Cats Come Back to Top #23 PSU
11/26/2002 12:00:00 AM | Football
Bozeman on Saturday. Freshman quarterback Travis Lulay threw for 288 yards and threetouchdowns, Scott Turnquist caught four passes for 150 yards, and the Bobcat offense rolledup 305 yards in the second half, as the ‘Cats clinched their second straight winning season inBig Sky Conference play. The amazing thing in Saturday’s game was not how Montana Statewon, but with whom the team won. The Bobcats played without running back Ryan Johnson,receiver Junior Adams, cornerback Joey Thomas, cornerback Kahiam Hunter, and receiverAaron Hill, all of whom were injured. Portland State scored touchdowns on its first twopossessions and got a field goal on its third to stake itself to a 17-0 lead with four minutes leftin the first quarter. Corey Smith’s punt return of 42 yards shortly before halftime to the PSUseven yard line, and Travis Lulay’s ensuing touchdown run, gave the team a score heading intointermission, and Lulay connected on scoring tosses of five and 16 yards to Corey Smith to putthe ‘Cats ahead 21-20 in the third quarter. Then, with 6:18 left to play, Lulay found ScottTurnquist for a 73-yard TD pass to give the ‘Cats an eight-point lead. Viking running back
Ryan Johnson scored on a two-yard run with 1:37 to play, but the Vikings couldn’t convert on
the two-point conversion and MSU held on for the win. Lulay was 19-for-33 for 288 yards
and three touchdowns. David Mayfield carried 15 times for 52 yards, while Turnquist had 150
yards receiving and Pat Carahasen had 80 yards. PSU’s Ryan Fuqua carried 27 times for 116
yards and two touchdowns, while Juston Wood was 18-for-35 for 274 yards, but threw two
interceptions.
Post-Game Quotes from
Montana State’s Mike Kramer
"Our fans were awesome, our student body was into it, it was a great day. And, we have
some considerable skill, and we used it to make plays. To beat a nationally-ranked Portland
State team today, without Ryan Johnson, without Junior Adams, without Joey Thomas, without
Aaron Hill, without Kahiam Hunter, without Kenneth Qualls in the fourth quarter, without Brian
Choi in the fourth quarter... come on, now. That’s a step for our program."
On MSU’s defensive plan: "There’s now way you can just defend Ryan Fuqua and be
successful. If we’d have tried to do that, Juston Wood would have had a huge game. And
besides that, Fuqua was not going to be bottled up again."
On MSU’s young players: "They aren’t playing like true freshmen. We had a choice to make
last year. We could enhance this year’s team by bringing in a lot of transfers, or we could
increase our presence in terms of the future and recruit talented high school kids, and our
coaching staff really increased the level of our recruiting. That recruiting effort was very
important in today’s game."
On MSU’s adjustments: "We were really calm at halftime. We’ve been in situations where we
used histrionics, and that never works. We have been really focused on the internal quality of
our leadership. After the Central Washington game our coaches stepped away and forced the
players to take ownership in leading this team, and this group of players, this group of seniors,
responded mavelously."
On the injury-depleted nature of the team: "We took a page from (Montana coach) Joe
Glenn’s book this week. No one’s been more injured than Montana this year, and about a
week-and-a-half ago he said, ‘Every team is hurt right now. The next guy has to step up.’ That
was a quality statement from a quality head coach, and we used that approach this week."
MSU Quarterback Travis Lulay
On the Bobcat defense: "Our defense just kept fighting, and they kept us in the game. They
gave us a chance to make plays at the end. It was similar to last week. They got a wakeup call
in the first quarter, and then we shut them down. They’re so scrappy, they are all over the
ball."
MSU Safety Kane Ioane
"These slow starts are going to give me a heart attack. We were able to make tackles and
make plays in the second half. Our coverage didn’t change (at halftime), we didn’t really
change anything scheme-wise. We just played our game, that’s the bottom line."
MSU Linebacker Roger Cooper"We knew we had to stop the run, that was our main focus. I don’t know what was going on(during MSU’s slow start). They were going weak (side) a lot. We just missed our gaps onfirst down. It was just a slow start, I guess. We settled down and got focused."
Ryan Johnson scored on a two-yard run with 1:37 to play, but the Vikings couldn’t convert on
the two-point conversion and MSU held on for the win. Lulay was 19-for-33 for 288 yards
and three touchdowns. David Mayfield carried 15 times for 52 yards, while Turnquist had 150
yards receiving and Pat Carahasen had 80 yards. PSU’s Ryan Fuqua carried 27 times for 116
yards and two touchdowns, while Juston Wood was 18-for-35 for 274 yards, but threw two
interceptions.
Post-Game Quotes from
Montana State’s Mike Kramer
"Our fans were awesome, our student body was into it, it was a great day. And, we have
some considerable skill, and we used it to make plays. To beat a nationally-ranked Portland
State team today, without Ryan Johnson, without Junior Adams, without Joey Thomas, without
Aaron Hill, without Kahiam Hunter, without Kenneth Qualls in the fourth quarter, without Brian
Choi in the fourth quarter... come on, now. That’s a step for our program."
On MSU’s defensive plan: "There’s now way you can just defend Ryan Fuqua and be
successful. If we’d have tried to do that, Juston Wood would have had a huge game. And
besides that, Fuqua was not going to be bottled up again."
On MSU’s young players: "They aren’t playing like true freshmen. We had a choice to make
last year. We could enhance this year’s team by bringing in a lot of transfers, or we could
increase our presence in terms of the future and recruit talented high school kids, and our
coaching staff really increased the level of our recruiting. That recruiting effort was very
important in today’s game."
On MSU’s adjustments: "We were really calm at halftime. We’ve been in situations where we
used histrionics, and that never works. We have been really focused on the internal quality of
our leadership. After the Central Washington game our coaches stepped away and forced the
players to take ownership in leading this team, and this group of players, this group of seniors,
responded mavelously."
On the injury-depleted nature of the team: "We took a page from (Montana coach) Joe
Glenn’s book this week. No one’s been more injured than Montana this year, and about a
week-and-a-half ago he said, ‘Every team is hurt right now. The next guy has to step up.’ That
was a quality statement from a quality head coach, and we used that approach this week."
MSU Quarterback Travis Lulay
On the Bobcat defense: "Our defense just kept fighting, and they kept us in the game. They
gave us a chance to make plays at the end. It was similar to last week. They got a wakeup call
in the first quarter, and then we shut them down. They’re so scrappy, they are all over the
ball."
MSU Safety Kane Ioane
"These slow starts are going to give me a heart attack. We were able to make tackles and
make plays in the second half. Our coverage didn’t change (at halftime), we didn’t really
change anything scheme-wise. We just played our game, that’s the bottom line."
MSU Linebacker Roger Cooper"We knew we had to stop the run, that was our main focus. I don’t know what was going on(during MSU’s slow start). They were going weak (side) a lot. We just missed our gaps onfirst down. It was just a slow start, I guess. We settled down and got focused."
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