Montana State University
Portland State (Homecoming)
Bobcats still in first place
10/9/2010 5:44:38 PM | Football
The beat goes on for the Montana State Bobcats as they rolled up 532 yards of offense on Saturday to beat Portland State 44-31 in a Big Sky Conference game.
Montana State 44, Portland State 31
The tenth ranked Bobcats fell behind 18-3 in the first quarter before the league's best offense got on track. The win keeps MSU alone on top of the Big Sky standings at 3-0 (5-1 overall).
Portland State quarterback Connor Kavanaugh raced 75 yards for a touchdown at the end of the first quarter to put MSU in a 15-point hole. The Bobcats answered with a 40-yard scoring pass from Denarius McGhee to Everett Gilbert to trim the gap to 18-9.
C.J. Palmer hauled in a 16-yard scoring pass from McGhee to make it 18-16. Then McGhee himself skittered into the end zone from four yards out to give MSU a 23-18 halftime edge.
With a sellout homecoming crowd of 15,227 watching on a warm, sunny day, the Bobcats gained only 73 yards in the first quarter to PSU's 207, but at the half, MSU had 242 total yards to 240 for the Vikings ((1-1 and 2-3). The attendance was the best ever for a non-Grizzly game.
McGhee, who garnered league player of the week honors after MSU's stunning 64-61 win at Sacramento State a week earlier, missed on six of his first seven passes before righting himself. For the game, the redshirt freshman completed 15 of 27 passes for 206 yards and three scores.
McGhee's third and final scoring pass was an 18-yarder to Elvis Akpla to open the third quarter. MSU continued to build on its lead as Orenzo Davis, who finished with 135 yards rushing on 14 carries, raced 39 for a score to close out the third quarter. Palmer opened the fourth quarter with a 5-yard run to cap a string of 41 consecutive points by MSU.
PSU's Cory McCaffrey closed the scoring with runs of 10 and 4 yards. McCaffrey totaled 153 yards on 20 carries. Kavanaugh's numbers matched McGhee's, as the Vikings signal caller was 16 of 27 for 208 yards and a 55-yard score to Julius Thomas in the first quarter.
Portland State hurt itself with a couple of lost fumbles in the second quarter. The first one, recovered by Roger Trammel who was filling in for an injured Clay Bignell, didn't hurt PSU. But moments after Michael Rider recovered a loose ball, McGhee scored his touchdown just before halftime.
Jason Cunningham continued his impressive season as a field goal kicker, splitting the uprights from 52 yards out for MSU's first score.
The Bobcats travel to Northern Arizona (1-1, 3-2) next week to face the Big Sky's top defense. The Lumberjacks were felled by Eastern Washington (3-1, 4-2) 21-14 on Saturday while Portland State plays host to Montana ((3-1, 4-2), a 47-28 winner over Idaho State.
