Analysis

Pair of prolific QBs, Kupp have risen to the top of Offensive MVP race

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Putting up prolific offensive numbers has become the norm for Dakota Prukop.

The Montana State junior quarterback has thrown multiple touchdowns in seven of Montana State’s 10 games entering Saturday’s matchup with rival Montana. Prukop has thrown for three or more touchdowns five different occasions. He has thrown for at least 353 yards three times his year, accumulated four or more total touchdowns five times and his number of games with 300 yards of total offense sits at seven.

Prukop has been so prolific for an offense that leads the Big Sky Conference in points (42.6 per game) and total offense (521 yards per game), even when he’s not at full strength he can put up all-conference numbers. With an ailing neck, a strained knee and a sprained ankle, Prukop still piled up 303 yards of total offense and five total touchdowns in a 44-20 win over Idaho State despite not being able to scramble as much as usual.

MSU quarterback Dakota Prukop/by Brooks Nuanez

MSU quarterback Dakota Prukop/by Brooks Nuanez

Prukop enters his first Cat-Griz start with 35 total touchdowns this season, tied for the most in Montana State history. With 288 more passing yards, he will become the fifth Bobcat to throw for 3,000 yards in a season. His 25 touchdown passes are the second-most in a single season at Montana State. His body of work — he’s fourth in the country with 346 yards of total offense per game — makes him one of three top candidates for Big Sky Offensive Most Valuable Player honors at the end of the season.

“Dakota Prukop is the best quarterback in the country,” Montana State offensive coordinator Tim Cramsey said. “There’s no one else I would rather go to battle with.”

On Saturday, Prukop will make his first start against the rival Griz. Last season, Prukop’s first as a starter, the Austin, Texas native led MSU to a 7-3 start before spraining his PCL. He missed the final two games of the regular season, including a 34-7 loss to Montana in Missoula. In that game, backup Jake Bleskin threw five interceptions and fumbled as UM forced seven turnovers.

“Dakota is our guy,” MSU head coach Rob Ash said. “We think he is the best quarterback in the country. He gives us a lot in both the run and the pass and in the management of the game. I’m excited with us getting to this game with him being able to play this year.”

Prukop is one of three players who have separated themselves in the conversation for Big Sky Offensive MVP. A quarterback has won the award every year since 2001 and 33 times in the 42-year history of the award. This season, Prukop and Northern Arizona freshman quarterback Case Cookus have put themselves in prime position for the accolade.

EWU wide receiver Cooper Kupp/by EWU Athletics

EWU wide receiver Cooper Kupp/by EWU Athletics

“This is a quarterback conference but I don’t think the quarterback play outside of Dakota and Case Cookus has been anywhere near outstanding, it just hasn’t been,” said Idaho State head coach Mike Kramer, a member of the Big Sky as either a player or a coach for most of the last 40 years. “The quarterback play in this conference top to bottom is probably not as good as it was years ago. And it will be good in the future because there is not a lot of good young talent in the conference at quarterback. Those two guys have separated themselves.”

A wide receiver has not one the award wince 1985 — Idaho’s Eric Yarber is the only pass catcher to ever win the award — but Eastern Washington’s Cooper Kupp has forged his way into the conversation for both Big Sky and FCS Offensive Player of the Year honors with his third straight standout season.

“I don’t know if Case has done enough to impress the voters but he’s right there with Dakota and Cooper,” Northern Arizona offensive coordinator Tim Plough said. “I know Dakota Prukop is a tremendous player, a beast. He came out here and did some things in our dome that were just crazy. And Cooper Kupp is a fantastic player. In my mind, all the guys I’ve seen on film, it would be one of those three guys for Offensive Player of the Year.”

Case Cookus, quarterback, 6-4, 200, freshman, Northern Arizona — Northern Arizona’s red-hot finish to the season has spurred Cookus into the MVP conversation.

NAU quarterback Case Cookus/by Nick Canaday

NAU quarterback Case Cookus/by Nick Canaday

Since a 38-24 misstep at UC Davis — the upset remains the Aggies’ only victory — NAU is averaging 54 points per game as Cookus has operated Plough’s run-pass option offense to near perfection. In wins over Weber State, Northern Colorado, Eastern Washington and Sacramento State, the Thousand Oaks, California native has thrown 18 touchdowns and one interception. He threw for 353 yards in the 52-36 win over Weber, 363 yards in the 63-21 win over UNC, and a career-high 407 yards in NAU’s 49-35 win over Sac State last week.

