BOZEMAN, Montana — Matt Miller used to catch touchdown passes from Kellen Moore at Boise State. Now they exchange professional notes.
In the off-season leading up to each former BSU star’s first seasons as the offensive coordinators for their respective organizations, the fellow wunderkinds spent a week together in the spring comparing notes on how to operate day to day as two of the youngest offensive coordinators in football.
Moore, 31, is in his first season as the offensive coordinator for the Dallas Cowboys. Miller, 28, is in his first full season as the offensive coordinator for the No. 14 Montana State Bobcats, although Miller took over with six games remaining last season. He is the only offensive play-caller in the Big Sky Conference under the age of 30.
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“Matt and Kellen are very good friends and former teammates,” Choate said in August, also mentioning that MSU tight ends coach Nate Potter, also a former Boise State player, spend time with former Idaho quarterback Doug Nussmeier, who is also on the Dallas coaching staff.
“It was good for both of them. They are about the same age, sharing the responsibility of this role. One is for the Cowboys, one is for the Bobcats, but like I tell all the recruits, we are the Dallas Cowboys of Montana.”
While in Dallas, Miller asked Moore questions about “organizational stuff, how he handled his business coordinated the offense,” he said on the Bobcat Roundtable radio program earlier this season. They talked about game planning, practice structure and scheme creation.
“Although there’s a lot of things they can do that we can’t do with our time limits and the type of players they have, those guys are pretty good,” Miller said with a laugh.
“It was good getting down there and hanging out with Kellen and bouncing some ideas off each other, whether it’s a play, shift, motion or as far as you handle your day to day life as a coordinator and making sure everybody on the rest of your staff is prepared to go execute that game plan.
“He’s a guy, when you have him in your corner, we’ve been texting back and forth and it’s no surprise that he’s doing well and they are scoring points and lighting the NFL up because he’s such a bright guy who is always a step ahead.”
The Cowboys averaged 32.3 points per game during a 3-0 start in which Dak Prescott looked like he was worth the $40 million he might demand in his next contract negotiation. Miller made those comments right after Moore helped the Cowboys to a win over the Miami Dolphins.
During his career at Boise State, Moore became the first FBS quarterback to ever win 50 games in his career. After earning first-team All-American honors in 2009 and 2010 at Boise State Moore played three seasons for the Detroit Lions and three more for the Cowboys before moving into the coaching ranks as Dallas’ quarterbacks coach last season.
Miller, the 2009 Montana Gatorade Player of the Year at Helena Capital, earned Freshman All-American honors in 2011 by catching 62 passes for 679 yards and nine touchdowns during Moore’s fourth and final year as BSU’s quarterback.
During the first month of the 2019 season under Moore’s direction, the Cowboy offense looked innovative, slick and productive in wins over the New York Giants, the Washington Redskins and the Dolphins.
Granted, those three teams have a combined record of 3-20 thus far this NFL season. But the following week, quality of opponent taken into consideration, the Cowboys hit the skids. The Cowboys managed just 15 first downs, gained just 257 yards and scored just 10 points in a two-point loss to the New Orleans Saints. Following Dallas’ first loss, Saints players told the media they had watched film of Moore from his college days and had used that film study to steal signals that helped them tee off on the Dallas offense.
The Cowboys averaged 18.6 points per game over the next three, losing to the Saints, Green Bay Packers (34-24) and 24-22 to the hapless and previously winless New York Jets.
Moore and the Dallas offense locked back in against rival Philadelphia two weeks ago before the bye week in Big D. Ezekiel Elliott rushed for 111 yards and a touchdown, Prescott operated the offense efficiently (21-for-27, 239 yards) and the Cowboys piled up 402 yards in a 37-10 decimation of the Eagles.
“That’s the biggest thing I took away is how ahead he was,” Miller said in an interview in September. “If you can be ahead as a coordinator, you have the answer before the problem becomes a problem. If you can do that, you can become really affective because you have the answer in your head.”
Montana State is suddenly searching for a bounce back like the Cowboys accomplished in their last outing. In the first 12 games under Miller’s direction, the Bobcats averaged 32.1 points per game against FCS opponent, a number that jumps to 34.1 points per game when MSU’s 52-10 loss at No. 1 North Dakota State in the second round of the FCS playoffs last season is taken into consideration.
During their five-game winning streak, Montana State averaged exactly 40 points per game thanks to an offense that was churning out nearly 270 rushing yards per contest.
“Statistically, Matt’s tenure here as a play-caller has been our best,” Choate said during his weekly meeting with the media on the last Monday of October.
But Montana State has scored just 33 total points in losses to Sacramento State and at North Dakota. MSU quarterback Tucker Rovig threw for a season-high 262 yards in the 34-21 homecoming loss to Sac, a stat indicating how one-dimensional the Hornets rendered the Bobcat offense. And if the Bobcats are forced to be one-dimensional, running the football has been the strength since Choate took over.
“I think there’s a variety of reasons why you have lulls and some of it is film,” Choate said. “Tucker has played a few more games. Now they have some things on him. Some of it is some of the play-makers we had early in the season we don’t necessarily have access to right now. Some of it is Matt getting more film.”
Against North Dakota, the Bobcats rushed for 219 yards, but nearly 100 of those came on a 48-yard first quarter run that led to a field goal on MSU’s first possession by true freshman DeMareus Hosey and a 49-yard run by Troy Andersen that set up Andersen’s 31st career touchdown run, MSU’s only trip to the end-zone in Grand Forks.
