Big Sky Conference

Bobcats pound North Dakota in Grand Forks

on

 GRAND FORKS — After a pair of lackluster performances in the run game, Jeff Choate said in his ideal world, he’d love to line up, pound the rock and take people’s souls. At that moment, with Montana State sitting at 0-2 entering its bye week, MSU’s second-year head coach did not think his team could capture such an identity in its current form.

That notion completely changed at the Alerus Center on Saturday afternoon.

Behind a reshuffled offensive line that included redshirt freshman Taylor Tuiasosopo making his first career start at left guard and an elevated role for powerful tight end Wilson Brott in the run and pass games, Montana State ran the ball with authority against a North Dakota squad that led the league in rushing defense each of the last two seasons.

Using zone-read option, triple option, fly and jet sweep principles combined with the stellar decision making of sophomore quarterback Chris Murray, Montana State dominated UND for most of Saturday’s contest. Murray rushed for 132 yards and a touchdown, true freshman Troy Andersen added 131 yards and two touchdowns and the Bobcats rushed for 334 yards on 56 physically dominant carries to pace the Bobcats to a 49-21 victory over the defending Big Sky champions in the league opener for both teams in Grand Forks.

“When you play like we did at the line of scrimmage in particular, that’s a good feeling,” Choate said. “But as I told our guys, this isn’t a playoff game. This is a play-in game. This gives us the right to talk about some things in conference play. We still have a brutal stretch with Weber State next week who I think is playing as well as anybody in the conference right now. Then you have Portland State, who is a dangerous, dangerous team and then you have to go to Eastern Washington.

“We know we have our work cut out for us but that’s why it was so important for us to have some success today to have that confidence level increase. And we saw some guys grow up today.”

Montana State freshman quarterback Chris Murray (8) and left tackle Mitch Brott (63) last season/by Brooks Nuanez

Montana State freshman quarterback Chris Murray (8) and left tackle Mitch Brott (63) last season/by Brooks Nuanez

Montana State got off to a clunky start. True freshman Ryan Davis was called for a hold on his first special teams rep of his career to thwart a long kick return by Tyrel Burgess. The Bobcats went three-and-out on their first offensive possession.

UND’s first possession drove the Fighting Hawks inside the 20 with relative ease. Senior quarterback Keaton Studsrud found sophomore Noah Wanzek for what appeared to be a touchdown but North Dakota was called for pass interference on the play. UND had to settle for a field goal. MSU sophomore offensive tackle Mitch Brott blocked the kick.

North Dakota offered little resistance from that point forward. Murray engineered a 10-play, 72-yard drive capped by a Logan Jones 11-yard touchdown run to get on the board 11 minutes into the game. Andersen scored his first career touchdown four minutes into the second quarter to give MSU a 14-0 lead.

MSU scored on seven of it next eight possessions, the only stop a Murray interception that Jake Disterhaupt returned 37 yards for a touchdown to cut the lead to 21-7 following the first touchdown catch of Wilson Brott’s career. But the Bobcats responded even then, marching down the field on another surgical nine-play, 72-yard drive capped by Murray’s 13-yard back-shoulder touchdown throw to junior Jabarri Johnson.

“After Washington State (a 31-0 loss), our o-line was questioned and we didn’t play that great of a game,” Mitch Brott said. “We gave up a lot of penetration. South Dakota State (a 31-27 loss), we really showed we could block it up low. We came in with good confidence knowing we could run the ball and that’s what we did. Five yards every time and that’s a good feeling.”

Montana State senior Khari Garcia takes on UND running back Brady Oliviera last season

Montana State senior Khari Garcia takes on UND running back Brady Oliviera last season

The Bobcats took a 28-10 lead to the break. A second Reid Taubenheim field goal in as many possessions cut the league to 28-13. But Murray’s progression in the passing game and spectacular ability in the run game continued to shine. Murray’s 44-yard touchdown pass to Kevin Kassis on a perfectly thrown post-corner route served as yet another example of the progress the true sophomore made in the off-season.

MSU built a 181-2 advantage in rushing yards at halftime. The Bobcats smothered UND’s All-Big Sky duo of running backs John Santiago (seven carries, 19 yards) and Brady Oliveira (6 carries, 39 yards) as one of the most powerful running attacks in the league totaled just 102 yards on 20 carries. Oliveira’s 34-yard touchdown run in the third quarter cut the Bobcat lead to 35-21 and accounted for one-third of North Dakota’s rushing yards on Saturday.

In the fourth quarter, Montana State did what Choate desired. The Bobcats pounded the rock and sealed a crucial win to start 1-0 in Big Sky play. The ground and pound came two weeks and one game after MSU aired it out. Murray threw for 311 yards and four touchdowns in the SDSU loss.

“Our ability to play multiple styles is important,” Choate said. “You never know what’s going to work or how someone is going to play you, especially when you have a dynamic athlete like Chris.”

Montana State continued to move the chains throughout the afternoon thanks to Murray’s efficiency throwing — he finished 15-of-19 for 174 yards — and his ability to convert by extending plays with his legs, often dancing to first downs on quarterback draw plays.

“(The conversions) all starts up front,” Choate said. “Brian (Armstrong) really called an excellent game today, was opportunistic at times, was patient with the run game. And I think Chris is really good. He’s playing really well. There’s some things he did late in the game, sliding in bounds to keep the clock running instead of stepping out, using the clock in the tight red zone when there was seven and a half minutes left to play…you see the maturity of him all the time.”

Murray finished with 308 total yards. He threw three touchdowns, giving him seven this season, one more than he had during his entire freshman campaign, a year that ended with Big Sky Freshman of the Year honors.

“I treated each quarter as a whole new game and I told them guys, ‘Let’s go,” Murray said. “I pushed the gas pedal every time and they felt confident enough to believe in me.

“The offensive line had the best game I’ve seen them have since I’ve been at MSU. That’s a very stout defense. They are the Big Sky Conference champs for a reason. Our offensive line stepped up today,the front seven got fatigued and we kept pushing it every play. That shows how conditioned we are and how focused we are now.”

This story will be updated. Photos by Brooks Nuanez. All Rights Reserved. 

About Colter Nuanez

Colter Nuanez is the co-founder and senior writer for Skyline Sports. After spending six years in the newspaper industry with stops at the Missoulian, the Ellensburg Daily Record and the Bozeman Daily Chronicle, the former Washington Newspaper Association Sportswriter of the Year and University of Montana Journalism School graduate ('09) has cultivated a deep passion for sports journalism during his 13-year career covering the Big Sky Conference. In August of 2014, Colter and brother Brooks merged their passions of writing and art to found Skyline Sports.

Recommended for you