It was a day for firsts.
Cody Kirk carried the ball for the first time in his college career (a 4-yard gain over left tackle) for Montana State. Freshman quarterback Denarius McGhee threw his first college pass (a 9-yard completion to Julius Lloyd).
And Tanner Bleskin caught his first college pass (a 32-yarder) that was also his first career touchdown as well as McGhee’s first touchdown pass. Kirk, McGhee and Bleskin are all redshirt freshmen and are all starters for MSU.
Oh yeah, MSU got its first win of the season on Saturday, a 59-10 crunching over Division II Ft. Lewis State of Durango, Colo.
The Bobcats got rolling early as Kirk scored on runs of 1 and 3 yards on their first two possessions. Kirk who played in the first quarter of the blowout and sparingly in the third, finished with 53 yards on 13 carries.
Overall it was a balanced MSU rushing game. Orenzo Davis picked up 85 yards on 16 carries, including a 10-yard scoring scamper in the fourth quarter. C.J. Palmer added 67 yards on 13 carries and a touchdown. The Bobcats rushed for 287 yards and threw for 245 more. Ft. Lewis totaled just 238 yards, most coming on the passing combination of quarterback Tim Jenkins to Justin Johnson. Johnson, a pre-season All-America, finished with 10 catches for 161 yards.
Equally balanced was the MSU receiving corps. Bleskin, Elvis Akpla and Everett Gilbert caught three passes each. Akpla led MSU with 63 yards. On the delivery end, McGhee completed 11 of 17 passes for 178 yards and Cody Kempt was six of seven for 67 yards.
Kempt threw a scoring pass to Akpla late in the second quarter that gave MSU a 35-3 halftime lead. A McGhee to Akpla pass of 51 yards opened the scoring in the second half. Later Kempt got back in the action and threw a 27-yard scoring pass to Gianni Carter, yet another freshman.
The Bobcats played at least 17 redshirt or true freshmen on offense and defense while resting their starters for next Saturday’s game at Washington State in Pullman.
Also getting into the score fest was kicker Jason Cunningham. Besides his eight extra points, he added a 32-yard field goal.