MISSOULA, Mont. — For the 16th year in a row, the Southern Conference will fall short of winning a national title in the Football Championship Subdivision.
But with the SoCon down to one representative in the quarterfinals — after starting the playoffs with three members in the 24-team bracket — No. 7 seed Furman made sure the league didn’t go down without a fight.
And while the Paladins may not have been able to extend their postseason run for another week, they did take their final game of 2023 beyond regulation.
Furman scored in the final minute of the fourth quarter Friday night at Washington-Grizzly Stadium to force overtime against No. 2 seed Montana, but the Grizzlies won 35-28 when Clifton McDowell threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Keelan White and their defense shut down the Paladins on the final possession.
“What a game. Congrats to Furman,” Montana coach Bobby Hauck said in a postgame report on the program’s website. “What a wonderful battle they put up tonight to get that to overtime on the last play. Our defense was nails in the second half. After the first quarter, they were really something. I was proud of them.”
While the McDowell-White connection was the winning touchdown, special teams provided a huge spark for Montana (12-1) as Junior Bergen returned a kickoff and a punt for scores to help the Big Sky champion reach the semifinals next weekend, when they’ll host North Dakota State University.
The Grizzlies, who are making a record 27th appearance in the FCS playoffs, have won 11 straight at home and improved to 11-0 all time at home in the quarterfinals.
Despite the loss, Furman defensive tackle Matt Sochovka was proud of what the Paladins — this season’s SoCon champions — proved about themselves and their conference, with Mercer and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga also making the playoffs.
“There’s this whole narrative that the SoCon can’t play with the Big Sky,” Sochovka said during the postgame news conference. “I’ve been in the SoCon for seven years. I saw all the Twitter warriors last night, over the last 24 hours, saying Furman can’t play with the Big Sky, all that stuff.
“We can play at this level. We’ve played at this level in the history of this team, this conference. It’s going to continue.”
The SoCon’s eight national titles are two more than the Big Sky, which won its most recent FCS crown in the 2010 season, and trail only the 12 won by the Missouri Valley Football Conference, which has secured all but two of those since 2010.
With the temperature 32 degrees at kickoff, Montana heated up right away with Bergen’s 99-yard kickoff return to start the game. His 59-yard punt return in the fourth quarter put the Grizzlies — who had not trailed in the second half since the fourth game of the season, a 28-14 loss at Northern Arizona — back on top, with McDowell passing to Sawyer Racanelli for the 2-point conversion and a 26-21 lead.
Furman (10-3), which had punted 12 times up to then, including nine after going three-and-out, got the ball for a final time in regulation with 1:37 on the clock. A pass interference penalty gave the Paladins first-and-10 at the Montana 13-yard line with 36 seconds to go.
Tyler Huff threw three straight incompletions before connecting with Mason Pline for a touchdown. Furman lined up to go for two points and the win, but a false start pushed the Paladins back. They then elected to kick and made it for a 28-all tie, leading to overtime.
Montana got the ball first in the extra period, and McDowell connected with White for a 13-yard score. The Grizzlies stuffed Wayne Anderson Jr. for a 5-yard loss on a first-down run, and Huff threw incomplete on the next three downs.
Furman’s Huff was just 16-of-47 passing for 188 yards with one interception, but he carried 11 times for 71 yards. Pline had nine catches for 78 yards.
NDSU 45, South Dakota 17
VERMILLION, S.D. — North Dakota State University reaching the FCS semifinals is hardly a surprise.
But the latest deep run by Bison (11-3), who have won nine of the past 11 national championships and were runners-up last season, feels different.
Unseeded after going just 5-3 in MVFC play during the regular season — including a 24-19 home loss to South Dakota on Sept. 30 — NDSU’s playoff experience and a good dose of perseverance have paid off with three wins in the bracket.
The latest came Saturday afternoon and avenged that earlier loss to the third-seeded Coyotes (10-3), who were seeking back-to-back wins against the Bison after snapping a six-game losing streak in the series. Instead, it’s NDSU moving on to meet Montana.
