Early on in his first Division I head coaching gig, first-year Montana head coach Bob Stitt had a realization for what it would take for his team to be successful.
Stitt, who will coach in his first-ever showdown with rival Montana State on Saturday, knew implementing his offense would endure growing pains. He knew the ups and downs of his first Big Sky season would be challenging. Stitt felt that if he could reach this point in the season and his team was at full strength in terms of its health, the Griz could make a run.
[restrict paid=”true”]“Offensively, we are completely healthy,” Stitt said on Tuesday from the Adams Center in Missoula. “Defensively, we are completely healthy. You couldn’t be in a better situation in the 11th week of the season health-wise. That is the key to FCS football. You only have 63 scholarships, we only have 59, so it’s even more important. I talked to our guys about it last spring. The way we train is going to get us to December healthy. We are as healthy as we can be and everyone that started the first of the year is ready to go the 11th week of the season. How many teams can say that right now?”
Montana State enters the game largely healthy as well but the Bobcats will likely not be able to claim the same starting lineup in Week 1 as Cat-Griz week. The Bobcats have several question marks on the offensive line and in the defensive secondary heading into this week.
“Health-wise, we are in very good shape,” Montana State head coach Rob Ash said. “We have (junior quarterback) Dakota (Prukop) healthy. We have a few we don’t know if they are going to play or not as far as (Alex) Eekhoff and (Kyle) Godecke. But injury wise, I think we are as good of shape as we have been going into the 11th game of the season than we have been for a few years here.”
Montana lost starting junior center Ben Weyer, a Bozeman High product, during fall camp to a season-ending knee injury. Defensively, junior defensive tackles Caleb Kidder and Zach Peevey and sophomore defensive tackle Nate Bradley have all missed time with minor injuries but are healthy for this week. The largest rash of injuries for the Grizzlies has occurred under center.
Junior Brady Gustafson led Montana to an improbably upset of four-time defending national champion North Dakota State to open the Stitt era with a bang. Two weeks later, he suffered a lower leg injury that cost him the rest of a 31-21 loss to Liberty as well as Montana’s first six Big Sky Conference games of the season.
Sophomore Chad Chalich helped Montana to wins over Northern Arizona and UC Davis before going down with a leg injury of his own in an overtime loss to Weber State. Third-string quarterback Makena Simis threw six touchdowns in a win over North Dakota but three first-quarter interceptions in a loss at Portland State. Simis looked lackluster in an overtime win over hapless Idaho State.
Last week, Gustafson returned, sparking Montana to a crucial 57-16 win over three-time defending Big Sky champion Eastern Washington. With the Billings West product back at the helm, Montana enters Cat-Griz with its full starting lineup.
“When we are healthy, we are a good football team, offensively, defensively and maybe one of the biggest things is how good we are on special teams and how well we are coached on special teams and how our players on special teams have bought into that,” Stitt said. “It makes a difference on a weekly basis.”
For the first time since 2012, Montana State has a healthy quarterback. That year, DeNarius McGhee helped lead MSU to a 16-7 victory to sew up a third straight Big Sky crown. The following year, McGhee limped through the final start of his otherwise stellar career as the Bobcats’ season ended with a 28-14 loss at Bobcat Stadium.
Last season, Prukop led MSU to a 7-3 start filled with a few record-setting offensive explosions. But the dual-threat quarterback from Austin, Texas sprained his PCL in a 29-23 win over Portland State and missed Montana State’s final two regular-season games. Jake Bleskin led the Bobcats to a 44-39 win over Idaho State before experiencing a disaster in Missoula the following week. The Great Falls product threw five interceptions and fumbled for a sixth turnover as the Griz avalanched the visitors 34-7.
PSU/by Brooks Nuanez
“I’m really happy our starting quarterback is available this year,” said Ash, who takes a 2-6 record into his ninth showdown with his rival. “That helps a lot. The last couple of times, the injuries at the quarterback position have really hurt us. DeNarius was hurt his senior year and Dakota didn’t play last year. I think that makes a big difference. Those are two pretty good guys who weren’t playing.”
