BOBCATS BY THE NUMBERS: 66 Days from Kickoff Offers Look at a 66-Pass Afternoon
6/26/2019 3:00:00 PM | Football
Connor Wood appears poised to step into a long line of standout Bobcat offensive linemen
June 26: In addition to a quick look at players wearing the jersey number corresponding to the number of days remaining until Montana State's season opener at Texas Tech on August 31, Bobcats by the Numbers brings you another tidbit or two aligning with that number.
#66
Connor Wood, OL: Connor Wood parlayed a strong spring in 2018 to boost himself into playing time in the fall, and never looked back. Wood started all 13 games for the Bobcats, earning Freshman All-America honors and putting himself in position to be an anchor of MSU's offensive line for the next three seasons. While he is a presumptive starting tackle for the Cats in 2019, he retains the versatility to move inside.
66 – Kelly Bradley's MSU record pass attempts in a 28-23 loss to EWU in 1985.
There's nothing that really jumps off the stat sheet at first. Montana State dropped a 28-23 game in Reno H. Sales Stadium in September of 1985, falling behind 28-3 then rallying to draw within five late in the fourth quarter. The teams combined for 833 yards, a high total but fairly pedestrian for the Big Sky in the 1980s. (MSU compiled 386 yards on the day, Eastern 447.) A slightly deeper dive into the statistics, though, shows a couple of records. Most Bobcat fans know that David Pandt caught a school-record 21 passes that day, but the business end of that equation also offers an impressive number. Kelly Bradley threw 66 passes that afternoon, a Bobcat record. Of those, 42 were completed (half to Pandt), and three resulted in touchdowns (one each to Pandt, Tommy White and Darin Dietrich). Four of Bradley's passes ended up in Eagles' hands, which led to the Cats falling so far behind. His fourth pass of the day was picked off, ending MSU's second drive, and by the time he had thrown his fourth pick on the fourth quarter's initial drive the Bobcats trailed 28-3. Then Bradley got hot, capitalizing on a takeaway to score on an 11-yarder to White, and following that with TD passes on the next two drives. But Bradly's only attempt to win the game was a Hail Mary from MSU's 37-yard line with two seconds remaining, an incomplete pass that raised Eastern Washington's record to 3-0 and dropped the Cats to 1-2.
Chronology: Cecil Kent (1956), Darryl Hueth (1957), Dick Kramer (1958), Dan Greer (1959), Tom Monterossi (1960-63), Tay Roy Kibble (1966-68), Dan Korber (1968-69), Roger Martin (1970), Dave Clutch (1971), Ron Iverson (1972-74), Jim Regan (1975), John Beach (1977), Byrl Thompson (1978), Gary Fickle (1979-80), Bill Schmidt (1981-84), Pat Williams (1985-86), Ken Eiden (1987-91), Eric Paulson (1992-93), Lance Lanning (1994), Adam Houts (1996-97), Carlton Carpenter (1999), Steve Gunnels (2001), Jose Sanchez (2002), Chris Smith (2004-07), Clint Mentzel (2008-09), Andrew Alt (2013-14), Bryan Wilkes (2015), Luke Channer (2016), Connor Wood (2017-)
#66
Connor Wood, OL: Connor Wood parlayed a strong spring in 2018 to boost himself into playing time in the fall, and never looked back. Wood started all 13 games for the Bobcats, earning Freshman All-America honors and putting himself in position to be an anchor of MSU's offensive line for the next three seasons. While he is a presumptive starting tackle for the Cats in 2019, he retains the versatility to move inside.
66 – Kelly Bradley's MSU record pass attempts in a 28-23 loss to EWU in 1985.
There's nothing that really jumps off the stat sheet at first. Montana State dropped a 28-23 game in Reno H. Sales Stadium in September of 1985, falling behind 28-3 then rallying to draw within five late in the fourth quarter. The teams combined for 833 yards, a high total but fairly pedestrian for the Big Sky in the 1980s. (MSU compiled 386 yards on the day, Eastern 447.) A slightly deeper dive into the statistics, though, shows a couple of records. Most Bobcat fans know that David Pandt caught a school-record 21 passes that day, but the business end of that equation also offers an impressive number. Kelly Bradley threw 66 passes that afternoon, a Bobcat record. Of those, 42 were completed (half to Pandt), and three resulted in touchdowns (one each to Pandt, Tommy White and Darin Dietrich). Four of Bradley's passes ended up in Eagles' hands, which led to the Cats falling so far behind. His fourth pass of the day was picked off, ending MSU's second drive, and by the time he had thrown his fourth pick on the fourth quarter's initial drive the Bobcats trailed 28-3. Then Bradley got hot, capitalizing on a takeaway to score on an 11-yarder to White, and following that with TD passes on the next two drives. But Bradly's only attempt to win the game was a Hail Mary from MSU's 37-yard line with two seconds remaining, an incomplete pass that raised Eastern Washington's record to 3-0 and dropped the Cats to 1-2.
Chronology: Cecil Kent (1956), Darryl Hueth (1957), Dick Kramer (1958), Dan Greer (1959), Tom Monterossi (1960-63), Tay Roy Kibble (1966-68), Dan Korber (1968-69), Roger Martin (1970), Dave Clutch (1971), Ron Iverson (1972-74), Jim Regan (1975), John Beach (1977), Byrl Thompson (1978), Gary Fickle (1979-80), Bill Schmidt (1981-84), Pat Williams (1985-86), Ken Eiden (1987-91), Eric Paulson (1992-93), Lance Lanning (1994), Adam Houts (1996-97), Carlton Carpenter (1999), Steve Gunnels (2001), Jose Sanchez (2002), Chris Smith (2004-07), Clint Mentzel (2008-09), Andrew Alt (2013-14), Bryan Wilkes (2015), Luke Channer (2016), Connor Wood (2017-)
Players Mentioned
OL
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