BILLINGS — During a press conference on Monday, Stephen F. Austin football coach Colby Carthel referred to Montana State as "one of the giants in FCS football."
He also conveyed to reporters how eager he is to make the 1,600-mile trip with his team from Nacogdoches in East Texas to Bozeman for their FCS quarterfinal game on a national stage Friday night. It will be the first game at Bobcat Stadium in Lumberjacks history.
But one key player has gotten at least a peek at MSU and a taste of Big Sky Conference football, and he will be an important piece in No. 7-seeded SFA's effort to pull the upset over the second-seeded Bobcats — quarterback and former Montana starter Sam Vidlak.
Vidlak welcomes the chance to face his former team's archrival for a chance to advance deeper into the postseason.
"That's going to be an awesome environment to play in, and that's what everybody wants when you grow up — you want to play in front of thousands of people in super-loud stadiums," Vidlak said. "And on top of that, for it to be a playoff atmosphere, it's really something we're excited about.
"You won't find a guy in that locker room that's not fired up about that. We know it's a loud place and they've got a lot of rowdy fans. In an atmosphere like that when the stakes couldn't be higher, it's what we wanted."
Vidlak is now in his second season with the Lumberjacks after transferring from Montana following the 2023 season. In 12 games this year, Vidlak has thrown for 2,447 yards and 21 touchdowns for the Southland Conference champions. He was named the league's offensive player of the year.
In a wild, 41-34 second-round playoff win over Abilene Christian last week, Vidlak completed 26 of 35 passes for 357 yards and three touchdowns to help push SFA into the quarterfinals.
Vidlak, an Applegate, Ore., native, spent the 2023 season at Montana as a redshirt sophomore after transferring from Boise State. Vidlak spent the 2021 campaign at Oregon State.
He was expected to compete for the No. 1 job with the Grizzlies and was the starter for the 2023 opener against Butler. But Vidlak made just two more starts the rest of the way — against Division II Ferris State and then in UM's Big Sky Conference opener at Northern Arizona.
Montana lost to NAU in that latter instance as Vidlak threw for 210 yards with one touchdown and one interception. After that, Clifton McDowell took the quarterback reins and the Griz reeled off 10 straight wins before falling to South Dakota State in the FCS national championship game in Frisco, Texas.
Following the loss at NAU, Vidlak only attempted three more passes as the development of a true freshman named Keali'i Ah Yat took precedence in a backup role to McDowell. Vidlak did not appear in the Grizzlies' 37-7 win over Montana State in the regular-season finale and did not play in the playoffs.
But he's found a happy home at Stephen F. Austin — and perhaps a bit of redemption. And he's continuing to showcase his ability at quarterback.
"I don't have a prove-doubters-wrong type of mentality. I have more of a prove-the-people-right-in-that-locker-room (mentality)," Vidlak told reporters on Monday. "The belief that we have in that locker room ... I want to prove the coaches that believe in me and believe in this team right.
"I want to prove these guys right that we know what we can be and we know the caliber of team that we are. And we want to prove the things that we know to be true. We want to prove that to everybody else."
Friday night's matchup between SFA (11-2) and Montana State (11-2) is intriguing in several respects. One factoid that stands out is that both the Lumberjacks and Bobcats come in riding 11-game winning streaks.
SFA lost at FBS Houston in its season opener and then fell at Abilene Christian the following week. The Bobcats, by the same token, were drubbed at FBS Oregon and then lost in OT to South Dakota State at home a week later. Neither has lost since.
But only one team can extend its winning streak to 12. Vidlak is confident his Lumberjacks have what it takes to knock off one of the giants of the FCS.
"Everybody had this vision months ago, and we worked for it all offseason and all throughout the season," he said. "To see it come to fruition and to keep chasing our dreams together is really special.
"I think the coaches are going to put together a great game plan for us. We have a great group and we believe that any game we play, no matter the opponent, the outcome is dependent on us and how we perform. We believe things are in our control. So we're really excited about that."
