BOZEMAN, Montana – Captain Matt McKay of the Army’s 7th Cavalry Division, 1st Bobcat Battalion has established a little bit of a reputation for himself on Twitter by wittingly reflecting on Montana State’s upcoming and recently completed football games in an 1860s Civil War sstyle of writing.
The fictional social media character is apparently unknown to anyone at MSU and even his alter ego, Bobcat junior quarterback Matt McKay. But the witty writings in the Twitter-verse is believed to be someone, somewhere in North Carolina (McKay is from Raleigh and started his collegiate career at North Carolina State) is having a little fun.
Whoever it is, he’s having a tough time keeping up with the “Real McKay.”
In his first three games, McKay has passed for 680 yards with seven touchdowns and no interceptions. He’s hit on 50 of his 75 pass attempts, which equates to a passer rating of over 170.
He’s also rushed for 128 yards on 26 attempts.
But let’s get back to the fictional character.
McKay, dressed in a Civil War era Union uniform on Twitter, posts as @CaptMattMcKay, or at least someone he knows does. He often writes to his mother with lines like, “”With cannon bombardment and ceaseless infantry charges, Bobcat Battalion was in fine form as we reclaimed Ft. Bozeman.”
It’s a nice way to lighten the mood in the usually intense world of college football. And it’s a parallel to a similar account paying homage to former Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck.
If McKay is the Captain, then we can only assume MSU head coach Brent Vigen is a general. Determining the rank of all his teammates is up to our imaginations, but regardless of rank some medals are due all around the Bobcat’ clubhouse.
“It was big for Matt to make some steps in the run game today,” said Vigen following Montana State’s 52-10 drubbing of San Diego in which McKay threw for 224 yards and scores to tight end Derryk Snell and Elijah Elliott while also rushing for an MSU career-best 61 yards.
“I think he’s been effective on the ground, today would’ve been his best. I think three games in there’s certainly room for improvement, but I’m pleased with the fact that he’s protected the football, he’s completing the ball at high rate and I think his decision-making has gotten better and better each week We need him to play well for us to do the things we want and it’s certainly a good start for him.”
MSU was all but flawless on its first three drives – all in the first quarter – and from there it was just a matter of how much, not if, the Bobcats would win by. McKay connected on three of four passes on the first possession, which ended in an 8-yard TD pass to Snell on a nifty misdirection play in which the sophomore tight end walked into the end-zone.
The next drive was six straight passes by McKay with the last a dump off over the middle to Elliott that went for a 65-yard score, the first of his career.
The final McKay-led drive may have been the best in terms of the Bobcats giving future opponents something else to spend practice time worrying about. McKay threw incomplete on the first play, but then ran four times for 54 yards to set up Isaiah Ifanse’s 9-yard score with fullback Jaharie Martin opening up holes with his aggressive lead blocking.
The Bobcats compiled 216 yards in the first quarter with McKay accounting for 189 of them (passing for 135 and running for 54).
A performance that, no doubt, @CaptMattMcKay is sure to seize upon. We’ll just have to stay tuned to Twitter to see what whoever he or she is comes up with next.
