J.P. Flynn does not always know what Chris Murray is doing. In fact, the Montana State true freshman quarterback often runs the entirely wrong play or makes the entirely wrong call. But Flynn, Montana State’s senior captain offensive lineman, knows one thing: when Murray is in the game, unpredictable things can happen. On Saturday, that unpredictability proved to be the spark for MSU’s second straight win.
“You have a guy who can move well in the pocket with Chris Murray, a spark plug back there,” You never know where he’s at or what he’s doing with the ball. Those last two plays of the first half were completely wrong plays, not what was supposed to be called but he made it work, got in the end-zone.”
After Montana State sputtered offensively in the first quarter against Division II Western Oregon, the second straight week the offense has looked out of sync early, MSU head coach Jeff Choate and offensive coordinator Courtney Messingham elected to pull junior Tyler Bruggman in favor of Murray, a 17-year-old out of Lawndale High in California. The substitution was not uncommon; Murray entered the game in the first half of Montana State’s 20-17 loss at Idaho and in MSU’s 27-24 win over Bryant a week prior.
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Murray played nine snaps all in the first half against Idaho, gaining five yards on six rushes and completing one pass to junior Justin Paige for four yards. Against Bryant, Murray played 11 snaps, again all in the first half, ripping off a 33-yard run among his 42 rushing yards and throwing no passes.
In Saturday’s 55-0 win over the Division II Wolves, Choate knew he wanted to get Murray more action. Murray came in after senior Jessie Clark stripped WOU quarterback Phillip Fenumiai and redshirt freshman Marcus Ferriter recovered the ball on the Western Oregon 3-yard line. Murray scored his first career touchdown on a three-yard burst on the next play.
Murray stayed in the game on the next possession, this time operating the offense with a starting field position 48 yards from the goal line. A 23-yard run by junior Nick LaSane and 12 more rushing yards from senior Gunnar Brekke pushed the Bobcats inside the 10. On a quarterback counter play, Murray faked a handoff right, then sprinted left into the end-zone for his second touchdown of the day.
Murray played a total of nine plays in the first half. Following his second touchdown, Bruggman returned and promptly threw two touchdown passes, looking as sharp as he has at any point this season. Murray’s entrance and Bruggman’s response were part of a 31-point second quarter. In the second half, Murray ended up playing 16 play, giving him 25 of MSU’s 79 offensive snaps. He finished 3-of-6 for 50 yards, including an 18-yard completion to sophomore John D’Agostino. He rushed nine times for 35 yards and three touchdowns, including an 18-yard scoring run on a quarterback draw out of a five-wide receiver formation in the fourth quarter.
“We don’t have that conversation where we say we are going second series, third series, we just knew we wanted to get him more reps in this game,” Choate said. “We did. He has a different skill set and he does some things sometimes that you scratch your head about, but he usually makes them look ok. That’s what you are going to have when you remember this kid is 17 years old. He’s going to make a few mistakes but he’s also a very gifted athlete.”
Murray played all his series behind the starting offensive line save junior right guard Monte Folsom. The Dillon native left the game early in the second quarter after rolling his ankle. Patrick Carroll, a graduate transfer from UNLV, played from the 10:38 mark of the second quarter for the rest of the game. Choate said he wanted Murray to operate behind the starting front as much as possible with the game well in hand.
“I think it’s important for him to develop chemistry with those guys as well,” Choate said. “Like I’ve said repeatedly, we are going to need every kid on this roster by the time we get to the end of November. This is a long, grueling season and any opportunity we have to get these guys game experience is valuable.”
Depsite the most productive outing of the Choate era at MSU — the Bobcats totaled 428 yards of offense as Bruggman threw for 211 and three TDs — Flynn said the team has room for improvement.
“I felt like we were lacking a little bit,” Flynn said. “We did score 55 points but there’s a lot to work on. We are going to get better from here. We will learn a lot from this film and move forward.
“Western Oregon threw a lot of junk at us but this is just a small test compared to what’s coming up next week with North Dakota. North Dakota is highly, highly known for having a junk defense and bringing a lot of trash. This is a small test and we are going to be needing to pick it up next week.
“Scoring 55 points, shutting out a team at home is always a great confidence booster rolling into conference play. This is what we needed. At the same time, there’s a lot to improve on, a lot to learn from this film and we are going to take this next step and roll from here.”
Murray was one of a slew of players who saw their first significant time in 2016 against the overmatched visitors. All told, 57 Bobcats saw the field on Saturday.
For the second straight week, true freshman Derek Marks played extended snaps at defensive end. Juniors Tyrone Fa’anono, Devin Jeffries and Shiloh Laboy are all out with injuries, Jeffries a season-ending knee injury. Marks shared a sack with junior Jakob McCarthy and senior Matt Brownlow, the first of their respective careers. MSU’s final takeaway came on a forced fumble by Lukas McCarthy, his second of the day, that was recovered by redshirt freshman Walker Cozzie.
Even with the second and third-team defenses playing in the game, the Bobcats continued to swarm and force turnovers against the hapless Wolves.
Junior West Wilson had an interception late, Montana State’s fifth takeaway of the day and its 10th in the last two weeks. Redshirt freshman Josh Hill had his first interception in the first half, while junior Lukas McCarthy forced fumbles in each half. True freshman safety Jacob Hadley had five tackles, the first five of his career. True freshman cornerback Damien Washington notched his first tackle and played extensively as MSU’s nickel back throughout the afternoon.
“That’s a huge tribute to our defensive guys, our staff, our players,” Choate said of preserving the shutout even with the substitutions. “At the end of the game, we aren’t playing our 1s there but they knew it was important. They wanted to get that shutout. That’s a big deal.”
Redshirt freshman Ben Folsom completed the first two passes of his career, one to true freshman Karl Tucker II and the other to sophomore tight end Curtis Amos, each for their first catches of their respective careers. Senior Brandon Brown also hauled in his first catch of the season for an 18-yard gain. Sophomore running back Logan Jones got his first carries of the season, using a 13-yard run to set up a 9-yard touchdown, the first rushing touchdown for the walk-on out of Kalispell Glacier.
Other young players who saw their first extended action of the season during Saturday’s blowout includes: sophomore cornerback Braelen Evans, sophomore running back Noah James true freshman running back Anthony Pegues, redshirt freshman defensive back Chris Harris, sophomore cornerback Tavon Dodd, redshirt freshman safety Sidney Holmes, junior linebacker Blake Braun, senior linebacker Joey Michael and redshirt freshman wide receiver Cam Sutton.
“I like these kids a lot,” Choate said when asked about his young players. “They work tremendously hard and they are all smart kids so they’ve been able to pick up the system. You gotta watch them though. It’s hard because this begins to get very demanding when you start piling on school and workouts and study table. We have to be smart in making sure they get their rest so they don’t hit that freshmen wall too soon.”
“ I like those kids and I like this team. I think we are going to have some interesting moments but they are a good group of kids who want to scrap and fight. Those are the kind of guys we want to coach.”
[/restrict]Photos by Brooks Nuanez. All Rights Reserved.
