2021 Montana State Bobcats football team

2021 Montana State Bobcats football
2021 Montana State Bobcats football
NCAA Division I Championship Game, ; L 10–38 vs. North Dakota State
Conference	Big Sky Conference
Ranking
STATS	No. 2
FCS Coaches	No. 2
Record	12–3 (7–1 Big Sky)
Head coach	Brent Vigen (1st season);
Offensive coordinator	Taylor Housewright (1st season)
Offensive scheme	Pro-style
Defensive coordinator	Freddie Banks (1st season)
Base defense	4–2–5
Home stadium	Bobcat Stadium
	Seasons ← 2019 2022 →

2021 Big Sky Conference football standings
v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
No. 10 Sacramento State $^	8	–	0	9	–	3
No. 2 Montana State ^	7	–	1	11	–	3
No. 7 Eastern Washington ^	6	–	2	10	–	3
No. 6 Montana ^	6	–	2	10	–	3
No. 17 UC Davis ^	5	–	3	8	–	4
Weber State	5	–	3	6	–	5
Northern Arizona	4	–	4	5	–	6
Portland State	4	–	4	5	–	6
Idaho	3	–	5	4	–	7
Northern Colorado	2	–	6	3	–	8
Cal Poly	1	–	7	2	–	9
Idaho State	1	–	7	1	–	10
Southern Utah	0	–	8	1	–	10

$ – Conference champion ^ – FCS playoff participant Rankings from STATS Poll

The 2021 Montana State Bobcats football team represented Montana State University in the Big Sky Conference during the 2021 NCAA Division I FCS football season. Led by first-year head coach Brent Vigen, the Bobcats played home games on campus at Bobcat Stadium in Bozeman, Montana.

Montana State finished the regular season at 9–2 (7–1 in Big Sky, second), losing only to Wyoming (FBS, Mountain West) and rival Montana.^[1] Seeded eighth in the FCS postseason, they received a first-round bye, then defeated UT Martin, #1 Sam Houston, and South Dakota State. MSU advanced to the championship game in Texas on January 8, 2022, but fell 38–10 to #3 North Dakota State.^[2]

Preseason

On July 26, 2021, during the virtual Big Sky Kickoff, the Bobcats were predicted to finish fourth in the Big Sky by both the coaches and media.^[3]

Coaches poll
Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Weber State	(7)
2	Montana	(3)
3	Eastern Washington	(2)
4	Montana State	(1)
5	Sacramento State	(1)
6	UC Davis
7	Northern Arizona
8	Idaho
9	Idaho State
10	Portland State
11	Southern Utah
12	Cal Poly
13	Northern Colorado

Media poll
Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Weber State	(14)
2	Montana	(4)
3	Eastern Washington	(3)
4	Montana State	(3)
5	Sacramento State
6	UC Davis
7	Northern Arizona
8	Idaho
9	Idaho State
10	Portland State
11	Southern Utah
12	Northern Colorado
13	Cal Poly

Preseason All–Big Sky team

The Bobcats had two players selected to the preseason all-Big Sky team.

Offense

Taylor Tuiasosopo – OL

Defense

Troy Andersen – OLB

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 4	2:00 p.m.	at Wyoming*	No. 12	War Memorial Stadium Laramie, WY	ESPN+	L 16–19	30,007
September 11	6:00 p.m.	Drake*	No. 11	Bobcat Stadium Bozeman, MT	SWX	W 45–7	19,797
September 18	1:00 p.m.	San Diego*	No. 13	Bobcat Stadium Bozeman, MT	SWX	W 52–10	19,107
September 25	3:05 p.m.	at Portland State	No. 13	Hillsboro Stadium Hillsboro, OR	ESPN+	W 30–17	4,095
October 2	1:05 p.m.	Northern Colorado	No. 11	Bobcat Stadium Bozeman, MT	SWX	W 40–7	20,127
October 9	2:00 p.m.	Cal Poly	No. 10	Bobcat Stadium Bozeman, MT	RTNW	W 45–7	19,847
October 15	8:00 p.m.	at No. 19 Weber State	No. 9	Stewart Stadium Ogden, UT	ESPNU	W 13–7	6,323
October 23	1:00 p.m.	Idaho State	No. 8	Bobcat Stadium Bozeman, MT	SWX	W 27–9	19,297
November 6	2:00 p.m.	at No. 5 Eastern Washington	No. 4	Roos Field Cheney, WA	SWX	W 23–20	6,981
November 13	1:00 p.m.	Idaho	No. 3	Bobcat Stadium Bozeman, MT	SWX	W 20–13	19,447
November 20	12:00 p.m.	at No. 7 Montana	No. 3	Washington–Grizzly Stadium Missoula, MT (rivalry)	RTNW	L 10–29	26,856
December 4	2:00 p.m.	No. 16 UT Martin*	No. 7	Bobcat Stadium Bozeman, MT (NCAA Division I Second Round)	ESPN+	W 26–7	15,237
December 11	6:30 p.m.	at No. 1 Sam Houston*	No. 7	Bowers Stadium Huntsville, TX (NCAA Division I Quarterfinal)	ESPN+	W 42–19	7,565
December 18	12:00 p.m.	No. 11 South Dakota State*	No. 7	Bobcat Stadium Bozeman, MT (NCAA Division I Semifinal)	ESPN2	W 31–17	20,457
January 8, 2022	10:00 a.m.	vs. No. 3 North Dakota State*	No. 7	Toyota Stadium Frisco, TX (2022 NCAA Division I Championship Game)	ESPN2	L 10–38	18,942
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game All times are in Mountain time

