Saturday, November 23
BOZEMAN
12 p.m.
Montana State University
vs
Montana
Derek Marks leads the Bobcats against Montana on Saturday
Photo by: Garrett Becker
GAME #12: Bobcats Host Grizzlies in 119th Renewal of Ancient Treasure State Rivalry
11/21/2019 6:28:00 PM | Football
BOZEMAN, Montana – Jeff Choate understands all the hype surrounding "Montana's Super Bowl," as he sometimes calls the annual football game between his Montana State squad and its in-state rival from the University of Montana. He gets what it means to people in large and small communities across the Treasure State, and that it connects people across the world to their alma mater or their home state. He feels the passion of the Brawl of the Wild every day.
But he knows that there's one truth people often miss – that the experience of players and coaches in this great rivalry is something quite different. It's an event, a moment, a shared experience, they'll carry with them the rest of their lives in the most personal way possible.
"It's a forever game," he says simply, showing his knack for cutting through the nonsense and noise.
With that backdrop, Saturday's 119th Cat-Griz game offers one of the better matchups between the schools in the Division I era. It is the ninth meeting between these ancient rivals when both are nationally ranked – UM has won six of the previous eight such contests – and only the second with each team ranked in the top 10. The other occurred in 2011, with No. 7 UM beating top-ranked MSU 36-7. Since this game moved to the end of the season in 1993, that 2011 showdown is the only previous contest in which both teams woke up on game day with at least eight wins. Montana State and the Grizzlies have played nine times with seven wins each in the bank.
Both teams have a bit of history on their side. UM owns a 73-40-5 advantage in the series (that total includes the 2011 UM win that was vacated due to an NCAA rules violation), but the Bobcats have won three straight.
"We've got two ranked opponents that I think represent the best that this state has to offer on both sides," Montana State's fourth-year coach said. "After being here a couple years there are a lot of young men that wear the other colors that certainly are guys we recruited, know through the recruiting process, came to our camps. You get to know the kids, and it's kind of fun actually to see how they're developing within that program."
Third-ranked Montana (9-2 overall, 6-1 Big Sky) enters this year's Brawl of the Wild on a roll. The Grizzlies have won four straight games and seven of their last eight, and have scored at least 30 points in nine of their 11 contests. The lowest scoring output in the last month was a 34-17 win against Eastern Washington, with UM scoring the game's final 24 points. After leading the team to a 6-5 record a season ago, Bobby Hauck has the UM program clicking the way it was when he departed following the 2009 season after seven seasons.
"I'm really impressed with the job that Coach Hauck has done in year two," Choate said. "I think that he's clearly addressed some issues on both sides of the line of scrimmage. I see a bigger, better offensive line, and that has allowed them to be more balanced. You look at them statistically, they're rushing for more yards a game than they did a year ago. I think (Marcus) Knight is a good back, but I really think it's their commitment to being more balanced on offense and the improvement of their offensive line. I think Coach (Chad) Germer's done an awesome job with that group. They went out and got some guys, they're a year older, a year more experienced, and like I said, they're a bigger, more physical group overall."
The offense is engineered by senior quarterback Dalton Sneed, a dynamic dual-threat player who throws for just under 300 yards a game while posing a threat with his legs. "Dalton Sneed is a young man who makes the whole thing go," Choate said. "You talk about all these component parts, but he is a courageous leader, you can just tell that. He's a tough kid, built thick in the lower body, hard to bring down in the open field, accurate passer, very strong arm, and he just has that confidence, that swagger, you can kind of just see."
Choate said that one moment in time, Sneed's game film when returning from injury at Idaho, crystallizes Sneed's importance. "As good as Cam (Humphrey, the team's reserve quarterback) did for them in terms of running the show (when Sneed was injured), when things got down at Idaho you insert (Sneed) and there's an immediate jump in the performance of everybody in that huddle. That tells you what kind of leader he is."
Kent Baer's Grizzly defense is "a really different defense to prepare for because of all the pre-snap and post-snap movement that you get," Choate said. "(Nose tackle) Jesse Sims is having a really nice year. Their linebackers are really good, kind of the heart and soul of their defense, and they use a lot of them depending on what down-and-distance is and how they're trying to attack you at different moments. But it always is going through (Dante) Olson. They have very good players (in the secondary). On all three levels of their defense they are very sound."
Montana plays aggressively, Choate said, relying on blitzing with either "five-man pressure or what we call bogus pressure, where they're bringing a guy off the ball and still only pushing four at the quarterback, about 70 percent of the time." But the defense's key characteristic is a different kind of aggression, Choate said. "One of the things that stands out about their defense, and if you really understand defensive football you can really appreciate this, is that they pursue the ball very, very well. This group runs to the ball, they tackle well, but even if they miss a tackle the eraser is always effort. These kids play really hard."
