Montana State's offensive line faces a stern test at UND Saturday
Photo by: Kelly Gorham
GAME 3: Bobcats Visit Reigning Big Sky Co-Champs UND to Open League Play
9/20/2017 7:32:00 AM | Football
Montana State makes last visit to North Dakota for Big Sky contest
How to Catch the Cats This Week
TELEVISION: ABC channels in every Montana market except Billings, where the game airs on SWX
VIDEO STREAM: PlutoTV.com
AUDIO STREAM: msubobcats.com
RADIO: Bobcat Radio Network stations across the state (Billings-KGHL 790 AM; Bozeman-KXLB 100.7 FM; Bozeman-KMMS 1450 AM; Butte-KXTL 1370 AM; Glasgow-KLTZ 1240 AM; Glendive-KDZN 96.5 FM; Great Falls-KINX 102.7 FM; Helena-KIMO 104.5 HD2; Kalispell-KGEZ 600 AM; Lewistown-KLCM 95.9 FM; Miles City-KATL 770 AM; Missoula- KMPT 930 AM; Shelby-KSEN 1150 AM; Sidney-KGCX 93.1 FM)
Jeff Choate understands recency bias, he knows that 17th-ranked North Dakota stumbled in a rivalry setting against South Dakota last week. He gets that fans may draw conclusions about the Fighting Hawks from that one game.
And he knows that would be a mistake.
"I know this," Choate says. "Coach (Bubba) Schweigert is a great football coach, they've won a ton of games, he's been around that program for a long time, and that's a championship outfit. I know they will respond. I know what's coming for us, and I've tried to let our kids know that. For whatever reason they got jumped on a little bit at South Dakota, but I'm telling you, this is the team that won the conference championship a year ago and I know the coaching staff will have their (players') full attention (this week). We'll have our hands full."
The Fighting Hawks present a handful on each side of the ball for opponents. On offense that arrives in the form of a two-headed monster in the backfield and an efficient, multi-talented quarterback. "They're a very good one-two punch, very different styles," Choate says of tailback tandem Jon Santiago and Brady Oliveira. "Santiago is more of a scatback, 5-9, 180 lb guy. He has a great bounce move, that's his deal. He's going to press the line of scrimmage and then bounce, so he's a very good perimeter runner. Oliveira is more of that power guy between the tackles. He ripped off a long run against us that was kind of a back-breaking deal in the fourth quarter last year here."
Choate said that while effort is a given with Santiago and Oliveira, defending backs with such different styles in real-time is no small task. "We know these guys run hard. Stylistically, it's really different. If (Santiago is) in the backfield and you load up on him too much, he's going to make you miss. If you don't load up enough on (Oliveira) he's going to make you pay the price. Those guys are a good complement to one another. When I look at what North Dakota's done, I think this is Bubba's fourth year there, you can just see how they've recruited to the style they want to play on both sides of the ball and in the kicking game. Being a physical, run-oriented team suits them well and you can see the maturity of their program in that regard."
Quarterback Keaton Studsrud "maybe had the game manager moniker a year ago, but that's not who he is," Choate said. "He is the heart and soul of that team on the offensive side, you can tell that, he and (tight end Luke Fiedler, who) is a war-daddy. He plays really physical. The running backs get a lot of the run, but you can tell that Studsrud is the leader of that group and he's improved as a passer tremendously."
While UND's offense is patient and physical, willing to grind at the line of scrimmage until the offensive line that averages 6-4, 300 lbs wears the defense down, its defense is in attack mode from the first snap. "It starts with us being able to handle their post-snap movement and identify where the pressure's coming from and slide to that," Choate said. "That's probably the biggest concern when you play this group is they're so exotic on defense in terms of where they bring the pressure from."
The ability to bring extra men from multiple directions, as well as disguising blitzes then dropping into coverage, creates a wide range of challenges. "I don't know if I've ever played a team that blitzes as much as these guys, between true five-man pressure (and) what we call bogus pressure, where they create the illusion of that and really only bringing four. There are so many different variations of what they do, and it presents a ton of challenges."
The challenges begin up front, where Choate said MSU's offensive line remains largely un-changed from the first two weeks except that Taylor Tuiasosopo and Lewis Kidd may receive more snaps. "That's where the discipline has to be for our offensive line. We're going to have to lock into some rules, lock into our technique properly, and not let what they're doing on that side of the ball distract from what we've got to do to execute our game plan."
Choate said combining talented players on both sides of the ball combined with the hunger of a championship program coming off a loss "is a tremendous challenge. We know what we're facing."