Rovig completed 13 passes but for only 77 yards. As Montana State enters November in desperate need of a late-season surge for the second straight year, the Bobcats are averaging 5.5 yards per rush and just 6.3 yards per completion.
The complications facing the Bobcat offense stem from Rovig’s inability to perform confidently, Montana State’s inability to execute with any diversity in the passing game and a mental aspect that Choate hopes the Bobcats can remedy as soon as possible.
“As the game got tighter, you could almost sense it was like, ‘Let’s not screw this up.’ We are in a close game, let’s not make mistakes.’” Choate said in his weekly press conference on Monday. “You have to play to win. You cannot call games or play games not to lose.
“On offense, we have to starting with me do a better job of helping Matt, mixing up where our guys are at,” Choate elaborated later on during the 20-minute press conference. “And I think we will do some things to change the location of our coaching staff to help the communication. Because that was an issue on Saturday. We had some sideline stuff that was not good. We had some card calls that were wrong in some critical situations that we have to get cleaned up.”
In 14 FCS games under Miller’s direction, the Montana State offense has averaged about 29 points per game. The Bobcats are gaining 390.6 yards of total offense per game, 252.2 rushing yards per outing and averaging about 20 first downs.
But 64 percent of the offensive yardage has come on the ground. And Montana State is throwing for just 131.3 yards per contest. MSU has 1,838 passing yards over the last 14 FS games. Eight quarterbacks in the Big Sky Conference have thrown for more yards than that just this season.
“I’m not going to sit here and pretend I’m some genius offensive mind,” Choate said. “What I understand is defensive football better than offensive football. So when I have suggestions, it’s based on the style of defense we are playing.
“As I tell Matt, I am making suggestions, I’m not making demands during a game. Unless I tell him, ‘Hey, we are calling this.’ That’s what I try to do. When a play-caller is struggling for a call, it’s easier for me whether it was Ty or Kane now to say, ‘go to this, go to this, go to that.’ I can help those guys because I’ve done that.
“We need to take some of that off of Matt in terms of having to carry everything.”
During the off-season, Choate praised Miller’s creativity and poise. The head coach said he would get after his former player — Choate coached at Boise State from 2006 until 2010 — during practice, yelling at Miller to see if he could get in his head.
“He wouldn’t flinch,” Choate said. “He just goes about his business.”
Choate remembers that unflappable quality along with an attention to detail and a work ethic spurred on by a desire to always be prepared in Miller during his record-setting playing career. Although Choate was only on BSU’s staff for one year of Miller’s playing career, he followed one of Montana’s most talented products.
“There was no (missed assignments) on that guy’s part. I don’t know if he ever jumped off sides or busted a route,” Choate said. “ I think our quarterbacks saw him as a security blanket because you knew he was going to be in the right spot on every down. I think that’s why he was the all-time leading receiver at Boise State when he graduated even though he missed his senior year with an injury. You think about how productive that guy was in a three-year span in a prolific offense, that’s pretty impressive.”
During his Boise State career, Miller played on offenses coordinated by Bryan Harsin in 2010, Brent Pease in 2011, Robert Prince in 2012 and 2013 and Mike Sanford Jr. in 2014 as a senior. He finished his career with a school-record 244 catches for 3,049 yards (second in BSU history) and 29 touchdowns, third in school history.
Miller still says that what he learned during his playing days is “part of my DNA.” He credits the multiple influences he played under in giving him a diverse offensive acumen. And at times, Montana State’s offense has been wildly creative despite its ability to manufacture any type of traditional passing game.
Just like Boise State during the Chris Petersen era, Miller has not been afraid been afraid to dial up shot plays down the field or trick plays intermixed. But more often than not, particularly as of late — a failed first quarter fourth down try against Sac State and a horrific two-point conversion play again UND, both failed swinging gate plays, come to mind — those trick plays have not resulted in production.
Miller said he is determined to keep the offense creative and fun and that “funky formations and wacky plays take away the mundane of practice every single day.” Under Miller’s direction, the Bobcat offense has sometimes been unstoppable, like in a 49-point outburst thanks to 430 rushing yards in a win over Cal Poly last season or the 456 yards of total offense (265 rushing, 191 passing) Montana State piled up in a 38-17 win over No. 12 Southeast Missouri State earlier this season.
Now Montana State must search for consistency. The Bobcats won three straight games to send the regular-season last year, earning the program’s first playoff berth since 2014 in the process. MSU rushed for 339 yards and totaled 513 yards of offense in a 35-14 win over Incarnate Word in the first round of the playoffs.
And although the offense has shown flashes of its power this season — six different Bobcats have rushed for more than 100 yards in a game this season — the last two weeks, the operation of the offense has left Montana State searching for answers with a Southern Utah team that scored 59 points in its first Big Sky win coming to Bozeman on Saturday.
“I don’t know if it’s growing pains but Matt is not a finished product,” Choate said. “He’s a really smart guy and he’s a really hard worker. He has the confidence and trust of our team. He will continue to improve. There’s no doubt.
“He has confidence. As we all do. If we don’t, it’s probably time to move on and do something else.”
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Photos by Brooks Nuanez. All Rights Reserved.
