Kickoff Countdown: 2010 – Montana State, Sac State Sets Records

We are down to the final sans football Saturday and thus the last week of SaturdayBlitz.com’s Kickoff Countdown. This journey began in early June, recounting a Michigan-Northwestern from 2000 that featured late game heroics and offensive potency. Fittingly, the countdown ends with another high scoring affair. The case has been the same with every season’s induction, and in some cases choosing a single game was impossible. The 2010 campaign is no exception, featuring such classic as Auburn’s Iron Bowl rally to defeat Alabama, Nevada’s upset of Boise State to end the Broncos nearly three-year unbeaten run in the WAC and Michigan State’s OT trickery to upend Notre Dame.

But arguably the top game of 2010 was played in relative obscurity. Neither Montana State nor Sacramento State were projected among the Big Sky elite, and certainly weren’t FCS favorite. Sac State entered just 2-2 with a blowout loss at Stanford and one week removed from a 28-25 heartbreaking setback at Montana. MSU was 3-1, a play away from beating a Pac-10 opponent and boasting what would later be recognized as a truly impressive 30-7 shellacking of Eastern Washington. Each is on the FCS radar this season, and can attribute Oct. 2, 2010 to that.

When the game first kicked off under sweltering conditions, few could have guessed the squads would combine for more points than the 104-degree heat index. The offenses were effective enough early, each quarterback needing less than five minutes to lead their initial drives to a score. Denarius McGhee found Kyle Begger for the first score, which Jeff Fleming answered on a strike to DJ Maciel. MSU continued the trend on its next possession with a third sub-five-minute touchdown drive. But the fireworks were truly ignited in the second quarter.

On three consecutive possessions, the Bobcats struck to blow open a 30-7 lead on the homestanding Hornets. Two of the three scores were on a single play over 60 yards: first, a McGhee pass to the Julius Lloyd (keep that name in mind) for 62 yards, followed by a 68-yard CJ Palmer run. Less than three minutes divided the two scores.

A third touchdown to answer a Hornet field goal just seconds before halftime extended the MSU lead to 27, a seemingly insurmountable total. But of course, since you are reading this induction it’s obvious Sac State didn’t roll over and take a pummeling.

Quite the contrary. CSUS responded to Montana State’s deluge with one of the most impressive offensive stretches in any division of football ever. Brian Hilliard capped a quick first drive with a short end zone jaunt, which a Bobcat turnover allowed Jeff Fleming to follow just 68 seconds later with a second. Morris NorPrise was the recipient of two Fleming scoring passes over the ensuing 4:47.

A coach down big at intermission will tell his team not to press, because a large deficit cannot be bridged in a single play. What Sac State did though is pretty darn close. The Hornets went from down 27 to up a point in less than nine minutes, setting the stage for a classic back-and-forth.

I interviewed MSU quarterback McGhee in the days following this game, and he admitted Sac State threw adjustments at the Bobcat offense they weren’t expecting. So efficient was MSU’s scheme in the first 30 minutes, its players came out expecting the same. The sudden deficit reignited their energy, he told me.

Palmer exuded that energy in a lead-changing touchdown, only to have it snatched back away on Norrise’s third consecutive touchdown. The Bobcats did in fact trail going into the final 15 minutes and would trail twice more over that timeframe.

Lloyd’s third touchdown reception of the game came with just over five minutes remaining, pushing MSU ahead 54-53. Of course, what earlier possessions had proven was five minutes was an eternity, and Sac State needed just over two to answer. Following Chase Deadder’s touchdown was a two-point conversion to give the Hornets a 61-54 lead.

Maybe it was premonition, but McGhee said he and the Bobcat receivers had taken a few extra practice repetitions on over-the-shoulder lob routes that week. Those reps were tremendously important as MSU marched into Hornet territory, needing seven points to break the FCS single game scoring record and force overtime.

There was no doubt Lloyd would be the target. Lloyd told me he knew as soon as McGhee released, the ball would be placed perfectly beyond the defender’s grasp and the Bobcat receiver hauled in his fourth touchdown of the campaign. Many starting WRs go a season without four touchdowns receptions. Most teams don’t average four touchdowns in a game. Lloyd can proudly boast both as he made certain to stay inbounds and ultimately force overtime.

Ironically, it was defense that proved vital in OT. MSU stonewalled Sac State, which allowed a Jason Cunningham field goal to seal the win and continue the Bobcats on a run that would result in a Big Sky championship and No. 4 overall seed in the NCAA Playoffs.