FRISCO, Texas — A matchup of undefeated Montana State and nine-time champion North Dakota State in the Football Championship Subdivision title game is no real surprise.
What is unique is that both quarterbacks, Montana native Tommy Mellott for the Bobcats and Cam Miller for NDSU, were also the starters when the two teams played in the championship game for NCAA Division I’s lower tier three years ago.
In an era with a highly active NCAA transfer portal and lucrative NIL deals — in the higher-tier Football Bowl Subdivision’s postseason, only one of the starting quarterbacks for the four remaining College Football Playoff teams is with his original school — Mellott and Miller remained in place and will close out their college careers by going against each other for a national championship Monday night at Toyota Stadium in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
ESPN will televise the matchup at 7 p.m. Eastern.
“It is poetic that they both led their teams to this game,” Montana State coach Brent Vigen said.
“I think it speaks to both of our characters,” said Miller, who will make his 54th consecutive start for NDSU’s Bison. “It speaks to the programs that we both play at.”
Montana State (15-0) is looking for its first national title since 1984; the Bobcats also won the NAIA title in 1956 and the Division II crown in 1976.
NDSU (13-2) has won on all but one of its previous 10 trips from Fargo to Frisco, with the program’s first FCS title coming in 2011 (the Bison won five Division II national championships from 1983 to 1990). The most recent national championship for the Bison came via a 38-10 victory three years ago when Mellott, then a freshman who became the Bobcats’ starting quarterback in those playoffs, got hurt early in the title game.
“When I walked off the field, it was just a feeling of ‘Are we ever going to be able to back here?'” Mellott said. “Ever since, it’s really just been motivation to earn the right to go back and play in a championship game, and I do think it’s fitting we get to play North Dakota State again.”
The player known as “Touchdown Tommy” won the Walter Payton Award as the top offensive player this season in the FCS — in a very close vote over Miller, with the results announced Saturday night.
The first Montana State winner of the award, Mellott had 147 points, receiving 16 first-place votes. Miller followed with 131 points with 14 first-place votes and Lambson had 115 points with five first-place votes.
“Very humbling moment,” Mellott said. “I’m very, very honored.”
Central Arkansas defensive end David Walker won the Buck Buchanan Award as the top defensive player, while Montana State’s Vigen received the Eddie Robinson Award as the coach of the year.
AP file photo by Craig Mitchelldyer / Montana State quarterback Tommy Mellott will lead the Bobcats into Monday night’s FCS title game against North Dakota State in Frisco, Texas.Mellott has 33 wins as a starter and is the only active FCS player with at least 3,000 yards passing and 3,000 rushing. He has thrown for 2,684 yards and 29 touchdowns with only two interceptions this season, and he has run for 915 yards and 15 scores.
Miller has a 44-11 record as a starter and is NDSU’s career record holder with 740 completions, 9,522 passing yards and 11,678 total yards. He has thrown for 3,052 yards with 31 touchdowns and rushed for 510 yards and 10 touchdowns this season.
“We all know what opportunities are out there for players, for coaches, and it’s hard to dig in and to believe in the big picture,” first-year Bison head coach Tim Polasek said. “What I hope comes out of this for everybody watching this game …. they see two guys that are leaders of their clubs, that have had the opportunity to reach their potential and now have mastered a system.”
In the backfield with both senior quarterbacks are freshman running backs with 14 rushing touchdowns apiece.
Montana State’s Adam Jones has 1,134 yards, becoming the school’s first 1,000-yard rusher since Bruce Anderson in 2017. CharMar Brown’s 1,104 yards make him the first player over 1,000 yards on the ground for the Bison since dual-threat quarterback Trey Lance in 2019.
NDSU junior receiver Bryce Lance, the younger brother of Trey, is the FCS leader this season with a school-record 16 touchdown catches. He had three in the 28-21 national semifinal win over South Dakota State, including the winner on a spectacular one-handed catch with 4:02 left.
This will be the 39th meeting between the programs. Montana State has an overall 21-17 series lead, but NDSU has won the past five meetings, all in playoff games since the 2010 season. The Bison won second-round games in 2010 and 2018 and a semifinal matchup in 2019. They also faced off last season, when Montana State lost 35-34 in overtime at home after an extra-point kick was blocked.
There are other connections between the Bison and the Bobcats — particularly where the head coaches are concerned.
Vigen, whose first season as Montana State’s coach culminated in the last title game, played at NDSU from 1993-97, then stayed there coaching through 2013 as part of three FCS title runs before leaving with head coach Craig Bohl to be offensive coordinator at Wyoming.
Polasek also was on the Bison staff from 2006-12 and 2014-16. He became the offensive coordinator at Wyoming in 2021, after Vigen took the job at the helm of the Bobcats.
Toyota Stadium is hosting the FCS title game for a record-extending 15th season in a row, but the next two editions of the game will be played in Nashville at FirstBank Stadium on the campus of Vanderbilt University. Chattanooga’s Finley Stadium previously held the record with 13 straight editions from the 1997 to the 2009 season.