^[4]

Roster

2021 Montana State Bobcats football team roster

Players

Coaches

Offense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
WR	`0`	Cam Gardner	So
WR	`3`	Coy Steel	Jr
WR	`5`	Charles Brown	Fr
QB	`7`	Casey Bauman	So
TE	`8`	Derryk Snell	So
WR	`9`	Jamahd Monroe	Fr
WR	`10`	Nate Stewart	GS
WR	`11`	Willie Patterson	Jr
QB	`12`	Tucker Rovig	Jr
RB	`13`	Elijah Elliott	Fr
TE	`14`	Peyton Thornton	Fr
QB	`16`	Tommy Mellott	Fr
WR	`16`	Tanner Trafton	Fr
WR	`17`	Jaden Smith	Fr
QB	`18`	Sean Austin	Fr
RB	`18`	DeMareus Hosey	Fr
RB	`19`	Jaharie Martin	Fr
RB	`22`	Isaiah Ifanse	Jr
RB	`24`	Lane Sumner	So
WR	`25`	Andrew Patterson	Fr
RB	`29`	Jaalen Rening	Fr
RB	`38`	Garrett Coon	Fr
TE	`42`	R. J. Fitzgerald	Jr
TE	`48`	Ryan Davis	Sr
TE	`49`	Dyse Shepherd	Fr
OL	`51`	Taylor Tuiasosopo	Sr
OL	`56`	Cole Sain	So
OL	`58`	Aaron Richards	Fr
OL	`59`	Zach Redd	Jr
OL	`60`	Dontae Myrick	Fr
OL	`61`	Cole Snyder	Fr
OL	`62`	Dylan Porter	Jr
OL	`63`	Rush Reimer	Fr
OL	`65`	Justus Perkins	Fr
OL	`67`	Joe McElroy	So
OL	`70`	Holden Sampson	Fr
OL	`72`	T. J. Session	Fr
OL	`73`	Titan Fleischmann	Fr
OL	`74`	Conor Reitler	Fr
OL	`75`	Jacob Kettels	Fr
OL	`76`	Lewis Kidd	Sr
OL	`79`	Jack Harlow	Fr
TE	`80`	Treyton Pickering	So
WR	`81`	Tayvian Williams	So
TE	`82`	Elijah Reynolds	Fr
WR	`83`	Logan Kleinhans	So
WR	`84`	Peyton Hanser	Jr
WR	`85`	Aidan Garrigan	Fr
WR	`86`	Lance McCutcheon	Sr
TE	`87`	Ryan Lonergan	Fr
TE	`88`	Jarrett Kessler	Jr

