While much of the spotlight fell on unseeded Illinois State as a Cinderella for Monday’s Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) championship game, the No. 2-seeded Montana State Bobcats had faced their own major hurdles in their journey to the game, which they ultimately overcame.
Montana State faced massive changes to its roster and coaching staff ahead of the 2025 season, and the Bobcats started the season 0–2 after losses to Oregon and South Dakota State. In addition, the Bobcats had never made the FCS championship game in back-to-back seasons, and it initially looked like a dominant 10-time champion North Dakota State team would be waiting on the other side of the bracket again, as was the case a year ago for the Bobcats.
Illinois State crashed the Division I football subdivision’s big dance instead and knocked out the Bison in the second round. The Redbirds then gave the Bobcats everything they could handle in a 35–34 overtime thriller in Nashville on Monday that saw Montana State end a 41-year championship drought.
“Putting a new coaching staff together, that group coming together to figure it out, continuing to find ways to put our guys in the best position on Saturdays and in this case on Monday, it’s impressive,” Montana State head coach Brent Vigen told reporters afterward.
Vigen lost half of his coaches to other opportunities, and the Bobcats lost seven All-American players, including quarterback Tommy Mellott, the 2024 Walter Payton Award winner who now plays for the New Orleans Saints.
Justin Lamson took over as the quarterback, but in his first two games against the Ducks and Jackrabbits achieved fewer than 200 yards passing per game and no touchdowns. Lamson nonetheless found his rhythm as a passer and provided a threat as a runner, too.
Montana State’s defense kicked into gear after those losses, too, and only allowed more than 24 points once for the rest of the regular season. That said, the Bobcats’ defense needed a little extra from Lamson and the offense during the playoffs, and Lamson delivered with more than 200 yards passing, two touchdown passes, and at least one rushing touchdown in each of the final three rounds of the postseason.
“If you followed our season, it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows. It was rocky at times,” Bobcats wide receiver Taco Dowler told reporters afterward. “We had a blue-collar mentality. And breathing—we do breathing exercises to be calm. The game today is a great testament to the good men in the program and I couldn’t be prouder of the guys.”
Dowler, whose real first name is McLean, has emerged as one of the best wide receivers in the FCS with 77 receptions for 1,025 yards and seven touchdowns this season. When the Bobcats faced fourth down and 11 yards in the first overtime with a 34–28 deficit, Lamson called upon Dowler and connected on a 14-yard touchdown pass. Montana State then won on the extra point.
“Taco was wide open. I got hit so I just kind of gave him a chance, and the rest is history and Myles [Sansted] did his thing. It was a great play call. Taco and I just did what we were supposed to do.”
Much of the game had similar drama, especially in the second half when Illinois State rallied from 21–7 down to force the game into overtime. Redbirds quarterback Tommy Rittenhouse threw two touchdown passes in the fourth quarter to tie the game, and he threw another in overtime to put his team ahead.
Ultimately, it wasn’t enough as a blocked field goal late in the fourth quarter, followed by a blocked extra point in overtime, erased the Redbirds’ chances. Redbirds head coach Brock Spack knew the experience all too well since his 2014 squad also lost an FCS championship game to North Dakota State University.
“Just couldn’t find one more play,” Spack told reporters afterward. “We needed to make one more play to win.”
“When you look at a game that’s a one-point loss like that, there’s probably 10, 15, maybe 20 plays in the game if you make just one of them, you win,” Spack added. “Wasn’t able to do that, and we came up short.”
