Oregon State steadily built a 34-14 halftime lead against Montana State on the strength of a big passing night from quarterback Chance Nolan, and the Beavers cruised from there to win 68-28 in Portland, Ore., Saturday evening.
In a neutral setting at Providence Park, Nolan completed 19-of-25 passes for 276 yards and four touchdowns, while teammate Tre’Shaun Harrison caught eight of his passes for 133 yards and a touchdown.
The Bobcats were paced offensively by Tommy Mellott, who rumbled for 135 yards on 18 carries, and Sean Chambers, who scored three times.
Each team was also lifted by plays on special teams, with the Bobcats’ Marqui Johnson returning a kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown with his team trailing 21-7 in the second quarter.
Not to be outdone, the Beavers’ Anthony Gould scored on an 80-yard punt return touchdown in the third quarter, and teammate Silas Bolden added an 80-yard kick return to set up Damien Martinez’s 7-yard touchdown run later in the period, putting the Beavers up 47-21.
Gould finished with two receiving touchdowns to go along with the punt return TD.
The teams traded scores early.
Oregon State drove 90 yards in seven plays on its first drive of the game, scoring on a Deshaun Fenwick 25-yard run.
Montana State answered in 10 plays, finishing a 66-yard drive with a Chambers 7-yard run.
The Beavers went up 14-7 when Nolan connected with Harrison on a 6-yard touchdown pass after a 14-play drive.
A Ryan Cooper Jr. interception set up a Nolan 1-yard touchdown before Johnson’s return made the score 21-14.
Nolan tossed two touchdowns to close the first half, 24 yards to Bolden and 9 yards to Gould.
At 40-14 with 7:21 left in the third, Chambers scored again on an 8-yard rush.
Gould grabbed his second touchdown reception from 17 yards out with 1:09 left in the third.
Jam Griffin ripped off a 23-yard touchdown run, Chambers scored from a yard out and Kanoa Shannon had a 3-yard TD run to complete the scoring in the fourth.
–Field Level Media
