Unfamiliar venues have been unkind to the Bobcats thus far this season.
Montana State enters Saturday’s game at Holt Arena against Idaho State with an 0-4 record away from Bozeman. The losses include a 49-41 defeat at Walkup Skydome against Northern Arizona, a venue MSU had not played in since 2010. The Bobcats also lost 59-42 to Portland State at Providence Park in Portland, a venue MSU had not visited since 2011. MSU’s other road losses were to Eastern Washington on Roos Field in Cheney and to North Dakota at the Alerus Center in Grand Forks, each venues MSU had played at more recently.
[restrict paid=”true”]Montana State has not played at Holt Arena since 2010. No current Bobcat has played at the venue.
“We haven’t been there forever although I’ve been there several times,” said MSU ninth-year head coach Rob Ash, who is 2-0 at Holt including a 23-20 overtime victory in Pocatello in 2010. “I have good, positive memories from that. I also remember from when before they changed the turf. We had a day where we had four or five guys get injured down there. Since the turf has been changed, it’s much better now. It’s a fun, good arena. And you don’t have to pack for all kinds of weather. You know what the weather is going to be like.”
Although the domed venue will offer a reprieve from the November weather, Montana State has not faired well indoors lately either. MSU is 0-2 in domes this season. In fact, the road has been unkind in general in recent years. MSU has a six-game losing streak away from Bozeman dating back to last season and the Bobcats have lost eight of 10 on the road overall.
Saturday’s matchup has some intriguing given Idaho State head coach Mike Kramer led Montana State to three Big Sky Conference titles between 2000 and 2006 as the head coach for the Bobcats. Other than that, the game does not carry any postseason or Big Sky title race intrigue.
Montana State will need to defeat Idaho State and Montana to secure a 14th straight winning season, a streak that dates back to Kramer’s third year at the helm. Ash has not had a losing season since 2002 either. His Drake Bulldogs went 5-6 that year. He took over at MSU in 2007.
Idaho State enters the game with a 2-7 record following last week’s heartbreaking loss to Montana. The Bengals lined up for a game-winning 34-yard field goal in overtime only to see the snap sail over the holder’s head. The Grizzlies recovered it and Eric Johnson raced into the end-zone for a 33-27 victory. Idaho State has just one win — a 37-31 comeback triumph at North Dakota — over a Division I opponent this season.
The struggles have been somewhat of a surprise given that Idaho State returned almost all its offensive weapons from last year’s 8-4 squad. ISU averaged nearly 40 points and led the FCS in total offense with Walter Payton Award finalist quarterback Justin Arias at the helm. Four of five starters on the offensive line, All-Big Sky tailback Xavier Finney and a wide receiver corps led by All-Big Sky senior Madison Mangum all returned. But neither junior Michael Sanders or redshirt freshman Tanner Gueller has proven to be serviceable at quarterback. Key injuries to defensive starts sophomore linebacker Mario Jenkins and senior safeties Taison Manu and Cody Sorensen, the former two season ending, have hindered ISU on the other side of the ball.
A -19-turnover margin, a slew of injuries and the worst special teams in the league have resulted in another trying season in Pocatello.
“We’ve spun ourselves backward a long way but there’s a bright future ahead of us because we see some young guys playing very, very well,” Kramer said. “We have to develop our defensive depth so our kick teams can play better. This year has been nothing close to what we expected.”
MSU, the preseason Big Sky favorites, have not faired much better. The Bobcats are 4-5 entering the game, including 2-4 in conference play. Two of MSU’s wins came at home over lesser opponents — the Bobcats downed Division II Fort Lewis 45-14 to open their season and beat FCS independent East Tennessee State 63-7 late last month. ETSU has not had football for 13 years and had more than 80 freshmen on its active roster.
Montana State’s two wins came over Cal Poly and Sacramento State, a pair of teams with a combined four Division I wins. Yet Ash thinks Saturday’s game is a matchup of two hard-luck teams rather than two of the league’s least successful squads.
“You have two teams in this game that are better than their record indicates,” Ash said. “A couple of tough losses and things start going in the wrong direction. We’ve experienced a similar thing. We have three or four plays that go differently in a couple of games this year and we could be right back in the hunt this year too. The margin between winning and losing is really, really tiny.”
Montana State’s defense has surrendered more than 51 points and 600 yards per game on the road this season. The Bobcats have been vulnerable against both the run and the pass. The latter will get tested heavily as starting cornerbacks senior Bryson Keeton (concussion) and freshman Tre’Von Strong (neck) are game-time decisions due to injuries suffered last week. If neither one can start, sophomore Bryce Alley and senior Trace Timmer will be the next players up.
“Excited about it, glad to be back out there,” Timmer said. “They have great receivers. Madison Mangum, great receiver, runs great routes. But I think this year we match up a little better with them. Our scheme will help with us shutting them down.”
ISU is throwing for 276 yards per game and averaging 23 points per outing, two numbers significantly down from last season. Mangum has caught 58 passes for 759 yards and eight touchdowns. Finney has rushed for 691 yards and four scores after racking up more than 1,400 yards and 14 touchdowns last season. Still, the talent that made the duo each first-team All-Big Sky players last fall remains.
“They are both as good as you can get in this conference,” Ash said. “Madison Mangum, I put together a few clips of him to watch. It’s a highlight reel. He makes some phenomenal plays. And Xavier is a really good runner. We know they are phenomenal players.”
Sanders has missed the last two games with an injury. Kramer said he would be the likely starter on Saturday. He has thrown 17 touchdowns but 10 interceptions in his first year as ISU’s starter. Sanders has not been as efficient with his post-snap decision making in operating ISU’s run-pass option offense. Montana State has been gashed by similar offensive attacks this season, namely NAU and EWU.
“Run-pass option football is just like option football, triple option football where everyone has their assignments and you have to stick to your assignments,” said MSU first-year defensive coordinator Kane Ioane, an All-America safety at Montana State during Kramer’s tenure. “As the outside linebacker you can’t cheat to the run because the quarterback will throw it over the top of you. Inside, we have to defend the run with five or six guys in the box.”
Idaho State’s defense has been porous from the outset of the season after Jenkins, the 2014 BSC Freshman of the Year, and Manu went down with knee injuries during fall camp. ISU is giving up nearly 300 rushing yards and 46.3 points per game to Division I opponents this season.
The Bengals are faced with the challenge of slowing down Dakota Prukop and the most prolific offense in the Big Sky. MSU is leading the league in scoring (42.4 points per game ) and total offense (518.8 yards per game). Prukop, MSU’s junior quarterback, leads the conference in total offense (351 yards per game) and his 30 total touchdowns are tied for the most in the league.
“Dakota is so creative,” Kramer said. “He’s a guy who has elevated the offense. The offense plays ok and they have some good guys at running back and wideout but nobody anybody else is talking about. When you watch them on offense, Dakota Prukop is playing like his own personal video game sometimes. He’s a great teammate and a great competitor, a great leader and he’s easily the premier player in this conference on offense.”
A total of 19 seniors, most of whom signed for Kramer’s first recruiting class prior to the 2011 season, will play their final game at Holt on Saturday, Kickoff is at 2:35 p.m. Mountain time.
“The goal every week is to win,” ISU senior center Christian Diehm said. “For the seniors, it’s the last home game, the last hurrah at Holt Arena. If you don’t want to win you shouldn’t be playing the game. I’m just trying to go at this game the same as every other game, win my matchup and do everything I can to win it.”
[/restrict]Photos by Brooks Nuanez or noted. All Rights Reserved.
