Bobcats Head to Texas to Face SMU
9/4/2013 12:35:00 PM | Football
First matchup with Mustangs gives MSU's Texans a chance to play at home
Montana State may be playing its first game at SMU's Ford Stadium Saturday, but the team's trip to Dallas serves as a Homecoming to some degree for seven members of the team's depth chart who hail from Texas. The Cats face a Texas-sized task against explosive SMU, which dropped a 41-23 decision to Texas Tech last Friday in which it trailed just 20-16 entering the fourth quarter. The Mustangs out-gained Tech 490-461 and didn't turn the ball over. SMU quarterback Garrett Gilbert threw for 388 yards.
THIS WEEK'S GAME
KICKOFF: 7 pm CT/6 pm MT
SITE: Dallas, TX
STADIUM: Ford Stadium
RADIO: Bobcat Radio Network (Tyler Wiltgen, Dan Davies, Riley Corcoran)
TELEVISION: ESPN3 (Tyler Denning, Pete Najarian)
MSU Game Notes vs. SMU SMU Game Notes vs. MSU
ON THE RECORD
• Craig Ashworth became the first Bobcat defensive lineman to score a touchdown since current Chicago Bear Zach Minter in 2010
• Montana State won its sixth straight home opener Thursday night, but has dropped five of its last six road openers
• The Cats visit Texas for the first of two September visits, and are 0-2 in the Lone Star State since 2007
STADIUM STUFF
• MSU averages 429.7 yards and 33.2 points per game on its five-year old turf field
BIG SKY BULLET POINTS
• In possibly the Big Sky's best regular season weekend ever, conference teams: finished 9-3, beat an FBS top 25 squad (EWU over #25 Oregon State), beat another FBS team (SUU over South Alabama), and hammered Appalachian State (UM)
HIGHLIGHTS
• MSU's 2013 seniors claim 31 career wins and a .795 win percentage
• Shawn Johnson's 90-yard run Thursday was MSU's second-longest in history
STREAKS
• MSU's 31 straight weeks in the top 10 (counting last year's post-season poll and this year's preseason poll) is longer than any other string of consecutive weeks in the top 25 in school history
• DeNarius McGhee has thrown a TD pass in four straight games since his string of 33 straight ended at Sac St
MILESTONES
• DeNarius McGhee's 71 career TD passes is an MSU record, and his 9,356 passing yards is second in school history
• Rob Ash's 51 career wins is the most in MSU history, a distinction he also holds at Juniata and Drake
• DeNarius McGhee's 31 wins as starting quarterback is MSU's most ever
• Cody Kirk's 31 career rushing TDs is 1st in MSU history
SHINING
QB DeNarius McGhee won his 31st game as MSU's starting quarterback against Monmouth
RB Cody Kirk rushed for two TDs against Monmouth to raise his career total to 31, a new Bobcat record
DE Brad Daly earned Big Sky Defensive POTW honors for the first time after forcing a fumble, registering a sack
