BOZEMAN — Grant Collins can’t help but crack a smile of excitement when the subject of the conversation is Weber State.
“That’s what we always think of them as is one of the most physical outfits out there,” the Montana State fifth-year senior middle linebacker said as he stood in the MSU Hall of Fame at Brick Breedin Fieldhouse. “Every time we get to this week, I get a little excited to be truthful. I love these kind of games.”
On Saturday in Ogden, Utah, indeed two of the Big Sky Conference’s most physical teams will square off. Two coaches with special teams backgrounds, Pac 12 ties and defensive mindsets will lead two teams tied in the Big Sky Conference standings as the second half of the season commences.
“I fully expect this is going to be a slugfest,” Weber State head coach Jay Hill, the special teams coordinator at Utah before taking the WSU job, said on Wednesday evening.
“Coach (Jeff) Choate has built his team very similar to how I’ve built mine. We were defensive guys at one time, we were special teams at one time. There are certain things we believe in and I think our core values are very similar in what we believe in for core values as far as championship-caliber teams.”
The No. 7 Wildcats are one of the worst offensive teams in the Big Sky according to this season’s statistics. But WSU has won 17 of its last 21 league games behind elite defensive execution and consistently productive special teams play.
Last week, Weber posted one of the premier wins of the conference season thus far. WSU got a 75-yard punt return for a touchdown by freshman Josh Davis less than two minutes in and a 38-yard touchdown catch from sophomore Rashid Shaheed seven minutes later to take a 14-0 lead over No. 3 Eastern Washington. The Wildcats held the Eagles without a touchdown for the first time since 2008 in the 14-6 win.
Montana State is fresh off a win in a low-scoring battle, albeit nowhere close to WSU’s triumph last week. MSU outlasted Idaho 24-23 despite possessing the ball for just over 21 minutes. The Bobcat defense sometimes bent but never broke in terms of allowing explosive plays, instead making Idaho work for all 347 yards and 23 first downs.
MSU’s offense, like Weber State’s, has been feast or famine, thriving off the playmaking of a few talented players and otherwise leaning on all-conference candidate kickers — Weber’s Trey Tutte is tied for the Big Sky lead with 10 made field goals, one more than MSU kicker Tristan Bailey — and stout defenses for success.
MSU quarterback Troy Andersen has rushed for nine of Montana State’s 21 touchdowns. Davis has rushed for four touchdowns and had the punt return touchdown, meaning he’s scored five of WSU’s 16 total touchdowns this season.
“It’s going to be a heavyweight bought,” Andersen said of the matchup. “Their defense is good, our defense is good. It’s going to come down to who can make the most plays, who can take care of the ball, who makes good decisions. They pose a challenge and that makes it fun.”
During Montana State’s 2013 trip to Ogden, Utah, legendary former Bobcat All-American player and national championship-winning coach Sonny Holland stood in the middle of Stewart Stadium reflecting on memories from 40 years earlier. Holland told a story that day about taking on head coach Sark Arslanian’s last Weber State team before Arslanian moved on to Colorado State.
Holland remembered vividly those Weber teams of the early 1970s as formidable.
The next day five years ago, Montana State quarterback DeNarius McGhee made a surprise return in Ogden. The All-American suffered a separated shoulder in a narrow loss at SMU to begin the 2013 season. He came back to lead the Bobcats to a 34-16 win over the Wildcats.
McGhee, now Montana State’s running backs coach, admitted that he suffered a knee injury in that first game back on a vicious hit by hyperactive Weber linebacker Anthony Morales. Yet he still threw for 313 yards and three touchdowns.
“Weber State is always extremely physical,” McGhee said. “They always have a great linebacking core and corners that can man up. Over time, since my time, they’ve gotten better and better but they are traditional Weber State in that they are physical and mean. They hit you and hit you hard.
“Physicality is at a premium in this game.”
What the Bobcats and Wildcats share when it comes to order of operation, the teams do not share in terms of current national reputation. Hill is working on his fourth straight winning season and chasing a third straight playoff berth. Last season, the Wildcats shared the Big Sky championship with Southern Utah and ousted the Thunderbirds in the second round of the playoffs. WSU won three playoff games all told before second-seeded James Madison held on for a 31-28 victory in the quarterfinals of the playoffs.
“It’s an opportunity to prove ourselves,” Collins said. “They have the same record as us. We are coming into this game with a little fire, like let’s get it done. No ifs, and or buts about it, we’ve got to get this one.”
Montana State, a team that advanced to the FCS playoffs eight times between 2002 and 2014, has finished with a losing record each of the last three seasons. Choate’s teams have been competitive against a collection of nationally ranked opponents but have toppled just one Top 25 foe. MSU thrashed an injury-ridden No. 17-ranked North Dakota squad 49-21 to open league play last season.
“Our No. 1 thing as a team is to prove everybody wrong,” MSU fifth-year senior defensive end Tyrone Fa’anono said. “These past few years, we haven’t been good and we haven’t been able to finish. I feel sorry for the seniors who went out with a losing record. The only thing that kind of helped us was beating the Griz. Being able to fight for the guys that came with you, the other seniors, being able to fight for each other and knowing that this is our last ride is helping us a lot.”
Montana State lost its first six Big Sky games under Choate. Including this season, MSU has won nine of its last 14 league contests, the four losses all to teams that made the FCS playoffs or likely will. MSU lost to Eastern Washington, Weber State and Northern Arizona last year, to EWU this season. Yet the Bobcats are picked to finish eighth in the preseason polls by both the league’s coaches and affiliated media. Saturday brings another measuring stick.
“Clearly, the media and the coaches don’t think we are ready to play for a conference championship,” Choate said. “That’s been played out over and over again. We get next to nobody on all-conference teams whether that’s after the season or pre season. We were picked to finish in the bottom third of the league. I think we are a work in progress. Do I think we have arrived? No. But I think we are a better football team than maybe some people thought. But it doesn’t matter what I think. We have to go prove it on Saturday.”
Photos by Brooks Nuanez. All Rights Reserved.
