DAVIS, Calif. — Defensive tackle Zach Minter returned an interception 5 yards to the 1 to set up Tray Robinson’s go-ahead touchdown run in undefeated Montana State’s 48-41 victory over UC Davis on Saturday night.
Robinson’s 1-yard run on third down gave the Bobcats (6-0, 3-0 Big Sky) a 45-41 lead with 8:40 left, and Rory Perez added a 34-yard field goal with 2:23 left.
UC Davis (2-4, 1-2) drove to the 15 in the final minute, but a holding penalty and a sack set up a fourth-down pass into the end zone that was knocked away by the Bobcats’ Joel Fuller with 16 seconds left.
Montana State is 6-0 for the first time since winning its first eight games in 1978.
“We believe in each other, we play for each other, and in the end we stayed strong and stayed resilient because of each other,” Minter said.
The Bobcats scored the final 24 points of the first half to take a 31-14 lead, but UC Davis countered with 24 straight points in the third quarter for a 38-31 advantage.
The Bobcats tied it at 38 on Robinson’s 1-yard run early in the fourth, and UC Davis pulled ahead again on Brady Stuart’s 28-yard field goal with 12:26 to go.
“If we have an identity, it’s that we play hard all the time. It’s the thing that I’m most proud of,” Aggies coach Bob Biggs said. “Regardless of the score, they just fight. I thought we were very physical in the third quarter. We just had a lot of momentum going. The kids were playing with a lot of heart, kept believing and just came up short.”
Montana State’s DeNarius McGhee was 27 of 41 for 334 yards and a touchdown and ran for a score. He also threw an interception that Jordan Glass returned 7 yards for a TD in the third quarter.
“You’ve got to give Montana State credit,” Biggs said. “That quarterback (McGhee) is Houdini. There were times when I thought we had him and, next thing you know, he runs for a first down. Just one of those games, but I’m very, very proud of the way we played and fought.”
UC Davis’ Randy Wright was 23 of 37 for 242 yards and two touchdowns, a 26-yarder to Anthony Soto and a 19-yarder to Corey Galindo in the third-quarter spree. Wright finished with two interceptions, with Darius Jones returning the first 45 yards for a touchdown with 1:04 left in the second quarter.
Jones’ return capped a 17-point Montana State burst in a 4:51 span. McGhee had a 1-yard touchdown run with 5:55 to go, and threw a 3-yard scoring pass to Tanner Bleskin with 1:25 remaining.
Bleskin finished with eight catches for 91 yards, and Orenzo Davis led the Bobcats in rushing with 71 yards on 14 carries. He opened the scoring with a 35-yard run in the first quarter.
Soto had seven catches for 80 yards for the Aggies.
Nguyen, Montana roll past Northern Colorado 40-17
GREELEY, Colo.— Peter Nguyen ran for 159 yards and a touchdown to lead a strong team effort on the ground, and Montana spoiled Northern Colorado’s homecoming Saturday with a 40-17 victory.
Trent McKinney and Nate Harris also scored rushing touchdowns for the Grizzlies (3-3, 1-2 Big Sky), who totaled 294 yards rushing. McKinney added 142 yards passing and hooked up with Cam Warren for a 17-yard score, and Caleb Walden intercepted a pass on a fake punt and returned it 18 yards for a TD.
Montana led just 10-0 at halftime, and Dominic Gunn made it 10-7 when he returned the second-half kickoff 98 yards for a score for the Bears (1-4, 0-2). It was all Grizzlies after that.
Northern Colorado’s Seth Lobato threw for 259 yards and hit Gunn on a 24-yard score in the closing minutes, but was picked off three times as the Bears fell to 1-12 against Montana.