Yale football has another FCS playoff mountain to climb at Montana State; How to watch

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Yale football ventures deeper, further, higher and later into uncharted territory traveling to Montana State in the second round of the FCS playoffs Saturday at 2 p.m., with TV/streaming available on ESPN+

The Bulldogs roared back from a 28-poing deficit to eliminate Youngstown State last Saturday, in the first postseason game in program history. The Ivy League changed its decades-old policy and allowed its teams to compete in the 24-team playoff field this season, and Yale took the league’s automatic birth with a win over Harvard Nov. 22.

Now, they face the No. 2 seed in the playoffs, and second-ranked team in the FCS poll. Montana State (10-2) lost to North Dakota State in the FCS championship game last year, and though the Bobcats have not won the FCS title since 1984, they have been a perennial contender. Brett Vigen, in five years as coach, is 57-12, including 37-2 at home at Bobcats Stadium in Bozeman, with five straight playoff appearances.

FanDuel lists Montana State as 28 1/2-point favorites.

Dom Amore: How Josh Pitsenberger, Yale pulled off comeback for the ages in FCS playoffs

Yale has never played Montana State in football — the schools met once in men’s basketball in 1969. In 152 years of football, Yale has played only two previous games in the month of December, against Harvard on Dec. 1, 1945 and Princeton, Dec. 8, 1878. The Bulldogs (9-2) have not played 12 games in a season since 1903. In traveling 2,232 miles for this game, Yale will rack up twice as many miles as it did in all its previous 2025 road games combined (1,067). Bobcat Stadium’s elevation is about 4,800 feet; Yale Bowl is roughly sea level.

So this is an historic experience on more than one level, even for Yale. The winner of this round-of-16 game plays either Abilene Christian or Stephen F. Austin in the quarterfinals next week. The FCS championship will be decided in Nashville on Jan. 5.

Montana State, with a first-round bye, has won 10 in a row, dominating the Big Sky Conference on both sides of the line, and on special teams, outscoring eight league opponents 364-110. The only losses came against the Big Ten’s Oregon and FCS power South Dakota State (in double overtime) in the first two games.

Quarterback Justin Lamson has completed 72.4 percent of his passes for 2,345 yards and 20 touchdowns, and he has rushed for 761 yards, one of three in the backfield with more than 750 on the ground. Montana State is plus-11 in takeaways. Caden Dowler, with four interceptions, was the Big Sky’s defensive player of the year. His twin brother, Taco Dowler, averaged 13.1 yards per punt return, as the Bobcats led the league in return yardage.

Dom Amore: Finally, Yale and Harvard are playing for a season that can go beyond ‘The Game’

Yale  had six players named to the football writers All-England team. Captain Josh Pitsenberger rushed for 220 yards at Youngstown State, including a 56-yard run for the winning touchdown. He has 1,447 yards this season, second most in program history behind Mike McLeod (1,619 in 2007). Quarterback Dante Reno, son of the head coach, transferred from South Carolina and has reached another level the last two games, with three TD passes in each. After a tough start, he threw for 260 yards at Youngstown State. Yale has outscored opponents 339-214.

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