Derryk Snell
Photo by: Garrett Becker
Bobcat Notes and Quotes from 42-7 Win over Southern Utah
11/2/2019 6:14:00 PM | Football
Cats post largest margin of win in league game since 2014
A look back at Montana State's 42-7 win against Southern Utah on Saturday...
BOBCAT NOTES
* The 35-point margin of victory was MSU's largest against a Big Sky foe since the 77-37 win at UC Davis on October 11, 2014, and its biggest in Bobcat Stadium since a 63-20 win against North Dakota on September 28, 2013
* Montana State scored 42 points in the first half, tied for 5th-most before halftime in Bobcat history
* The Cats have now held two Big Sky foes - including UNC in 2018 - to single-digits under Jeff Choate, and Choate's Bobats are now 7-4 when the opponent scores less than 20 points
* MSU receivers Jaden Smith and Tyrone Marshall and tight end Derryk Snell each scored their first touchdowns as Bobcats, and Tucker Rovig's first career catch was also a touchdown
* MSU finished the game +4 in turnovers, the fifth game in 2019 winning the turnover battle
* Troy Andersen finished with 8 tackles, three for a loss, and two sacks, and his first career interception
* In his last three games, Andersen 24 tackles, 6.5 behind the line of scrimmage, 4.5 sacks, a pass breakup, and an interception
* Amandre Williams logged three tackles-for-loss, including a sack, and his interception was his second as a Bobcat
* Montana State has committed no turnovers in four of the team's nine games this season, including Saturday, and have less than two in eight of the nine games
* MSU logged 14 tackles-for-loss and five sacks
MONTANA STATE HEAD COACH JEFF CHOATE
On the Bobcat defense: "Obviously a tip-of-the-hat to Kane (Ioane) and the defensive staff, they put together a great plan. We got to the quarterback at the end of the first half. That obviously changes the game tremendously when you're playing your second string quarterback and eventually your third string quarterback. I thought Southern Utah showed a lot of fight in the second half. That was an interesting way to start the game. I didn't really see us having that kind of outpouring of scoring in the first half. We certainly created some momentum for ourselves with some takeaways. Our defense, regardless of the situation until late in the game when we had some young guys in, really stood tall."
"I think that was part of the idea. There are still some things we can improve upon in getting into some better plays. We got very conservative in the second half by desigh trying to get out of there. We had some guys that got knicked up a little bit, and we wanted to make sure we didn't have any further injuries. I thought that playing aggressive, playing to win, calling the game to put the pressure on the defense, I thought (offensive coordinator Matt Miller) did a nice job of that. I thought our communication, especially in the first half on some sudden change situations was much better as well."
SOUTHERN UTAH COACH DEMARIO WARREN
"We didn't come out ready to go. They came out and took it to us from the opening kickoff. They won field position, they won turnovers, they won all the things we try to win in a football game. We got our heads down early and it kept spiraling. I credit the guys for fighting in the second half and not letting it really explode, but it was not good enough today.
"We had a lot of mental mistakes early in the game. In the second half we slowed it down a little bit, they tried a couple of trick plays, some wildcat, a fly sweep pass, they tried a lot of stuff in the second half, but our guys were a lot more disciplined to not let them get behind us. We just couldn't give them good enough field position, we started on the 49 yard line on average on defense . You're not going to have a ton of success when you start that close to the end zone each time.
"We just got behind and wanted to see what those guys could do. It was a good opportunity against a really good defense to see what those guys could do in the second half.
"We played a really good football team. They were hungry, they needed this win, and they proved that they deserve to be in the playoffs. I don't think there was a difference (between last week and this week), we just didn't execute early in the game. When you get behind, that's a big difference. We jumped up 28-7 in the first quarter, this week we fell behind.
"They did a good job today of balancing some stuff up. They've got a lot ofweapons, a lot of different quarterbacks back there, it's hard. But that defense, they're physical. That's eof the most physical defenses we've seen all year. The front seven is legit. We've played South Dakota State, we've played Northern Iowa, we've played Weber, that might've been the best front seven we've played all year. They've got a good outfit up there."