“He has a strong arm and he’s very accurate with his throws and he has a quick release. He has great feet and a sense in the pocket that gets better each week,” NAU head coach Jerome Souers said. “Each week, he handles a little bit more and once he learns his assignment, he doesn’t have to go back and relearn it. Coach Plough, our offensive coordinator has done a good job of introducing the game to him little bits at a time and have fed him as much as he can handle.”

This season, Cookus has 33 touchdown passes, second-most in the FCS, and just three interceptions. His TD total is an FCS record for a freshman quarterback. He leads the nation by completing 71.1 percent of his passes and his 196.9 efficiency rating is also the best in the FCS. He has thrown for 2,761 yards (8th nationally) and his average Big Sky game is 292 yards and four TDs.

Cookus_Case“Early in the year when you are a new guy, he was trying to figure out where you can be a leader and say things and he’s trying to earn the respect of the guys,” Plough said. “Remember, we had two senior quarterbacks (Jordan Perry, Kyren Poe) coming back who had played before and they had a lot of close friends on the team. Making that move socially was probably tough for everybody but as the year has gone and the guys have seen how competitive Case is, how bad he wants to win and how much time he puts in to watching film, his leadership ability has improved and the guys are looking at him to lead.

“He’s no longer a freshman. He’s our leader, he’s our quarterback. I think that’s the biggest part of us doing better offensively. You have to have the guys calling the shots and he’s doing that now.”

Northern Arizona finishes the regular season at Southern Utah. A win will likely punch the Lumberjacks’ ticket to the playoffs. With some help, NAU would share the conference crown.

Dakota Prukop, quarterback, 6-2, 205, junior, Montana State — Montana State’s failure to live up to expectations may cost Prukop his first Offensive MVP honor but it can hardly be pinned on the electrifying junior.

Prukop has compiled some of the best statistical lines ever by a quarterback this season in the Big Sky. Montana State lost its road opener 55-50 at Eastern Washington but Prukop threw for 353 yards and four touchdowns and rushed for 196 yards and a score.

MSU quarterback Dakota Prukop/by Brooks Nuanez

MSU quarterback Dakota Prukop/by Brooks Nuanez

The following week in a 45-28 win over Cal Poly, Prukop threw for a career-high 399 yards and three touchdowns and also rushed fro 36 yards. He followed that up with a 399-yard, four-touchdown passing performance accompanied by 54 rushing yards and a TD in a 49-41 loss at Northern Arizona.

Prukop threw for 277 and rushed for 69, accounting for three touchdowns in a 35-13 win over Sacramento State. He rushed for 102 yards and three scores in a 59-42 loss at Portland State. He threw three scores in the first half in a lopsided win over East Tennessee State, accounted for 295 yards of offense and three scores in a 44-38 loss at North Dakota, rushed for 96 yards against Southern Utah and put forth last week’s performance despite being banged up.

“Looking back on it (ISU game), I didn’t feel so fatigued,” Prukop said on Tuesday. “When you get a win, it’s a lot of energy, it brings good emotion so feel extremely good after the game. It’s definitely carried me through the last couple of days, and I’m feeling great today.”

Prukop now has 5,271 passing yards, the fifth-most in program history. DeNarius McGhee threw for 11,203 yards in four years as the starter immediately preceding Prukop.

Prukop now has 25 touchdown passes this season, one more than McGhee ever threw in a single season. Only Bradley’s 30 in 1984 is more than Prukop’s TD total in 2015. Prukop now has 35 total touchdowns this season, tying Bradley’s single-season record also set during MSU’s national championship season 31 years ago. Prukop has 63 total touchdowns in his career, the fifth-most in school history. Prukop has thrown 43 touchdowns, also fifth in school history. McGhee threw 79 TDs and totaled 95 between 2010 and 2013.

5-Dakota Prukop 15 Web MugPrukop now has 3,470 yards of total offense this season, the fourth-most in a single season at MSU. He needs 387 total yards to break Travis Lulay’s 2004 record. Prukop became the fourth Bobcat to surpass 7,000 yards of total offense. Prukop trails McGhee (12,336), Lulay (12,205) and Bradley (7,730) in school history.

