Montana State outscored New Mexico 21-0 in the final quarter as the No. 4 FCS Bobcats defeated the Lobos. The Bobcats got the winning score on a 4-yard Scottre Humphrey run with 10 seconds left in the game.

That score gave MSU its first lead of the game.

Until that fourth quarter, it was a stellar performance by the Lobos, which got two touchdowns by the offense and two by the defense to take a 31-14 lead.  The Lobos scored twice on fumble recoveries, the first that that has happened in at least 50 years.

The Lobos got into Montana State territory on the opening possession but had to punt, but the defense ended up scoring first.  On second down from midfield, Jayden Wilson sacked Tommy Mellott, who fumbled, and the ball bounced right to Christian Ellis, who raced 41 yards for his first career touchdown.  Luke Drzewiecki added a 45-yard field goal later in the quarter and UNM led 10-0 at the break.

It was 17-0 after Devon Dampier hit Trace Bruckler for a 12-yard touchdown and just 1:15 into the second quarter UNM led 17-0.  After that, Montana State started to get its offense in gear, and they got on the board with a 5-yard pass from Mellott to Rylan Schlepp.  That was the first of five 75-yard touchdown drives for the Bobcats.

Mellott threw a second TD, this to an open Ty McCullouch to make it 17-14, but UNM answered as Dampier scored untouched from 24 yards out on a drive in which UNM never faced a third down.  That made it 24-14, and it stayed that way into halftime.

UNM’s only score in the second half came on the opening drive for Montana State when Gabe Lopez sacked Mellott and knocked the ball loose with Noah Avinger picking it up and scurrying 13 yards for a second defensive touchdown.  That made it 31-14 and set up the fateful fourth quarter.

The Bobcats, after getting stopped by Ellis and Bobby Arnold III on the fourth-and-1 at the Lobo 25 in the third quarter, opened the fourth with a 15-yard run by Mellott.

UNM drove from its 25 to the Bobcat 23-yard line, but on third-and-5, Eli Sanders lost two yards and with the wind suddenly whipping to 40 miles per hour, Drzewiecki missed his second field goal of the game.  In the end, UNM’s defense got a stop as Ellis and Randolph Kpai got in Mellott’s face and forced an incompletion from the Bobcat 42.  UNM had the ball up 10 in MSU territory with just 6:15 to go.

However UNM couldn’t kill much clock and on third down, Luke Wysong dropped an out-pattern that had the first down and a lot more, forcing UNM to punt.  On the second play of the drive, Adam Jones went around the left end and raced 93 yards for the second-longest rushing touchdown in MSU history, and the second-longest one given up by UNM.  That made it 31-28 with 4:35 left.

UNM again got the ball back, and picked up one first down, but another critical third-down drop, this by Caleb Medford, force a punt.  A catch there would have forced MSU to use its final timeout with the two-minute warning and at worst-case gotten the ball back with under 30 seconds.  Instead, a Rodriguez punt meant the Bobcats would start with 1:59 left at its 11.

The key plays on the drive were a pair of third-down conversions.  The first was a broken play that went for 37 yards and put the Bobcats in field goal territory.  The second came on third-and -6 from the Lobo 16 and set up MSU at the 4, where they took the lead on the next play.

UNM on its final drive tried to start a lateral play but MSU recovered to end the game.