Western Oregon will play with no fear when the Wolves step foot in Bobcat Stadium on Saturday. And the Division II challengers will not look all that different, physically at least, than a team from the Big Sky Conference. Just ask Sacramento State head coach Jody Sears.
“Their defensive line, especially those defensive tackles, those inside linebacker, three or four of their offensive linemen, they could all absolutely play in this league,” Sears said two weeks ago days after his Hornets lost 38-30 at home against the Wolves. “The running back, too. And the returner. Heck, most of their front seven and most of their skill guys are Big Sky caliber. They had a lot of talent.”
MSU quarterback Tyler Bruggman (11) steps up in the pocket last Saturday vs. Bryant
Western Oregon jumped out to a 14-0 first-quarter lead and led 21-9 with less than a minute to play in the first half thanks to punt returner/slot receiver Paul Revis’ explosive plays. The Wolves clung to a 24-22 lead early in the fourth quarter but scored two long touchdowns to take a 38-22 lead with 5:11 to play, then held on for a 38-30 upset of the Hornets.
On Saturday, Western Oregon will try to duplicate the feat against a rebuilding Montana State squad still searching to solidify its identity on each side of the football.
“These Division II teams are extremely dangerous,” Montana State first-year head coach Jeff Choate said. “You see that a lot in these D-II situations, whether it’s a junior college guy or some bounce downs, a kid who emerges late, a late qualifier, whatever it may be, but there’s a lot of talent. This is a dangerous opponent. They have nothing to lose. They’ve already knocked off one Big Sky program. They certainly don’t see any reason why they can’t go do it again.”
WOU will roll out a defensive front featuring 6-foot-2, 280-pound senior defensive end Jeremy Moore, 5-foot-11, 285-pound junior tackle Michael Kluge, 6-foot-3, 320-pound senior tackle George Swartzlender and 6-foot-4, 265-pound senior end Kui Williams. Bo Highburger, a 6-foot-1, 215-pound sophomore, and Tafalolu Naea, a 6-foot-2, 240-pound senior, will be among the most high-motor linebackers Montana State faces during the first half of its first schedule under Choate.
“The thing that jumps out is their physicality up front,” said MSU special teams coordinator and tight ends coach B.J. Robertson, who coached at Southern Oregon for a time and has faced off against WOU more than any other Bobcat. “Their d-line is strong and their linebackers are coming downhill and filling. In the special teams, they have playmakers. Against Sac State, a couple of scores they set up, they returned a punt for a touchdown and set up another score with a big play on special teams. We are going to have our hands full. They are not intimidated. We better buckle up and be ready to roll, that’s for sure.”
WOU head coach Arne Ferguson/by WOU Athletics
Ferguson is in his 12th season leading his alma mater. During that time, he has led WOU to an above-.500 record each of the last nine years, the longest streak for the program since Bill McCarthur did the same between 1965 and 1973. Ferguson is 72-49 during his time leading the Wolves.
The Monmouth, Oregon school has always been a safe haven for talented players who might not have qualified for Division I or athletes in search of a second chance. Over the last 12 years, nine Division II All-Americans have played for Ferguson, including NFL Draft picks tight end Kevin Boss (2007, New York Giants) and offensive lineman Jason Slowey (2011, San Francisco 49ers). Tyrell Williams, a standout for WOU last season, signed with the San Diego Chargers last spring.
Ferguson played for the Wolves from 1985 until 1988 and began coaching in 1989. He coached defensive backs and linebackers before becoming the defensive coordinator in 1997, a role he held until taking over as head coach in 2005.
“Coach Ferguson has been there forever,” Choate said. “He played there, he’s from Monmouth, he might have a house in their football office for all I know.
“They have a lot of stability as a coaching staff, they have an identity and they know what they want to do. I think they are really well coached. You can see that when they go down and beat Sac State on the road in Week 1.”
Western Oregon plays in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference, a league that offers an array of varsity sports and has 11 teams but only six of the schools offer football. The GNAC does not earn an automatic bid to the Division II playoffs because it doesn’t have enough teams but squads like Central Washington and Humboldt State have been perennial national contenders in recent years. In 2008, Central Washington went into Washington-Grizzly Stadium and nearly knocked off Montana before losing 38-35. Star CWU quarterback Mike Reilly, a Kalispell product, is still staring in the Canadian Football League.
In 2010, Central Washington took eventual FCS national champion Eastern Washington down to the wire before the Eagles eventually posted a 36-
MSU linebacker Mac Bignell (49) and safety Bryson McCabe (10) celebrate a tackle last Saturday vs. Bryant
31 win in the Battle in Seattle at Qwest Field, the home of the Seattle Seahawks. Central Washington (2002) and Humboldt State (2000) both own wins in Bobcat Stadium.
“I don’t know what to gage it against, but they will be competitive,” Choate said. “I think there’s a lot of good teams in that Division II league when you look at Central Washington, Azusa Pacific, what Western Oregon has been able to do, Humboldt State had a really good team last year.
“The divide gets leveled out after a certain amount of time. You have to remember with the way things have gone with the NCAA legislation, NAIA schools and Division II schools can get a lot of really good athletes into school and that has changed at the FCS level and certainly at the FBS level. That levels some of the talent out a little bit.”
Against Sacramento State, the Wolves controlled the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, won the turnover battle 3-0 and came up with big plays on special teams. Western Oregon allowed Sac State just 95 yards rushing on 36 runs, or 2.6 yards per carry.
The Wolves rushed for 152 yards as true freshman Torreahno Sweet rushed for 77 yards on nine carries, including a 30-yard touchdown to extend WOU’s lead to 38-22 with 5:11 left. Sophomore Malik Braxton added 60 yards. Revis, a 5-foot-9, 175-pounder who earned Division II All-America honors as a freshman, proved to be the x-factor against Sac. He caught a 19-yard touchdown for WOU’s first score, then took a punt back 74 yards for a touchdown to extend the lead to 14-0. He finished with seven catches for 64 yards and totaled 175 all-purpose yards.
“We weren’t able to run the ball like we hoped,” Sears said “We averaged like 3.6 yards per carry on 34 snaps. They were strong, they were big up front on their d-line. Their Revis kid who took a punt back for a touchdown is a fantastic player. He’s quick and he has very good speed. You look at him and you think he can’t be that fast but he’s pretty darn fast. Their offensive line surprisingly, they did a nice job as well. Up front, both sides, they were good. The three things that jumped out to me the most — their physical strength, they were a lot bigger and stronger than we anticipated and the specialist was a fantastic player.”
MSU wide reveiver Mitch Herbert (82) celebrates a touchdown Saturday vs. Bryant
Last week, Montana State needed five takeaways and a botched punt snap to emerge with a 27-24 win over Bryant, an FCS school from the Northeast Conference. The Bulldogs came to Bozeman with 30 scholarship players, while the GNAC has a scholarship limit of 36. Western Oregon’s physicality on film coupled with the confidence the Wolves are sure to possess stemming from their first Big Sky upset has Choate and the Bobcats on high alert.
“This is going to present a big challenge for us,” Choate said. “Our whole mantra is we have to compete and improve and we are going to be tested this week and kind of see who we are as a team. I don’t know if we are going to be in a position any time soon that we are going to be able to run anybody out of here. We have some work to do to do that. I do know that if our kids are willing to compete for four quarters, we will have a chance to win every game.”
Photos by Brooks Nuanez. All Rights Reserved.
