The battle of the trenches. It all starts up front.
Those two terms are repeated ad nauseum across the country whenever coaches are interviewed or when experts give their gameday breakdowns. “Whoever wins in the trenches, or wins up front, is going to win this game.”
Regardless of how true it is on Saturday as No. 2 Montana hosts No. 3 Montana State, the winner can’t lift the massive, heavy Great Divide Trophy without the big boys up front.
“This is one of those games where whoever wins the line of scrimmage both ways is going to have an advantage,” Montana State head coach Brent Vigen said. “I think you could maybe look back at the last four games (against Montana) and that’s been true. What do we need to have to have that advantage up front and defensively speaking, make it as hard we can on a really talented offense.”
Half the trenches will be on display when the University of Montana offense and Montana State’s defense are on the field. While it may be taking a back seat to its flip side, this matchup could be the one that plays the biggest role on Saturday filled with veterans on both sides of the historic rivalry.
The Grizzlies are known for their ability to get the ball into the hands of their headline playmakers and get huge, gash plays throughout this season. An offensive line with six seniors at its disposal, including four slated to start on Saturday, has certainly played a factor in UM leading the Big Sky Conference in scoring (42.2 points per game) and in the continued progress of sophomore quarterback Keali’i Ah Yat, one of the leading candidates for Big Sky Offensive Player of the Year.
But the Griz offensive line have game by game PFF grades that indicate a unit that is solid, yet not elite. And the UM offensive line will certainly receive one of its stoutest tests on Saturday as Montana State comes to Missoula with four senior stalwarts on its defensive front, including All-American candidates DT Paul Brott and DE Kenneth Eiden IV, each of them Bobcat captains.
Montana head coach Bobby Hauck summed things clearly and concisely when asked about MSU’s highly touted defensive line.
When asked about Montana State’s defensive line and their six sacks against UC Davis, Hauck bluntly said, “they are big and physical.”
The Bobcats boast Brott, a 6-foot-3, 305-pounder who wrecks the middle, and Alec Eckert, a 6-foot-3, 290-pound Hulk that Brott said Monday “can bench an elephant”. Brott gets a lot of attention from opposing offenses, but he thinks Eckert is the stronger of the two.
“First of all, you said, ‘strengths’, yeah, he’s strong,” Brott said when asked to describe Eckert’s strengths. “That dude can bench an elephant. He’s strong, he’s smart. He just stays calm and he’s not afraid to do his job. If he does mess up he goes to the next play and he’s just very calm and poised.”
The Grizzlies will counter with a smash mouth style of running that is keyed by a big offensive line that includes massive 6-foot-6, 280-pound center Dillon Botner, a seventh-year senior who’s also started at offensive tackle for the Griz.
“From what I’ve seen so far, they like running it downhill,” Brott said. “They are big guys. They want to force their will on you. That’s a lot of fun to go against.”
Botner deflects a lot of the credit for UM’s success on offense to offensive line coach Cameron Norcross. The burly, bearded offensive line coach came to Montana from Kennesaw State. He was at Nevada for more than a decade before that. Norcross took over after a year of direction from Joe Pawlik, who bolted for a job at Western Michigan after a season coaching at Montana.
“Norcross always has a good game plan for us and always sets us up for success, so he’ll get us sorted out and we will be ready for them,” Botner said. “We have the same routine every week and we kind of stick to that. We know what we are going to get and what to expect. We just enjoy the process and trust the coaches to get us ready.”
The entire UM starting offensive line has either a senior or graduate student at each position. The entire MSU defensive line is seniors.
For the bulk of the season, Botner has been joined along the line by tackles Cannon Panfiloff (6-6, 294) and Everett Johnson (6-7, 290), and guards Liam Brown (6-5, 316) and Patrick Matan (6-4, 295). Johnson is working his way back from an injury, so this week redshirt freshman Colin Amick will start at right tackle with Johnson backing him up. The unit averages 6-5, 295, so the Bobcats will be pushing a lot of weight trying to get to UM’s three-headed monster of Ah Yat, running back Eli Gilman and wide receiver/utility man Michael Wortham.
UM rotates Botner and fellow senior Cade Klimzcak at center. Panfiloff is the left tackle and a three-year starter. Brown is the left guard who will make his 40th straight start Saturday. Matan is the right guard and a transfer from NC State. Lucas Freitas will rotate in on the right side.
“Gillman and the run game is going to be a great challenge,” Brott said, referring to UM’s stud who’s rushed for 1,129 yards and 16 touchdowns this season. “Eli is one of the best backs in the country and it’s always a great opportunity to go up against a back like that and test how good you are.”
One of MSU’s strengths along the defensive line isn’t so much its size as it is its depth. The Bobcats will rotate at least eight players along the line with seniors Brott and Eckert, joined by fellow senior defensive ends Eiden and Hunter Parsons. Those four are backed by tackles Talon Marsh and Zack Black and ends Zac Crews and Dominic Solano. With Brott being limited due to a lower leg injury the past three weeks, there’s a good chance that tackles Hunter Sharbono and Josaiah Asuega see playing time.
“I know Paul went out, but he went back in, so that was good to see,” Vigen said of Brott leaving the UC Davis game briefly.
The Bobcats have a lot of experience along the defensive line. Along with the four senior starters, Black and Crews came into the season with ample playing time over the last two seasons. It’s helped MSU give up just 81 points in seven conference games and hold almost every FCS opponent its played to less than 300 total yards each outing.
“It is probably pretty rare to have that many seniors,” Vigen said. “The nature of our defensive line, speaking to that, those guys have step by step grown up in this program. It is our catalyst on defense for sure and being able to combat the run game, get after the passer is what that group has been about. On the flip side, being able to get the run game going and protect the passer is certainly what they are about.”
Botner, a graduate student from Whitefish, knows the significance of the rivalry between the Bobcats and Grizzlies all too well but he knows that becoming too emotional can be a distraction. He has a simple explanation for that.
“Coach Norcross says it best every Monday: it’s the biggest game in program history because it’s the next one,” Botner said. “Everyone gets their week and (MSU) gets their week this time.It’s a big game for people here in Montana and we kind of tune that out and focus what on what we have to do and appreciate the game, but we have work to do.”
Brott is on the same page as Botner as he recognizes that getting emotional and looking beyond the next play is disadvantageous.
“Like we say, it’s the same thing as the ‘Taco Truck’,” Brott said. “You can disappear. If you try focusing on all that, you have to focus on the game and get it accomplished, you can’t focus on what’s coming out of the game. So just focusing on the play, doing your 1/11th each play and doing it as hard as you can.”
Brott knows his native Montanan counterparts at UM have been working hard and are on the same wavelength as he is.
“We’ve both been battling to be top in the conference, top in the country and I’m very proud to be a part of it,” Brott said.
Kickoff is set for high noon at Washington-Grizzly Stadium in Missoula.
