The Bobcats sat on the ball at the Kibbie Dome, winding the clock by design as they sought an upset of the FBS Idaho Vandals. On Saturday at Bobcat Stadium, Montana State found itself in a similar situation, but it was the Bryant Bulldogs who tried to eat up clock in an effort to keep the Bobcats at bay.
Bryant possessed the ball for almost 10 minutes in the first quarter, taking a 3-0 lead into the second frame due in part to Montana State running just 10 plays for four yards in the opening stanza. During the first two possessions of the second quarter, Montana State’s offense found its rhythm for the first time this season outside the first possession of the game and the first possession of the second half in Moscow.
On the first possession of the second quarter, MSU broke loose for the first time during their home opener. Senior tailback Gunnar Brekke sparked the drive with a 28-yard gain into Bryant territory. Quarterback Tyler Bruggman hurried the offense to the line and ran play-action, finding senior tight end Austin Barth for a 19-yard gain to the Bryant 31-yards- line. Two plays later, Bruggman made perhaps his throw of the day, firing a laser into sophomore tight end Connor Sullivan’s hip for a 25-yard gain to the Bryant 10. Two plays later, Bruggman found a wide open John D’Agostino for the first touchdown of the sophomore’s career.
Two plays into Bryant’s ensuing possession, Christian Martey botched Dalton Easton’s handoff and Mac Bignell jumped on the ball at the Bryant 22 for the Bobcats first turnover of the game. Three plays and 15 seconds later, Bruggman again threw a fastball on a rope to junior Mitch Herbert for a 27-yard touchdown, the first of the season for the 2015 All-Big Sky selection. MSU’s two touchdown drives totaled 10 plays and lasted one minute, 46 seconds. It looked like the Bobcats had found their groove five quarters into the Jeff Choate era.
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“We came out, had two big (explosive) plays and we got straight into our tempo stuff and I think they were just tired,” said Brekke, who finished with 17 carries for 80 yards in his first game as MSU’s feature back with fellow senior captain Chad Newell on the shelf with an injury. “The thing that’s hard offensively is when you come out and go three and out, you can’t get in a rhythm. We had too many three-and-outs and that’s ultimately what held us back.”
The rest of the afternoon, the offense looked out of sync. MSU managed two more touchdowns but both were set up by Bryant miscues much more than Bobcat execution. Brekke’s first touchdown of the season, a five-yard scamper to the left pylon, was set up by a muffed snap on a Bryant punt that Montana State redshirt freshman Marcus Ferriter recovered on the BU 9-yard line. Brekke’s scoring burst came two plays later.
MSU’s other touchdown came after junior safety Bryson McCabe snared an interception and returned the ball inside the Bryant 1. Junior Nick LaSane followed Barth through the hole for the shortest of touchdown plunges against strong opposition on the next play.
“There was so many plays we left on the field,” Choate said during his Monday meeting with the Montana media. “I felt it there were times when we were getting ready to go, we have this two-score lead, we force a three-and-out, we put this one in and this is done. I will say this: I credit Bryant for that. Those guys made plays.
“The one thing that was very obvious to me was third downs. We were not good on third down. We have to improve in that. There’s a number of things that go into that and one thing is being more efficient on first down and giving ourselves a better opportunity.”
Montana State managed just 14 first downs and converted just 4-of-14 on third down in the 27-24 victory over the Bulldogs from the Northeast Conference. Against a team with 33 less scholarships than MSU’s 63, the Bulldogs held the Bobcats to 265 yards of total offense. Bruggman finished 14-ofo-28 for 126 yards and the two second-quarter touchdowns.
“Tyler has really good command of the offense but I think we are better when we move faster,” Choate said following his first career win on a picturesque Bozeman day in front of a sellout crowd at Bobcat Stadium.
“We have to do a better job of dialing up our shots. That’s one thing (offensive coordinator) Courtney (Messingham) and I talked about directly after the game.”
Bruggman, a transfer who made stops at Washington State, Louisville and Scottsdale Community College, completed 4-of-7 passes for 80 of his 128 yards during the two second-quarter scoring drives. After his long touchdown toss to Herbert, one of the best of his short Bobcat career, he did not take the field on Montana State’s next offensive possession. Instead, Choate and Messingham elected to go with true freshman Chris Murray, an athletic speedster who essentially comes in simply to run the read option.
“He’s (Murray) dynamic for sure and that’s the thing we have to continue to evaluate is how we are going to utilize him,” Choate said following the game. “Some of that has to be about game situation. Playing him in the first half is the right time to play him because that gives him a little bit of freedom. He doesn’t have to worry about what he has to do to win the game.”
Murray engineered an 11-play, 55-yard drive that included a career long 33-yard run but the drive sputtered out as true freshman Gabe Peppenger missed the first field goal attempt of his career from 41 yards. The rest of the first half included an overthrown ball on a shot down the field attempted for Herbert, three other incompletions and a sack taken by Bruggman.
“We have to do a better job of allowing (Bruggman) to get into a rhythm,” Choate said. “We can make that happen. I know we know how to do that. This kid is a good quarterback. We have to help him get into those spots.
“One thing I hope is we can get No. 17 (Newell) and No. 2 (Brekke) out there together at some point in time. That will really help our offense.”
Brekke missed Montana State’s opener with pneumonia. Newell missed the Bryant game with a left hand injury.
Montana State’s identity is a world away from the way the Bobcats operated the last two seasons. In 2014, MSU ran a spread variation of the triple option, pounding teams on the ground for nearly 260 yards a game while operating at a breakneck pace. MSU scored 496 points behind Dakota Prukop’s dual-threat explosiveness en rout to earning a berth in the FCS playoffs.
Last season, the scoreboards lit up like pinball machines every week, both for and against the Bobcats. MSU averaged 42 points and 519 yards per game, both the best totals in the Big Sky and top three marks in the FCS. But the defense gave up big plays and points in bunches as MSU finished 5-6, its first losing record since 2001.
With a new, conservative quarterback operating an offense with a completely different identity, the Bobcats look entirely different offensively.
“We have to get better, we really do,” Brekke said. “We have to create more plays down the field. We have a long way to come as an offense. At the same time, we have a coaching staff that is going to push us and they know their stuff so I think we will be fine.”
[/restrict]Photos by Brooks Nuanez. All Rights Reserved.
