Saturday, September 29
BOZEMAN
1 pm
Montana State University
vs
Eastern Washington (STRIPE THE STADIUM)
Jahque Alleyn and the Bobcat defense looks to slow an explosive Eagles offense on Saturday
Photo by: Garrett Becker
GAME #5: Bobcats Host Fifth-Ranked Eastern Washington for Stripe the Stadium Saturday
9/27/2018 12:09:00 PM | Football
Bobcats pit relentless ground game against explosive, balanced Eagles
BOZEMAN, Montana – Big college football games come around once in a while, and Montana State head coach Jeff Choate knows one thing for certain – Saturday's Bobcat game against fifth-ranked Eastern Washington rises to that level.
"We've worked really hard around here to have a game against a really good opponent at our place that's a meaningful for us," he said of today's showdown against fifth-ranked Eastern Washington. "The Montana game has implications internally and statewide, but not necessarily always in the conference. But we've got that (this week). We've got a really good opponent coming to town."
That opponent, Eastern Washington, has perched itself atop the Big Sky Conference for a number of years. A litany of excellent coaches and a who's who list of FCS football stars have passed through Roos Field. The cast of characters changes, but the not the results. The Eagles always challenge for the Big Sky crown and usually for a national title. "When you talk about Eastern Washington, continuity is one of the word that stands out," Choate said. "Going from Coach (Beau) Baldwin to Coach (Aaron) Best, there hasn't been a lot of difference. They plug-and-play a lot of guys."
And while Eastern Washington has produced brilliant defensive players, Buck Buchanan Award winners, and stud offensive linemen, this era in the program's history will always be known for its indomitable offense. Trigger man Gage Gubrud is in the home stretch of one of the Big Sky Conference's great careers, but Choate says the senior is much more than a compilation of statistics. "If you ask me to describe Gage in one word it would be awesome. He is as good as there is, I'm really, really impressed with his mastery of the system and his ability to play different styles."
That feeds into the multiple nature of Eastern's offense. The Eagles throw for 279.5 yards a game this year, but rush for an incredible 291.2. "They're committed to running the football," choate says of the Eagles, "and they have two excellent backs, a kind of one-two punch with Sam (McPherson) and (Antoine) Custer. Both those guys do it all, they're good blockers, they're willing blockers, they catch the ball well out of the backfield, they bring a little bit different running style. (McPherson's) got over 500 yards rushing in four games, so that clearly speaks to their commitment running the ball, which makes defending Gage even more challenging."
The Bobcats counter with an emerging defensive presence. Buck end Bryce Sterk is a legitimate presence, leading the Big Sky in both sacks and tackles-for-loss. Around him the defensive deck has shuffled through the early portion of the season, but the lineup has stabilized. Grant Collins' return at middle linebacker, Chad Kanow's return to health at Will, and the return of Jahque Alleyne at safety has provided the Bobcat defense a breath of normalcy. "
Choate was pleased with Alleyne's return to the lineup last week at Portland State. "He's a guy we missed over the last couple of weeks, he's played in two games and has two interceptions for us," he said. "He does a really nice job as our post safety. He plays at a different speed than a lot of guys in the back end."
Likewise, Troy Andersen's return at quarterback sparked the Bobcat offense. He rushed for 207 yards from the quarterback position last week (211 total), the second-most ever by a Big Sky Conference signal caller in a single game. He was efficient passing, completing seven of his 14 pass attempts for 107 yards and a touchdown, and also caught a 32-yard pass out of the backfield. But Andersen isn't a one-man band. Freshman running back Isaiah Ifanse rushed for 100 yards, making him the first Bobcat freshman to gain 100 yards on the ground in two of his four games, while Kevin Kassis sparked the team's pass game.
Montana State's offense squares off with an Eagles defense that excels at complementing its extraordinary offense. Kurt Calhoun has a forced fumble to go along with his 28 tackles, while true freshman end Mitchell Johnson has been a one-man wrecking crew. He has seven tackles-for-loss and four sacks this season.
While Choate never uses the past as predictive of the future, he finds a pair of trends in last year's EWU win over the Cats in Cheney as informative. "Last year this game came down to two things – and I don't necessarily think you can look at last year and compare it to this year, but I think it could come down to these two things again – and that's our ability to get off the field on third down, which we could not do last year, and our ability to put points on the board in the red zone. We turned the ball over three times in the red zone, we couldn't stop them on third down, that was the tale of the tape."
