BOZEMAN — The final margin of victory belied the emergence of the identity Jeff Choate has been coveting.
In the first matchup against the Idaho Vandals in nearly 25 years, Montana State eked out a 24-23 win at Bobcat Stadium. Despite winning by one point, MSU physically dominated the football game, allowing the Vandals less than four yards per play even though Idaho possessed the football for more than 37 minutes. Montana State won at the point of attack, in the trenches and on the perimeter when it came to the battle of blows.
The following week, Montana State punched Weber State in the mouth and went swing for swing with a team widely considered one of the most violent and hard-hitting teams in the FCS. MSU and the No. 2 Wildcats went into the fourth quarter in Ogden, Utah tied 24-24 before MSU faded in a 34-24 WSU win.
From that point in the 2018 season on, Montana State’s physicality has been its biggest advantage. The Bobcats have used a bruising, bulldozing mentality along its offensive line to rush for more than 310 yards per game the last five contests. MSU has used a frenzy of takeaways to set up its once-anemic offense to help the unit evolve into one that has averaged 33 points per game over that same stretch.
The physical football that Choate, MSU’s third-year head coach, has favored since his time as a linebacker at Montana Western is finally starting to take form in his current Bobcats.
“Both sides of the ball, you see the physicality,” MSU third-year defensive coordinator Ty Gregorak said. “Our offense is built where we are trying to pound the rock. I know the offensive guys would love to throw and (sophomore quarterback) Troy (Andersen) is improving as a quarterback in terms of passing.
“But this team is built on toughness and that blue-collar physicality. Both sides of the ball have embraced it and both sides of the ball have our work cut out for us this week, no question.”
Montana State faces perhaps the most physical team in the nation in top-ranked North Dakota State, a dominant force that has used its powerful offensive line, it’s stable of running backs, a suffocating defense and deliberate discipline to win six of the last seven FCS national championships.
“We are committed to being physical regardless of who we play, where we play,” Choate said. “I believe the most physical team usually wins. That’s a huge part of success in this game. North Dakota State is proof of that.”
Choate has strived to implement an attitude of toughness since taking over as Montana State’s head coach in December of 2015. Beginning with a Mining City coaching tree that began with Jim Sweeney and stemmed to Sonny Holland and Sonny Lubick before Cliff Hysell and Mike Kramer encompassed similar identities, the Bobcats had long been know for hard-nosed defense, a blue-collar work ethic and a brand of physical football fitting for their home in the heart of the Rocky Mountain West.
That ethos incrementally eroded during the 2010s before Choate took over. During the first fall camp under Choate, the level and prevalence of full contact drills and team periods was startling for many Bobcats. Banged up players piled up on the sideline and in the training room.
But the Bobcats went from a porous defense that kept MSU out of the playoffs in Rob Ash’s last season in 2015 despite leading the country in scoring to a team that ranked second in the Big Sky Conference in scoring defense in Choate’s first campaign.
“The culture has changed between when I was a freshman to now,” MSU fifth-year senior defensive end Tyrone Fa’anono said. “Everybody’s close, everybody has that championship mindset. My freshman year, I don’t think we were there yet. The way Coach Choate turned this program around and building that culture where we all love each other and everybody does the little things right, I think that’s the difference.”
Improved defense and a renewed penchant for contact have incrementally emerged over the last two seasons. MSU has played 22 games decided by eight points or less in Choate’s 34 games at the helm. During the stretch run of this season, MSU has started winning those games at a higher clip, including rallying from a 22-point deficit for a 29-25 win over rival Montana in Missoula two weeks ago.
“I don’t think it’s one thing in particular but rather everything in general,” Choate said when asked about the emergence of the identity he covets. “It’s the mindset we bring to work every day. I think that toughness is built in the weight room. I think we’ve made a financial commitment to developing these young men at a higher level, whether that’s the nutritional aspect of it, engaging with other people to make sure we have the best plan to develop these guys physically in the off-season.
