Saturday, September 18
Bozeman, MT
1:05 pm
Montana State University
vs
Drake
The Bobcats line up against Pioneer League power Drake on Saturady.
Photo by: R. Dean Hendrickson
Bobcat Game Day Notebook vs. Drake
9/18/2010 9:43:53 AM | Football
Montana State and coach Rob Ash hosts his former team on Saturday
Much of the attention this week has been on Montana State's most noteworthy connection to Drake University, current Bobcat head coach Rob Ash, who came to MSU from Drake in the summer of 2007.
Those ties have been celebrated plenty elsewhere, but what hasn't been mentioned much is Montana State's only previous meeting with the Bulldogs. Highly forgettable from Montana State's standpoint, the home-standing Bulldogs rolled to a 56-0 win over the Bobcats on September 27, 1940. “The westerners,” reported the Des Moines Register, “playing their third game in six days, collapsed like paper before one of the finest Drake lines in history.”
Indeed, Drake was a national power in those days, a member of the Missouri Valley Conference which featured likes of Oklahoma State and Tulsa. On that Friday night, Drake gained 19 first downs to Montana State's five, and Drake gained 623 yards of total offense.
Bobcat fullback Add Farrell earned praise from the local press. “He did most of their running, threw the passes, and did his best to match Drakes' amazing punting average of 44 yards from scrimmage.”
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Other noteworthy items from Drake's football history: Drake became the 18th school in history to reach the 500-win mark in 2001, under Ash's watch… the Bulldogs played in the 1946 Raisin Bowl, becoming the first Iowa college team to play in a college bowl game… in 1927, Drake hosted both Pittsburgh, which played in the Rose Bowl later that season, and Notre Dame under legendary coach Knute Rockne.
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On the Bobcat front, Ash said on Saturday that the team enters the game with no new injury news.
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One of MSU's top goals for its last pre-conference clash is a look beyond the starting lineup, but Rob Ash is quick to point out that has everything to do with what lies ahead and is no reflection on what he feels about today's game.
“I really want to get some of those twos in the game to continue building our depth and to get some of those guys experience,” Ash said. “Guys like Kerry Sloan and John Ellis on offense and Sean Gords and Steven Bethley on defense, we'll need them as the season goes along. I want us to get them some quality experience before the conference season begins.”
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One player Ash is intent on incorporating more fully into the offensive game plan is DeSean Thomas. Recovering from knee surgery last season and missing from the team's opener in Bobcat Stadium against Fort Lewis two weeks ago due to suspension, MSU's 2008 team receiving leader brings a lot to the Bobcat offense.
“We know he's talented, and we know he can help us,” Ash says. “We've moved him back to (the slot receiver) position which is more natural for him, and we'll manage our rotation in a way that utilizes his abilities more fully.”
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