BOZEMAN, Mont. — Dakota Prukop and Gunnar Brekke each scored two touchdowns and Montana State ran for 329 yards to down Portland State 29-22.
The Bobcats (7-3, 5-1 Big Sky) stayed in the conference title chase with the win. Brekke, who was filling in for injured All-American Shawn Johnson, opened the scoring with a 71-yard touchdown run and MSU led the rest of the way.
MSU will take on one of the other three one-loss Big Sky teams when Idaho State travels to Bozeman. ISU head coach Mike Kramer was fired at Montana State in 2007 and replaced by current MSU head coach Rob Ash.
“There’s no history in that for the players,” Ash said. “It won’t be about the past since none of them were here then.”
Eastern Washington and Northern Arizona are also sitting with one-loss in conference.
PSU scored when Anthony Jenkins blocked a punt for a safety in the third quarter to cut the lead to 22-15, but couldn’t capitalize. MSU tacked on Prukop’s second touchdown run in the fourth quarter.
Prukop finished with 135 yards rushing, which is his fifth 100-yard game of the year and a single-season record for quarterbacks at MSU. The MSU passing game was stymied all day as PSU took away the pass.
“Teams are allowing us to run the ball, so we haven’t passed as much,” Prukop, who has seen MSU score just 85 points the last three games after scoring 136 in the two prior games against Sacramento State and UC Davis. “In California they were taking away the run, now taking away the pass.”
Brekke, who finished with 92 rushing yards, added, “Teams have been giving us really weird looks after those two California games. They’re just going to throw the sink at us. They’re putting two spies on Dakota, but we just keep making adjustments.”
Josh Kraght ran for 96 yards and a touchdown and passed for 218 yards and a last-gasp score for the Vikings (2-4, 3-7). His TD pass came with 45 seconds to play, but the Vikings were unable to recover the onside kick.
