1st Quarter - 3:56
New Mexico - 10
Montana State - 0

2nd Quarter - 13:45
New Mexico - 17
Montana State - 0

Montana State has looked extremely flat so far. This was supposed to be a fairly competitive game despite it being a FCS vs FBS matchup, but New Mexico has been walking all over the Cats. Still plenty of game left to play.

2nd Quarter - 10:36
New Mexico - 17
Montana State -7

Just as I make my last post the Cats march right down the field, ripping off a couple of big runs. Cap off the drive with a Mellott passing TD.

Let's go Big Sky!

MSU adjustin by running the ball. They have a good offensive line and a good back. I did notoce that their no. 1 back doesn’t have the extra gear to break away for a TD.

Halftime
New Mexico - 24
Montana State -14

Mellot is not taking care of the ball. I think Montana State has recently been a very good running team. New Mexico is focusing on stopping the run and Mellot has never been an exceptional passer. When forced into an obvious passing situation, the odds of success go down.

Big upset possibility Montana State was favored by 12.5.

I saw MSU favored by 13.5 and 14 by some oddsmakers too.

MSU 93 yard TD run to pull within 3 at 31-28 with 4 minutes to go.

Wow looks like Montana State is going to pull this one out after a slooooow 1st half. Cats up 35-31 with 10 seconds left in the game

MSU dominated the game statistically but mistakes kept them from winning by a wide margin. The Cats are loaded with talent.

Final
New Mexico - 31
Montana State - 35

567 total yards for the Bobcats: 362 rushing and 205 passing). Tommy Mellot 21 of 32.

325 total yards for New Mexico: 152 rushing and 173 passing).

Conversely to the MSU mistakes that kept things close, New Mexico had I believe 2 dropped passes either of which would have closed out the game. You also can't allow a 90+ yard rushing TD. The Lobos don't really have an excuse for losing this one given their position starting the 2nd half.

Montana State @ New Mexico HIghlights: https://youtu.be/JVTVaFEaOb4?si=2bl8iEMfUvFxmltS

Both teams had their bumbles - Montana State shaky early, but New Mexico missed two field goals and when it mattered they dropped the ball, so I say credit to the Bobcats, they fought for a full game and won a close one.

The wind was really strong and I think that messed up the NM FG attempts.

Week 1 games:

Thursday, August 29
Monmouth (0-0) @ Eastern Washington (0-0)
Sacramento State (0-0) @ San Jose State (0-0)

Saturday, August 31
Portland State (0-0) @ Washington State (0-0)
Lincoln (0-1) @ Northern Arizona (0-0)
Idaho State (0-0) @ Oregon State (0-0)
Northern Colorado (0-0) @ Incarnate Word (0-0)
Idaho (0-0) @ Oregon (0-0)
Cal Poly (0-0) @ San Diego (0-0)
Missouri State (0-0) @ Montana (0-0)
Montana State (1-0) @ Utah Tech (0-0)
Weber State (0-0) @ Washington (0-0)

- Sac State should have the best chance at a FBS scalp this week with the rest of us at the very least getting a nice pay day. I sure as hell wouldn't want to be Idaho taking on Oregon.
- Cal Poly SHOULD beat San Diego, however, I do think that this game will show us how they are progressing under Wulff. The Mustangs won this match up last season, but it was probably closer than they would have liked considering this is NOT the same USD that won the Pioneer year in and out.
- I'd be surprised if either Montana school lost, though Missouri State is not a slouch of a team. Playing in Missoula is a tall task.

I can’t believe a big sky team would schedule Lincoln (Oakland). They lost their opener 45-7 to Moroski’s College of Idaho!

Totally agree. I wonder if they simply couldn't find anyone else schedule for that date?

Definitely one of those "all risk, no reward" kind of games. A win means literally nothing and a loss or major injury could tank the entire season.

Why does Lincoln even have a football program? They have an enrollment of something like 2,000.

There’s been a fair amount of negative press directed at them :

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/2024/02/02/lincoln-university-football-oaklanders-face-disturbing-allegations/72320308007/

Lincoln University (Oakland) had an total enrollment of 370 in the fall of 2022 (168 undergraduate and 202 graduate students).

https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/lincoln-university-california-6975#reviewsandratings

I'm shocked that the NCAA allows Lincoln to be a countable game or that they even allow NCAA affiliated schools to schedule them in the first place given how the abysmal conditions of their football program puts the players at risk. What a scam!

I read a post on the AGS forum that former Idaho QB, Giovanni McCoy will the starting QB for Oregon State when they play Idaho State in Corvallis on Saturday.

Sac at San Jose tomorrow, interesting

Sac got Stanford last year after a coaching change, big loss of players to transfer portal and uncertainty at QB.

Sac gets SJSU after a coaching change, losses of players to the transfer portal AND uncertainty at QB.

And their fans don't have to hire a sherpa to walk to their game like we do!

SJSU opens as 3.5 pt favorites against Sac State. Every other Big Sky team playing against an FBS opponent is at least a 20-point underdog (Davis being 20.5 against Cal). To be fair, the other teams are playing against PAC-12/B1G teams. I think Sac may be the only team to pull off the win here.

Let’s hope a Sac State win doesn’t distort the playoff committee as much as it did last year. If Sac had lost to Stanford (even by only a point) I am sure the Aggies would have been in the playoffs and not Sac.