Prukop will start on Saturday but is not 100 percent. He suffered an injury to his neck on a late hit during a 34-23 loss to Southern Utah that prevented him from practicing with a helmet the entire week leading up to MSU’s 44-20 win at Idaho State. Prukop also suffered a sprained ankle against Southern Utah and appeared to twist his previously injured knee. He was a “game-time” decision in Pocatello according to Ash but Prukop said there was no doubt he was playing. The same can be said about this week as the Big Sky’s leader in total offense prepares for his first rivalry start.
“I am prepared as I can be,” Prukop said. “I’m extremely blessed to be in a program where we have (strength coach) Coach (Alex) Wilcox, who spends the time with us, week in and week out, keeping out bodies where we want them to be. Last year at this time I was physically nowhere close to where I am right now, so I’m extremely thankful for that. I feel good.”
Prukop returned for MSU’s first-round playoff loss to South Dakota State in Bozeman, a haunting loss to be sure. But the memory of watching Bleskin and the Bobcats go down in flames in Missoula is what lingers with him most.
“It was extremely difficult, one of the most difficult things I’ve ever had to do,” Prukop said. “It’s something that’s burned and engrained in my memory and it’s definitely a driving force behind my preparation for this week’s game.”
Montana State’s relative health in its front seven is good entering the game, although sophomore defensive end Tyrone Fa’anono and redshirt freshman nose tackle Tucker Yates are each questionable. Both started for the majority of this season. In the secondary, senior cornerback Bryson Keeton (concussion) and freshman cornerback Tre’Von Strong (neck) missed the Idaho State game with injuries.
“Tre’von Strong is going to be back practicing this week and so will Bryson Keeton,” Ash said. “We will have all four of our corners (including senior Trace Timmer and sophomore Bryce Alley) are healthy. We only had two down at Idaho State. That’s a real bonus for us. We have some depth there we didn’t have before.”
Prukop will be playing behind an offensive line missing as many as three starters. Junior JP Flynn, a two-time All-Big Sky selection and a preseason All-America selection at offensive guard, hurt his shoulder against Southern Utah. He played just three plays against Idaho State.
“JP looks like he will be fine,” Ash said. “He will practice this week. He’ll be ready to go.”
In his place, sophomore Monte Folsom made his first start. The 2011 Class A Defensive Player of the Year from Dillon signed with MSU as a linebacker before embarking on an LDS mission. He returned and switched to defensive tackle last season. This season, he was added to the offensive line to provide depth. Last week, he made his first start against Idaho State All-America candidate defensive tackle Tyler Kuder, a 6-foot-3, 315-pound NFL hopeful.
“Folsom played very well for his first start,” MSU offensive coordinator Tim Cramsey said. “Idaho State is not a great team but 95 (Kuder) is a great player and Folsom went up against 95 a couple of times and it was not a lopsided battle. He won as many as he lost. I was happy with that. There’s a good chance Folsom will play for us again this week. I was happy how he played.”
Sophomore Dylan Mahoney has been a consistent contributor on the right side of Montana State’s offensive line this season. Godecke, a senior guard from Dillon, has not been able to play a complete game this season because of lingering effects from a foot injury that cost him most of last season and all of the off-season leading up to his final campaign. The 6-foot-6, 330-pound giant has also been afflicted with a neck ailment in recent weeks. Eekhoff, a three-year starter at right tackle, missed the SUU game because of an engineering exam and has not resurfaced. He did not travel to Pocatello. Mahoney, a Great Falls CMR product, has rotated in for Godecke and Eekhoff, who had off-season shoulder surgery, all season. Against Idaho State, Mahoney played right tackle while Dillon product Caleb Gillis made his first career start at right guard.
“Those guys stepped in and it’s been our motto forever, next man up,” Cramsey said. “Monte Folsom did an outstanding job. Caleb Gillis did a very good job. Mahoney plays for us a lot so I’d say two and a half guys are out. And the other performance that needs to be noted is (center) Joel Horn. He played with the flu, played sick, threw up three or four times between certain drives and kept going back out there and doing his job. This time of year, guys play banged up, guys play hurt.”
[/restrict]Photos by Brooks Nuanez. All Rights Reserved.
