Bobcats Host Sacramento State Saturday Evening

Saturday, October 10

5:10 pm

Montana State University

SACRAMENTO STATE

Buy Tickets

MSU quarterback Dakota Prukop

Photo by: Kelly Gorham

10/7/2015 8:02:00 AM | Football

Explosive MSU offense faces Sankey-led Hornets defense

By: Bill Lamberty

When Rob Ash looks at Sacramento State, his Bobcat football team's opponent on Saturday, he doesn't see a season-summarizing number. He sees skill.

"I don't see a record," Ash said of his view of the 1-4 Hornets team that Montana State, 2-2, hosts on Saturday at 5 pm in the ROOT Sports Big Sky Conference Game of the Week. "I see a team with a lot of skill and really good athletes."

Those athletes stand out on video from this season, and in the mind's eye of memory. Middle linebacker Darnell Sankey is "one of the very best players in the entire conference," Ash says of the man who logged 21 tackles against the Bobcats a season ago. Nnamdi Agude caught six passes for 197 yards against the Cats a season ago, and has 16 catches for 204 yards this season. Jordan Robinson rushed for 79 yards against MSU last fall, and averages 90 yards a game this year.

"They're very balanced offensively," Ash says. "They're a tough team to stop."

Certainly, history teaches that lesson. MSU outlasted the Hornets 59-56 in an unforgettable thriller in Sacramento last fall. In 2010, MSU won a 64-61 overtime classic. In between, the Cats captured narrow victories – 20-17 in Sacramento in 2012, and 31-21 in Bozeman the year before.

Sacramento State's multiple offense faces a Bobcat defense that has struggled at times. Ash is well aware of the numbers - MSU has surrendered over 40 points twice this season, has allowed the last six Division I opponents a 100-yard rusher, and surrenders an opponent passing efficiency rating of 211.27 on the season. But he says the answer on defense begins generally where it does on offense – with the man under center.

"We've got to get more pressure on quarterbacks in passing situations, and there's lots of ways to do that," he said. "Does that mean more blitzes? Does that mean winning one-on-one matchups? There's different personnel (combinations). There's a lot of different ways to do that. The other thing is we've got to mix it up with our coverages and make sure that quarterbacks aren't dialed into exactly what we're going to be in. That's something we've looked at as well."

That process can play out even before the ball is snapped, Ash said. "You have to create some indecision in the quarterback's mind as far as what the coverage is going to be, if we're going to bail, if we're going to roll a corner, cover with a different player, double somebody, so he can't just take it and rip it out there. We've got to create some indecision."

While Sacramento State has yet to settle on a quarterback between Daniel Kniffin and Kolney Cassel – "I think they're both equally good," Ash said, "to us it doesn't matter who plays because we prepare the same" – the focus of the defense is to stop the run, says MSU defensive coordinator.

The Hornets dropped a 27-20 home decision to Northern Colorado last week, but MSU offensive coordinator Tim Cramsey said Sacramento State's defense has been stout. "Sac State's going to be the best defense we've played to this point in the season," Cramsey said. "They're a very good defense, a very sound defense. Coach (Jody) Sears does a good job of never really putting himself in a bad situation."

The Hornets' defensive fortunes ride on Sankey, a preseason All-America who terrorizes opposing offenses operating behind an active defensive line. "Their front four is very good, very active," Cramsey said. "They're very twitchy. Sankey, to me, is the best I've seen so far in this league. I had him up there in the league last year as one of the best linebackers. They do a very good job in the D-line of keeping people off of him. They do enough movement up front so it's hard to get to Sankey and get a body on him."

Dakota Prukop concurs. "He's a stud," the Bobcat quarterback says of the man who may be his main pursuer Saturday, "a great player."

Montana State's fortunes continue to ride on a prolific offense. Prukop leads the Big Sky in total offense, and has thrown for 300 yards in three straight games. But he's hardly alone. Chad Newell has rushed for at least one touchdown in six straight games, and Mitch Griebel has multiple catches in 17 straight.

"The offense is playing at a high level," Ash said, "but you always work to get better. Most importantly I think everyone in our locker room understands that this is a team game. The goal is not to score a certain number of points, or to hold the other team under a certain number, but to score more points than the other team.

That, said Ash, is the goal Saturday when the Bobcats and Hornets square off. "It doesn't matter to me how many we score. Our goal is only to score more points than they do."