BOZEMAN — Win, lose or draw, Jeff Choate’s ability to teach articulately and his passion for football almost always shows through when speaks about his Montana State Bobcats.
Following Montana State’s 34-17 home loss to No. 5 Eastern Washington, Choate seemed at a loss for words. His post-game press conference lasted about half of its normal duration, his answers short and to the point and his voice devoid of its normal energetic enthusiasm.
“I was probably about as down as I have been in a long, long time and our players were too,” Choate said during his weekly news conference the following Monday. “Our locker room was really somber. It was a tough loss.
“We’ve had this ongoing conversation about how do we measure up against some of the better teams in the Big Sky Conference and clearly, we did not measure up in a way that was going to allow us to win that game on Saturday.”
A string of mistakes that lasted for almost three full quarters, beginning with an errant pitch in the red-zone that forced Montana State to settle for a field goal, followed by a couple dropped passes on deep shots taken by MSU’s offense, then a chop block penalty that wiped out a touchdown helped EWU keep the Bobcats at arm’s length all afternoon at Bobcat Stadium.
Following a targeting penalty that resulted in the ejection of MSU sophomore cornerback Tyrel Thomas, Montana State junior Greg Filer III picked off a pass. Three offensive players later with the ‘Cats trailing 17-10, sophomore quarterback Troy Andersen threw his best deep pass of the season but the ball went through sophomore wide receiver Lance McCutcheon’s hands, leading to an MSU punt.
Like they did for the duration of the first half, All-American senior quarterback Gage Gubrud and the Eagles responded. Tamarack Pierce ripped off a 38-yard run that pushed EWU even deeper into the red-zone following Tyrone Fa’anono’s personal foul penalty. Pierce scored from 12 yards out, giving Eastern a 24-10 lead heading into halftime. Out of halftime, the lead swelled as big as 34-10 as Andersen through an interception on MSU’s second possession of the second half and a string of penalties, including one that negated Andersen’s 32-yard touchdown on a trick play, were too much for Montana State to overcome.
“You can’t make those mistakes against the No. 5 team in the country,” Choate said on October 1. “You couple that with some of the penalty issues we had, which I thought were uncharacteristic…and I think there might have been some pressing going on from our players — moment might have been a little too large for them and you just didn’t see that with an Eastern team with a lot of veteran leadership. When they game got tight, they maintained their composure and their poise. At times, things got a little out of whack for us.”
Montana State entered its bye week last week on that somber note. A Bobcat squad expected to push for a playoff berth in Choate’s third season began the off week with a 1-1 record in Big Sky Conference play and a 3-2 record overall.
Montana State posted a gritty 26-23 win over Western Illinois to begin its season in Andersen’s debut as MSU’s starting quarterback. But the converted running back/linebacker suffered a left (non-throwing) hand injury in the game.
With redshirt freshman Tucker Rovig as the starting quarterback, Montana State fell behind 31-0 in a 45-14 loss at No. 2 South Dakota State. Rovig bounced back with the best performance of his young career, throwing for 310 yards and three touchdowns in a 47-24 win over Wagner to finish up the non-conference slate.
Andersen returned to the lineup and bull rushed his way to 211 yards, the second-most ever by a quarterback in the Big Sky, in a 43-23 win at Portland State. Then came the Eastern game.
A team picked to finish eighth in the Big Sky enters Saturday’s homecoming game with three wins in which the Bobcats were favored. The two losses came to the next two teams following unanimous FCS No. 1 North Dakota State in this week’s FCS Top 25 polls. Montana State has six league games remaining, starting with homecoming Saturday against Idaho, followed by road games at No. 13 Weber State and at Idaho State to finish October. The Bobcats host Cal Poly and Northern Colorado the first two weekends of November before playing at rival Montana to finish the regular season in Missoula on November 17.
“When we’ve stepped up in competition, we haven’t played very well,” Choate said. “I don’t think that we were not competitive against Eastern. I think we have closed the gap. But there’s still a gap.
“The narrative I get when I talk to people about our program is that our talent level is increasing. We have recruited well. We are developing identity. And I think we are a little immature right now. And I’ve said it over and over: this is the most mature team I’ve had. We play seven seniors. Where they are mature is they understand the process. But they have to live through some of those moments, too. We are getting better. But Saturday wasn’t good enough.
