2022 Montana State Bobcats football team

2022 Montana State Bobcats football
Big Sky co-champion
NCAA Division I Semifinal, L 18–39 at South Dakota State
Conference	Big Sky Conference
Ranking
STATS	No. 4
FCS Coaches	No. 5
Record	12–2 (8–0 Big Sky)
Head coach	Brent Vigen (2nd season)
Offensive coordinator	Taylor Housewright (2nd season)
Offensive scheme	Pro-style
Defensive coordinator	Willie Mack Garza (1st season)
Base defense	4–2–5
Home stadium	Bobcat Stadium
Seasons ←  2021 2023  →

2022 Big Sky Conference football standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 4 Montana State +^		8	–	0					12	–	2
No. 5 Sacramento State +^		8	–	0					12	–	1
No. 9 Weber State ^		6	–	2					10	–	3
No. 18 Idaho ^		6	–	2					7	–	5
No. 25 UC Davis		5	–	3					6	–	5
No. 14 Montana ^		4	–	4					8	–	5
Portland State		3	–	5					4	–	7
Eastern Washington		2	–	6					3	–	8
Northern Colorado		2	–	6					3	–	8
Northern Arizona		2	–	6					3	–	8
Idaho State		1	–	7					1	–	10
Cal Poly		1	–	7					2	–	9
+ – Conference co-champions ^ – FCS playoff participant Rankings from STATS Poll

The 2022 Montana State Bobcats football team represented Montana State University as a member of the Big Sky Conference during the 2022 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The Bobcats were led by second-year head coach Brent Vigen and played their home games at Bobcat Stadium in Bozeman, Montana.

Preseason

Polls

On July 25, 2022, during the virtual Big Sky Kickoff, the Bobcats were predicted to finish third in the Big Sky by the coaches and second by the media. ^[1]

Coaches poll

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Montana	111 (3)
2	Sacramento State	110 (4)
3	Montana State	109 (5)
4	Weber State	84
5	UC Davis	82
6	Eastern Washington	76
7	Northern Arizona	62
8	Idaho	45
9	Portland State	42
10	Cal Poly	33
T-11	Idaho State	19
T-11	Northern Colorado	19

Media poll

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Montana	356 (14)
2	Montana State	352 (13)
3	Sacramento State	335 (4)
4	Weber State	261
5	UC Davis	255 (1)
6	Eastern Washington	236
7	Northern Arizona	191
8	Portland State	146
9	Idaho	142
10	Cal Poly	85
11	Northern Colorado	71
12	Idaho State	66

Preseason All–Big Sky team

The Bobcats had seven players selected to the preseason all-Big Sky team. ^[2]