That sets up for today what is unquestionably a big game. Choate hopes his squad takes advantage of the opportunity. "We've positioned ourselves early through non-conference play and by getting out of the gate in conference play to make some noise. Now we'll see how good we are."
#GoCatsGo
"We've worked really hard around here to have a game against a really good opponent at our place that's a meaningful for us," he said of today's showdown against fifth-ranked Eastern Washington. "The Montana game has implications internally and statewide, but not necessarily always in the conference. But we've got that (this week). We've got a really good opponent coming to town."
That opponent, Eastern Washington, has perched itself atop the Big Sky Conference for a number of years. A litany of excellent coaches and a who's who list of FCS football stars have passed through Roos Field. The cast of characters changes, but the not the results. The Eagles always challenge for the Big Sky crown and usually for a national title. "When you talk about Eastern Washington, continuity is one of the word that stands out," Choate said. "Going from Coach (Beau) Baldwin to Coach (Aaron) Best, there hasn't been a lot of difference. They plug-and-play a lot of guys."
And while Eastern Washington has produced brilliant defensive players, Buck Buchanan Award winners, and stud offensive linemen, this era in the program's history will always be known for its indomitable offense. Trigger man Gage Gubrud is in the home stretch of one of the Big Sky Conference's great careers, but Choate says the senior is much more than a compilation of statistics. "If you ask me to describe Gage in one word it would be awesome. He is as good as there is, I'm really, really impressed with his mastery of the system and his ability to play different styles."
That feeds into the multiple nature of Eastern's offense. The Eagles throw for 279.5 yards a game this year, but rush for an incredible 291.2. "They're committed to running the football," choate says of the Eagles, "and they have two excellent backs, a kind of one-two punch with Sam (McPherson) and (Antoine) Custer. Both those guys do it all, they're good blockers, they're willing blockers, they catch the ball well out of the backfield, they bring a little bit different running style. (McPherson's) got over 500 yards rushing in four games, so that clearly speaks to their commitment running the ball, which makes defending Gage even more challenging."
The Bobcats counter with an emerging defensive presence. Buck end Bryce Sterk is a legitimate presence, leading the Big Sky in both sacks and tackles-for-loss. Around him the defensive deck has shuffled through the early portion of the season, but the lineup has stabilized. Grant Collins' return at middle linebacker, Chad Kanow's return to health at Will, and the return of Jahque Alleyne at safety has provided the Bobcat defense a breath of normalcy. "
Choate was pleased with Alleyne's return to the lineup last week at Portland State. "He's a guy we missed over the last couple of weeks, he's played in two games and has two interceptions for us," he said. "He does a really nice job as our post safety. He plays at a different speed than a lot of guys in the back end."
Likewise, Troy Andersen's return at quarterback sparked the Bobcat offense. He rushed for 207 yards from the quarterback position last week (211 total), the second-most ever by a Big Sky Conference signal caller in a single game. He was efficient passing, completing seven of his 14 pass attempts for 107 yards and a touchdown, and also caught a 32-yard pass out of the backfield. But Andersen isn't a one-man band. Freshman running back Isaiah Ifanse rushed for 100 yards, making him the first Bobcat freshman to gain 100 yards on the ground in two of his four games, while Kevin Kassis sparked the team's pass game.
Montana State's offense squares off with an Eagles defense that excels at complementing its extraordinary offense. Kurt Calhoun has a forced fumble to go along with his 28 tackles, while true freshman end Mitchell Johnson has been a one-man wrecking crew. He has seven tackles-for-loss and four sacks this season.
While Choate never uses the past as predictive of the future, he finds a pair of trends in last year's EWU win over the Cats in Cheney as informative. "Last year this game came down to two things – and I don't necessarily think you can look at last year and compare it to this year, but I think it could come down to these two things again – and that's our ability to get off the field on third down, which we could not do last year, and our ability to put points on the board in the red zone. We turned the ball over three times in the red zone, we couldn't stop them on third down, that was the tale of the tape."
That sets up for today what is unquestionably a big game. Choate hopes his squad takes advantage of the opportunity. "We've positioned ourselves early through non-conference play and by getting out of the gate in conference play to make some noise. Now we'll see how good we are."
#GoCatsGo
Players Mentioned
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RB
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WR
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DE
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