Montana State Runs past Northern Arizona to Stay 4-0
Colson Coon carried 18 times for 199 yards and Montana State needed every one of them. The Bobcats beat Northern Arizona 28-14 and ran for 289 yards as a team to the Lumberjacks' 136, which is the kind of gap that does not show up in a game that was tied at 14 at the half.
Montana State scored first, on a 47-yard pass from Patrick Duchien to Carter Dahlke in the first quarter. Northern Arizona answered with an 8-yard Ty Pennington touchdown pass to Myseth Currie and made it 7-7. Duchien ran one in from 15 yards to put the Bobcats back up 14-7, and then Pennington found Nassim Isaac from 32 yards with 2:05 left in the half to tie it again. That was the last time Northern Arizona scored.
The second half was all Montana State. Jared White punched in a 1-yard run in the third quarter for a 21-14 lead, and the margin stayed at one score until Duchien broke off a 28-yard run with 1:53 to play. Northern Arizona never led, and Montana State never trailed, though a tie twice is close enough to count as a fight.
The turnover column was nearly a wash. Duchien threw one interception and lost a fumble, Northern Arizona lost a fumble of its own and threw none. Neither team was sacked. Montana State gained 493 total yards to 375, and Pennington's 239 passing yards did not have a rushing game to lean on.
Montana State is 4-0. Northern Arizona drops to 3-1. For fantasy purposes, Duchien had by far his best day of the season, and Dahlke and Coon were not far behind. Pennington lost the game and still scored 28.8, so no one on his side should feel bad.