Big Sky Media Day Notebook
7/18/2006 12:00:00 AM | Football
Montana State coach Mike Kramer and Bobcat safety Ryan Force gathered with their eight Big Sky Conference peers on Monday and Tuesday for the league’s annual Football Kickoff. Below is a look at the proceedings…
HO-HUM
Mike Kramer misses the old days. “This league has fashioned and forged good offensive lines and good offensive line play, almost across the board. What a boring deal. Where are the quarterbacks? Where are the 65 passes a game?â€
SAY WHAT?
Kramer, known for many years as the league’s guru of smash-mouth football, made his feelings on the subject clear. “If we’re going to have a chance, it’s going to have to be throwing the ball.†That is a departure from his previous preaching on the art and science of the running game. “I liked doing that when we were the only ones doing it, when everyone else was chucking it all over. Now you look at there and everyone’s doing the same kind of thing… 12 personnel, run the ball, control the clock. It’s kind of boring.â€
LOOKING THE ENEMY IN THE EYE
Senior safety Ryan Force, on interacting with players from rival schools: “It’s kind of cool. I thought it would be awkward at first, but it wasn’t. It’s fun to be around these guys.â€
BIG SKY TV
Big Sky Conference Commissioner Doug Fullerton knows his league is not likely to gain a national television contract with ABC in the current landscape, but with a major announcement on Monday he says it may not need to. The Big Sky Conference launched BigSkyTV.org, a league-wide effort to make live video of most games involving Big Sky teams available on the internet. “This is tremendously important to Big Sky fans around the world.â€
TWO OF A KIND
In spite of losing Mac Mollohan, whose bid for a third all-league selection was derailed by injury last fall, Kramer is happy with inside linebackers Epikopo King and Bobby Daly. “Bobby is a mirror image of Epikopo, who he plays right next to inside. They are both extremely mobile. They’re fun to watch. We need to create lanes to the running back for them with our play up front.â€
THE MORNING AFTER
As Mike Kramer looks ahead to the season, the process of replacing four-year starting quarterback Travis Lulay becomes more daunting. “This is new for me,†Kramer said. “We didn’t exactly go through a long string of great quarterbacks at Eastern. I’m feeling my way through this process, too.â€
WHEN
Mike Kramer, on deciding on a starting quarterback: “We’ll know who the starter is when one of the player gets his footwork right 85% of the time. That’s when that player will be proficient enough to be our starting quarterback.â€
PASS-CATCHING
Mike Kramer said the first Bobcat catch by a receiver – “I hope it’s against Colorado,†he laughed – will be an occasion worth celebrating. “I’m going to stop the game and give that guy an award.†That’s because MSU returns exactly zero catches from last season among its receiving corps.
DRIVING FAST
One more from Kramer on Cory Carpenter or Jack Rolovich ascending to the starting quarterback position: “There’s a big difference between driving the family car and driving dad’s sports car. You can bang up the paneled station wagon, but you’d better not scratch that sports car.â€
UNDERSIZED
How undersized is Bobcat center Jim Verlanic, listed at 6-1? “He’ll bite your ankles until you bleed to death,†Kramer said.
IS MORE BETTER?
Doug Fullerton addressed the issue of league expansion on Monday without really addressing it. “This is a presidential issue,†he said, indicating that the league would expand “right away if the right school or schools emerged.†Fullerton indicated that possibilities include some combination of the Dakota schools (North Dakota State, South Dakota State, and North Dakota, which moves to Division I in a few years) or adding that the possibility of adding a non-football school may make sense at some level, but has not been embraced by the league coaches.
ADVERSITY
Mike Kramer doesn’t know when or how, but he knows it will happen. “I don’t know when or how, but at some point this season we’ll be very good. But we’ll have to experience some heartache before that happens.†Kramer is not afraid of that process. “It may look like we’re in trouble to the outside world, but we’re not. We’ve been 2-2, 1-3, and we’ve fought through that.â€
RULES CHANGES
Per league supervisor of officials Doug Toole, changes in the rules for the 2006 season…
• Eye shields must be clear
• Kicking tees are reduced from two inches to one inch
• Halftime is 20 minutes throughout college football, but two minutes may be added to two home games per school in Big Sky games
• The game clock starts when the ball is kicked, rather than when it is received, on kickoffs
• MSU and other I-AA schools will be involved in replay games when battling I-A opponents, as that process is now uniform at that level
• When the defense takes possession of the ball, the game clock begins running on the ‘ready’ signal from the official
That final rule could eliminate up to 25 plays per game, and short games by several minutes
HO-HUM
Mike Kramer misses the old days. “This league has fashioned and forged good offensive lines and good offensive line play, almost across the board. What a boring deal. Where are the quarterbacks? Where are the 65 passes a game?â€
SAY WHAT?