Kickoff is 1:30 pm MT/2:30 pm CT on Saturday at the Alerus Center. The game is televised around Montana on Fox stations, and on SWX in Billings.
TELEVISION: ABC channels in every Montana market except Billings, where the game airs on SWX
VIDEO STREAM: PlutoTV.com
AUDIO STREAM: msubobcats.com
RADIO: Bobcat Radio Network stations across the state (Billings-KGHL 790 AM; Bozeman-KXLB 100.7 FM; Bozeman-KMMS 1450 AM; Butte-KXTL 1370 AM; Glasgow-KLTZ 1240 AM; Glendive-KDZN 96.5 FM; Great Falls-KINX 102.7 FM; Helena-KIMO 104.5 HD2; Kalispell-KGEZ 600 AM; Lewistown-KLCM 95.9 FM; Miles City-KATL 770 AM; Missoula- KMPT 930 AM; Shelby-KSEN 1150 AM; Sidney-KGCX 93.1 FM)
Jeff Choate understands recency bias, he knows that 17th-ranked North Dakota stumbled in a rivalry setting against South Dakota last week. He gets that fans may draw conclusions about the Fighting Hawks from that one game.
And he knows that would be a mistake.
"I know this," Choate says. "Coach (Bubba) Schweigert is a great football coach, they've won a ton of games, he's been around that program for a long time, and that's a championship outfit. I know they will respond. I know what's coming for us, and I've tried to let our kids know that. For whatever reason they got jumped on a little bit at South Dakota, but I'm telling you, this is the team that won the conference championship a year ago and I know the coaching staff will have their (players') full attention (this week). We'll have our hands full."
The Fighting Hawks present a handful on each side of the ball for opponents. On offense that arrives in the form of a two-headed monster in the backfield and an efficient, multi-talented quarterback. "They're a very good one-two punch, very different styles," Choate says of tailback tandem Jon Santiago and Brady Oliveira. "Santiago is more of a scatback, 5-9, 180 lb guy. He has a great bounce move, that's his deal. He's going to press the line of scrimmage and then bounce, so he's a very good perimeter runner. Oliveira is more of that power guy between the tackles. He ripped off a long run against us that was kind of a back-breaking deal in the fourth quarter last year here."
Choate said that while effort is a given with Santiago and Oliveira, defending backs with such different styles in real-time is no small task. "We know these guys run hard. Stylistically, it's really different. If (Santiago is) in the backfield and you load up on him too much, he's going to make you miss. If you don't load up enough on (Oliveira) he's going to make you pay the price. Those guys are a good complement to one another. When I look at what North Dakota's done, I think this is Bubba's fourth year there, you can just see how they've recruited to the style they want to play on both sides of the ball and in the kicking game. Being a physical, run-oriented team suits them well and you can see the maturity of their program in that regard."
Quarterback Keaton Studsrud "maybe had the game manager moniker a year ago, but that's not who he is," Choate said. "He is the heart and soul of that team on the offensive side, you can tell that, he and (tight end Luke Fiedler, who) is a war-daddy. He plays really physical. The running backs get a lot of the run, but you can tell that Studsrud is the leader of that group and he's improved as a passer tremendously."
While UND's offense is patient and physical, willing to grind at the line of scrimmage until the offensive line that averages 6-4, 300 lbs wears the defense down, its defense is in attack mode from the first snap. "It starts with us being able to handle their post-snap movement and identify where the pressure's coming from and slide to that," Choate said. "That's probably the biggest concern when you play this group is they're so exotic on defense in terms of where they bring the pressure from."
The ability to bring extra men from multiple directions, as well as disguising blitzes then dropping into coverage, creates a wide range of challenges. "I don't know if I've ever played a team that blitzes as much as these guys, between true five-man pressure (and) what we call bogus pressure, where they create the illusion of that and really only bringing four. There are so many different variations of what they do, and it presents a ton of challenges."
The challenges begin up front, where Choate said MSU's offensive line remains largely un-changed from the first two weeks except that Taylor Tuiasosopo and Lewis Kidd may receive more snaps. "That's where the discipline has to be for our offensive line. We're going to have to lock into some rules, lock into our technique properly, and not let what they're doing on that side of the ball distract from what we've got to do to execute our game plan."
Choate said combining talented players on both sides of the ball combined with the hunger of a championship program coming off a loss "is a tremendous challenge. We know what we're facing."
Kickoff is 1:30 pm MT/2:30 pm CT on Saturday at the Alerus Center. The game is televised around Montana on Fox stations, and on SWX in Billings.
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