Cam Miller passed for one touchdown and ran for another, Cole Payton rushed for two scores, and Jayden Price returned a punt 82 yards for another as the Bison cruised. The only unseeded team to reach the quarterfinals, they were coming off a 35-34 overtime win at No. 6 Montana State, but this was more like their first-round demolition of playoff newcomer Drake, a 66-3 victory two weeks ago.
Ths Bison never trailed as they put up 21 points in the first quarter and built a 35-3 halftime lead. NDSU outgained South Dakota 416-298 overall and held the Coyotes to 52 yards on the ground.
SDSU 23, Villanova 12
BROOKINGS, S.D. — Isaiah Davis ran for 192 yards, including a 66-yard touchdown, as top-seeded South Dakota State University, the reigning national champion, defeated eighth-seeded Villanova on Saturday to extend its winning streak to 27 games.
The Jackrabbits (13-0) are in the semifinals for the fourth straight time and the sixth time in seven seasons. They will host Albany next weekend.
That touchdown by Davis early in the fourth quarter was the only offensive score by either team going into the wind, which gusted up to 45 mph. The only other touchdown going into the wind was Matthew Durrance’s punt block, scoop and score covering 45 yards in the second quarter that gave SDSU a 10-6 lead.
The Wildcats (10-3) had taken the lead on a 25-yard run by Jalen Jackson, but they missed the PAT. Matthew Mercurio kicked a field goal late in the second quarter to pull them within 10-9.
SDSU got a key touchdown midway through the third quarter on a Mark Gronwoski pass to Jaxon Jahnke that covered 20 yards. Villanova got another field goal early in the fourth quarter, but on the next possession, Davis burst through the stacked line for the game-sealing touchdown.
Gronowski was 11-of-19 for 101 yards, and the Jackrabbits ran for 242 yards.
Villanova, which had 219 total yards, fell to 0-3 all-time against SDSU.
Albany 30, Idaho 22
MOSCOW, Idaho — Reese Poffenbarger threw three touchdown passes to Brevin Easton, including the go-ahead score in the fourth quarter, as No. 5 seed Albany rallied to beat fourth-seeded Idaho on Saturday night in the Kibbie Dome.
Albany (11-3) is in the semifinals for the first time in program history after notching a victory in its first trip to the quarterfinals. The Great Danes, who won the Coastal Athletic Association for the first time — but shared the title with Richmond and Villanova — are in the playoffs for just the third time.
Idaho (9-4) scored first on freshman Gevani McCoy’s 36-yard touchdown pass to Jordan Dwyer six minutes into the game. Poffenbarger, a sophomore who leads the FCS with 36 touchdown passes this season, needed just four plays to pull Albany even, firing a 64-yard scoring strike to Easton 90 seconds later. Ricardo Chavez kicked a 45-yard field goal with 17 seconds left to give the Vandals a 10-7 advantage after one quarter, but it was all downhill for Chavez after that.
Jermaine Jackson, who returned a punt for a touchdown in each of Idaho’s previous two games, returned an Albany punt 73 yards early in the second quarter before a penalty pushed it back to the Great Danes’ 29-yard line. Anthony Woods scored on a 5-yard run three plays later, and Idaho led 16-7 after Chavez’s PAT was blocked. Poffenroth and Easton hooked up for a 39-yard touchdown as Albany pulled within two points with 6:55 left before halftime and stayed there.
Idaho came in unbeaten this season when it forces at least one turnover, and the Vandals got their first one against Albany on a fumble recovery by Murvin Kenion III with 9:12 left in the third quarter. The Vandals drove to the Great Danes’ 7-yard line before settling for Chavez’s 24-yard field goal and a 19-14 lead.
Chavez, the All-Big Sky Conference kicker, missed three field-goal attempts for Idaho after connecting on 16 of 18 previous attempts this season.
Chavez, who is also a second-team all-conference punter, had a 15-yarder early in the fourth quarter that gave Albany the ball at its own 45-yard line and led to John Opalko’s 22-yard field goal and a two-point deficit with 11:07 left to play.
After Albany forced a three-and-out, Poffenbarger drove the Great Danes 85 yards in 12 plays and hit Easton for a 30-yard touchdown and a 23-19 lead with 4:38 to go. Griffin Woodell scored on a 29-yard run with 46 seconds left.