Montana State University
9-1 , 6-1
PORTLAND STATE
3-7 , 2-5
Bobcats Explore Option
11/14/2012 7:09:00 AM | Football
MSU D shows improvement against option offenses, biggest challenge Saturday
A year ago the Bobcat defense was exposed by three teams – Portland State, Montana and Sam Houston State – that like to run the ball in one variation or another of the option offense. Each of those three opponents finished with big numbers.
“We made some scheme changes after last season,” MSU head coach Rob Ash said. “We went back to school on how to stop some option football. We've got a different way of defending those things this year. It's obviously working better, so that's good.”
While Portland State may have rushed for 295 against MSU last week, most of those came on three plays, including two when MSU was substituting liberally in the second half. The Vikings had a 69-yard touchdown run in the early going due to a mix-up in the MSU secondary and had 23 carries for just 67 yards in the first half other than that one run.
Stopping that style of ground game wasn't the only thing MSU excelled at against the Vikings. MSU forced six fumbles, recovering two, intercepted two passes, broke up eight others, and had 10 tackles for loss. One of the interceptions was returned for a touchdown by Steven Bethley and the other, by Darius Jones, was converted into a touchdown by the offense.
The first of two fumbles forced by Caleb Schreibeis was recovered by Brad Daly and converted into a touchdown.
MSU was able to substitute early on and that helped make backup middle linebacker Michael Foster the team's leading tackler with nine. Of MSU's eight top tacklers six were backups, including Alex Singleton, Sean Gords, Preston Gale and Heath Hunter with five each and James Nelson, Jr. with four.
When Kruiz Siewing hauled in a first quarter touchdown pass from DeNarius McGhee he became the 11th offensive player for MSU to score a touchdown. Three of MSU's receiving touchdowns were by backups, including Siewing's with Brian Flotkoetter and Shawn Johnson having the others. Backup running back Orenzo Davis had 76 rushing yards, while backup quarterback Jake Bleskin played most of the second half.
Team Stats
PSU 0, MSU 4
MSU - Rory Perez 42 yd field goal 6 plays, 40 yards, TOP 2:07
PSU 0, MSU 10
MSU - Cody Kirk 17 yd run (), 1 plays, 17 yards, TOP 0:00
PSU 7, MSU 10
PSU - DJ Adams 69 yd run (Zach Brown kick), 2 plays, 73 yards, TOP 0:46
PSU 7, MSU 17
MSU - Kruiz Siewing 14 yd pass from DeNarius McGhee (Rory Perez kick) 3 plays, 11 yards, TOP 0:31
PSU 7, MSU 24
MSU - Shawn Johnson 54 yd pass from DeNarius McGhee (Rory Perez kick) 5 plays, 85 yards, TOP 2:13
PSU 7, MSU 31
MSU - Cody Kirk 14 yd run (Rory Perez kick), 5 plays, 72 yards, TOP 1:37
PSU 7, MSU 38
MSU - Orenzo Davis 2 yd run (Rory Perez kick), 5 plays, 81 yards, TOP 2:03
PSU 7, MSU 45
MSU - Steven Bethley 32 yd interception (Rory Perez kick)
PSU 7, MSU 52
MSU - B. Flotkoetter 19 yd pass from DeNarius McGhee (Rory Perez kick) 8 plays, 71 yards, TOP 3:11
PSU 7, MSU 59
MSU - Shawn Johnson 72 yd punt return (Rory Perez kick)
PSU 10, MSU 59
PSU - Zach Brown 25 yd field goal 11 plays, 57 yards, TOP 3:16
PSU 13, MSU 59
PSU - Zach Brown 32 yd field goal 5 plays, 50 yards, TOP 1:43
PSU 13, MSU 65
MSU - Cody Kirk 54 yd pass from DeNarius McGhee (Rory Perez kickfailed) 1 plays, 54 yards, TOP 0:24
PSU 20, MSU 65
PSU - Justin Monahan 1 yd pass from Collin Ramirez (Zach Brown kick) 7 plays, 66 yards, TOP 2:30
PSU 23, MSU 65
PSU - Zach Brown 32 yd field goal 7 plays, 46 yards, TOP 2:25
PSU 30, MSU 65
PSU - Ben Bowen 61 yd run (Zach Brown kick), 2 plays, 65 yards, TOP 0:39