The dual-threat gunslinger expressed no reservations about his first rivalry start. Prukop is a high-strung leader with a competitive streak. Cramsey said if Prukop is too hyped, he will call a quarterback run play to calm him down, then hopes he settles in and runs wild.

“Hopefully, he’s all over the field,” Cramsey said. “We want him in the pocket when he needs to be and out of the pocket when he needs to be. We are going to throw everything at them this weekend.”

A win this weekend over rival Montana would secure the 14th straight winning season for the Bobcats.

Cooper Kupp, wide receiver, 6-2, 205, junior, Eastern Washington- Kupp’s torrid pace has slowed slightly but his numbers still look straight off a PlayStation.

Earlier this season, Kupp was averaging 12 catches, 187 yards and two touchdowns a game. He’s still close to that pace despite being held under 100 yards two weeks in a row. In a 14-13 win over Weber State, Kupp caught seven passes for 74 yards but scored both EWU touchdowns. In a 52-30 loss to NAU, Kupp caught nine passes for 98 yards. His four catches for 21 yards in a 42-41 win over Cal Poly is the only other time this season he has been held under the century mark for receiving yards.

EWU wide receiver Cooper Kupp/by EWU Athletics

EWU wide receiver Cooper Kupp/by EWU Athletics

Earlier this season, he broke Kasey Dunn’s 24-year-old Big Sky record for catches in a career. Dunn had 268 at Idaho. Kupp has 303 and counting, still 92 shy of former Elon star Terrell Hudgins’ FCS record. Later on, Kupp broke former EWU star Eric Kimble’s decade-old record for touchdowns in a career of 46. Kupp now has 53 and counting, five shy of David Ball’s FCS record. Kupp also broke Kimble’s career receiving mark of 4,140. Kupp now has 4,568 yards, 682 yards behind Hudgins’ FCS mark.

“I just haven’t seen anything like this — to see him perform like that for three years game-in and game-out,” EWU head coach Beau Baldwin said earlier this season. “You become so numb to it that you don’t realize how special it is. He means so much in how he leads, how he handles things and treats teammates. More than just the receiver he is, he’s just incredible in how he carries himself and the person and teammate he is. That’s Cooper Kupp in a nutshell. He has all the tools as not just a football player, but as a human. We’re just lucky and enjoying every day we get to spend with him. It’s something special.”

Kupp’s catch total is two more than NFL Hall of Famer Jerry Rice hauled in during four years at Mississippi Valley State. He has four more touchdowns than Rice and needs 125 more yards to catch Rice in that category.

“It’s such an honor to be associated with such a huge name as Jerry Rice,” Kupp, who won the Jerry Rice Award in 2013 as the top freshman in FCS, said earlier this season. “He’s somebody I’ve looked up to in more than just the way he played on the football field – he’s a class act. To be able to do that is really a great honor.”

KuppCooperThis season, Kupp has 106 catches for 1,506 yards and 18 touchdowns. He needs seven catches to break Rodrick Rumble’s single-season league record set at Idaho State in 2011. Kupp needs four touchdown catches to break the single-season Big Sky mark he set as a freshman. Kupp needs 345 yards this season to break former EWU wide receiver Brandon Kaufman’s Big Sky and FCS single-season record set in 2012.

“There have been some great players to come through the Big Sky,” Kupp said. “I got to meet Eric Kimble a few months ago, and he’s a great guy and a great worker. He and others players paved the way for this and our receiver corp. There is great pride in this program and our receiver corp.”

The all-time FCS mark for catches in a season is 136 by Eastern Illinois’ Eric Lora two seasons ago. Rice caught 27 touchdowns in 1984, the all-time single-season mark. If Kupp’s Eagles can hold off No. 15 Portland State at home, EWU will likely qualify for the FCS playoffs, giving Kupp at least one more game to continue to chase each record.

Photo attribution noted. All Rights Reserved.

About Colter Nuanez

Colter Nuanez is the co-founder and senior writer for Skyline Sports. After spending six years in the newspaper industry with stops at the Missoulian, the Ellensburg Daily Record and the Bozeman Daily Chronicle, the former Washington Newspaper Association Sportswriter of the Year and University of Montana Journalism School graduate ('09) has cultivated a deep passion for sports journalism during his 13-year career covering the Big Sky Conference. In August of 2014, Colter and brother Brooks merged their passions of writing and art to found Skyline Sports.

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