Montana State Physicality Wears Down Wagner In Home Victory Saturday

Tyler Natee

Photo by: Garrett Becker

Montana State Physicality Wears Down Wagner In Home Victory Saturday

9/16/2018 5:08:00 PM | Football

Montana State’s offense had a dominating performance against the Wagner Seahawks. After a shaky performance versus South Dakota State a week prior, MSU got in an early rhythm, propelling the Bobcats to a 47-24 victory at Bobcat Stadium on Saturday.

By: Patrick Valentine

Montana State's offense had a dominating performance against the Wagner Seahawks. After a shaky performance versus third-ranked South Dakota State a week prior, MSU got in an early rhythm, propelling the Bobcats to a 47-24 victory at Bobcat Stadium on Saturday.

Getting the offense back on track was a priority for the Bobcats after the SDSU game. MSU finished Saturday's game with 556 offensive yards, 310 coming from redshirt freshman quarterback Tucker Rovig through the air, while freshman running back Isiaiah Ifanse contributed 146 of his own on the ground.

The offensive line set the tone early having four separate first half drives consisting of at least 10 plays. The line buoyed by senior center Alex Neale, junior left tackle Mitch Brott, sophomore left guard Taylor Tuiasosopo, sophomore right guard Lewis Kidd and freshman right tackle Connor Wood, paved the way for 51 plays and 391 first half yards.

The game opened with a 98-yard kickoff return touchdown by Wagner's Denzel Knight. MSU responded by controlling tempo early, opening its first series with an 11-play drive deep into Seahawk territory. The Bobcats' success was spearheaded by the efforts from the O-line.

At the conclusion of the first half, the Bobcats had a 30-21 lead thanks to the offensive explosion. The physical style of the offense worked early and eventually ended up wearing down the Seahawk defense. The defense, despite giving up 21 points, only gave up six first half first downs.

Having the line clicking on all cylinders opened up the playbook and led to enough time in the pocket for Rovig to connect with junior receiver Kevin Kassis for a couple of long touchdowns. Kassis finished the game with 126 yards and two touchdowns, lending his hand to the offensive performance.

"[Offensive line] opens up everything," said Rovig. "It opens up big holes for the run game, gives me enough time to drop back and throw it to an open receiver. Huge part of the offense, the biggest part of the offense."

After having some struggles establishing a presence last week, head coach Jeff Choate put a lot of pressure on his offensive line to perform.

"I'm extremely proud of our offensive line," said Choate. "I don't know how many yards we rushed for, but I put up a challenge to them, I wanted 200 this game and I know we got at least that."

They almost completed his challenge in the first half with 160, finishing the game with 246 on the ground.

The line was aided by Ifanse running physically and determined throughout the game. A large chunk of his 146 rushing yards came brushing off tacklers at the line of scrimmage and in the second level of the defense.

"Isaiah Ifanse was awesome," said Choate. "For a true freshman to come out and run as hard as he did, that wasn't all easy yards. That really helps our pass game and the quarterback can lean on an efficient run game and an offensive line that took on their strength (Wagner defensive line)."

If the line continues to improve and play up to their potential, the possibilities are endless for this offense with as many weapons as there are. Troy Andersen, not taking snaps due to an injury on his throwing hand, contributed in the run game Saturday by finishing MSU's scoring with a 57-yard touchdown run deep in the fourth quarter.

Getting the run game going is one of the fundamental principles of the MSU offense. Having Ifanse and Andersen behind a dominant line has potential to be a successful combination establishing tempo this season.

"I think it's important to have a lot of weapons," said Choate. "Running backs take a lot of shots, you have to have some guys in that stable. Getting Tyler Natee back today with some good, tough, short yardage runs – and he is an excellent blocker on the perimeter – I think that helped us."

The Bobcats hope to use the momentum gained from Saturday to have a successful week of practice heading into their first conference game on the road against Portland State next Saturday.

Montana State finished its nonconference schedule with a record of 2-1, picking up wins against Wagner and Western Illinois. The Bobcats return to Bozeman on Saturday, Sept. 29, against Eastern Washington.