Offense Tommy Mellott – QB Isaiah Ifanse – RB R.J. Fitzgerald – WR

Defense Brody Grebe – DE Callahan O'Reilly – ILB

Special teams Bryce Leighton – P Tommy Sullivan – LS

Roster

2022 Montana State Bobcats football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class WR 0 Malik Mullins So WR 1 Ravi Alston GS WR 2 Clevan Thomas Jr. GS WR 3 Coy Steel Sr QB 4 Tommy Mellott So RB 5 Garrett Coon So RB 7 Kaegun Williams GS TE 8 Derryk Snell Jr QB 9 Luke Abshire Fr QB 10 Sean Chambers Jr WR 11 Willie Patterson Sr RB 12 Jared White Fr RB 13 Elijah Elliott So WR 14 Taco Dowler Fr WR 16 Marqui Johnson So WR 17 Christian Anaya Fr QB 18 Sean Austin  Fr FB 19 Jaharie Martin So RB 22 Isaiah Ifanse Sr RB 24 Lane Sumner Jr TE 41 R. J. Fitzgerald Sr FB 48 Max Murphy Fr G 51 Trey Yates  Fr OL 55 J. T. Reed So G 56 Cole Sain Jr G 58 Aaron Richards So OL 60 Tommy Nilson Fr OL 62 Bear Old Fr OT 63 Rush Reimer So OL 64 Burke Mastel Fr C 65 Justus Perkins So OT 66 Titan Fleischmann  Fr G 67 Joe McElroy Sr OL 68 Omar Aigbedion Fr G 70 Holden Sampson So OT 72 Connor Moore Fr OL 74 Jaden Perkins Fr OL 75 Jacob Kettels  Fr G 76 Marcus Wehr So TE 80 Treyton Pickering Jr WR 81 Tayvian Williams So TE 82 Elijah Reynolds  Fr WR 83 Dylan Snyder Fr WR 84 Noah Smith Fr WR 85 Aidan Garrigan  Fr WR 86 Zachary Dodson-Greene Fr TE 87 Ryan Lonergan So TE 88 Rylan Schlepp Fr QB Jordan Reed Fr	Defense Pos. # Name Class CB 0 Tyrel Thomas Sr CB 2 Dru Polidore Fr S 3 Rhedi Short Sr CB 4 James Campbell Sr S 5 Jeffrey Manning Jr. Sr DB 6 Miles Jackson So S, NB 7 Ty Okada Sr S, NB 8 Level Price Jr. Jr CB 9 Simeon Woodard So DE 10 Brody Grebe So DE 11 Kenneth Eiden IV  Fr CB 12 Devin Davis  Fr CB 13 Jackson Harmon  Fr LB 14 Neil Daily  Fr S 16 Michael Armstrong Fr DB 17 Caden Dowler Fr S 18 Kendric Bailey So S 20 Tyson Pottenger  Fr DB 22 Takhari Carr Fr S 23 Aidan Parks  Fr DB 25 Eli Aby  Fr S, NB 26 Rylan Ortt So S 28 Jake D'Agostino  Fr S 29 Max Kimball Fr LB 30 Danny Uluilakepa So LB 31 Jace Fitzgerald  Fr LB 32 Jory Choate Sr DT 33 Blake Hehl Jr LB 34 Nolan Askelson Jr DB 35 Kade Cutler Fr ILB 40 Alex Johnson  Fr LB 42 Ryan Krahe Fr LB 43 McCade O'Reilly So DE 44 Jake Vigen Fr DE 45 Hunter Parsons  Fr DE 46 Logan Fredericksen Fr LB 47 Callahan O'Reilly Sr DL 50 Zack Black  Fr DE 53 Luke Fedyk  Fr DT 57 Tyson Regimbal Sr DT 69 Jaren Perkins Fr DT 91 Devin Slaughter Jr DT 92 Blake Schmidt So DT 93 Kyle Rygg Sr DE 94 David Alston Jr DT 95 Sebastian Valdez So DL 96 Paul Brott  Fr DL 97 Ethan Abbott Fr DE 98 Ben Seymour Jr	Special teams Pos. # Name Class P 37 Bryce Leighton So K, P 38 Casey Kautzman Fr K 39 Blake Glessner So LS 71 Tommy Sullivan So	Head coach Brent Vigen Coordinators/assistant coaches Taylor Housewright (Offensive coordinator / quarterbacks) Willie Mack Garza (Defensive coordinator / Defensive backs) Bobby Daly (linebackers) Jimmy Beal (running backs) Justin Udy (special teams coordinator / wide receivers / pass game coordinator) Brian Armstrong (offensive line / run game coordinator) Tyler Walker (tight ends) Shawn Howe (defensive line / defensive run game coordinator) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt Roster Last update: July 24, 2022

