The Montana State Bobcats host the South Dakota FCS playoffs live

This is USD’s first appearance in the semifinals, while MSU has reached the Final Four for the fourth time in five seasons.

The Bobcats are 9 1/2-point favorites to win Saturday’s game. Whoever prevails will face North Dakota State in the national championship game. NDSU defeated rival South Dakota State 28-21 in the semifinals Saturday in Fargo, North Dakota.

MSU beat Idaho 52-19 at home in the quarterfinals last week, while the Coyotes won 35-21 at home against another Big Sky Conference team, UC Davis.

The Cats are 2-0 against USD. Two teams first met in 2008, the Coyotes’ first season after promotion from Division II to DI. MSU won that game 37-18 and beat USD 31-24 a year later in Bozeman.

The Bobcats set program records for wins in a season and the longest winning streak. Their most recent trip to the FCS title game came in 2021, when they defeated South Dakota State 31-17 in the semifinals at Bobcat Stadium and lost to North Dakota State 38-10 a few weeks later in Frisco, Texas.

MSU All-Americans Scottre Humphrey (running back) and Rohan Jones (fullback/tight end) are both active after missing last week’s game due to injury.

Cats head coach Brent Vigen is one win away from tying Sonny Holland for the second-most wins in program history (47). A win Saturday would also give Vigen 30 home wins as MSU head coach, tying him for second-most as a Bobcat with Cliff Hysell. Rob Ash holds both records with 70 overall wins and 43 home wins.

MSU is 73 rushing yards away from matching its single-season rushing yards record (4,366, set in 2022) and is one touchdown away from matching its single-season rushing TD record (49, also set in 2022).

The Cats’ standard-bearers during the pregame runout were defenseman Tayden Gray (American) and Bozeman center Justus Perkins (Montanan).

MSU got the ball first and scored after 11 minutes, 56 seconds. Tommy Mellott hit Taco Dowler for a 34-yard TD pass to give the Cats a 7-0 lead.

Mellott also found Dowler for a 20-yard gain on the first play from scrimmage.

USD tied the game with a 55-yard TD run from Travis Theis at 8:52.

This is the fourth time in five games the Cats have allowed a play of at least 55 yards. According to the Bozeman Daily Chronicle, it was USD’s 83rd play of at least 20 yards this season.

USD forced what looked like a three-and-out on the next drive, but a Coyote went offside before the punt attempt, turning a fourth-and-3 into a first down. MSU stumbled four plays later.

After a false start on the third and fourth and a pass breakup by MSU cornerback Jon Johnson on the resulting third and ninth drive, USD took the lead on its next drive with a three-and-out.

Mellott put MSU back up by seven points with a 5-yard TD rush with 1:04 on the clock. A 28-yard pass to Dowler set up the score.

SCORE: Montana State 14, South Dakota 7

USD tied the score with a 45-yard TD run by Charles Pierre Jr. 14:51 left in the half.

Entering the game, MSU had allowed two runs of 45 or more yards all season.

Scottre Humphrey gave the Cats a 21-14 lead with a 1-yard TD run at 8:24.

MSU broke the program record for rushing yards in a season on the 12-play, 74-yard drive. Humphrey’s TD pushed MSU to 4,384 yards rushing this season. The previous mark was 4,366 in 2022.

Humphrey now has a team-leading 15 rushing TDs this season, the fifth-most in MSU history.

A sack by Kenneth Eiden IV led to a USD punt on the following drive.

Myles Sansted hit a 28-yard field goal with eight seconds left to give MSU a 24-14 lead.

The Cats won the battle of possession 20:28 to 9:32 in the first half. They also outgained the Yotes 269 to 183 yards in the half. MSU managed 135 yards on 47 yards per carry, with Mellott gaining 69 yards on 5.3 yards per carry. The senior from Butte also completed 8 of 15 passes for 134 yards in the half.

SCORE: Montana State 24, South Dakota 14

Mellott gave MSU a 31-14 lead with a 41-yard TD run on third down with 10:30 on the clock.

This story will be updated.