Bobcat Game Day Notebook #11: Idaho State
11/15/2014 10:24:00 AM | Football
MSU enters crucial showdown without Prukop, Johnson, Paige
The Bobcat football team faced cold weather all week, and today awoke to some cold reality. Montana State will face Idaho State in frigid conditions today without three offensive starters.
Leading the list is sophomore quarterback Dakota Prukop, a Walter Payton Trophy Watch List entry who has been among the nation's most efficient passers and leaders in total offense. Prukop suffered an injury in last week's Portland State game and will miss todays' contest against the Bengals. Junior Jake Bleskin gets the start.
"I say it all the time," said Bobcat coach Rob Ash, "but when a player is injured, the least surprised person in the stadium when the backup comes in and plays well is the backup. He knows how hard he's worked, and how well he's prepared, and he expects to play well. Jake expects to play well today, and I expect him to play well, too."
MSU offensive coordinator Tim Cramsey said some of the play calls may change with Bleskin engineering the offense rather than Prukop. "It may look a little different," he said, "but our system doesn't change. Jake knows it well, and he'll run it well."
Bleskin's weaponry is somewhat diminished, as well. Starting running back Shawn Johnson will miss his Senior Day game, and freshman receiver Justin Paige will also miss the game. Those three absences cost MSU three of its four fastest offensive players.
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Bobcat Stadium will be cold today, but how cold compared to years past?
The projected temperature at game time is seven degrees above zero, which would avoid by one degree being the coldest kickoff in Reno H. Sales/Bobcat Stadium history. The coldest kickoff was 6 against Montana on November 22, 2003, while second-coldest was 9, also against Montana on November 19, 2011. The full list is below…
6 degrees vs. Montana, 11/22/03 in Bozeman
9 degrees vs. Montana, 11/19/11 in Bozeman
11 degrees vs. Sacramento State, 11/16/96 in Bozeman
12 degrees vs. Montana, 11/2/91 in Bozeman
12 degrees vs. North Dakota State, 11/10/79 in Fargo
14 degrees vs. Portland State, 11/10/12 in Bozeman
17 degrees vs. North Dakota State, 12/1/10 in Bozeman
17 degrees vs. Montana, 11/18/06 in Missoula
17 degrees vs. New Hampshire, 11/27/76 in Bozeman
18 degrees vs. Montana, 11/20/10 in Missoula
18 degrees vs. Idaho, 11/9/85 in Bozeman
19 degrees vs. NAU, 10/10/09 in Bozeman
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The cold weather was on Rob Ash's mind Saturday - specifically, how his team has adapted to it.
"Fortunately we had the exact weather all week we expect at kickoff," Ash said. "But as the week went, the players adapted and figured out what they need to do to handle the cold. They figured out how to warm their hands, what to wear on their heads, and by Thursday I think they handled it really well."
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Along with Idaho State head coach Mike Kramer, who resurrected a moribund Bobcat football program when he became its head coach in 2000, another old friend visits today. Former Bobcat linebacker Roger Cooper, the 2004 Big Sky Defensive MVP, serves as Kramer's co-coordinator. He and MSU linebackers coach Kane Ioane were members of Kramer's initial Bobcat recruiting class and MSU teammates for four years. Cooper was an All-Big Sky and All-America for the Cats.
