The Bengals are treading into what Rob Phenicie calls unchartered waters. The Bobcats are trying to ascend back to the place they once occupied in the Big Sky Conference not too long ago.
Idaho State hosts Montana State at Holt Arena in Pocatello, Idaho on Saturday in a game with postseason implications. Following two straight heartbreaking losses, ISU must win out to get to seven Division I wins. The 4-3 Bengals began their season with a Division II victory.
The Bobcats are also 4-3. A loss would not necessarily eliminate an MSU team that will play an 11-game Division I schedule in 2018 but it would certainly paint Montana State into a corner.
“I think there’s a lot of things that make this a pivotal point,” MSU third-year head coach Jeff Choate said. “We have to continue to progress. Winning a game against Idaho State puts us in a position where that 8-win mark you probably need to get to get into the playoffs is in reach. This is an important game in that regard but as I told our team, there’s a lot on the table for us.”
Since the Mike Kramer rebuild of the early 2000s, Montana State was a perennial playoff contender for more than a decade. The Bobcats won or shared Big Sky Conference titles in 2002, 2003 and 2005 under Kramer, then won three straight league championships for the first time in program history under head coach Rob Ash from 2010 to 2012.
Ash led MSU to the 2014 playoffs, MSU’s eighth postseason berth in the last 13 seasons. The following season, Montana State finished 5-6, the first losing season for the ‘Cats since Kramer’s second season in 2001. Following a 54-35 home loss to the rival Montana Grizzlies, Ash was swiftly fired despite a standing as the all-time leader in head coaching wins with 70 victories in nine seasons at MSU.
Choate took over before the 2016 season. Upon his hiring, he said MSU needed a few tweaks to ascend back to national relevance. But because of a calamity at the quarterback position that has led to an anemic offense, Montana State posted a 9-13 record in Choate’s first two years, the most positive moments coming from a pair of season-ending victories over the Griz.
MSU can take the next step toward halting its playoff drought and streak of three straight losing seasons beginning on Saturday against the Bengals.
“We haven’t had a winning season here in four years,” Choate said. “We have an opportunity to get to that point. We have a chance at the end of the year to go to Missoula to play in what of the great rivalries there is in college football. There’s a lot on the line here but it’s not everything. We have to continue progressing. We have to continue focusing on us.”
Standing in the way of MSU’s playoff push in Choate’s third season is an Idaho State team that has been the surprise of the Big Sky this season. The Bengals were picked to finish 12th by the league’s coaches and dead last in the 13-team league by the media.
Yet behind the play of senior quarterback Tanner Gueller and a potent offense stoked with an array of weapons, the Bengals are in a position to push for their first playoff berth since 1983 and their first winning season since 2014. That year, Idaho State lost 44-39 on a frigid Bozeman afternoon to Montana State, a result that thrust the Bobcats into the playoffs and kept the 8-4 Bengals out of the postseason.
“This is a new experience for almost everybody,” said Phenicie, Idaho State’s second-year head coach who spent seven seasons as the offensive coordinator at Montana from 2003 until 2009. “I draw upon my experience in the past at Montana and (offensive coordinator) Mike Ferriter, fortunately, he’s here as well. Between us, we have the most playoff experience, the only playoff experience here. (Defensive coordinator Roger Cooper) Coop played a couple of playoff games (as a linebacker at Montana State).
“We’ve had to keep it week to week and we can start talking about it a little bit but we really don’t say, ‘Hey, we are going to be in the playoffs’ because you can’t. You have to play it week to week and it doesn’t help if you don’t come out on top on Saturday.”
Idaho State ripped off three straight victories to begin Big Sky play, including an impressive 25-21 win at North Dakota, a team that will surely have a continuing influence on the Big Sky title race despite playing this season as an FCS independent.
ISU also had a statement win when the Bengals destroyed in-state rival Idaho 62-28 in the first matchup in Pocatello between the two schools since 1994, the year before UI moved up to the FBS.
Two losses — a 44-37 overtime defeat at No. 6 UC Davis and a 48-41 loss at FBS Liberty last week — have followed, helping elevate the sense of urgency among the Bengals.
“We are 4-3, which we aren’t happy about,” said Ferriter, an All-Big Sky wide receiver who played on four league championship teams and in the 2008 FCS national championship game during his career at Montana. “I think the last two weeks, going to Davis, a very, very good team and letting one slip leaves a bad taste in your mouth (ISU led 26-7).
“Going out to Virginia and playing FBS Liberty, we really feel like we let one get away. Offensively, we didn’t, regardless of the stats (631 yards of total offense), did not play very well. We didn’t play well enough to win that game. We have a sour taste in our mouths from the last two weeks.”
Idaho State’s elite offense — the Bengals are averaging nearly 600 yards and 45 points per game in Big Sky play — will be tested by a talented, physical Montana State defense that has been worn down because the MSU offense has struggled so much to sustain any semblance of possession.
If ISU can get past Montana State, road games at Portland State and Cal Poly follow. Idaho State wraps up its 2018 regular season at home against No. 4 Weber State.
“Our confidence hasn’t wavered,” Gueller said. “We have a lot of older guys and guys who understand what type of team we have. We had some opportunities we didn’t necessarily capitalize on. But we are 3-1 in the Big Sky and have a great opportunity to make a run and see where the chips land at the end of the season. We are still as hungry as ever and those two losses have motivated us to keep working and see this thing through in the right way.”
While Idaho State’s offense features multi-year starters like Gueller, his junior brother wide receiver Mitch Gueller, senior tailback James Madison, junior running back Ty Flanagan, junior wide receiver Michael Dean and an offensive line that features just one senior. Idaho State starts six juniors and five seniors on defense.
Montana State is a much younger program. MSU’s starting quarterback is sophomore Troy Andersen, a converted running back playing the position out of necessity more than anything else. Starting running back Isaiah Ifanse is a true freshman playing behind an offensive line that returned four starters from a season ago yet only features one senior in center Alex Neale and one junior in left tackle Mitch Brott. Montana State’s starting wide receivers feature a pair of juniors in Travis Jonsen and Kevin Kassis and a sophomore in Lance McCutcheon.
Three senior tight ends (Curtis Amos, Connor Sullivan, Wilson Brott) occupy the tight end position and seniors Zach Wright, Tucker Yates and Tyrone Fa’anono anchor the defensive front. Middle linebacker Grant Collins is the only other senior starter. Montana State’s secondary features just two juniors, Jahque Alleyne and JoJo Henderson, both who came to MSU as transfers, just like junior Buck end Bryce Sterk did.
The point is the Bobcats are continuing to grind through the rebuilding process under Choate. And Saturday serves as the next measuring stick for the program.
“We are going to continue to have these,” Choate said. “It’s another opportunity to go compete and measure ourselves and see where we are at. The internal expectations are that we compete. That’s the frustrating thing about South Dakota State (a 45-14 loss) in particular. That was not a competitive day for us. We did not go put our best foot forward. There are good football teams. Everybody had good players. You are going to lose some games.
“We are not at the point right now where we can say we are going to go run the table. But I think we are building a good program and we have a good foundation with good, young players that are learning how to compete and finish games. Ultimately, that process of going through those things is going to result in those victories. It’s just another chance to go play a really good football team and see where we are at.”
Photos by Brooks Nuanez and attributed. All Rights Reserved.
