Bobcats, South Dakota State Begin Playoffs in Bobcat Stadium

Saturday, November 29

2:00 pm

Montana State University

SOUTH DAKOTA STATE

Tiai Salano and the Cats square off with South Dakota State Saturday

Photo by: Kelly Gorham

Bobcats, South Dakota State Begin Playoffs in Bobcat Stadium

11/28/2014 8:08:00 AM | Football

MSU hosts traditionally-strong program from Missouri Valley

By: MSU Sports Information

Montana State opens its fourth FCS Playoff run in five seasons - the best stretch of success in program history - in difficult fashion Saturday, hosting powerful South Dakota State from the Missouri Valley Football Conference. SDSU's versatile offense features star running back Zach Zenner, sixth in the FCS with 136.2 rushing yards per game, but the Jackrabbits also throw for a league-leading 269.3 yards a game. One of the interesting personal duals in the game features two of the nation's solo tackles leaders, SDSU's Nick Mears (5.2, 25th) and Bobcat Alex Singleton (6.8, 3rd). MSU's offense carries the usual amount of uncertainty into the game, with its usual starting backfield of QB Dakota Prukop and RB Shawn Johnson still nursing injuries. Mitch Griebel and Tiai Salanoa remain staples of the offense, having caught passes in each game this season.

THIS WEEK'S GAME
KICKOFF: 2:04 pm
SITE: Bozeman, MT
STADIUM: Bobcat Stadium
RADIO: Bobcat Radio Network (Jay Sanderson, Dan Davies, Tyler Wiltgen)
TELEVISION: ESPN Game Plan (Trey Bender, Jay Taylor): DirecTV 788/Dish 458
WEB STREAMING: ESPN3

2014 MSU SCHEDULE
Aug 30   at Arkansas State, L, 10-37
Sept 6   Black Hills State, W, 57-10
Sept 13   Central Arkansas, W, 43-33
Sept 20   Eastern Wash., L, 51-52
Sept 27   *North Dakota (HC, W, 29-18
Oct 4   *at Sacramento St, W, 59-56
Oct 11   *at UC Davis, W, 77-37
Oct 18   *Weber State, W, 23-13
Oct 25   Open
Nov 1   *at Cal Poly, L, 27-35
Nov 8   *Portland State, W, 29-22
Nov 15   *Idaho State, W, 44-39
Nov 22   *at Montana, 3:10 pm

ON THE RECORD
• Montana State's 456 points and 38.0 per game this year are both most in school history
• MSU's 13 consecutive winning seasons is the longest current string in the Big Sky

STADIUM STUFF
• The Cats average 442.3 yards and 33.7 points a game on their seven-year old turf field
• MSU is 6-2 in playoff games at Reno H. Sales/Bobcat Stadium (losses to NDSU, SHSU)

BIG SKY BULLET POINTS
• Alex Singleton's 14 solo tackles vs. PSU are the most by a Big Sky player this season
• Three Big Sky teams - MSU, Montana and automatic qualifier EWU - advance to the FCS Playoffs

HIGHLIGHTS
• Alex Singleton is third in the FCS with 6.8 solo tackles per game
• Montana State continues to lead the FCS in net punting (40.8)
• Rob Marshall's three 2014 recovered fumbles is third in the FCS, leads the Big Sky, and is tied for the seventh in MSU history, and his five career recoveries is tied for fifth in school history

STREAKS
• MSU's school-best 13 straight winning seasons is the Sky's longest current streak
• Mitch Griebel has multiple catches in each 2014 game

MILESTONES
• MSU has reached eight wins for the fourth time in the past five seasons after doing so just twice in the previous 25
• Three different Cat QBs have topped 300 passing yards in the last 23 games

SHINING
• LB Alex Singleton, 1st Team All-Big Sky, has eight straight games with at least one tackle-for-loss
• TE Tia Salanoa, 1st Team All-Big Sky, has catches in each game
• OG JP Flynn, 1st Team All-Big Sky, leads MSU with 12 kick team tackles
• CB Deonte Flowers, 1st Team All-Big Sky, broke up nine passes with an INT
• Chad Newell, 1st Team All-Big Sky ST, leads MSU with 12 kick team tackles