Montana rules Big Sky
Josh Swogger passed for 231 yards Saturday, including a 54-yard touchdown pass to Eric Allen midway through the third quarter, in Montana’s 13-7 victory over rival Montana State in Missoula, Mont.
Montana, ranked second in NCAA Division I-AA, won its 10th straight game, the Big Sky Conference championship and the league’s automatic playoff berth. The pairings will be announced today.
No. 15 Montana State saw its six-game winning streak and likely its playoff hopes end.
The Bobcats took a 7-3 lead on a 5-yard TD run by Aaron Mason with 5:07 left in the first quarter of the hard-hitting game. The scoring play was set up by a 43-yard pass from Jack Rolovich to Josh Lewis.
The second quarter featured three fumbles, a blocked field goal, a shanked punt and an interception returned 28 yards to the MSU 27 by Quinton Jackson.
On a fourth down from the 2 with less than 20 seconds left in the half, Montana went for a touchdown and came up empty.
Dan Carpenter, who kicked a 37-yard field goal in the first quarter, added a 42-yarder with 6:53 remaining for the final score.
MSU drove to the UM 19 with 2 minutes left, but Craig Mettler and Kerry Mullan sacked Cory Carpenter on fourth down.
Swogger completed just 17 of 41 passes and was intercepted twice. Allen caught five passes for 103 yards.
MSU starting quarterback Jack Rolovich completed 14 of 28 passes for 125 yards and also threw two interceptions. Carpenter was 2 of 6 for 18 yards and an interception. Lewis caught three passes for 57 yards.
Thomas Brooks-Fletcher rushed 11 times for 58 yards for Montana.
Weber State 30, Idaho State 27: At Pocatello, Idaho, Wildcats freshman running back Trevyn Smith rushed for 213 yards and two touchdowns and kicker Conor Foley hit a game-winning 40-yard field goal with 1:42 left in a win over the Bengals.
Smith became the first freshman in Weber State history to rush for more than 1,000 yards in a season. Josh Barnett rushed for 113 yards as he became just the fifth player in Idaho State history to rush for more than 1,000 yards in a season.
Northern Arizona 54, Northern Colorado 3: At Greeley, Colo., Jason Murrietta set two school records while throwing five touchdown passes as the Lumberjacks routed the Bears.
Murrietta, 29 for 41 for 381 yards passing, finished the season with 34 touchdown passes to erase the mark of 31 previously held by Travis Brown in 1999. He extended his own career record to 94 TD passes for Northern Arizona.
UC Davis 30, Sacramento State 16: At Davis, Calif., Brad Bispo’s 17-yard touchdown catch in the fourth quarter broke a 16-16 tie and the Aggies went on to beat the Hornets in the 53rd Causeway Classic.
Marcus Nolan rushed for 101 yards and two touchdowns for the Aggies who need one more victory to clinch their 37th consecutive winning season. Jon Grant threw for 196 yards and one touchdown for UC Davis.