Any thought that the woes of the Montana State defense had been cured were promptly put to rest in Portland on Saturday afternoon.
[restrict paid=”true”]On the first offensive snap of the game, Portland State running back David Jones took an inside zone play, pressed it to the middle, found Montana State’s entire front seven out of position, bounced the run to the outside and turned on the jets for a 79-yard touchdown run. Jones would add touchdown runs of 29 and 56 yards as he rushed for 285 yards. On more than half of his rushes, Jones literally went untouched as Portland State piled up a program-record 465 rushing yards in a 59-42 win. The Vikings scored touchdowns on eight straight possessions, including seven rushing touchdowns in the first three quarters alone.
Montana State’s defense continues to flail helplessly no matter how opposing offenses attack the Bobcats. In a 55-50 loss to Eastern Washington, Montana State allowed big play after big play as Jordan West threw the ball down the field at will. He finished with 410 yards on just 24 attempts and he threw twice as many touchdowns (six) and incompletions. To add insult to injury, backup running back Jabari Wilson blew his previous career high of 48 rushing yards out of the water with 188 yards on just 17 carries.
The message out of Bobcat camp following a 45-28 win over Cal Poly was a simplified defensive scheme allowed MSU to play fast and physical. The underlying reality was a quick start by the offense that included three first quarter touchdowns thanks in part to missed assignments and blown coverage by the Mustangs’ defense was the key to burying CP. It seemed like the problems were at least remedied, but in reality, MSU gave up 5.5 yards per rush and 356 rushing yards overall CP’s triple option, an attack that moved the chains 25 times to no avail after falling behind early.
The following week, Northern Arizona exploited MSU’s weakness against balls thrown down the field. The Bobcats adjusted to use safety help over the top, opening up the interior for Casey Jahn to rush for a career-high 175 yards as NAU held on for a 49-41 win.
The MSU defense feasted on a hapless Sac State team that entered the game averaging just 13 points per contest against Division I opponents. By the second half, Sac had true freshman Nate Ketteringham in the game at quarterback because of injuries and failures to the Hornets’ top three signal callers.
Last week, Montana State offered no resistance. The Bobcats were exploited from the opening drive and Portland State smashed run after run to the weak side to take advantage of the out of position Bobcats and their inability to tackle.
“We have to execute,” MSU senior captain defensive tackle Taylor Sheridan said. “You can’t have 10 out of your 11 guys in the right place every play but that one guy out of place kills us. We have to have everyone be perfect in their assignments. The other things will come — the tackling, the speed, everything will come. But the mental game, everything has to be sharp.”
“We have to get stops at critical points and we are not,” MSU first-year defensive coordinator Kane Ioane said. “Once we get going in the wrong direction, we have to battle back and get the ship righted. The road woes continue. Inconsistency has been our biggest nemesis, not just game to game but play to play.”
During Tuesday’s weekly meeting with the media, MSU head coach Rob Ash said all defensive problems can be traced back to three areas: scheme, personnel and technique. Ash said this week, MSU would “adjust” its scheme without going into detail. He said the Bobcats would undergo some “minor personnel” changes. Ash said he would not elaborate on the personnel changes or what positions were being “thrown open” but he did say that the evaluation of the film from Tuesday and Wednesday’s practices this week would go a long way to determining who starts on Saturday. Ash did elaborate on the adjustments the MSU coaching staff will make.
“Technique comes from teaching and that’s what we have to focus on. How are we teaching the game to get these guys in the right spots more often? That’s the agenda,” Ash said.
Ash’s linebackers, a group that lost three senior starters including All-America Alex Singleton from last year’s unit, has been a definitive weakness all season. Whether it’s redshirt freshman Grant Collins, junior Fletcher Collins, sophomore Marcus Tappan or Blake Braun, MSU’s inside linebackers have frequently been out of position.
“If you know the answer as to why (they are out of position), please come to my meeting room,” Ash said with a snarky laugh. “No, I say that in jest because there’s only a couple of things that can be going on. First of all, does the player know what his assignment is? If not, we have to teach that better. Secondly, if he knows what the assignment is on paper and in the film room and doesn’t execute it in the game, then I think it is eyes or not understanding or not reading his keys well enough which means we have to fix it on the practice field.”
During Tuesday’s practice, junior defensive end Zach Hutchins practiced with the linebackers. Junior defensive end Robert Wilcox received a higher number of repetitions on a defensive front that played four down linemen for the first time this season after Ioane overhauled the scheme in the off-season.
“This week, we changed everything, we went back to our defense and we thought simplicity worked for us against Cal Poly and Sac State, but this game (Portland State), we felt we probably could’ve used a little bit of a change-up on them. It’s like we needed to switch things up but we just didn’t have it in throughout the week,” Sheridan said. “This week, we are going back to what everyone knows really well so everyone can play fast and everyone knows what to do. We hope that helps because the defense we are running is a little more natural for everyone.”
Entering this week’s non-conference game against East Tennessee State, the Bobcats defense ranks at or near the bottom of the country in every major statistical category. Those numbers are influenced in MSU’s favor considering MSU played a Division II game to open its season and did not play an FBS opponent, something almost every other FCS school did this season.
Montana State currently ranks dead last in the country out of 123 FCS teams in pass efficiency defense. Opposing quarterbacks have put up a rating of 184.72 against the Bobcats. MSU has one interception, a tip pick against D-II Fort Lewis, the lowest interception total in the FCS. Montana State is giving up 36.3 points (103rd in FCS) and 488 yards (118th in FCS) per game, including 41 points and 530 yards per game against Division I teams. Montana State currently ranks 119th in rushing defense by surrendering 276 yards per game, including 296.4 per game against Division I opponents. Opponents are converting 47.1 percent of third downs (104th) and 91 percent of red-zone tries (116th) this fall.
“If the guys are reading the statistics, that will tug at their pride a little bit and hopefully, it fuels their fire,” Ioane said. “Being around them, I know they are not about to just lay down and wrap it up and get ready for next season. They are fighters, competitors and we are going to go out today at practice and start working toward the ultimate goal.”
During the weekly news conference, Ash and Ioane each fielded a question asking whether the biggest defensive problem was motivation, talent or coaching. Ash responded by saying the problem was “definitely not motivation”, saying he felt MSU might have actually been “too ramped up” in the loss at Portland State. Ash also said his team has already changed the way it practices in terms of the amount of time and breadth spent on defense.
Just a few years ago, North Dakota and Portland State were among the worst defensive teams in the league. Each underwent an overhaul that put a priority on tackling and playing with an aggressive intensity whether during practice or games. When asked if he would consider a similar overhaul and a practice schedule that included more contact drills in an effort to improve tackling, Ash said: “We are not going to be able to do anything like that in the middle of the season. That’s a post season question.”
Ioane answered the question of what he thought the problem was by saying, “It’s a mix of everything. Motivation, talent-wise….to me we can develop talent. That’s coaching. Motivation is coaching. I put this on myself. We will get better, I promise you that.”
Montana State is running out of time to find the answers it’s searching for. The 3-3 Bobcats will almost certainly have to go on a five-game winning streak to get to seven Division I wins and qualify for the FCS playoffs for the fifth time in six years.
[/restrict]Photos by Brooks Nuanez. All Rights Reserved.
