Eastern Washington hosts reigning champ Montana State now in 'pretty good health'

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Oct. 13—Heading into its matchup with Eastern Washington on Saturday at Roos Field, and following a bye week, the Montana State football team appears to be healthy again.

Fifth-year quarterback Justin Lamson, senior running back Adam Jones and fifth-year safety Caden Dowler — the 2025 Big Sky Conference Defensive Player of the Year — are all back on the depth chart that the Bobcats released earlier this week.

"We're in pretty good health," MSU head coach Brent Vigen said during his Monday news conference. "As far as where we've been over the last month, it's the best scenario we've been in."

Dowler missed the last four games, Lamson missed the last two, and Jones missed just the most recent one — a 35-34 loss to Idaho that knocked the Bobcats from the No. 1 ranking in the FCS Stats Perform Top 25 to No. 5 this week.

Jones, though, had just two carries the week before, a 28-14 victory over Northern Arizona.

Last season, Jones carried 10 times for 72 yards and two touchdowns in Montana State's 57-3 victory over Eastern Washington in Bozeman.

"I think he looks pretty good," Vigen said of Jones, "and to get back one of the better backs in the conference, in the country, is a good thing. It raises our level as a team."

The Bobcats (5-1, 2-1 Big Sky) started the year with three decisive victories, including a 20-7 win on the road over FBS Nevada. But they needed a comeback, in Bozeman, to beat Central Connecticut State on Sept. 19, 35-30. The following week, the Lumberjacks scored on just 1 of 4 red -zone opportunities in a game that was tied at halftime.

Then came the loss at Idaho, which came about because of a last-second touchdown and two-point conversion by the Vandals at the Kibbie Dome.

The Bobcats had an extra week to stew over that one.

"It wasn't just that we lost, it was how we lost," Vigen said. "Each side, special teams included, had a chance to make that dang near impossible for them to do what they did."

Eastern Washington head coach Aaron Best said he expects the defeat will only fuel the Bobcats when they face the Eagles (2-5, 1-3).

"I expect them to be a little bit more angry knowing that they didn't have a game to take it out on somebody last weekend," Best said. "Hopefully they don't take it all out on us."

In Jones' absence, the Bobcats relied more on senior Colson Coon, who finished with 197 rushing yards against the Lumberjacks and 56 against the Vandals.

Without Lamson at quarterback, senior Patrick Duchien completed 16 of 20 passes for 204 yards and a score against the Lumberjacks and 23 of 32 passes for 249 yards and two scores against the Vandals.

Taco Dowler, the fifth-year receiver and brother of Caden Dowler, has been out the last two weeks and is not listed on the two-deep against the Eagles. Dowler has 24 catches for 224 yards and a touchdown this season.

But Dowler's absence at wide receiver has created opportunities for freshman Carter Dahlke, who has 17 catches for 243 yards and two scores over the last two games.

"The experiences that the guys behind (the injured players) have got over the last couple weeks have raised the level of this team," Vigen said.

Montana State ranks fifth in the Big Sky in total offense (441.3 yards per game), including a rushing game that ranks third in the league (188.7 yards per game). The Bobcats' defense ranks first in total yards allowed (337 per game) and in scoring defense (18.3 points per game).

Mustangs, Wildcats among four top teams in standings

Seventh-ranked Montana (5-2) and eighth-ranked Northern Arizona (5-2), two teams predicted to be in the top half of the Big Sky this season, have lived up to those expectations and are sitting atop the Big Sky standings at 3-1.

But the two other teams with 3-1 records — Cal Poly and Weber State — have outperformed preseason expectations as well as their own recent histories.

The Mustangs, which defeated the Eagles 31-27 two weeks ago in Cheney, already have their most conference victories since 2018, when they finished 4-4 in Big Sky play. First-year head coach Tim Skipper has won four games, as many as the Mustangs won all of last season under Paul Wulff (4-8).

Weber State (4-3 overall) has also matched its win total from last year. First-year coach Eric Kjar has never before been a college head coach, making the jump to the Wildcats after posting a 112-10 record over the last nine seasons — winning six state championships — as head coach at Corner Canyon High School in Draper, Utah.

Eastern Washington will not play Weber State this season. This week the Wildcats host 21st-ranked Idaho State (4-2, 1-2).

The only team in the Big Sky without a conference victory so far is Utah Tech, which is 0-7 overall and 0-4 in league play during its first season in the Big Sky.

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