Weber St. 28, Montana St. 7
BOZEMAN, Mont. — Cole Cooper passed for 216 yards and four touchdowns — three to tight end Ryan Prince — to lead Weber State to a 28-7 victory over Montana State Saturday in the Big Sky Conference opener for both schools.
Prince had seven catches for 115 yards as the Wildcats (2-1 overall, 1-0 league) won for the first time in Bobcat Stadium since 1995.
After an opening half dominated by both team's defenses, Weber State's offense came alive late in the third period.
With the scored tied at 7-7, Cooper capped a six-play, 52-yard drive with a 10-yard scoring strike to Prince with 3:21 left in the third.
The Wildcats took a 21-7 lead in the opening minute of the fourth quarter when Montana State (0-2, 0-1) bit on a pump fake that left wide receiver Jon Jefferson open for a 23-yard touchdown pass.
Weber State wrapped up the scoring on Prince's third touchdown — a 13-yard pass over the middle from Cooper with 8:33 remaining.
Cooper completed 18 of 34 passes but had just 33 yards passing in the first half — on a touchdown pass to Prince with 8:52 left in the first quarter.
MSU quarterback Farhaad Azimi finished the day 5-of-20 for 53 yards with a 27-yard touchdown pass to Arie Grey in the closing minutes of the second quarter.
Montana State had 159 yards of total offense and just two first downs in the second half. Ryan Johnson led the Bobcat ground attack with 71 yards on 16 carries.