Citing "the best return group in the league," Choate has plenty of respect for UM's special teams unit. "The combination of Jerry Louie-McGee as the punt returner and (Malik) Flowers as the kick returner, those guys create a lot of problems for you and they're very dynamic. Both of those individuals have touchdown returns this year. We have to do a great job of keeping the ball away from those guys, and when they get it we've got to swarm and tackle. (Kicker Brandon) Purdy is about 75 percent on field goals this season. Their coverage units are good. Coach Hauck takes a lot of pride in the special teams units, and that comes through on film."
The Bobcats (8-3 overall, 5-2 Big Sky) counter with a team that stays true to Choate's core principles of running the football and stopping the run. Montana State leads the Big Sky in rushing yards with 259.9 per game, and has compiled that total with everyone in the five-man stable except sophomore Lane Sumner missing time with injuries. Isaiah Ifanse returned to action last week, and his 77-yard performance, Choate said, led to the conclusion that, "OK, he's back. That really gives our run game some juice."
Quarterback Tucker Rovig threw for 217 yards in an efficient and effective effort during last week's win at UC Davis, and Kevin Kassis caught seven passes for 135 yards and has moved into MSU's all-time top 10 for catches and yards. Troy Andersen gained 51 yards and logged two tackles-for-loss, while safety Brayden Konkol picked off his first pass of the season. Travis Jonsen also returned a week ago, rushing for 93 yards and a touchdown with 61 receiving yards against UC Davis.
The Bobcats defense is achieving balance as the regular season concludes. MSU stands 5th in the Big Sky in rushing defense (126.7 yards per game) and passing defense (242.6), and 3rd in total defense (369.4 yards per game) and scoring defense (22.2 points allowed per game). Bryce Sterk, Amandre Williams, and Andersen remain among the league's most effective edge players. Sterk has 15 tackles-for-loss, Andersen 11.5, and Williams 11. Senior defensive tackle Derek Marks, who recovered the game-clinching fumble near the Bobcat goal line to close last year's Cat-Griz game, also contributes 11 tackles-for-loss.
Choate knows that the task facing his Bobcat team Saturday is tall, but he's looking forward to seeing what happens. "(Montana) is a very, very good football team, much-improved over a year ago, and are deserving of their ranking. The hype machine for this game has been in overdrive, but it's really unnecessary. This game stands on its own."
Kickoff for the 119th showdown between Montana State and Montana is 12 noon Saturday in Bobcat Stadium. The game is televised on ROOT Sports across Montana and throughout the Northwest, and on DirecTV's Audience Network. No internet streaming is available. Audio is available throughout Montana on the Bobcat Radio Network, and at msubobcats.com.
#GoCatsGo
But he knows that there's one truth people often miss – that the experience of players and coaches in this great rivalry is something quite different. It's an event, a moment, a shared experience, they'll carry with them the rest of their lives in the most personal way possible.
"It's a forever game," he says simply, showing his knack for cutting through the nonsense and noise.
With that backdrop, Saturday's 119th Cat-Griz game offers one of the better matchups between the schools in the Division I era. It is the ninth meeting between these ancient rivals when both are nationally ranked – UM has won six of the previous eight such contests – and only the second with each team ranked in the top 10. The other occurred in 2011, with No. 7 UM beating top-ranked MSU 36-7. Since this game moved to the end of the season in 1993, that 2011 showdown is the only previous contest in which both teams woke up on game day with at least eight wins. Montana State and the Grizzlies have played nine times with seven wins each in the bank.
Both teams have a bit of history on their side. UM owns a 73-40-5 advantage in the series (that total includes the 2011 UM win that was vacated due to an NCAA rules violation), but the Bobcats have won three straight.
"We've got two ranked opponents that I think represent the best that this state has to offer on both sides," Montana State's fourth-year coach said. "After being here a couple years there are a lot of young men that wear the other colors that certainly are guys we recruited, know through the recruiting process, came to our camps. You get to know the kids, and it's kind of fun actually to see how they're developing within that program."
Third-ranked Montana (9-2 overall, 6-1 Big Sky) enters this year's Brawl of the Wild on a roll. The Grizzlies have won four straight games and seven of their last eight, and have scored at least 30 points in nine of their 11 contests. The lowest scoring output in the last month was a 34-17 win against Eastern Washington, with UM scoring the game's final 24 points. After leading the team to a 6-5 record a season ago, Bobby Hauck has the UM program clicking the way it was when he departed following the 2009 season after seven seasons.
