“The eyes of Texas are upon you…”
Texas and beyond in this case.
A decade ago, the Montana State University football team – laden with about 20 Texans – took on the same Sam Houston State University Bearkats they’re about to face this Saturday night.
The Bobcats were the team on the rise in the Big Sky Conference. They had just won a second consecutive Big Sky Conference championship. The most prominent person on the field in any way, shape, or form for MSU was quarterback, and Texan, DeNarius McGhee.
McGhee had brought a star power, charisma and pizazz to MSU. He commanded the offense with authority, while his ability to pass and run were unparalleled at the school. He also had the mentality of a champion, honed during his time at Lone Star State powerhouse Euless Trinity. McGhee led the squad to the Texas 6A state title during his senior year.
The Bobcats were cruising through that 2011 season. They had won the previous season’s league title and had soundly beaten the previous season’s national champion. Ranked No. 1 in the nation, they were stung by archrival Montana in the final game of the regular season in Bozeman. After a second-round playoff win over New Hampshire — MSU’s second playoff win since 1984 and the first in the long, otherwise successful career of head coach Rob Ash — it was time to reassert themselves as the team on the rise with a quarterfinal game at SHSU.
Of the 20 or so Texans on the squad that year, almost all of them had former high school teammates playing for SHSU. If not teammates, then players they had played against. For that reason, the game took on special meaning.
“My teammates, they wouldn’t admit it during the week but it was hyper emotional,” said former MSU All-American wide receiver Elvis Akpla, who made a highlight reel catch that Saturday in Huntsville that still gets brought up among Bobcat faithful. “Alot of those guys had dreamt of playing college football. All of them, espedcially in Texas, assumed they’d go to a UT or a Texas A&M and they end up at Montana State.
“For their entire family to be able to see them play in a playoff game, it was an emotional scene. It was a different feel, a different vibe at practice.”
Despite the fanfare and everything that was at stake the Bobcats turned out to be no match for the Bearkats that day.
MSU was down big at halftime, 21-6, but looked to be mounting a comeback after scoring a touchdown on a McGhee pass to another Texan, Everett Gilbert, to draw within eight. As quickly as it looked like the Bobcats had some life, SHSU’s Brandon Closner returned the kickoff for a Bearkat’ score and the rout was on. Final: Sam Houston State 49, Montana State 13.
A year, and another Big Sky title later, the school record-setting coach of the Bobcats, Rob Ash, and his Texans would get another quarterfinal shot at SHSU – this time at home. Surely this time it would be different.
MSU had but one blemish on its season record, a 27-24 loss to Eastern Washington at home. The game was nearly a win despite the Bobcats do all it could to give the game away. The Bobcats lead 17-13 going into the fourth quarter, but a blocked punt was returned for a TD, then McGhee was picked off and EWU returned that for a TD as well. MSU was down 27-17 suddenly and couldn’t recover.
Trailing 3-0 in the quarterfinal against Sam Houston, the Bobcats drove the length of the field and on 3rd and 5 ran a trick play to tackle-eligible tight end Steven Foster to near perfection as it resulted in a touchdown and what appeared to be a 7-3 lead. It wasn’t quite perfect. The formation wasn’t set up properly and Foster was called for illegal touching. A 3-3 tie.
The Bearkats would score 17 straight points before halftime. As they did the year before, MSU would score first to start the second half to make it a 20-9 ballgame. Soon after it was 34-9 and MSU would tack on a late touchdown: Sam Houston State 34, Montana State 16.
So here we are. Ten years have passed by. MSU fans, players and coaches from that era are all probably still wondering ‘what might’ve been?’ had Ash, McGhee and company won those games. Would Ash still be coaching the Bobcats or perhaps just retired on his own terms? Would there be a little more hardware in the MSU trophy cabinets?
While MSU didn’t have success in those games, someone currently on the team got to face those same SHSU team in 2011 and 2012 and he had a great deal of success. That’s head coach Brent Vigen, who was the North Dakota State University offensive coordinator at the time. NDSU beat Sam Houston in the national championship game in 2011 and 2012 for the first two Division I national titles for the Bison.
The Bison beat the Bearkats in both of those seasons in the national championship game, but those games weren’t played in Huntsville. Vigen has been to Huntsville once.
“I’ve been there once and that goes all the way back to 2009 regular season,” Vigen said. “It’s another great opportunity to go on the road and play another great opponent.”
He remembered the setting, the track, the fans are further away.
“In some ways comparable to Weber State in terms of the size, scope and track,” he said of the stadium in Huntsville, which is expecting a high of 60 and a game time temp around 50 after what should be a day in the 80s on Friday. “Great crowd last week, would anticipate a little bit more. Hoping for a good presence of Cat fans to balance them out. Should have some warmer temps in Texas.”
“Schematically, on offense, they are quite a bit different,” Vigen said. “Under (former head coach) Willie Fritz, they were quite more of an option outfit. Defensively, both years we played them, they had guys who were strong, had good size but moreso, they were fast. They were fast all over the place. Schematically, they are back up to that point. They had good defenses in ’11 and ’12.
“They have a ton of skill on offense even if they go about their tactics different. They are able to attack from a close proximity with a really good caliber of athlete. It’s skill, big guys who can move. Houston is the fourth-biggest metro area in the country. They are just north of Houston, but they can also up to east Texas and in those smaller towns, football is king. They can probably jump in their car and do much of their recruiting and then be done with it.”
The Bobcats aren’t so heavily laden with Texans these days, but you can bet those former Lone Star State players will be keeping a close eye on just what transpires. No doubt they’ve taken some ribbing from their Texas counterparts that were suited up for the Bearkats those two seasons.
It’s likely that former MSU linebacker Jody Owens, who was the 2012 Big Sky defensive player of the year and former star defensive back Darnell Taylor will be getting at each other verbally on Saturday. They were high school teammates in Mesquite, Texas. SMHU quarterback Emory Miller and Owens are also probably familiar with each other as Miller played at another high school in Mesquite.
Trinity High School in Euless, Texas is McGhee’s alma mater. Same for MSU brothers Na’a and Toti Moeakiola. Eric Fieilo was at Trinity with the MSU players, as were Sione Latu and Richard Lolohea. They were on those Bearkat teams and prepped at Trinity with McGhee and the Moeakiolas. Latu and Lolohea were just freshmen on the 2012 SHSU team.
Currently six Texans are on the Bobcat’ roster: Charles Brown, a backup wide receiver from Grand Prairie, starting cornerback Simeon Woodard, starting wide receiver Jaden Smith, reserve running back Demareus Hosey, freshman linebacker Cooper Thomas, and reserve wide receiver Aidan Garrigan.
Will the third time be a charm for Montana State? Perhaps a win will put them back on the track everyone had envisioned them to be on when they were the team on the rise in the Big Sky.