Kramer, known for many years as the league’s guru of smash-mouth football, made his feelings on the subject clear. “If we’re going to have a chance, it’s going to have to be throwing the ball.†That is a departure from his previous preaching on the art and science of the running game. “I liked doing that when we were the only ones doing it, when everyone else was chucking it all over. Now you look at there and everyone’s doing the same kind of thing… 12 personnel, run the ball, control the clock. It’s kind of boring.â€
LOOKING THE ENEMY IN THE EYE
Senior safety Ryan Force, on interacting with players from rival schools: “It’s kind of cool. I thought it would be awkward at first, but it wasn’t. It’s fun to be around these guys.â€
BIG SKY TV
Big Sky Conference Commissioner Doug Fullerton knows his league is not likely to gain a national television contract with ABC in the current landscape, but with a major announcement on Monday he says it may not need to. The Big Sky Conference launched BigSkyTV.org, a league-wide effort to make live video of most games involving Big Sky teams available on the internet. “This is tremendously important to Big Sky fans around the world.â€
TWO OF A KIND
In spite of losing Mac Mollohan, whose bid for a third all-league selection was derailed by injury last fall, Kramer is happy with inside linebackers Epikopo King and Bobby Daly. “Bobby is a mirror image of Epikopo, who he plays right next to inside. They are both extremely mobile. They’re fun to watch. We need to create lanes to the running back for them with our play up front.â€
THE MORNING AFTER
As Mike Kramer looks ahead to the season, the process of replacing four-year starting quarterback Travis Lulay becomes more daunting. “This is new for me,†Kramer said. “We didn’t exactly go through a long string of great quarterbacks at Eastern. I’m feeling my way through this process, too.â€
WHEN
Mike Kramer, on deciding on a starting quarterback: “We’ll know who the starter is when one of the player gets his footwork right 85% of the time. That’s when that player will be proficient enough to be our starting quarterback.â€
PASS-CATCHING
Mike Kramer said the first Bobcat catch by a receiver – “I hope it’s against Colorado,†he laughed – will be an occasion worth celebrating. “I’m going to stop the game and give that guy an award.†That’s because MSU returns exactly zero catches from last season among its receiving corps.
DRIVING FAST
One more from Kramer on Cory Carpenter or Jack Rolovich ascending to the starting quarterback position: “There’s a big difference between driving the family car and driving dad’s sports car. You can bang up the paneled station wagon, but you’d better not scratch that sports car.â€
UNDERSIZED
How undersized is Bobcat center Jim Verlanic, listed at 6-1? “He’ll bite your ankles until you bleed to death,†Kramer said.
IS MORE BETTER?
Doug Fullerton addressed the issue of league expansion on Monday without really addressing it. “This is a presidential issue,†he said, indicating that the league would expand “right away if the right school or schools emerged.†Fullerton indicated that possibilities include some combination of the Dakota schools (North Dakota State, South Dakota State, and North Dakota, which moves to Division I in a few years) or adding that the possibility of adding a non-football school may make sense at some level, but has not been embraced by the league coaches.
ADVERSITY
Mike Kramer doesn’t know when or how, but he knows it will happen. “I don’t know when or how, but at some point this season we’ll be very good. But we’ll have to experience some heartache before that happens.†Kramer is not afraid of that process. “It may look like we’re in trouble to the outside world, but we’re not. We’ve been 2-2, 1-3, and we’ve fought through that.â€
RULES CHANGES
Per league supervisor of officials Doug Toole, changes in the rules for the 2006 season…
• Eye shields must be clear
• Kicking tees are reduced from two inches to one inch
• Halftime is 20 minutes throughout college football, but two minutes may be added to two home games per school in Big Sky games
• The game clock starts when the ball is kicked, rather than when it is received, on kickoffs
• MSU and other I-AA schools will be involved in replay games when battling I-A opponents, as that process is now uniform at that level
• When the defense takes possession of the ball, the game clock begins running on the ‘ready’ signal from the official
That final rule could eliminate up to 25 plays per game, and short games by several minutes
Wednesday, June 10
Friday, March 27
Monday, March 23
Friday, March 13
