Montana State University
Idaho State
McGhee Leads Bobcats to Overtime Win
10/30/2010 5:43:26 PM | Football
Freshman quarterback throws for over 400, but scores winner with legs
Denarius McGhee may have thrown for 400 yards in back-to-back games, but he scored the game-winner Saturday with his legs.
Montana State's freshman sensation scampered 25 yards on a broken play-action pass, walking a tightrope down the sideline the last five yards, and scored the touchdown giving Montana State a 23-20 overtime win over Idaho State in Pocatello. McGhee threw for 402 yards and ran for 45 more to lead MSU to the victory.
"I'm running out of things to say about Denariusm" Bobcat coach Rob Ash said after the heart-stopping win. "It was such a hard-fought game, back-and-forth. I give idaho State a lot of credit, this is a well-coached team that played very hard today."
Things didn't start well for the Bobcats. MSU missed a field goal after driving 49 yards on its first possession, then fumbled near the red zone after its second. Idaho State scored first, a 19 yard touchdown catch by Kelvin Krosch, but CJ Palmer answered with a three-yard run for MSU. Brendon Garcia's 27-yard field goal late in the second quarter gave the Bengals a 10-7 halftime lead.
The teams traded scores in the third quarter, and Jason Cunningham's 36-yard field goal tied the game at 17 with 2:17 to play. After a Bobcat stop, Cunningham missed a 41-yarder as time expired to send the game to overtime. Garcia's 27-yard kick gave the Bengals a short-lived 20-17 advantage.
On the first play of MSU's overtime possession, McGhee scampered in for the score. "Yes, yes," McGhee said when asked if he knew he'd stayed inbounds and scored. "I pretty much knew I got in. I saw number eight, their middle linebacker, and I faked like I was going to go out of bounds, but I looked up and saw Julius had his guy blocked so I cut it up hard. It was a great block, and I went full speed and got it in."
With the win, Montana State raises its record to 7-2, matching the program's most wins in a regular season since 1984, and 5-1 in the Big Sky. ISU is 1-7, 0-5.
