BOZEMAN — Montana State delivered a convincing victory in its first game at Bobcat Stadium since 2019.
Matthew McKay threw for 256 yard and three touchdowns and rushed for 61 yards as MSU rolled to a 45-7 win over Drake on Saturday to give Brent Vigen his first victory as a Division I head coach.
The Bobcats scored on a 28-yard field goal on their second drive just under four minutes into the game. MSU then scored on a 23-yard passing touchdown from McKay to Patterson at the end of the quarter to go up 9-0.
McKay and Patterson connected again midway through the second quarter, this time on a 31-yard scoring strike to give the Bobcats a 16-0 advantage. Ifanse then scored on a 4-yard run to expand MSU's lead to 24-0.
Drake then scored on a 2-yard pass from Ian Corwin pass to Cross Robinson to trim the Bobcats' lead to 24-7 heading into halftime.
With under five minutes remaining in the third quarter, McKay hit Lance McCutcheon for a 45-yard touchdown and early in the fourth quarter Ifanse fumbled at the goal line and it was recovered by Ryan Davis to give the Bobcats a 38-7 lead.
With McKay's work for the day done, Tucker Rovig stepped in and hit Cam Gardner for a 28-yard score with 6:58 left in the game to expand MSU's lead to 45-7.
TURNING POINT: McKay's long touchdown pass to McCutcheon in the third quarter again gave MSU a 24-point lead, effectively extinguishing any hope of a comeback Drake had after scoring before the end of the first half.
STAT OF THE GAME: Montana State came bolting out of the gates on first down, amassing 224 yards on 31 attempts for an average of 7.2 yards. Drake mustered just 75 yards on 24 first-down attempts.
GAME BALLS: McCutcheon had 121 receiving yards to go with his touchdown reception...Ty Okada led MSU's defense with 8 total tackles.
WHAT'S NEXT: The Bobcats (1-1) wrap up non-conference play next week with a home game against San Diego. Drake (1-1) travels to take on North Dakota.