“We are 3-2 going into the bye. I would probably say that if you were to pencil it out, that’s what you would say. Hey, 3-2 going into the bye, six conference games ahead of you, that’s where they have to be. We couldn’t be 2-3. It would’ve been awesome to be 4-1 or 5-0. But this is probably where we had to be.”
Montana State’s push to break a three-year playoff drought — MSU earned seven playoff berths between 2002 and 2014 before the first of three straight losing seasons in Rob Ash’s final season in 2015 — begins Saturday against a desperate Idaho squad back in the FCS for the first time since it was known as Division I-AA in 1995.
During the bye week, Choate said the Bobcats used Tuesday as “a bonus day on opponents that do unique things”. Wednesday, MSU started its initial game planning for the Vandals. Choate gave the team a few days off before returning on Sunday to dive into game planning for a team that has not played in Bozeman since before most of these Bobcats were born.
“You don’t focus a whole lot on the opponent during the bye week,” Choate said on Monday. “I think we did a 10-minute scout period on Wednesday on Idaho. Hopefully, you feel a little bit refreshed. Guys legs are getting a little bit heavy toward the middle of the season. Mentally, getting away from it sometimes can be a real positive for these kids, too, come back with a little more enthusiasm.
“Most of the time, we spend it focusing on body position, eyes, hand placement, blow delivery, block escape, tackling, the things you have to do well down the stretch if you want to have success.”
The MSU offense has looked streaky, like during a second half that saw Andersen put the Bobcats on his back on the way to 20 points the final 30 minutes against Western Illinois.
The offense looked downright inept in the first half at South Dakota State, gaining just one first down and finishing the game with 29 yards on 21 carries, the first time a Choate-led Bobcat team rushed for less than 100 yards.
Against Wagner, Rovig found a rhythm, completing run-pass option throws over the top and helping MSU establish arguably its best balance of the Choate era. Using a more traditional run scheme, true freshman Isaiah Ifanse rushed for a career-high 146 yards as the Bobcats piled up 566 yards of total offense, the most in 25 games under Choate.
In Portland, MSU put some of its single-wing run game principles into full force. Andersen ran quarterback counter, power and a variety of zone read option plays to rush for 193 of his 211 yards in the first three quarters.
Last week, Eastern, defensive tackle Jay-Tee Tiuli’s domination of the interior line of scrimmage caused for the Eagles to pressure Andersen off the edge, notching three first half sacks. EWU also bottled up the dangerous, powerful runner, holding him to 94 yards on 23 carries as Montana State totaled 360 yards of total offense.
“I think our best football is still out there in front of us, not just offensively but as a team,” Montana State offensive coordinator Brian Armstrong said. “We want to use this bye week to get healthy and hone our fundamentals and get a little better and get a win for homecoming.”
Armstrong and Choate both have praised Andersen’s development as a signal caller, particularly when it comes to knowing where he wants to deliver the football and his ability to read coverage on the fly.
Andersen’s presence under center has been explosive at times, inconsistent at others. When Montana State can control the line of scrimmage offensively, the Bobcats can control the clock and wear teams down. A team sporting one of the most physical and experienced defensive lines in the Big Sky thrives on playing with a lead both because of its ability to grind time and its ability to pressure opponents.
The next challenge will come in the form of a reeling Vandals’ squad fresh off a 62-28 shellacking at the hands of in-state rival Idaho State. ISU senior quarterback Tanner Gueller shredded Idaho’s man coverage to the tune of 492 yards and eight touchdowns as the Bengals piled up 754 yards of total offense. But Saturday’s matchup, at least on paper, pits two programs built on toughness who might be intent to slug it out in an old-school affair.
During his bye week press conference, Choate praised Eastern Washington for the poise that comes with the advantage of having 28 seniors on the roster. While the Bobcats believe they have closed the gap on some of the best teams in the Big Sky, Choate acknowledges there is still work to be done. After a week off and a sellout crowd expected to watch the renewal of a rivalry, Choate knows the next test for the progress of his program is fast approaching.
“I know our freshman and sophomores are going to get a lot better in the next six weeks,” Choate said. “I know that. I think we’ve got a chance to be a very good football team.
“We just have to stick to the grind.”
Photos by Brooks Nuanez. All Rights Reserved.
