday, October 29 at 1 p.m. in a blackout game.
Team Stats
WSU 3, MSU 0
WSU - Thompson,Kyle 25 yd field goal 4 plays, 3 yards, TOP 00:48
WSU 3, MSU 2
MSU - 0 yd safety
WSU 3, MSU 9
MSU - Mellott,Tommy 42 yd run (Glessner,Blake kick), 6 plays, 65 yards, TOP 02:52
WSU 10, MSU 9
WSU - Williams,Abraham 100 yd kickoff return (Thompson,Kyle kick)
WSU 17, MSU 9
WSU - Schenck,Hudson 91 yd punt return (Thompson,Kyle kick)
WSU 24, MSU 9
WSU - Bankston,Damon 5 yd run (Thompson,Kyle kick), 6 plays, 70 yards, TOP 02:11
WSU 24, MSU 11
MSU - 0 yd safety
WSU 24, MSU 18
MSU - Mellott,Tommy 1 yd run (Glessner,Blake kick), 8 plays, 59 yards, TOP 03:39
WSU 24, MSU 20
MSU - 0 yd safety
WSU 24, MSU 27
MSU - Snell,Derryk 15 yd pass from Mellott,Tommy (Glessner,Blake kick) 1 plays, 15 yards, TOP 00:06
WSU 24, MSU 29
MSU - 0 yd safety
WSU 24, MSU 36
MSU - Mellott,Tommy 36 yd run (Glessner,Blake kick), 4 plays, 62 yards, TOP 01:46
WSU 24, MSU 43
MSU - Fitzgerald,R.J. 1 yd run (Glessner,Blake kick), 11 plays, 60 yards, TOP 05:51
WSU 32, MSU 43
WSU - MacPherson,Ty 21 yd pass from Barron,Bronson (McMillan,Dontae rush) 7 plays, 75 yards, TOP 02:44
WSU 38, MSU 43
WSU - Barron,Bronson 1 yd run (), 14 plays, 86 yards, TOP 05:46