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 3	6:00 p.m.	McNeese State *	No. 4	Bobcat Stadium Bozeman, MT	KWYB/ESPN+	W 40–17	21,687
September 10	1:00 p.m.	Morehead State *	No. 4	Bobcat Stadium Bozeman, MT	KWYB/ESPN+	W 63–13	19,927
September 17	6:00 p.m.	vs. Oregon State *	No. 4	Providence Park Portland, OR	P12N	L 28–68	25,218
September 24	2:00 p.m.	at No. 15 Eastern Washington	No. 4T	Roos Field Cheney, WA	KBZK/ESPN+	W 38–35	7,200
October 1	8:15 p.m.	UC Davis	No. 4	Bobcat Stadium Bozeman, MT	ESPNU	W 41–24	21,637
October 8	2:00 p.m.	Idaho State	No. 4	Bobcat Stadium Bozeman, MT	KBZK/ESPN+	W 37–6	21,647
October 15	1:00 p.m.	at Northern Colorado	No. 4	Nottingham Field Greeley, CO	KBZK/ESPN+	W 37–14	4,796
October 22	1:00 p.m.	No. 5 Weber State	No. 3	Bobcat Stadium Bozeman, MT	KBZK/ESPN+	W 43–38	20,707
November 5	2:00 p.m.	at Northern Arizona	No. 3	Walkup Skydome Flagstaff, AZ	KBZK/ESPN+	W 41–38	8,676
November 12	6:00 p.m.	at Cal Poly	No. 3	Alex G. Spanos Stadium San Luis Obispo, CA	KBZK/ESPN+	W 72–28	5,369
November 19	12:00 p.m.	No. 13 Montana	No. 3	Bobcat Stadium Bozeman, MT (rivalry, College GameDay )	KBZK/ESPN+	W 55–21	22,047
December 3	1:00 p.m.	No. 9 Weber State*	No. 3	Bobcat Stadium Bozeman, MT (NCAA Division I Second Round)	ESPN+	W 33–25	16,397
December 9	8:15 p.m.	No. 6 William & Mary *	No. 3	Bobcat Stadium Bozeman, MT (NCAA Division I Quarterfinal)	ESPN2/ESPN+	W 55–7	14,367
December 17	2:00 p.m.	at No. 1 South Dakota State *	No. 3	Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium Brookings, SD (NCAA Division I Semifinal)	ESPN2/ESPN+	L 18–39	7,195
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game All times are in Mountain time

^[3]

Game summaries

McNeese State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Cowboys	0	10	0	7	17
No. 4 Bobcats	0	17	16	7	40

See also: 2022 McNeese State Cowboys football team

Morehead State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Eagles	0	3	3	7	13
No. 4 Bobcats	28	7	14	14	63

See also: 2022 Morehead State Eagles football team

At Oregon State

See also: 2022 Oregon State Beavers football team

Previous meeting
First ever Meeting

No. 4 (FCS) Montana State Bobcats (2-0) vs Oregon State Beavers (2-0) – Game Summary

Quarter	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 4 Bobcats	7	7	7	7	28
Beavers	7	27	20	14	68

at Providence Park • Portland, Oregon

• Date: September 17th
• Game time: 5:00 p.m. PST
• Game weather: 68 °F (20 °C) • Wind: NW at 7 miles per hour (11 km/h) • Weather: Cloudy
• Game attendance: 25,218
• Referee: Francisco Villar
• TV announcers (P12N): Jordan Kent (play-by-play), Nigel Burton (analyst)

Game information

1st quarter OSU - Deshaun Fenwick runs for a 25-yard TD 11:20, (Everett Hayes kick) - Beavers 7-0, Drive: 7 plays, 90 yards, TOP: 3:33 MST - Sean Chambers runs for a 7-yard TD 5:19, (Blake Glessner kick) - Tied 7-7, Drive: 10 plays, 66 yards, TOP: 5:54 2nd quarter OSU - Tre'Shaun Harrison 6-yard pass from Chance Nolan 14:51, (Everett Hayes kick) - Beavers 14-7, Drive: 14 plays, 75 yards, TOP: 5:28' OSU - Chance Nolan runs for a 1-yard TD 11:09, (Everett Hayes kick) - Beavers 21-7, Drive: 7 plays, 58 yards, TOP: 3:28 MST – Marqui Johnson returns a kickoff for a 98-yard TD (Blake Glessner kick) - Beavers 21-14 OSU - Silas Bolden 24-yard pass from Chance Nolan 6:19, (Everett Hayes kick) - Beavers 28-14, Drive: 8 plays, 75 yards, TOP: 4:34 OSU - Anthony Gould 9-yard pass from Chance Nolan 4:14, (Extra Point is no good) - Beavers 34-14, Drive: 2 plays, 12 yards, TOP: 0:47 3rd quarter OSU – Anthony Gould returns a punt for an 80-yard TD (Everett Hayes kick) - Beavers 40-14 MST - Sean Chambers runs for a 8-yard TD 7:21, (Blake Glessner kick) - Beavers 40-21, Drive: 11 plays, 75 yards, TOP: 5:20 OSU - Damien Martinez runs for 7-yard TD 5:51, (Atticus Sappington kick) - Beavers 47-21, Drive: 3 plays, 20 yards, TOP: 1:18 OSU - Anthony Gould 17-yard pass from Chance Nolan 1:09, (Atticus Sappington kick) - Beavers 54-21, Drive: 5 plays, 33 yards, TOP: 1:58 4th quarter OSU - Jam Griffin runs for a 23-yard TD 12:33, (Atticus Sappington kick) - Beavers 61-21, Drive: 6 plays, 54 yards, TOP: 2:48 MST - Sean Chambers runs for a 1-yard TD 7:55, (Blake Blessner kick) - Beavers 61-28, Drive: 8 plays, 65 yards, TOP: 4:38 OSU - Kanoa Shannon runs for a 3-yard TD 3:02, (Atticus Sappington kick) - Beavers 68-28, Drive: 10 plays, 64 yards, TOP: 4:51 Passing leaders Bobcats - Tommy Mellott 9-18, 101 yards, 3 INTs Beavers - Chance Nolan 19-25, 276 yards, 4 TDs Rushing leaders Bobcats - Tommy Mellott 18 carries, 135 yards Beavers - Deshaun Fenwick 9 carries, 63 yards Receiving leaders Bobcats - Derryk Snell 1 reception, 27 yards Beavers - Tre'Shaun Harrison 8 receptions, 133 yards, 1 TD Anthony Gould 5 receptions, 77 yards, 2 TDs

