1 week Ago By VICTOR FLORES406 MT Sports
HILLSBORO, Ore. — McCade O'Reilly defended a third down incomplete pass in the first quarter. After the play, he looked to the Montana State sideline and made a "T" with his arms.
Fellow MSU linebacker Neil Daily recorded a sack the following quarter. He too threw up a "T" toward his sideline after the play. Both Daily and O'Reilly were paying homage to Danny Uluilakepa, MSU's starting "Mike" linebacker and a senior team captain who is out for the remainder of the season.
Uluilakepa did the "T" celebration whenever he made a big play. The season-ending ACL injuries to Uluilakepa, starting defensive back Caden Dowler and starting nose tackle Blake Schmidt filled the No. 3-ranked Bobcats (8-0, 4-0 Big Sky) with more than enough fire to earn a 44-14 win over Portland State (1-6, 1-3) Saturday at Hillsboro Stadium.
"What they've done in the program, all those years that they've put their blood, sweat and tears in, for it to be taken away from them that fast, in a blink of an eye, it just puts a chip on our shoulder," said MSU running back Scottre Humphrey. "We're not just playing for us. We're playing for our brothers.
" The Cats have shown an ability to focus on every opponent throughout Brent Vigen's four seasons as head coach. Still, "human nature sometimes takes over," Vigen said last week, and Saturday easily could've been one of those nature calls. It was a week after a top-10 win and right before a bye.
The attendance Saturday at Hillsboro Stadium was 3,121, about 18,000 fewer people than a typical MSU home game. Last season, MSU led PSU 17-14 through two quarters at Bobcat Stadium, one week after MSU earned a top-10 win at Weber State and preceding a bye week for the Cats. In 2021, MSU trailed the Vikings 10-9 at halftime during a trip to Hillsboro sandwiched by home games.
There's no way to know how much the Cats' relatively slow starts were due to lack of focus or motivation. Whatever the case, they hoped to start faster in their next meeting with the Vikings. MSU beat PSU 30-17 in 2021 and 38-22 last year.
The Cats nearly matched that combined margin of victory in the second quarter of Saturday's game, scoring 28 points to take a 35-0 lead into halftime. "Our guys brought the right intensity," Vigen said. "The game went from 7-0 to 35-0 in almost a blink, so that second quarter was huge.
" MSU's lead ballooned to 41-0 through three quarters, its largest shutout lead of the season and its third straight week with an advantage of at least 34-0. Doing that against then-winless Northern Colorado is one thing. Looking equally dominant against then-No.
7 Idaho was a stern statement. Following it up with a blowout in a textbook letdown/lookahead situation illustrated MSU's talent and focus. The Vikings looked better than their record going into Saturday's game.
They were one first down and a couple of calls away from beating now-No. 6 UC Davis two weeks ago. They earned their first win of the season last week at Idaho State, which trailed MSU by one score in the fourth quarter on Sept.
28. "That team was a serious threat," Vigen said of PSU. "Davis should've lost that game, and they found a way — Portland State — to win at Idaho State last week.
So I appreciate our guys respecting our opponents and what they can do and then ultimately making it about, 'What can we do to keep ourselves getting better?'" PSU quarterback Dante Chachere passed for 105 yards and rushed for 83 at MSU last year. He threw and ran for more than 200 yards each in last week's 42-38 win at ISU. He finished Saturday's game with 64 yards through the air and 4 on the ground — against a defense that was down three starters, lost starting free safety Dru Polidore in the first half to a targeting penalty and was without Uluilakepa's backup, Bryce Grebe (MSU expects Grebe to recover from his injury "next go-round," Vigen said Saturday).
"I was in Frisco (Texas) last year watching my youngest kid play for the national championship," PSU head coach Bruce Barnum told PSU sports information, referring to Montana linebacker Cooper Barnum. "I see (MSU) as a team that will go a long way in the playoffs, (based on) the teams I saw there last year." The Cats might be able to overcome their injuries because they still have a bunch of talented players who are driven to play for their sidelined teammates.
"It's tough losing those guys, for sure. They're great leaders," said MSU nickelback Miles Jackson. "But we have guys who can come in and step in and fill in their roles and do what they need to do so we can succeed.
" Like Uluilakepa, fellow senior Schmidt had a distinctive celebration — slapping the "Fear God" tattoo on his left wrist. Schmidt's main replacement, Paul Brott, looked to the sideline and slapped his left wrist after a sack against Idaho. "Every time I make a play now, I'm going to do that for Blake," Brott said after the Idaho win.
"He wishes he could be out there, and that's my brother." The Cats' competition will get tougher as the season wears on, and "obviously they have to stay healthy" if they want to realize their championship potential, Barnum said. Starting wide receiver Ty McCullouch left Saturday's game with an apparent left shoulder injury, and it's unclear how serious it is.
If more major injuries happen, MSU has demonstrated the depth to minimize their impact and the team chemistry to coalesce because of them. "Anytime you see two guys' careers end in an instant, I think it does make you appreciate that it could end at any given time," Vigen said, referring to Schmidt and Uluilakepa. "Blake Schmidt spoke to that after he was done, and I'm certain that resonated with our guys.
So (it's good) if it keeps our focus on appreciating the moment we're in and, in some regard, playing for those two." Email Victor Flores at victor. and follow him on Twitter/X at @VictorFlores406.
