Marty Fine might be trying to downplay his team’s chances as Bryant comes to Bobcat Stadium, but Dalton Easton is plenty confident as the Bulldogs embark on the longest trip in school history.
Bryant’s senior quarterback is a three-year starter with 14 wins under his belt as he enters his swan song season. What the former transfer from Akron lacks in height — he’s 6-foot and a stocky 220 pounds — he makes up for in moxie and polish.
On Tuesday, Fine, Bryant’s 13th-year head coach, flat out said Montana State is better than his team and said his team was just trying to “get our paycheck and try to get out with as few broken bodies as we can.” Earlier that morning, Easton expressed much more self-assuredness about his own individual talents and those of the Bulldogs as the Smithfield, Rhode Island-based school prepares travel West of the Mississippi River for the first time ever.
“We are a confident team in general,” said Easton, who threw for a single-season school record 2,601 yards and 22 touchdowns last season. “It’s not about who we are playing. We have confident in ourselves and our team that we can go up against anybody, anywhere and put up a good fight.
Bryant quarterback Dalton Easton/by Bryant Athletics
“Montana’s definitely far from home, sure. Coming from Miami, I’ve never been past Colorado. It will be a different experience, different weather. But it’s something we are looking forward to and we will do our best to compete.”
Montana State’s hulking offensive line averages 6-foot-5 and 304 pounds. Senior running back Chad Newell rushed for 105 yards and a touchdown in MSU’s narrow 20-17 loss at FBS Idaho last week, drawing the recognition of Fine and his staff. The Bobcats have a strong-armed quarterback with FBS credentials in Tyler Bruggman, a former four-star recruit who made stops at Washington State and Louisville before landing at MSU. But all those “advantages” reside on one side of the football. In terms of the Bobcat defense, even if the beleaguered defense looked much improved last week after two straight struggling seasons, the jury is still out.
Against Idaho, the Bobcats switched up coverage schemes and put constant pressure on UI quarterback Matt Linehan. MSU’s defense broke up three passes, saw sophomore cornerback Tre’von Strong earn his first career interception and snatched another turnover on a forced fumble by junior safety Bryson McCabe recovered by sophomore Buck end Grant Collins. All told the ‘Cats defensive efforts resulted in Linehan completing just eight passes for 128 yards.
The Bobcat run defense was not so salty. MSU allowed 6.4 yards per carry on 35 rushes, giving up 225 yards on the ground all told. Andrew Duckworth scored a 43-yard rushing touchdown in the first quarter and another one-yard score later in the frame to help UI to a 17-7 first quarter advantage. He finished with 108 yards on 14 carries in his first career start and Linehan added 41 yards on seven rushes despite coming back from an off-season foot injury that cost him seven months.
On Saturday with Bryant in Bozeman, the Bobcats are sure to see more of the same. The Bulldogs employ a power run scheme flush with two-backs and multiple tight end sets. In Bryant’s opener sophomore Brenden Femiano (6-0, 209) rushed for 98 yards and two touchdowns on just 10 carries in Bryant’s 41-20 win over Division II Merrimack last week. Sophomore Christian Martey (6-1, 221) added 90 yards on seven carries, including a 78-yard touchdown on the second-to-last play of the game.
Neither one are the starting tailback. That designation belongs to Ryan Black, a 6-foot, 225-pound senior who carried the ball just four times against Merrimack. Since taking over as the starter as a redshirt freshman and earning 102 carries, Black has missed half a dozen games with injury and received just 47 carries including this seasons opener.
Still, the trio of ball carriers running behind an offensive line that averages 6-foot-3 and 306 pounds and features seniors in left tackle George Smith, left guard Tyler Cardoze, center Kieran Elmore and right guard Connor O’Neill is a point of concern for the Bobcats.
MSU Buck end Grant Collins (41) ad Mac Bignell (49) show a sugar blitz front against ETSU in 2015/by Brooks Nuanez
“They have three big, physical, pounding running backs,” Montana State first-year head coach Jeff Choate said. “We are going to be challenged because if there’s one thing you see in that Idaho game is we had a hard time fitting some two-back run stuff when they decided they were going to do it, especially in the fourth quarter We are going to get tested immediately.”
“Power football, two-back power football,” added longtime linebackers coach Kane Ioane. “They want to run the ball. I imagine they will try to make our corners make tackles on the edge, get as many guys up to our ‘backers and safeties and really emphasize the run game. We have to be stout in our front nine because they are going to try to pound the ball.”
If Montana State can buckle down in the run game, the onus of moving the ball will fall on Easton. Last season, the righty led the Northeast Conference in passing yards and touchdowns. He threw for 309 yards and a touchdown in an upset of Brown and threw for 291 yards and a score in a 31-17 loss to No. 1 Coastal Carolina last fall.
Easton has throw for 4,831 yards and 46 touchdowns in his career. The Miami native needs 2,153 yards to break Charlie Granatell’s record of 6,984 yards in his career. Easton is 10 touchdowns shy of Granatell’s school record in a career as well.
“He’s a crafty dude,” said Choate when asked of his impressions on film of the Bryant quarterback. “He’s a very compact guy. He’s 6-foot, 220 and you can see he’s a hard guy to tackle. He has a strong lower body. He kind of stands in the pocket. He’s not a huge scrambler but he can run efficiently. I think he runs to throw. He gets out of the pocket, keeps his eyes down the field. He’s an efficient player, a smart player. He’s clutch. That’s what I noticed about him. In these tight games they are playing, this guy makes the plays when they need to be made.”
Easton is 14-9 in three years as a starter, including two separate wins at Stony Brook and another over Maine. He’s also played in hostile environments like at Coastal Carolina in Conway, South Carolina and in Lynchburg, Virginia against Liberty. As a sophomore, Easton led Bryant to an 8-3 record as the Bulldogs reached the FCS Top 25 for the first time and fell short of the playoffs by a single game. Last season, BU stumbled to a 5-6 finish but lost games by an average of less than six points.
“He has truly matured as a young fella,” Fine said. “He manages the game well. He doesn’t get flustered by crowds or noises. He doesn’t let a bad play make two bad plays. He’s able to play football kind of the way at this age you are supposed to. We don’t have clock violation. We get in and out of plays reasonably well. He can run a two-minute drill. He manages the game well. He’s not gifted athletically. He’s a little short, he has his own flaws but his eyes are in the right place and he sure does try to do what he’s asked.”
Bryant quarterback Dalton Easton (2)/by Bryant Athletics
Although he has a veteran quarterback with confidence who is unafraid of the big stage, Fine is not budging when it comes to his Bulldogs’ chances in Bobcat Stadium on Saturday. Unless, of course, Easton does exactly what he is asked to do.
“There’s a way we can play the game to try to shorten the game, to try to make it competitive,” Fine said. “We were able to do that in a couple of other games we’ve been in. We’ve lost a whole bunch when we play up against the (Colonial Athletic Association) and the Ivys. But every once in awhile we jump up and bite them.
“But all things considered, they are better than us so we have to find ways to keep our kids in the game to have opportunities to have success. We have to keep them off balance.”
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