BOZEMAN, Montana — Matt McKay almost seemed like he was going to fake a fake, then double clutched the football before deceiving the San Diego defense with a sort of false step that initially indicated he might be running a sort of quarterback power play.
Once the Toreros bit on the variety of deception, McKay stopped and tossed to a wide-open Elijah Elliott. The freshman running back raced to a 65-yard touchdown, watching himself all the while on the jumbotron in the North end-zone of Bobcat Stadium during the first touchdown run of Elliott’s young Bobcat career.
That score was the second touchdown of the first quarter by a Bobcat offense that is suddenly creative, diverse, innovative and efficient. That’s a far cry, in certain ways, from a team that has relied almost exclusively on a destructive run game and a fearsome defense that spearheaded playoff squads in 2018 and 2019.
Elliott’s touchdown came on a sort of run-pass option that took advantage not only of McKay’s deft ball skills but also the notion that Montana State can run the ball out of the shotgun between the tackles with its running back or quarterback; that the Bobcats are efficient while operating zone-read options and also have the element of executing RPO plays when the quarterback is the run in the RPO equation.
In other words, welcome to Taylor Housewright’s concept-based, diverse, read-dependent spread offense.
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Photos by Brooks Nuanez. All Rights Reserved.
