Montana State beats Montana 48-23 in Cats-Griz 2.0 to reach 3rd FCS title game in 5 seasons

BOZEMAN, Mont. (AP) — Justin Lamson accounted for four touchdowns, Adam Jones had 131 yards rushing and two TDs, and second-seeded Montana State beat No. 3 seed Montana 48-23 on Saturday in the semifinals of the FCS playoffs.

Montana State (13-2) will play unseeded Illinois State — a 30-14 winner at 12th-seeded Villanova later Saturday — for the national championship on Jan. 5 in Nashville, Tennessee.

The Bobcats will make their fourth appearance in the title game and third in coach Brett Vigen’s five seasons. Montana State, which won the 1984 national championship, lost to North Dakota State in the 2021 and 2024 title games.

Bryce Grebe returned an interception 35 yards for a touchdown that capped the scoring with 7:01 to play.

Lamson was 13-of-19 passing for 209 yards and two touchdowns and ran for TDs of 4 and 7 yards. Taco Dowler had five receptions for 125 yards, which included an 87-yard touchdown.

Keali’i Ah Yat completed 27 of 42 for 251 yards passing with a touchdown and an interception and Taco Dowler’s twin brother, and added a 5-yard TD run. Eli Gillman had 106 yards rushing and a touchdown on 16 carries for Montana.

Montana State defensive back Caden Dowler, the Big Sky Conference’s defensive player of the year, left the game in the first quarter due to an apparent wrist injury. Dowler went into the semis with six interceptions — two of which were returned for touchdowns — in the last five games.

Grizzlies wide receiver Brooks Davis, tight end Evan Shafer, and defensive lineman Jereb Ramos left the game due to injury and did not return. Micah Harper was ejected early in the second quarter after he was called for targeting.

A crowd of 25,437 jammed into Bobcats Stadium to make the 125th meeting between the programs — the first in the playoffs — arguably the biggest sporing event in the history of the state. The Grizzlies lead the all-time series 75-45-5, but Montana State has won three straight and eight of the last 10.

Montana State beat the Grizzlies 31-28 on Nov. 22 to clinch the Big Sky Conference regular-season title.

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