Bobcat History Lesson: Sacramento State
10/20/2007 12:00:00 AM | Football
Earlier this fall, One of Montana State's finest collection of football players earned induction into the Wendy's of Montana Bobcat Athletics Hall of Fame. The first Bobcat team ever to win a post-season contest, Montana State's 1964 football squad earned a 28-7 win over Sacramento Sate in the Camellia Bowl, which was played in Sacramento.
Structurally, both college football and Montana State's place in it were very different than today. The Bobcats played small college football, a conglomeration of schools that today play below the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. Most Big Sky members played small-college football, although Idaho and Montana each entertained big-time aspirations into the 1960s and, in Idaho's case, into the 1970s. The Grizzlies had just left the Skyline Conference, a forerunner of the WAC, in which they had not experienced much success. Wyoming, for instance, had hammered Montana in each of the eight seasons before UM joined the Big Sky, and none of the games were particularly close.
Montana State, meanwhile, began playing in the Rocky Mountain Conference in the 1920s when that league was a national power, and consisted of most of the same schools Montana had competed against in the Skyline - the three powers from Utah, Wyoming and Colorado State, the bigger schools in the Rocky Mountain region. Those schools left the Rocky Mountain Conference in 1937 to form the Skyline, leaving Montana State to battle a collection of the small Colorado colleges, such as Colorado Mines, Colorado College, and Western State.
By 1964, the NAIA, which the Bobcats had long ago joined on the national level, offered regional competition, with bowl games as prizes. The top teams from the West Region typically met in the Camellia Bowl, which was played on the West Coast, to determine the regional champion, while the top teams in the East also competed in a bowl game. In 1964, the second year of the Big Sky Conference and Jim Sweeney's second year as Montana State's head coach, the Bobcats were ready to contend on the national scene again.
The 1964 squad was led by some of the great players in Bobcat history. Joe Tiller, Cliff Hysell, Jerry Ross and Terry Albrecht anchored a dominant offensive line, savvy senior Foy McClung called signals, and the backfield featured Dan Sundling, Dan Hodge and Dave Miller. The team's head coach, Jim Sweeney, is a Bobcat Hall of Famer, as are assistants Tom Parac and Sonny Holland and athletic trainer Marshall Cook. Even the program's athletic director, Gene Bourdet, is remembered as one of the best in his business for his performance at MSU.
The Bobcats opened the year with a 46-14 win at South Dakota State before losing at Wichita State. MSU beat rival Fresno State 27-13 on the strength of a 97-yard touchdown run by Ben Vaughn, then lost to San Jose State. Back-to-back wins over Nevada and Idaho State followed close losses, 7-0 at North Dakota State and 9-7 at North Dakota.
At that point, the Cats hopped off the merry-go-round. MSU beat Montana 30-6 in Missoula and topped Weber State 24-0 in Ogden. That win in Ogden ensured that the Bobcats would travel to Sacramento to face the Hornets at Hughes Stadium on the Sacramento City College campus.
Dan Sundling, the famed "Runner", was Montana State's consistent offensive threats throughout the season. Sundling rushed for 440 yards, second on the team behind Miller, a year after averaging over 100 yards an outing in the latter half of 1963. McClung did a little of everything for the Bobcats, scoring a pair of touchdowns and throwing for half a dozen. He also kicked a dozen extra points and a pair of field goals.
The Bobcats handled Sacramento State easily, 28-7, in the Camellia Bowl. For years, some have considered that a national championship squad, but the Bobcats actually won the West Regional Championship that day, and talks of a mythical national crown faded.
Next September, though, the 1964 Bobcats will join Bobcat Athletics' elite by joining the Wendy's Hall of Fame, an honor richly deserved.
Structurally, both college football and Montana State's place in it were very different than today. The Bobcats played small college football, a conglomeration of schools that today play below the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. Most Big Sky members played small-college football, although Idaho and Montana each entertained big-time aspirations into the 1960s and, in Idaho's case, into the 1970s. The Grizzlies had just left the Skyline Conference, a forerunner of the WAC, in which they had not experienced much success. Wyoming, for instance, had hammered Montana in each of the eight seasons before UM joined the Big Sky, and none of the games were particularly close.
Montana State, meanwhile, began playing in the Rocky Mountain Conference in the 1920s when that league was a national power, and consisted of most of the same schools Montana had competed against in the Skyline - the three powers from Utah, Wyoming and Colorado State, the bigger schools in the Rocky Mountain region. Those schools left the Rocky Mountain Conference in 1937 to form the Skyline, leaving Montana State to battle a collection of the small Colorado colleges, such as Colorado Mines, Colorado College, and Western State.
By 1964, the NAIA, which the Bobcats had long ago joined on the national level, offered regional competition, with bowl games as prizes. The top teams from the West Region typically met in the Camellia Bowl, which was played on the West Coast, to determine the regional champion, while the top teams in the East also competed in a bowl game. In 1964, the second year of the Big Sky Conference and Jim Sweeney's second year as Montana State's head coach, the Bobcats were ready to contend on the national scene again.
The 1964 squad was led by some of the great players in Bobcat history. Joe Tiller, Cliff Hysell, Jerry Ross and Terry Albrecht anchored a dominant offensive line, savvy senior Foy McClung called signals, and the backfield featured Dan Sundling, Dan Hodge and Dave Miller. The team's head coach, Jim Sweeney, is a Bobcat Hall of Famer, as are assistants Tom Parac and Sonny Holland and athletic trainer Marshall Cook. Even the program's athletic director, Gene Bourdet, is remembered as one of the best in his business for his performance at MSU.
The Bobcats opened the year with a 46-14 win at South Dakota State before losing at Wichita State. MSU beat rival Fresno State 27-13 on the strength of a 97-yard touchdown run by Ben Vaughn, then lost to San Jose State. Back-to-back wins over Nevada and Idaho State followed close losses, 7-0 at North Dakota State and 9-7 at North Dakota.
At that point, the Cats hopped off the merry-go-round. MSU beat Montana 30-6 in Missoula and topped Weber State 24-0 in Ogden. That win in Ogden ensured that the Bobcats would travel to Sacramento to face the Hornets at Hughes Stadium on the Sacramento City College campus.
Dan Sundling, the famed "Runner", was Montana State's consistent offensive threats throughout the season. Sundling rushed for 440 yards, second on the team behind Miller, a year after averaging over 100 yards an outing in the latter half of 1963. McClung did a little of everything for the Bobcats, scoring a pair of touchdowns and throwing for half a dozen. He also kicked a dozen extra points and a pair of field goals.
The Bobcats handled Sacramento State easily, 28-7, in the Camellia Bowl. For years, some have considered that a national championship squad, but the Bobcats actually won the West Regional Championship that day, and talks of a mythical national crown faded.
Next September, though, the 1964 Bobcats will join Bobcat Athletics' elite by joining the Wendy's Hall of Fame, an honor richly deserved.
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