BOBCAT REWIND: Quotes and Notes from Montana State's 38-22 Homecoming Win Over Portland State

Saturday, September 30

BOZEMAN

2 pm

Montana State University

4-1 , 2-0

Portland State

2-3 , 1-1

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Portland St.

Montana St.

Derryk Snell celebrates one of his two touchdowns vs. Portland State

Photo by: Colter Peterson

BOBCAT REWIND: Quotes and Notes from Montana State's 38-22 Homecoming Win Over Portland State

9/30/2023 8:01:00 PM | Football

Box Score

Montana State won its 23rd straight home game on Saturday

By: Bill Lamberty

GAME RECAP: Sean Chambers rushed for 118 yards and a touchdown and threw for 143 yards and three scores as third-ranked Montana State beat Portland State 38-22 in Bozeman. The Cats held a narrow 17-14 lead at halftime, but an 88-yard Chambers burst for a touchdown early in the third quarter and a 20-yard scoring strike less than a minute into the fourth quarter sealed the Bobcat victory. Rylan Ortt's eight tackles and one interception, and Brody Grebe's two sacks, paced Montana State defensively. Montana State is now 4-1 on the season, 2-0 in Big Sky play, while the Vikings fall to 2-3 overall, 1-1 in the league.

QUICK QUOTES
Montana State Coach Brent Vigen: "Their drives in the first half, credit to their playmakers for sure, but we made some untimely penalties. I think it was dialing a few things in on defense. Offensively, (PSU's defense) was all down in there so it was a matter of what could we do to break free. Sean had the long run, Jared had a long run, so sometimes it doesn't have to be a pass over the top. It can be a run that can split 'em, and we did that a couple of times. There was no panic It was 17-14 at half, we were in a game, and it was good for us to be tested.

"We're blocking well. We're a little banged up at running back, that's fair to say. Scottre didn't play, Julius is a little banged up, but it's next man up. Jared had the big run at the end, Elijah had a big run in there. The obvious credit continues to go to those guys up front, the tight ends included in that.

"You expect them to make some plays, you just don't want to give up the big one. We gave up two longer touchdowns to Cachere, and we couldn't tackle Quincy Craig to save our lives. They're good players, and good players in space force you to do things a little bit better than we did today honestly. I think we did a better job in the second half, but credit goes to them."

Portland State Coach Bruce Barnum: "They are good up front. We came in short up there. We need to be healthy to beat a team like that. Their defensive line played a heck of a game. Their front four took it to us. I told the team, '(Montana State) was in a national championship game (in 2021), so there is your gauge of where you need to be, starting here forward. They are solid all the way across, but I felt it came down to their front four. They were in our backfield a lot when we needed to throw the football. Our quarterback was hurried. It's a good group."

Tight End Derryk Snell, on his touchdown catches: "It felt good. You see Treyton (Pickering) with those two last week and I had two this week, it felt pretty good for the tight ends. It's just putting in the effort. You want to be doing great things for the team, so it comes down to putting in the effort. Coach (Tyler) Walker gets us right with finishing, we always talk about finishing, and we did that (as a team) in the second half, too."

BOBCAT NOTEBOOK
* Montana State won its 23^rd consecutive home game Saturday, the longest streak in college football.
* The Homecoming victory was MSU's third in a row, its first ever against Portland State, and raises the program's record in Homecoming contests to 60-33-3 in what is believed to the the 100^th anniversary season of Montana State's first Homecoming game (against UM on November 17, 1923).
* The Bobcats rushed for 313 yards on Saturday, the team's ninth 300-yard effort in the last 19 games.
* Brent Vigen is now 28-6 overall, 17-1 in Big Sky play, as Montana State's head coach.
* The Cats have picked off seven passes through the first five games of 2023.
* Montana State finished the day +2 in turnover margin, its 15^th straight game even or better in that category. The Bobcats have committed only seven turnovers in their 13 most recent games.
* Sean Chambers now has 27 rushing touchdowns in 16 games as a Bobcat.
* The crowd of 22,017 was MSU's second-largest in history (after the 22,047 that witnessed the Bobcats win over Montana last November), and was the program's 17th consecutive regular season sellout.

#GoCatsGo