BOBCAT NOTES
* The 35-point margin of victory was MSU's largest against a Big Sky foe since the 77-37 win at UC Davis on October 11, 2014, and its biggest in Bobcat Stadium since a 63-20 win against North Dakota on September 28, 2013
* Montana State scored 42 points in the first half, tied for 5th-most before halftime in Bobcat history
* The Cats have now held two Big Sky foes - including UNC in 2018 - to single-digits under Jeff Choate, and Choate's Bobats are now 7-4 when the opponent scores less than 20 points
* MSU receivers Jaden Smith and Tyrone Marshall and tight end Derryk Snell each scored their first touchdowns as Bobcats, and Tucker Rovig's first career catch was also a touchdown
* MSU finished the game +4 in turnovers, the fifth game in 2019 winning the turnover battle
* Troy Andersen finished with 8 tackles, three for a loss, and two sacks, and his first career interception
* In his last three games, Andersen 24 tackles, 6.5 behind the line of scrimmage, 4.5 sacks, a pass breakup, and an interception
* Amandre Williams logged three tackles-for-loss, including a sack, and his interception was his second as a Bobcat
* Montana State has committed no turnovers in four of the team's nine games this season, including Saturday, and have less than two in eight of the nine games
* MSU logged 14 tackles-for-loss and five sacks
MONTANA STATE HEAD COACH JEFF CHOATE
On the Bobcat defense: "Obviously a tip-of-the-hat to Kane (Ioane) and the defensive staff, they put together a great plan. We got to the quarterback at the end of the first half. That obviously changes the game tremendously when you're playing your second string quarterback and eventually your third string quarterback. I thought Southern Utah showed a lot of fight in the second half. That was an interesting way to start the game. I didn't really see us having that kind of outpouring of scoring in the first half. We certainly created some momentum for ourselves with some takeaways. Our defense, regardless of the situation until late in the game when we had some young guys in, really stood tall."
"I think that was part of the idea. There are still some things we can improve upon in getting into some better plays. We got very conservative in the second half by desigh trying to get out of there. We had some guys that got knicked up a little bit, and we wanted to make sure we didn't have any further injuries. I thought that playing aggressive, playing to win, calling the game to put the pressure on the defense, I thought (offensive coordinator Matt Miller) did a nice job of that. I thought our communication, especially in the first half on some sudden change situations was much better as well."
SOUTHERN UTAH COACH DEMARIO WARREN
"We didn't come out ready to go. They came out and took it to us from the opening kickoff. They won field position, they won turnovers, they won all the things we try to win in a football game. We got our heads down early and it kept spiraling. I credit the guys for fighting in the second half and not letting it really explode, but it was not good enough today.
"We had a lot of mental mistakes early in the game. In the second half we slowed it down a little bit, they tried a couple of trick plays, some wildcat, a fly sweep pass, they tried a lot of stuff in the second half, but our guys were a lot more disciplined to not let them get behind us. We just couldn't give them good enough field position, we started on the 49 yard line on average on defense . You're not going to have a ton of success when you start that close to the end zone each time.
"We just got behind and wanted to see what those guys could do. It was a good opportunity against a really good defense to see what those guys could do in the second half.
"We played a really good football team. They were hungry, they needed this win, and they proved that they deserve to be in the playoffs. I don't think there was a difference (between last week and this week), we just didn't execute early in the game. When you get behind, that's a big difference. We jumped up 28-7 in the first quarter, this week we fell behind.
"They did a good job today of balancing some stuff up. They've got a lot ofweapons, a lot of different quarterbacks back there, it's hard. But that defense, they're physical. That's eof the most physical defenses we've seen all year. The front seven is legit. We've played South Dakota State, we've played Northern Iowa, we've played Weber, that might've been the best front seven we've played all year. They've got a good outfit up there."
Players Mentioned
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