BOZEMAN — Jake Bleskin threw for 305 yards and two touchdowns in his debut at quarterback for Montana State leading the Bobcats to a 26-0 win over Division II Colorado State-Mesa.
Bleskin, who completed 26 of 35 passes and had no interceptions, is filling in for injured senior Denarius McGhee, who separated his shoulder last week against Southern Methodist on the last play of the game.
“It was good to get my feet wet,” Bleskin said. “I thought (CSU-Mesa) played really good. They played some funky coverages.
“It was important for me to know these guys trusted me,” Bleskin said of his teammates. “I had 10 studs with me out there and four or five of them are wide receivers.”
Junior wide receiver Brian Flotkoetter caught two touchdowns and had five catches for 80 yards for the Bobcats (2-1). Both touchdowns were from 18 yards out. Tanner Bleskin, Jake’s brother, caught 10 passes for 96 yards and Jon Ellis had seven catches for 110 yards. The starting wide receivers had 22 catches for 286 yards.
CSU-Mesa (1-1) had little success moving the ball all day. They finished with 164 yards thanks in part to MSU defensive end Brad Daly and outside linebacker Alex Singleton. Daly had four sacks, and Singleton had four tackles for loss and returned an interception for a touchdown.
“I thought I was gonna drop it,” Singleton said of his interception, which he bobbled for about five yards before securing it. “They kept running the 10-yard out route and it came right to me.”
Many thought that third-ranked MSU would have a more convincing win.
“You’ll never hear me complain about a win,” MSU head coach Rob Ash said. “The only team that really had a chance to win the game was us.”