Editor’s Note: Leading up to the 118th edition of the fierce football rivalry between the Bobcats and the Grizzlies, Skyline Sports will provide features on five of the game’s key matchups between Montana and Montana State.
PART I —THE MATCHUPS: TROY ANDERSEN VS. GRIZ DEFENSE
PART II — THE MATCHUPS: GRIZ OFFENSIVE LINE VS. BOBCAT DEFENSIVE LINE
PART III — THE MATCHUPS: Griz wide receivers vs. Bobcat secondary
It’s no secret — as quarterback Dalton Sneed goes, so goes the Montana offense.
The expressive, elusive quarterback has been at his best in the last two weeks, throwing for 543 yards, running for 181 and accounting for nine total touchdowns with no interceptions in blowout wins over Southern Utah and Idaho.
When he’s playing well, Sneed can reach a level that matches any quarterback in the Big Sky. In fact, he may have the highest upside of any signal caller in the league, matching the throwing ability of UC Davis junior Jake Maier or Idaho State senior Tanner Gueller with the dangerous running of his Bozeman rival Troy Anderson.
“If you want to commit too many guys in coverage, you are lightening the box and they have the extra body. That’s been something that has been working really well for (Sneed),” Montana State head coach Jeff Choate said. “I like the way the kid plays. He’s got a tough mentality. He plays like a linebacker. I was watching the Southern Utah game and I was like, ‘That guy ate his Wheaties today.’ He’s hunting up safeties and knocking them out of bounds.”
While the former UNLV and Fort Scott Community College transfer has been exceptional for games and stretches of this season, his volatility has been one of Montana’s weaknesses. And when Sneed struggles, it’s been bad for the Grizzlies.
In UM’s three-game losing streak in October, Sneed completed just 58 percent of his passes for 552 yards, threw four interceptions, and ran for just 76 combined yards. Portland State, North Dakota and UC Davis all put a high priority on limiting Sneed’s production on the ground and with his arm by hitting him as much as possible.
With an ineffective, or rather turnover-prone quarterback, Montana looked lost on offense for large portions of those games. Because a young offensive line has struggled to clear lanes for a traditional running game, Sneed is often the beginning, middle and end for Montana’s offense. When he’s out of ideas, the Griz don’t have anything else to fall back on.
That is accentuated that senior running back Jeremy Calhoun, who had looked effective in the last two games after missing time with suspension and injury earlier in the season, is no longer on the team. Redshirt freshman Adam Eastwood, who leads the team in rushing, has just 92 yards in the last four games, on 32 carries — an average of 2.87 yards per rush. He’s struggled with a shoulder injury suffered the last Saturday of October.
This week, an experienced Montana State defense will have the pressure of locking down Sneed, and, correspondingly, tipping Montana’s offensive production one way or the other.
It’s one of the matchups that could decide a particularly weighty edition of Saturday’s Brawl of the Wild, and the Bobcats are aware of the importance of slowing down Montana’s main man.
“Their quarterback makes their offense go,” MSU All-Big Sky nose tackle Tucker Yates said. “He’s a special player. … It’s a real key to stopping them. He can make plays with his legs. He slings the ball. He’s like a gunslinger out there. Containing him is the main thing we have to do.”
So far, it’s been a mixed bag for the Bobcats in terms of shutting down quarterbacks who can run.
Montana State held South Dakota State’s Taryn Christion to -2 yards rushing, his second-worst total of the season, in a 45-14 loss in Brookings. MSU gave up 71 yards to Portland State’s Davis Alexander in a 43-23 victory in Portland.
Although it’s not really comparable, Cal Poly’s Khaleel Jenkins gashed them for 138 yards and three touchdowns out of the Mustangs’ triple option.
Choate and his staff have harped all week on the keys to stopping a scrambler.
“A lot of it is realizing the integrity of our pass rush lanes have to be solid,” MSU senior Zach Wright, Yates’ partner in the middle of the defensive line, said. “You can’t allow guys to be out of position, you can’t allow guys to do too much and over-balance and allow (Sneed) spaces to leap through. … What I think a lot of people don’t realize is, it’s discipline. It’s making sure that when you are in that B-gap and you are rushing, you don’t think, ‘Oh man, I can make it to the A-gap,’ and then there’s a gap to run through. A lot of it is just doing our job, staying in our lanes and doing the play in its entirety.”
The problem with Sneed is that he won’t hurt you with just his legs, doubling the issues for Choate’s defense.
The Griz can also use the threat of Sneed as a runner to open up lanes for other backs out of the read option, and to force the ‘Cats to stack the box, which opens up passing possibilities.
“He’s a true dual-threat guy,” Choate said. “It’s a catch-22, because do you want to squeeze and be a little bit cautious with keeping him in the pocket? Because then you are giving him a little more time and [he is] going to affect you in the passing game. If you get too aggressive, he has a great knack of trying to find the holes in the seam. You have to leverage the quarterback really, really well, and you have to be calculated.”
Montana State can start to take away Sneed’s effectiveness by keeping him in the pocket, either by keeping their defensive discipline or by just collapsing Montana’s offensive line so quickly it gives him no time to react and no space to escape.
That’s been an issue for the Griz at times, and the Bobcat defensive line of Yates, Wright, Bryce Sterk and Tyrone Fa’anono is well-equipped to take advantage.
Sterk is tied for second in the conference with 6.5 sacks, and Wright is also in the top 10, with four.
If they can force Sneed to stay in the pocket, and also lock down receivers on the outside, the Cats can effectively strangle the Montana offense by taking away its two primary ways of moving the ball.
Of course, Montana State could also just win the turnover battle. Whatever way it happens — bad throws by Sneed, fumbles by the wide receivers, plain bad luck — the Griz have been unable to win games when they give the ball away.
Montana is -10 in turnovers in its four losses, turning the ball over more than the opposition in each game.
In wins? Plus-nine, with a positive margin in every game except Sac State (no turnovers for either team).
“I just want to go out there and win,” Sneed said bluntly when asked about his importance in the rivalry game. “No matter what it takes, I want to go out there and win.”
It’s not a surprise to say that teams are more likely to win when they force more turnovers. But the difference is particularly stark for the Griz.
That of course, will fall on Sneed as well, and might be the biggest thing that he can do to earn a win in his first rivalry showdown against the Bobcats.
“When he takes care of the football, man, they have been a machine on offense the last couple of weeks,” Choate said. “He is playing at a really high level. He can make all the throws. … We have more to defend than they have to defend than they have to defend because Sneed is not just an excellent passer, he’s a very good runner.”
Photos by Brooks Nuanez. All Rights Reserved.