Defense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
CB	`0`	Tyrel Thomas	Sr
DB	`1`	Eric Zambrano	So
DB	`2`	Tre Webb	GS
DE	`3`	Amandre Williams	Sr
CB	`4`	James Campbell	Jr
S	`5`	Jeffrey Manning Jr	Jr
DB	`6`	Miles Jackson	Fr
DB	`7`	Ty Okada	Jr
CB	`8`	Level Price Jr.	So
CB	`9`	Simeon Woodard	Fr
DE	`10`	Brody Grebe	Fr
LB	`11`	Kenneth Eiden IV	Fr
DB	`12`	Devin Davis	Fr
DB	`13`	Jackson Harmon	Fr
LB	`15`	Troy Andersen	Sr
LB	`17`	Tadan Gilman	Jr
S	`18`	Kendric Bailey	So
DB	`20`	Tyson Pottenger	Fr
OLB	`23`	Aidan Parks	Fr
DB	`25`	Eli Aby	Fr
DB	`26`	Rylan Ortt	Fr
DB	`27`	Connor Ryan	Fr
S	`28`	Jake D'Agostino	Fr
LB	`30`	Danny Uluilakepa	Fr
LB	`31`	Jace Fitzgerald	Fr
ILB	`32`	Jory Choate	So
DT	`33`	Blake Hehl	So
LB	`34`	Nolan Askelson	So
ILB	`40`	Alex Johnson	Fr
DT	`41`	Chase Benson	Sr
LB	`43`	McCade O'Reilly	Fr
DE	`44`	Daniel Hardy	Sr
LB	`45`	Hunter Parsons	Fr
DL	`50`	Zack Black	Fr
LB	`53`	Luke Fedyk	Fr
LB	`54`	Cooper Thomas	Fr
DT	`55`	Tua Areta	Fr
DL	`57`	Tyson Regimbal	Jr
DL	`90`	Marcus Wehr	Fr
DE	`91`	David Alston	So
DL	`92`	Blake Schmidt	Fr
DL	`93`	Kyle Rygg	Jr
DL	`94`	Byron Rollins	Jr
DL	`95`	Sebastian Valdez	Fr
DL	`96`	Paul Brott	Fr
DL	`98`	Ben Seymour	So
DL	`99`	Trey Yates	Fr

Special teams

Pos.	#	Name	Class
K	`35`	Luke Pawlak	Fr
P	`37`	Bryce Leighton	Fr
K	`39`	Blake Glessner	Fr
LS	`71`	Tommy Sullivan	Fr

Head coach

Brent Vigen

Coordinators/assistant coaches

Taylor Housewright (OC)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible

Injured
Redshirt

Roster

Game summaries

At Wyoming

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 12 Bobcats	7	0	0	9	16
Cowboys	0	3	0	16	19

Drake

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bulldogs	0	7	0	0	7
No. 11 Bobcats	9	15	7	14	45

San Diego

	1	2	3	4	Total
Toreros	0	0	7	3	10
No. 13 Bobcats	21	14	10	7	52

At Portland State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 13 Bobcats	3	6	14	7	30
Vikings	10	0	7	0	17

Northern Colorado

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bears	0	7	0	0	7
No. 11 Bobcats	17	10	13	0	40

Cal Poly

	1	2	3	4	Total
Mustangs	0	0	7	0	7
No. 10 Bobcats	7	28	7	3	45

At No. 19 Weber State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 9 Bobcats	7	0	6	0	13
No. 19 Wildcats	7	0	0	0	7

Idaho State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bengals	3	0	3	3	9
No. 8 Bobcats	0	10	3	14	27

At Eastern Washington

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 4 Bobcats	7	9	0	7	23
No. 5 Eagles	13	0	0	7	20

Idaho

	1	2	3	4	Total
Vandals	0	10	3	0	13
No. 3 Bobcats	7	6	0	7	20

At No. 7 Montana

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 3 Bobcats	3	0	0	7	10
No. 7 Grizzlies	10	6	10	3	29

Ranking movements

Ranking movements
**Legend:** ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
( ) = First-place votes
	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Final
STATS FCS	12	11	13	13	11	10	9	8	6	4	3	3	7	2
Coaches	11	13	13	12	12	11	9	8	6	4	3	3 (1)	9	2

References

^ Connelly, Bill (January 7, 2022). "FCS national championship game: Breaking down Montana State-North Dakota State". ESPN.com. Retrieved January 8, 2022.
^ "North Dakota State football continues dominant FCS run, wins ninth championship in 11 seasons". ESPN.com. January 8, 2022. Retrieved January 8, 2022.
^ "Bobcats Land Andersen, Tuiasosopo on Preseason All-Big Sky Team, While Coaches, Media Pick MSU Fourth in Preseason Polls". July 26, 2021. Retrieved July 26, 2021.
^ "2021 Football Schedule". Montana State University Athletics. Retrieved April 24, 2022.

[1] Connelly, Bill (January 7, 2022). "FCS national championship game: Breaking down Montana State-North Dakota State". ESPN.com. Retrieved January 8, 2022.

[2] "North Dakota State football continues dominant FCS run, wins ninth championship in 11 seasons". ESPN.com. January 8, 2022. Retrieved January 8, 2022.

[3] "Bobcats Land Andersen, Tuiasosopo on Preseason All-Big Sky Team, While Coaches, Media Pick MSU Fourth in Preseason Polls". July 26, 2021. Retrieved July 26, 2021.

[4] "2021 Football Schedule". Montana State University Athletics. Retrieved April 24, 2022.

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v t e Montana State Bobcats football
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Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games Montana
Culture & lore	Spirit of the West Marching Band
People	Head coaches NFL draftees
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National championship seasons in bold