Lulay Walks Away
11/21/2005 12:00:00 AM | Football
It was beautiful, just as Mike Kramer hoped it would be.
There was Travis Lulay, the best quarterback in Bobcat history and one of the finest players the Big Sky Conference has produced, taking a knee. Twice he did so in the victory formation, and handed the football to the game official. The Montana Grizzly defense could do nothing to stop the proceedings.
On the third play, Lulay kept the game ball himself, a well-earned momento from a legendary career. The clock expired. The shodows krept further onto the field as night encroached.
The Bobcats had beaten the Grizzlies, and Travis Lulay's career was over.
But the legend had only begun.
"Perfect," Kramer said of the end to a wild, unpredictable season, as well as to Lulay's career. "This was way better than Travis needing to pull us onto his shoulders one more time and carry us down the field, helicoptering his body into the end zone. This was perfect."
The red-head from Aumsville, Ore., won't leave his collegiate playing days with a national championship, or with the most cherished record, the Big Sky's career total offense mark. But he finished 7th in Division I-AA history with 12,205 total yards, and 11th in I-AA annals with 10,746 passing yards.
"That's neat," Lulay said in his typically understate fashion. "Sometime I'll think about all those things, and realize it's a pretty cool accomplishment. But none of it would have been possible without everyone on the team."
Statistics and records don't occupy the top spot on the list of Lulay's accomplishment. "Travis is always team first," says MSU coach Mike Kramer, and for what he did with the Bobcat program Lulay will forever be remembered.
When he trotted onto the field against Idaho State in early October, 2002, the Bobcats had not posted a winning record in four years. The team hadn't won a Big Sky title since 1984, and the team's record since the beginning of the 1985 season was 68-127. The team had lost its previous game to Division II Central Washington. On Homecoming.
Montana State football teetered close to turmoil.
And then Lulay completed his first five passes, and only a controversial incomplete call on the game's last play kept the Bobcats from winning his first start.
But the turnaround was underway, and the sensation was gripping the program. MSU beat Weber State, lost a heartbreaker at NAU, then reeled off four straight wins. The capstone came early in the second half of the Cat-Griz game, when Lulay hit Junior Adams for a 53-yard touchdown that helped the Bobcats end 16 years of misery and frustration at the hands of the Grizzlies. The Bobcats won the Big Sky automatic bid to the playoffs that year and the next, narrowly missing the same accomplishment in 2004.
This year's Big Sky co-Championship is MSU's third in the past four years. Since Travis Lulay took over as MSU's starting quarterback, the Bobcats are 25-18 overall, 19-9 in the Big Sky Conference. Lulay led the 'Cats to four straight winning seasons, and three wins over the Grizzlies. He is one of only four Bobcats to accomplish the latter.
Ten years ago, almost to the day, Montana's Dave Dickenson made the walk from Reno H. Sales Stadium, as it was then called, to Brick Breeden Fieldhouse, where visiting teams showered and dressed, after guiding UM to a 10th straight win over the 'Cats. When asked if winning that last game against Montana State really mattered, he said, "It just wouldn't have been the same."
On Saturday, Lulay, the man who has come closest to Dickenson's achievements in the interim made the same walk. As he did, he found closure in his spectacular career.
"It was great," he said of his four years in Bobcat Blue and Gold, and of his achievement in winning the Cat-Griz game for a third time.
"I wouldn't change a thing."
There was Travis Lulay, the best quarterback in Bobcat history and one of the finest players the Big Sky Conference has produced, taking a knee. Twice he did so in the victory formation, and handed the football to the game official. The Montana Grizzly defense could do nothing to stop the proceedings.
On the third play, Lulay kept the game ball himself, a well-earned momento from a legendary career. The clock expired. The shodows krept further onto the field as night encroached.
The Bobcats had beaten the Grizzlies, and Travis Lulay's career was over.
But the legend had only begun.
"Perfect," Kramer said of the end to a wild, unpredictable season, as well as to Lulay's career. "This was way better than Travis needing to pull us onto his shoulders one more time and carry us down the field, helicoptering his body into the end zone. This was perfect."
The red-head from Aumsville, Ore., won't leave his collegiate playing days with a national championship, or with the most cherished record, the Big Sky's career total offense mark. But he finished 7th in Division I-AA history with 12,205 total yards, and 11th in I-AA annals with 10,746 passing yards.
"That's neat," Lulay said in his typically understate fashion. "Sometime I'll think about all those things, and realize it's a pretty cool accomplishment. But none of it would have been possible without everyone on the team."
Statistics and records don't occupy the top spot on the list of Lulay's accomplishment. "Travis is always team first," says MSU coach Mike Kramer, and for what he did with the Bobcat program Lulay will forever be remembered.
When he trotted onto the field against Idaho State in early October, 2002, the Bobcats had not posted a winning record in four years. The team hadn't won a Big Sky title since 1984, and the team's record since the beginning of the 1985 season was 68-127. The team had lost its previous game to Division II Central Washington. On Homecoming.
Montana State football teetered close to turmoil.
And then Lulay completed his first five passes, and only a controversial incomplete call on the game's last play kept the Bobcats from winning his first start.
But the turnaround was underway, and the sensation was gripping the program. MSU beat Weber State, lost a heartbreaker at NAU, then reeled off four straight wins. The capstone came early in the second half of the Cat-Griz game, when Lulay hit Junior Adams for a 53-yard touchdown that helped the Bobcats end 16 years of misery and frustration at the hands of the Grizzlies. The Bobcats won the Big Sky automatic bid to the playoffs that year and the next, narrowly missing the same accomplishment in 2004.
This year's Big Sky co-Championship is MSU's third in the past four years. Since Travis Lulay took over as MSU's starting quarterback, the Bobcats are 25-18 overall, 19-9 in the Big Sky Conference. Lulay led the 'Cats to four straight winning seasons, and three wins over the Grizzlies. He is one of only four Bobcats to accomplish the latter.
Ten years ago, almost to the day, Montana's Dave Dickenson made the walk from Reno H. Sales Stadium, as it was then called, to Brick Breeden Fieldhouse, where visiting teams showered and dressed, after guiding UM to a 10th straight win over the 'Cats. When asked if winning that last game against Montana State really mattered, he said, "It just wouldn't have been the same."
On Saturday, Lulay, the man who has come closest to Dickenson's achievements in the interim made the same walk. As he did, he found closure in his spectacular career.
"It was great," he said of his four years in Bobcat Blue and Gold, and of his achievement in winning the Cat-Griz game for a third time.
"I wouldn't change a thing."
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