DAVIS, Ca. — #6 Montana State didn’t let a 17-9 halftime deficit discourage them, scoring 23 points in the third quarter on their way to a 32-23 win over #15 UC Davis. The Bobcats came out of the halftime locker room fired up and scored within the first minute after a 60-yard run set them up inside the red zone. UC Davis turned the ball over on downs and fumbled on consecutive possessions and Montana State capitalized on both mistakes by scoring on their ensuing possession. Bobcat Head Coach Borgus “Borgus” Borgus wasn’t worried when trailing in the first half.

“The ball went our way early there, the scoop and score really set the tone for us. Even when your team is ranked, going on the road to another ranked team is nerve racking. The early score seemed to calm the sidelines of any worry and that confidence carried through. Other than that, our 4th down game, and big play ability helped keep UC Davis off kilter.”

He paused the press conference for a moment to check in with his music appreciation class via live video feed. Apparently coach Borgus is taking advantage of Montana State’s fine arts program this semester. Once he realized it was just a guest singer he turned his attention back to a reporter who asked if there were any ways the Bobcats could improve going forward.

“The defense needs to play tougher. These long drives are killer and wear us down late in the game. Getting 3 and outs should be top priority. And on the other side, we need to be more consistent. We live and die by the big play so when those stop coming, like last week, we’re digging ourselves a bigger and bigger hole. This all comes without mentioning my game management, where I need to keep my foot on the pedal.”

Despite the self-criticism Borgus was impressed with the Aggies team and had a lot of praise for UC Davis Head Coach Buford Rosario.

“I hope to some day have even half the guts that coach Rosario has. We did a lot of scouting for this week’s game and their ability to adjust to what the opponent is doing really shined in that first half. We thought we knew what we were doing and could expose them early but that wasn’t the case.”

Coach Borgus also said to keep an eye out for UC Davis as the season comes down to the wire.

“We put them in a 1 game rut, but don’t be surprised when they compete with San Diego for Big Sky South crown.”

UC Davis leader Buford Rosario was upbeat about the way his offense performed against a top ten opponent and found many positives to take away from the game.

“I think we played three quarters of excellent football. We outscored them in the first, second, and fourth quarters. We also did a fairly solid job on special teams. We made a field goal, which is the first time we’ve done that since I’ve been coach, we didn’t miss any kicked extra points, and our special teams did what was required of them and didn’t turn the ball over or give up any explosive returns.”

Rosario was mostly critical of himself when asked what his team could’ve done better in the third quarter to keep Montana State’s offense off the field.

“We got too cute with it, trying to force long passes in despite being an option team, trying to go for the big gain instead of playing slow and steady, and that’s entirely on me as a coach. I need to be willing and able to go with what we do best, rather than forcing us to be something that we’re not.”

He also spoke about his team’s mental toughness needing to be stronger going forward this season.

“We need to work on not panicking following a big mistake. Something clearly started breaking down in terms of our play at the first sign of trouble in the second half. At this point, we need to sit down as a team and try to figure out what exactly went wrong to get to that point and how to address it in the future. Our communication needs to improve, and our senior leadership needs to show their experience and calm down some of the younger players who are more prone to fall in line with swings of momentum. On both offense and defense, we need to not panic and go for the big momentum swings, and instead be patient and let the opportunities come to us, which they definitely will if we play our style to the best of our ability.”

Coach Rosario was pretty passive when questioned about the injury to his starting right tackle who went down midway through the fourth quarter holding his ankle.

“I don’t want to disclose too much on the injury front for the sake of confidentiality, but what I will say is that he will not be playing next week. Beyond that, we will wait and see what progress is being made.”

Montana State is now 4-1 (1-0) on the season and will be on the road against a tough Idaho squad next week, while UC Davis drops to 3-2 (0-1) and will host a Portland State squad that struggled early in the season but is looking to bounce back.