“It’s putting them in positions where they are going to be challenged. It’s increasing the talent level in our program so every position is competitive and you have to bring your best or you are going to be embarrassed or beat out.
“I think all those things go into what we’ve become. It takes time to get the pieces in place correctly and really identify what has to be done to be your best.”
The return to roots for the Bobcats has helped Montana State build its first four-game winning streak under Choate. A comeback effort from a 17-point deficit fell just short in a 24-17 loss at Idaho State. Since then, the Bobcats have not lost, posting a 49-42 win over Cal Poly, a 35-7 win over Northern Colorado, the triumph over the Griz and a win last week in the first round of the FCS playoffs.
Behind 339 yards rushing that helped Montana State possess the ball for more than 41 minutes and four defensive takeaways helped the Bobcats beat Incarnate Word 35-14 last week in Bozeman last week. The victory is MSU’s first postseason win since 2012.
“They’ve built a culture here and they have a great mindset,” UIW head coach Eric Morris said. ‘They are a bunch of tough kids that are accountable to one another. You’ve got a starting quarterback who plays extremely well and he wasn’t even supposed to be the starter before this year. That’s a testament to a team that is a tight-knit group in the locker room. Next man up and I thought they battled and executed at a high level.”
Andersen, a 6-foot-3, 230-pound converted running back and linebacker from Dillon, has encompassed MSU’s identity of physicality as much as any Bobcat. The lightning fast run-first battering ram can punish defenders with his pads as easily as he can run past them.
“He’s an exceptional player,” NDSU head coach Chris Klieman said during his weekly press conference on Monday. “He’s a guy who can get down hill down on you, can get to the edge.
“He’s a physical runner. You think how does he keep coming back after he gets hit but he does. He’s a really fun player to watch.”
Andersen twisted his knee in the first half of the Cal Poly game. He’s missed a total of one full series since suffering the tweak.
“I know (Incarnate Word) was down a quarterback but I could say we were too,” Choate said. “But our guys is a winner and that’s the best thing I can say about Troy.”
Choate joked after the Incarnate Word game and again on Monday that true freshman Isaiah Ifanse’s relentless effort running the ball in the fourth quarter was stressing him out.
“Don’t fight for extra yards, just hold on to the ball,” he said with a laugh. “But that’s not in his DNA.
Converted quarterback Travis Jonsen, a former four-star recruit who transferred to Montana State from Riverside College by way of Oregon, suffered a dislocated finger on the opening kickoff, Choate said.
Defensive end Bryce Sterk has played the last month with a club on his left hand and a heavy brace on his right elbow. Ifanse has been nursing a tender hamstring since around the Idaho game. Senior inside linebacker Grant Collins has played the season with ailing shoulders byproducts of half a dozen surgeries during his football career.
MSU played with starters offensive guard Taylor Tuiasosopo, nose tackle Tucker Yates and defensive tackle Zach Wright playing limited snaps while starting cornerbacks Tyrel Thomas and Jalen Cole and safety Shawn Borges all did not play at all.
Yet these ‘Cats keep fighting. From six straight losses to start Choate’s career in Big Sky play to a 5-6 highlighted by a second straight win over Montana but not much else to this season’s late-season surge, the vision Choate has consistently projected and coveted is starting to come into clearer view.
“To go on the road, beat your rival again for the third straight year, get into the playoffs, win a playoff game and be one of 16 left out of over 120 FCS schools, it’s pretty cool,” Gregorak said. “Now it’s something to keep building on.”
“This is what we’ve all been striving for is to be in the post-season and play the nation’s best. We are definitely getting that. We got past Incarnate Word and the grand prize is playing the best team in the country over the last seven or eight years. This is exactly what we’ve been working toward.”
Brooks Nuanez contributed to the reporting of this story. Photos by Brooks Nuanez. All Rights Reserved.
