Oct. 24, 2004

BOZEMAN, Mont. - Montana State kicked a 22-yard field goal with two seconds remaining to give the Bobcats a 27-24 victory over South Dakota State in non-conference football action Saturday.

EJ Cochrane's field goal - his second game winner in three weeks - put an end to an improbable comeback by the Jacks.

Trailing 24-10 after MSU scored on a 33-yard Travis Lulay to Rick Gatewood pass play with 4:57 to play, the Jacks tied it with a pair of touchdowns 23 seconds apart.

First, Chris Molitor scored on an 18-yard pass from Brad Nelson with 1:12 to play. Then SDSU successfully executed an on-side kick, getting possession when Justin Kubesh covered the loose ball.

And the Jacks tied it at 24 on a spectacular catch by Brian Janecek in the end zone, good for 44 yards from Nelson with 49 seconds to play.

But Lulay, who had a brilliant day for MSU, took the Bobcats 69 yards on eight plays to the game winning kick.

Lulay passed for 411 yards on the day with three TDs, hitting 33-of-51 attempts. He was 6-for-6 when MSU marched 65 yards on eight plays to score on its first possession of the game. On the winning drive, he was 4-for-4 including a 28-yard pitch to Chaz Quinn which put the ball on the SDSU 15 yard line. Justin Domineck gained ten yards on the next play.

MSU out-gained SDSU 457-302 for the game, but Nelson still finished 19-for-35 for 216 yards and 2 TDs.

SDSU had its best sustained drive of the day in the first quarter, marching 78 yards on 15 plays to tie the game at 7-7. But the Jacks were out-gained 195-71 in the first half, and 293-115 at the end of the third quarter.

Janecek caught four passes for 72 yards while Josh Davis had four catches for 42 yards.

Anthony Watson finished the day with 81 hard-earned rushing yards, on 19 attempts.

For MSU, tight end Blake Wolf caught 11 passes for 137 yards and Gatewood nine catches for 126 yards.

MSU is now 5-2 overall while SDSU fell to 4-3. The Jacks play at No. 2 ranked Georgia Southern next week.