Photo by: Garrett Becker
BOBCAT QUOTEBOOK: Week Seven vs. Sacramento State
10/12/2019 8:51:00 AM | Football
A look at today's MSU-Sac State game through the words of head coach Jeff Choate
A look at Montana State football through the thoughts of Bobcat coaches and players….
Head Coach Jeff Choate
On Sacramento State's offense: "Offensively it's kind of a three-headed monster. Their quarterback makes everything go, (Kevin Thomson), he's a true dual threat. He's a bigger, more physical runner. They're going to run a lot of the stuff you see Travis (Jonsen) or Troy (Andersen) run in our offense, Q punch read, some zone read stuff, but he is a between-the-tackles guy, a big, physical dude, he isn't going to shy away from contact. He also has the ability to hurt you with his arm, which is not always the case with that style. At running back, (Elijah Dotson), man, he's fast. He was the most productive rusher in the Big Sky Conference a year ago, but (BJ Perkinson) is a very good back as well. You see them use both of those guys in the backfield at times. And they have multiple targets (in the pass game), but the primary target is (Pierre Williams) who is a matchup problem. He's a 6-2, 200 lb kid who can really stretch the field vertically, wins a lot of 50-50 balls. He's a powerful guy. But they have other targets, (Isaiah Gable and Dewey Cotton) who are undersized guys, speed guys who are really hard to get on the ground. On offense we're going to have to defend a lot. Formationally they do a good job making you work on formations to the boundary, condensed sets, shifts, motions. I think there's a lot of similarities between what they do and what we do. There might be a little bit of a difference in how they go about it, but stylistically I don't think it's that much different. I do think Thomson's done a good job giving them that vertical threat and the intermediate passing game as well."
On Sacramento State's defense: "I think their front seven is really good. They're really good. Choates is a really, really good player, Obinna #99 and 44 Erickson, those guys stand out to me as paying really hard. I just love the way these kids play. They're not the biggest front in the league but they are active, very physical, relentless in pass rush, well-coached. I think they do a really nice job. In the back end, the Bland kid, 37, and it shows up not just with him but he stands out the most to me on film, it's a very aggressive secondary."
On Callahan O'Reilly's start vs. Cal Poly, and his play last week: "He's been playing really well, you probably could have flipped a coin between him and Nolan (Askelson) all the way back in fall camp, but he's bigger than Nolan, and a guy that's 230 lbs versus a guy who's 215, 220 lbs against the style (Cal Poly) is going to play, downhill, in your face all night, we felt that was going to be beneficial for us. And that showed up in the shot he put on their fullback down on the goal line. Also the thing that really impressed me was how he played off cut blocks and was able to run to the ball. (He) had a number of tackles for a loss or short gains running the alley for us from the inside linebacker and he did that by beating blocks to get there. So it wasn't just his physical presence in the box but his ability to play laterally that gave us the confidence to roll with him."
On Montana State's offensive style: "I think we're a multiple spread offense. We're run-first, and we do have some single-wing elements. Obviously when you're snapping the ball directly to the quarterback and letting him run with it, what's old is new. Everything evolves. We're not a triple-option style, but I think we make teams defend a lot. And I see the same thing from Sacramento State, except that you have to defend the forward pass more against them than you do against us. I think there are a lot of similarities between the two programs right now in terms of what they do offensively and what we do offensively, the difference being that the Thomson kid has the ability to push the ball down the field a little more consistently than we do right now."
On MSU's offense now vs. what was envisioned in August: "That's a really interesting question because I don't know that I envisioned anything. My job is to make sure we can do what we need to do to win."
Head Coach Jeff Choate
On Sacramento State's offense: "Offensively it's kind of a three-headed monster. Their quarterback makes everything go, (Kevin Thomson), he's a true dual threat. He's a bigger, more physical runner. They're going to run a lot of the stuff you see Travis (Jonsen) or Troy (Andersen) run in our offense, Q punch read, some zone read stuff, but he is a between-the-tackles guy, a big, physical dude, he isn't going to shy away from contact. He also has the ability to hurt you with his arm, which is not always the case with that style. At running back, (Elijah Dotson), man, he's fast. He was the most productive rusher in the Big Sky Conference a year ago, but (BJ Perkinson) is a very good back as well. You see them use both of those guys in the backfield at times. And they have multiple targets (in the pass game), but the primary target is (Pierre Williams) who is a matchup problem. He's a 6-2, 200 lb kid who can really stretch the field vertically, wins a lot of 50-50 balls. He's a powerful guy. But they have other targets, (Isaiah Gable and Dewey Cotton) who are undersized guys, speed guys who are really hard to get on the ground. On offense we're going to have to defend a lot. Formationally they do a good job making you work on formations to the boundary, condensed sets, shifts, motions. I think there's a lot of similarities between what they do and what we do. There might be a little bit of a difference in how they go about it, but stylistically I don't think it's that much different. I do think Thomson's done a good job giving them that vertical threat and the intermediate passing game as well."
On Sacramento State's defense: "I think their front seven is really good. They're really good. Choates is a really, really good player, Obinna #99 and 44 Erickson, those guys stand out to me as paying really hard. I just love the way these kids play. They're not the biggest front in the league but they are active, very physical, relentless in pass rush, well-coached. I think they do a really nice job. In the back end, the Bland kid, 37, and it shows up not just with him but he stands out the most to me on film, it's a very aggressive secondary."
On Callahan O'Reilly's start vs. Cal Poly, and his play last week: "He's been playing really well, you probably could have flipped a coin between him and Nolan (Askelson) all the way back in fall camp, but he's bigger than Nolan, and a guy that's 230 lbs versus a guy who's 215, 220 lbs against the style (Cal Poly) is going to play, downhill, in your face all night, we felt that was going to be beneficial for us. And that showed up in the shot he put on their fullback down on the goal line. Also the thing that really impressed me was how he played off cut blocks and was able to run to the ball. (He) had a number of tackles for a loss or short gains running the alley for us from the inside linebacker and he did that by beating blocks to get there. So it wasn't just his physical presence in the box but his ability to play laterally that gave us the confidence to roll with him."
On Montana State's offensive style: "I think we're a multiple spread offense. We're run-first, and we do have some single-wing elements. Obviously when you're snapping the ball directly to the quarterback and letting him run with it, what's old is new. Everything evolves. We're not a triple-option style, but I think we make teams defend a lot. And I see the same thing from Sacramento State, except that you have to defend the forward pass more against them than you do against us. I think there are a lot of similarities between the two programs right now in terms of what they do offensively and what we do offensively, the difference being that the Thomson kid has the ability to push the ball down the field a little more consistently than we do right now."
On MSU's offense now vs. what was envisioned in August: "That's a really interesting question because I don't know that I envisioned anything. My job is to make sure we can do what we need to do to win."
Players Mentioned
LB
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