"I'm really impressed with the job that Coach Hauck has done in year two," Choate said. "I think that he's clearly addressed some issues on both sides of the line of scrimmage. I see a bigger, better offensive line, and that has allowed them to be more balanced. You look at them statistically, they're rushing for more yards a game than they did a year ago. I think (Marcus) Knight is a good back, but I really think it's their commitment to being more balanced on offense and the improvement of their offensive line. I think Coach (Chad) Germer's done an awesome job with that group. They went out and got some guys, they're a year older, a year more experienced, and like I said, they're a bigger, more physical group overall."
The offense is engineered by senior quarterback Dalton Sneed, a dynamic dual-threat player who throws for just under 300 yards a game while posing a threat with his legs. "Dalton Sneed is a young man who makes the whole thing go," Choate said. "You talk about all these component parts, but he is a courageous leader, you can just tell that. He's a tough kid, built thick in the lower body, hard to bring down in the open field, accurate passer, very strong arm, and he just has that confidence, that swagger, you can kind of just see."
Choate said that one moment in time, Sneed's game film when returning from injury at Idaho, crystallizes Sneed's importance. "As good as Cam (Humphrey, the team's reserve quarterback) did for them in terms of running the show (when Sneed was injured), when things got down at Idaho you insert (Sneed) and there's an immediate jump in the performance of everybody in that huddle. That tells you what kind of leader he is."
Kent Baer's Grizzly defense is "a really different defense to prepare for because of all the pre-snap and post-snap movement that you get," Choate said. "(Nose tackle) Jesse Sims is having a really nice year. Their linebackers are really good, kind of the heart and soul of their defense, and they use a lot of them depending on what down-and-distance is and how they're trying to attack you at different moments. But it always is going through (Dante) Olson. They have very good players (in the secondary). On all three levels of their defense they are very sound."
Montana plays aggressively, Choate said, relying on blitzing with either "five-man pressure or what we call bogus pressure, where they're bringing a guy off the ball and still only pushing four at the quarterback, about 70 percent of the time." But the defense's key characteristic is a different kind of aggression, Choate said. "One of the things that stands out about their defense, and if you really understand defensive football you can really appreciate this, is that they pursue the ball very, very well. This group runs to the ball, they tackle well, but even if they miss a tackle the eraser is always effort. These kids play really hard."
Citing "the best return group in the league," Choate has plenty of respect for UM's special teams unit. "The combination of Jerry Louie-McGee as the punt returner and (Malik) Flowers as the kick returner, those guys create a lot of problems for you and they're very dynamic. Both of those individuals have touchdown returns this year. We have to do a great job of keeping the ball away from those guys, and when they get it we've got to swarm and tackle. (Kicker Brandon) Purdy is about 75 percent on field goals this season. Their coverage units are good. Coach Hauck takes a lot of pride in the special teams units, and that comes through on film."
The Bobcats (8-3 overall, 5-2 Big Sky) counter with a team that stays true to Choate's core principles of running the football and stopping the run. Montana State leads the Big Sky in rushing yards with 259.9 per game, and has compiled that total with everyone in the five-man stable except sophomore Lane Sumner missing time with injuries. Isaiah Ifanse returned to action last week, and his 77-yard performance, Choate said, led to the conclusion that, "OK, he's back. That really gives our run game some juice."
Quarterback Tucker Rovig threw for 217 yards in an efficient and effective effort during last week's win at UC Davis, and Kevin Kassis caught seven passes for 135 yards and has moved into MSU's all-time top 10 for catches and yards. Troy Andersen gained 51 yards and logged two tackles-for-loss, while safety Brayden Konkol picked off his first pass of the season. Travis Jonsen also returned a week ago, rushing for 93 yards and a touchdown with 61 receiving yards against UC Davis.
The Bobcats defense is achieving balance as the regular season concludes. MSU stands 5th in the Big Sky in rushing defense (126.7 yards per game) and passing defense (242.6), and 3rd in total defense (369.4 yards per game) and scoring defense (22.2 points allowed per game). Bryce Sterk, Amandre Williams, and Andersen remain among the league's most effective edge players. Sterk has 15 tackles-for-loss, Andersen 11.5, and Williams 11. Senior defensive tackle Derek Marks, who recovered the game-clinching fumble near the Bobcat goal line to close last year's Cat-Griz game, also contributes 11 tackles-for-loss.
Choate knows that the task facing his Bobcat team Saturday is tall, but he's looking forward to seeing what happens. "(Montana) is a very, very good football team, much-improved over a year ago, and are deserving of their ranking. The hype machine for this game has been in overdrive, but it's really unnecessary. This game stands on its own."
Kickoff for the 119th showdown between Montana State and Montana is 12 noon Saturday in Bobcat Stadium. The game is televised on ROOT Sports across Montana and throughout the Northwest, and on DirecTV's Audience Network. No internet streaming is available. Audio is available throughout Montana on the Bobcat Radio Network, and at msubobcats.com.
#GoCatsGo
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