At No. 15 Eastern Washington

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 4T Bobcats	10	14	7	7	38
No. 15 Eagles	14	7	0	14	35

See also: 2022 Eastern Washington Eagles football team

UC Davis

	1	2	3	4	Total
Aggies	10	3	11	0	24
No. 4 Bobcats	7	17	14	3	41

See also: 2022 UC Davis Aggies football team

Idaho State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bengals	6	0	0	0	6
No. 4 Bobcats	14	20	0	3	37

See also: 2022 Idaho State Bengals football team

At Northern Colorado

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 4 Bobcats	3	14	13	7	37
Bears	7	7	0	0	14

See also: 2022 Northern Colorado Bears football team

No. 5 Weber State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 5 Wildcats	17	7	8	6	38
No. 3 Bobcats	9	18	16	0	43

See also: 2022 Weber State Wildcats football team

At Northern Arizona

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 3 Bobcats	17	0	7	17	41
Lumberjacks	7	14	7	10	38

See also: 2022 Northern Arizona Lumberjacks football team

At Cal Poly

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 3 Bobcats	24	27	14	7	72
Mustangs	0	14	14	0	28

See also: 2022 Cal Poly Mustangs football team

No. 13 Montana

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 13 Grizzlies	7	0	0	14	21
No. 3 Bobcats	21	10	10	14	55

See also: 2022 Montana Grizzlies football team and Brawl of the Wild

FCS Playoffs

No. 9 Weber State – Second Round

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 9 Wildcats	3	7	0	15	25
No. 3 Bobcats	7	9	10	7	33

See also: 2022 Weber State Wildcats football team and 2022 NCAA Division I FCS football season

No. 6 William & Mary – Quarterfinals

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 6 Tribe	0	0	0	7	7
No. 3 Bobcats	10	17	28	0	55

See also: 2022 William & Mary Tribe football team and 2022 NCAA Division I FCS football season

At No. 1 South Dakota State – Semifinals

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 3 Bobcats	6	3	3	6	18
No. 1 Jackrabbits	14	14	8	3	39

See also: 2022 South Dakota State Jackrabbits football team and 2022 NCAA Division I FCS football season

Ranking movements

Ranking movements
Legend:██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
т = Tied with team above or below

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Final
STATS FCS	4	4	4	4т	4	4	4	3	3	3	3	3	3	4
Coaches	4	4	4	4т	4	5	4	2	2	3	3	3	3	5

References

1. "Montana Tabbed Big Sky Preseason Favorites by Coaches & Media". July 25, 2022. Retrieved July 27, 2022.
2. "Bobcat Backfield Joins Two Defensive Stars and Two Specialists on Preseason All-Big Sky Squad". Montana State University. July 25, 2022. Retrieved June 27, 2022.
3. "2022 Football Schedule". Montana State University Athletics. Retrieved May 2, 2022.