CHENEY, Wash. — Adam Jones and the Bobcats are back on stride.
Jones ran for three touchdowns, Justin Lamson accounted for two scores and Carter Dahkle shined in No. 5 Montana State's 56-20 Big Sky Conference football win over Eastern Washington Saturday at Woodward Field.
Two weeks removed from their 35-34 loss at Idaho, MSU (7-1 overall, 3-1 in the Big Sky) picked off Eagles' quarterback Nate Bell three times, including a Cole Taylor pick-6, to blunt a pass-happy Eastern offense.
Jones and Dahlke — and Lamson, who was 12 for 19 passing for 171 yards, and had a 41-yard touchdown scamper — did the rest. Jones sandwiched scoring runs of 32 and 5 yards around a 33-yard TD run from Jared White as the Bobcats erased an early 3-0 deficit.
Taylor capped off MSU's first half with a 61-yard interception return with 30 seconds left.
If there was a key moment, it came after Eastern's Oliver Luegkert caught a 9-yard scoring pass from Bell with 2:40 left in the third quarter.
That cut what had been a 28-6 Montana State halftime lead to 35-20, and the Eagles then forced a punt. But the Bobcat defense forced a three-and-out to take the ball right back, and Carter Dahlke returned the ensuing punt 9 yards to the Eastern 47.
It took MSU five snaps to reach the end zone; another Jones' 5-yard scoring run, his third TD of the game, started a 21-point Bobcat burst in the final 12:10.
Dahlke got in the scoring column with a 50-yard reception from Lamson, putting MSU up 49-20 with 8:37 left in the game.
The Bobcats tacked on a final TD with 1:55 remaining, Cale Breslin running it in from 8 yards out. That capped a four-play 53-yard drive, all Breslin runs.
Dahlke, filling in for the injured Taco Dowler, had five catches for 112 yards. Jones ran 12 times for 84 yards. White, filling in for the injured Colson Coon, picked up 50 yards on five carries.
Bell was 35 of 53 passing for 282 yards. Drew Carlson was the top receiver, catching 10 passes for 96 yards. Kevin Allen III ran 17 times for 78 yards the Eagles (2-6, 1-4 in league), including a third-quarter TD. Eastern actually outgained MSU in total yards, 439-413.
The Bobcats return home to face Weber State, which sits ahead of them in the Big Sky standings, on Saturday at 1 p.m. Eastern has a bye.