The Montana State football team moved up a spot to second in the FCS coaches’ poll this week, while holding on to third in The Sports Network poll.
Montana State beat Colorado Mesa 26-0 Saturday in the first start for quarterback Jake Bleskin, who passed for 305 yards and two touchdowns.
Montana moved up from 11th to ninth in The Sports Network poll and from 15th to 11th in the coaches’ poll after avenging a 2012 loss with a 55-17 win at North Dakota.
Montana quarterback Jordan Johnson was named the Big Sky Conference’s offensive player of the week.
The junior from Eugene, Ore., set a league single-game pass efficiency record in Montana’s non-conference win last weekend. Johnson completed 15 of 19 passes for a career-high 354 yards and five touchdowns. He had no interceptions and a pass efficiency rating of 322.3. He guided Montana to touchdowns on all eight drives he played.
Northern Arizona safety Lucky Dozier was named the defensive player of the week and Idaho State kicker Brendon Garcia is the special teams player of the week for the second straight week.
Dozier returned an interception 78 yards for a touchdown in NAU’s 21-10 win over UC Davis. Garcia made field goals of 30, 47 and 59 yards and all three of his extra points in ISU’s 29-3 win over Western State.
Montana State is at Stephen F. Austin on Saturday while Montana hosts Oklahoma Panhandle State.
Three Montana teams are ranked in the top 20 in this week’s NAIA poll. Carroll College moved up eight spots to fourth, Montana Tech fell five spots from the preseason poll to 12th while Rocky Mountain moved into the poll at 19th.